Tracing a Greek Myth in Iranian Fairy Tales: Comparative and Mythological Analysis of the Myth of “Psyche and Eros” and “Ghesse -yi Ah”

The relations between Iran and Greece and the rule of Greeks on Iran had some influences on the culture of the two countries. One of the cases which indicates these bilateral influences of the two cultures is the similarities between the Iranian famous fairy tale of “Ghesse -yi Ah” and the Greek myth of “Psyche and Eros”. The comparative study of these two narrations shows their parallel structures. The structural analysis of this fairy tale and the myth by the aid of Claude Levi- Strauss’s structural method shows their similar mythemes. On the other hand, the infrastructures and symbols of the two narrations denote their relation with the myth of plant god and signify that they reflect the binary opposition of fertility/infertility. Symbols such as tree, snake, grain, and the man’s fertilizing power in the tale, as well as the role of Eros, the god of love, in the Greek myth argue for the interaction between “Ghesse -yi- Ah” and the myth of “Psyche and Eros”.