Ziz
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The Ziz (Template:Langx) is a giant griffin-like bird in Jewish mythology, said to be large enough to be able to block out the sun with its wingspan.
Description
It is considered a giant animal/monster corresponding to archetypal creatures. Rabbis have said that the Ziz is comparable to the Persian Simurgh, while modern scholars compare the Ziz to the Sumerian Anzû and the Ancient Greek phoenix.<ref name="Wazana">Template:Cite journal</ref>
There is only passing mention of the Ziz in the Bible, found in Template:Bibleverse "I know all the birds of the mountains and zîz śād̲ai [[[:Template:Lang]]] is mine" and Template:Bibleverse "The boar from the forest ravages it, and zîz śād̲ai feeds on it", and these are often lost in translation from the Hebrew,<ref name=Wazana /> being referred to in most English translations as ambiguous "beasts" and referred to as neither singular nor avian (śād̲ai usually being translated as "of the field") . The Jewish aggadot say of the Ziz: Template:Quote
Non-Jews also knew of the Ziz. Johannes Buxtorf's 1603 Synagoga Judaica discusses the Ziz.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His text is echoed in English by Samuel Purchas in 1613:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Humphrey Prideaux in 1698 describes the Ziz as being like a giant celestial rooster: Template:Quote