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The Ziz (Hebrew: זיז) 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 Anzu and the Ancient Greek phoenix.
There is only passing mention of the Ziz in the Bible, found in Psalms 50:11 "I know all the birds of the mountains and Zīz śāday is mine" and Psalms 80:13-14 "The boar from the forest ravages it, and Zīz śāday feeds on it." (Hebrew: וְזִיז שָׂדַי), and these are often lost in translation from the Hebrew. The Jewish Aggadah says of the Ziz:
Non-Jews also knew of the Ziz. Johannes Buxtorf's 1603 Synagoga Judaica discusses the Ziz. His text is echoed in English by Samuel Purchas in 1613:
Humphrey Prideaux in 1698 describes the Ziz as being like a giant celestial rooster: