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For many centuries, there has been a myth of a creature with a female head and snake body called Shamaran among the Iranian Kurdish people. Respect for this myth has always been associated with special rituals. In the book One Thousand and One Nights, which is one of the most important literary and cultural works of the Orient, there is a story called "Queen of Snakes and Haseb Karimuddin", which is very similar to the story of Shamaran. The traits of these two stories are also a recalling of the myths. Undoubtedly, many folk tales, beliefs and cultures are deeply connected with ancient myths. The main aims of this study is to investigate the role of Shamaran myth in the formation of the story of the "Queen of Snakes" and to find the common roots of the two. Therefore, the main theme of this story, which is human-snake, is examined. The findings of this research, which has been done in a descriptive-analytical way, showed that the story of the "Queen of Snakes" is based on the myth of Shamaran, and this myth is rooted in religion and myth of the most important Iranian civilizations, the ancient Elam.
 

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The archaeological excavation of ancient Elam has led to the recovery of remnants, showing the rise and fall of a Persian civilization as well as reflecting how music and instruments (musicianship) were popular in those eras. Such archeological findings have mostly been portrayed on rock and pottery. A series of pictograms have depicted musical instruments while the majority of depicted string instruments are harps and tanburs. Wrapped in the Elamite culture, these instruments were passed on to the next civilizations, experiencing transformation over time. This descriptive-analytical research attempts to explore the string instruments in ancient Elam, thereby to review the historical roots of Iranian string instruments. The paper first provides an overview of music in ancient Elam. Then, several pictograms depicting string instruments are examined to determine their diversity and significance. The results indicate that harp and tanbur were the most frequent and diverse string instruments depicted in the paintings of ancient Elam.