Abstract

Many ancient epic and folk stories have mythological bases. Characters, creatures and events in these stories are presented with a mythological coverings, so that sometimes it is impossible to distinguish reality from myth. Sam-Nameh is a half epic- half lyric series which depicts the story of Sam's travel for finding his beloved. This series, which consists of many intervowen short stories, in some respects adopts mythological patterns. Some of these patterns have their roots in Iranian myths, especially in Avesta and Shahnameh, and some others can be traced back tonon–Iranian mythology. Sam, the protagonist, is comparable to the Gods in non-Iranian myths and heroes in Iranian myths. Also, the female protagonists share a lot of similar characteristics with mythological goddesses. The present study aims to detect mythological bases in some events experienced by Sam and to compare the protagonist and some other characters with mythological patterns.