SIMARGL

[Other] Slavic deity. One of the gods mentioned in Kiev's Primary Chronicle as being worshipped officially by the Russians before their conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy. Generally mentioned as the protector of seeds and new plant growth. Simargl was depicted as a winged lion (sometimes a winged dog); both his name and image suggest strongly that he was borrowed from the Scythians or Sarmatians, who worshipped him as Simurgh, the divine gryphon of Persian mythology.