Roc (mythology)

The roc, even Roc, Rokh, Ruch or rock (of Arab الرخ ar - Ruchch, DMG ar - ruḫḫ, from the Persian ) is a mythical creature from the Arabian tales of the Arabian Nights. But he will also mentioned in descriptions of Marco Polo and other travelers and merchants of the Indian Ocean and is taller than a man after their statements.

Meyers Lexicon from 1888 writes mutatis mutandis to:

The most famous hero of " The Arabian Nights ," Sindbad the Sailor, tied to a leg of the bird Roch to escape from a remote island. The fairy tale by the bird of elephants malnourished.

After the crypto- zoological main theory of the legend of the roc is mainly based on the now- extinct elephant bird ( Aepyornis maximus) from Madagascar, which although as Moa or ostrich belongs to the large ratites, is far from reaching the size of the legendary Roch. A Historical Note on the equation of Roch and Aepyornis is found in Jerome Megiser ( 1623). This quoted Marco Polo, who claimed to have seen a very long feather of the bird, which should come from Madagascar.

Sometimes a context of roc with the same name Roch, as the current tower was called in medieval chess set, associated. A direct derivation is not busy.

In the Dutch Efteling theme park is the roller coaster Vogel Rok, which is thematically modeled on Roch.