![]()
Faramarz, son of Rostam, mourns the death of his father, and of his uncle, Zavareh.
Ferdowsi started writing the Shahnameh in 977 AD and completed it on 8 March 1010.[3] The Shahnameh is a monument of poetry and
historiography, being mainly the poetical recast of what Ferdowsi, his contemporaries, and his predecessors regarded as the account of
Iran's ancient history. Many such accounts already existed in prose, an example being the
Abu-Mansuri Shahnameh. A small portion of Ferdowsi's work, in passages scattered throughout the Shahnameh, is entirely of his own conception.
The Shahnameh is an epic poem of over 50,000
couplets, written in early
Modern Persian. It is based mainly on a prose work of the same name compiled in Ferdowsi's earlier life in his native
Tus. This prose Shahnameh was in turn and for the most part the translation of a Pahlavi (
Middle Persian) work, known as the
Xwadāynāmag ("Book of Kings"), a late
Sassanid compilation of the history of the kings and heroes of Persia from mythical times down to the reign of
Khosrau II (590–628). The Xwadāynāmag contained historical information on the later Sassanid period, but it does not appear to have drawn on any historical sources for the earlier Sassanid period (3rd to 4th centuries).[4] Ferdowsi added material continuing the story to the overthrow of the Sassanids by the Arabs in the middle of the 7th century.
The first to undertake the versification of the Pahlavi chronicle was
Abu-Mansur Daqiqi, a contemporary of Ferdowsi, poet at the court of the
Samanids, who came to a violent end after completing only 1,000 verses. These verses, which deal with the rise of the prophet
Zoroaster, were afterward incorporated by Ferdowsi, with acknowledgment, in his own poem. The style of the Shahnameh shows characteristics of both written and oral literature. Some claim that Ferdowsi also used Zoroastrian nasks, such as the now-lost
Chihrdad, as sources as well.[5]
Many other
Pahlavi sources were used in composing the epic, prominent being the
Kārnāmag-ī Ardaxšīr-ī Pābagān, which was originally written during the late Sassanid era and gave accounts of how
Ardashir I came to power which, because of its historical proximity, is thought to be highly accurate. The text is written in the late Middle Persian, which was the immediate ancestor of
Modern Persian. A great portion of the historical chronicles given in Shahnameh is based on this epic and there are in fact various phrases and words which can be matched between Ferdowsi's poem and this source, according to
Zabihollah Safa.[6]
According to one account of the sources, a Persian named Dehqan in the court of King
Anushehrawan Dadgar had composed a voluminous book in prose form, known as Khoday Nameh. After the fall of the
Iranian Empire, Khoday Nameh came into the possession of King
Yaqub Lais and then the
Samani king
Nuh ordered the poet Daqiqi to complete it, but Daqiqi was killed by his slave. Ferdowsi obtained the book through a friend.
![]()
Kai Khorso enthroned holding the sword with which he will execute Afrasiyab for the murder of Siyavash
The Shahnameh provides a poetic account of the prehistory and
history of Iran, beginning with the creation of the world and the introduction of the arts of civilization (fire, cooking, metallurgy, law), and ending with the
Islamic Conquest of Persia. The work is not precisely chronological, but there is a general movement through time. Some of the characters live for hundreds of years but most have normal life spans. There are many
shāhs who come and go, as well as heroes and villains, who also come and go. The only lasting images are those of
Greater Persia itself, and of a succession of sunrises and sunsets, no two ever exactly alike, yet illustrative of the passage of time.
The work is divided into three successive parts: the "mythical", "heroic", and "historical" ages.
Father Time, a Saturn-like image, is a reminder of the tragedy of death and loss, yet the next sunrise comes, bringing with it hope of a new day. In the first cycle of creation,
evil is external (the
devil). In the second cycle, we see the beginnings of family hatred, bad behavior, and evil permeating human nature. Shāh
Fereydūn's two eldest sons feel greed and envy toward their innocent younger brother and, thinking their father favors him, they murder him. The murdered prince's son avenges the murder, and all are immersed in the cycle of murder and revenge, blood and more blood. In the third cycle, we encounter a series of flawed shahs. There is a
Phaedra-like story of Shāh
Kay Kāvus, his wife
Sūdābeh, and her passion for and rejection by her stepson,
Sīyāvash.
It is only in the characterizations of the work's many figures, both male and female, that Zoroaster's original view of the human condition comes through. Zoroaster emphasized human
free will. All of Ferdowsi's characters are complex; none is an archetype or a puppet. The best characters have flaws, and the worst have moments of humanity.
Traditional historiography in Iran has claimed that Ferdowsi was grieved by the fall of the
Sassanid Empire and its subsequent rule by "Arabs" and "Turks". The Shahnameh, the argument goes, is largely his effort to preserve the memory of Persia's golden days and transmit it to a new generation so that they could learn and try to build a better world.[7]Although most scholars have contended that Ferdowsi's main concern was the preservation of the pre-Islamic legacy of myth and history, a number of authors have formally challenged this view.[8]
![]()
Scenes from the Shahnameh carved into reliefs at Ferdowsi's mausoleum in Tus, Iran
This portion of the Shahnameh is relatively short, amounting to some 2,100 verses or four percent of the entire book, and it narrates events with the simplicity, predictability, and swiftness of a historical work.
After an opening in praise of
God and Wisdom, the Shahnameh gives an account of the creation of the world and of man as believed by the
Sassanians. This introduction is followed by the story of the first man,
Keyumars, who also became the first king after a period of mountain dwelling. His grandson
Hushang, son of
Sīyāmak, accidentally discovered fire and established the
Sadeh Feast in its honor. Stories of
Tahmuras,
Jamshid,
Zahhāk,
Kawa or
Kaveh,
Fereydūn and his three sons
Salm,
Tur, and
Iraj, and his grandson
Manuchehr are related in this section.
Almost two-thirds of the Shahnameh is devoted to the age of heroes, extending from Manuchehr's reign until the conquest of
Alexander the Great (Eskandar). This age is also identified as the kingdom of Keyaniyan, which established a long history of heroic age in which myth and legend are combined.[9] The main feature of this period is the major role played by the
Saka or
Sistānī heroes who appear as the backbone of the Persian Empire.
Garshāsp is briefly mentioned with his son
Narimān, whose own son
Sām acted as the leading paladin of Manuchehr while reigning in Sistān in his own right. His successors were his son
Zāl and Zal's son
Rostam, the bravest of the brave, and then Farāmarz.
![]()
Courtiers of Bayasanghori playing chess
A brief mention of the
Arsacid dynastyfollows the history of Alexander and precedes that of
Ardashir I, founder of the
Sassanid Empire. After this, Sassanid history is related with a good deal of accuracy. The fall of the Sassanids and the Arab conquest of Persia are narrated romantically.
Ferdowsi did not expect his readers to pass over historical events indifferently, but asked them to think carefully, to see the grounds for the rise and fall of individuals and nations; and to learn from the past in order to improve the present, and to better shape the future. Ferdowsi stresses his belief that since the world is transient, and since everyone is merely a passerby, one is wise to avoid cruelty, lying, avarice, and other evils; instead one should strive for justice, honor, truth, order, and other virtues.
The singular message that the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi strives to convey is the idea that the history of the Sassanid Empire was a complete and immutable whole: it started with
Keyumars, the first man, and ended with his fiftieth scion and successor,
Yazdegerd III, six thousand years of history of Iran. The task of Ferdowsi was to prevent this history from being lost to future Persian generations.
According to Jalal Khaleghi Mutlaq, the Shahnameh teaches a wide variety of moral virtues, like worship of one God; religious uprightness; patriotism; love of wife, family and children; and helping the poor.[10]
There are themes in the Shahnameh that were viewed with suspicion by the succession of Iranian regimes. During the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah, the epic was largely ignored in favor of the more obtuse, esoteric and dryly intellectual Persian literature.[11] Historians note that the theme of
regicide and the incompetence of kings embedded in the epic did not sit well with the Iranian monarchy. Later, there were Muslim figures such as
Dr. Ali Shariati, the hero of Islamic reformist youth of the 1970s, who were also antagonistic towards the contents of the Shahnameh since it included verses critical of Islam.[12] These include the line: tofu bar to, ey charkh-i gardun, tofu! (spit on your face, oh heavens spit!), which Ferdowsi used as a reference to the Muslim invaders who despoiled Zoroastrianism.[12]
After the Shahnameh, a number of other works similar in nature surfaced over the centuries within the cultural sphere of the Persian language. Without exception, all such works were based in style and method on the Shahnameh, but none of them could quite achieve the same degree of fame and popularity.
Some experts believe the main reason the
Modern Persian language today is more or less the same language as that of Ferdowsi's time over 1000 years ago is due to the very existence of works like the Shahnameh, which have had lasting and profound cultural and linguistic influence. In other words, the Shahnameh itself has become one of the main pillars of the modern Persian language. Studying Ferdowsi's masterpiece also became a requirement for achieving mastery of the Persian language by subsequent Persian poets, as evidenced by numerous references to the Shahnameh in their works.
It is claimed that Ferdowsi went to great lengths to avoid any words drawn from the
Arabic language, words which had increasingly infiltrated the Persian language following the
Arab conquest of Persia in the 7th century. Ferdowsi is even quoted:
بسی رنج بردم در این سال سی؛ عجم زنده کردم بدین پارسی | I have struggled much these thirty years in order to keep Persian ajam (meaning non-Arabic, or specifically Iranian). |
| |
Ferdowsi followed this path not only to preserve and purify the Persian language, but also as a stark political statement against the Arab conquest of Persia.[13] This assertion has been called into question by Mohammed Moinfar, who has noted that there are numerous examples of Arabic words in the Shahnameh which are effectively synonyms for Persian words previously used in the text. This calls into question the idea of Ferdowsi's deliberate eschewing of Arabic words.[14]
The Shahnameh has 62 stories, 990 chapters, and some 50,000 rhyming couplets, making it more than three times the length of
Homer's
Iliad, and more than twelve times the length of the German
Nibelungenlied. According to Ferdowsi himself, the final edition of the Shahnameh contained some sixty thousand distichs. But this is a round figure; most of the relatively reliable manuscripts have preserved a little over fifty thousand distichs.
Nezami-e Aruzi reports that the final edition of the Shahnameh sent to the court of Sultan
Mahmud of Ghazni was prepared in seven volumes.
![]()
A battle scene from the Baysonghori Shahnameh
The
Shirvanshah dynasty adopted many of their names from the Shahnameh. The relationship between Shirwanshah and his son, Manuchihr, is mentioned in chapter eight of
Nizami's Leili o Majnoon. Nizami advises the king's son to read the Shahnameh and to remember the meaningful sayings of the wise.[15]
Indeed, despite all claims to the contrary, there is no question that Persian influence was paramount among the
Seljuks of
Anatolia. This is clearly revealed by the fact that the sultans who ascended the throne after
Ghiyath al-Din Kai-Khusraw I assumed titles taken from ancient
Persian mythology, like
Kai Khosrow,
Kay Kāvus, and
Kai Kobad; and that
Ala' al-Din Kai-Qubad I had some passages from the Shahname inscribed on the walls of
Konya and
Sivas. When we take into consideration domestic life in the Konya courts and the sincerity of the favor and attachment of the rulers to Persian poets and Persian literature, then this fact (i.e. the importance of Persian influence) is undeniable.[16]
Shah
Ismail I (d.1524), the founder of the
Safavid dynasty of Iran, was also deeply influenced by the
Persian literary tradition, particularly by the Shahnameh, which probably explains the fact that he named all of his sons after Shahnameh characters. Dickson and Welch suggest that Ismail's Shāhnāmaye Shāhī was intended as a present to the young
Tahmāsp.[17] After defeating
Muhammad Shaybāni's
Uzbeks, Ismāil asked
Hātefī, a famous poet from
Jam (Khorasan), to write a Shahnameh-like epic about his victories and his newly established dynasty. Although the epic was left unfinished, it was an example of
mathnawis in the heroic style of the Shahnameh written later on for the Safavid kings.[18]
The Shahnameh's influence has extended beyond the Persian sphere. Professor Victoria Arakelova of Yerevan University states:
During the ten centuries passed after Firdausi composed his monumental work, heroic legends and stories of Shahnameh have remained the main source of the storytelling for the peoples of this region: Persians, Pashtuns, Kurds, Gurans, Talishis, Armenians, Georgians, North Caucasian peoples, etc.[19]
On Georgian identityThe names of many Šāh-nāma heroes, such as
Rostom-i, Thehmine,
Sam-i, or
Zaal-i, are found in 11th- and 12th-century Georgian literature. They are indirect evidence for an Old Georgian translation of the Šāh-nāma that is no longer extant. ...
The Šāh-nāma was translated, not only to satisfy the literary and aesthetic needs of readers and listeners, but also to inspire the young with the spirit of heroism and Georgian patriotism. Georgian ideology, customs, and worldview often informed these translations because they were oriented toward Georgian poetic culture. Conversely, Georgians consider these translations works of their native literature. Georgian versions of the Šāh-nāma are quite popular, and the stories of
Rostam and Sohrāb, or
Bījan and Maniža became part of Georgian folklore.[20]
Distinguished scholars of Persian such as Gvakharia and Todua are well aware that the inspiration derived from the Persian classics of the ninth to the twelfth centuries produced a ‘cultural synthesis’ which saw, in the earliest stages of written secular literature in Georgia, the resumption of literary contacts with Iran, “much stronger than before” (Gvakharia, 2001, p. 481). Ferdowsi’s Shahnama was a never-ending source of inspiration, not only for high literature, but for folklore as well. “Almost every page of Georgian literary works and chronicles [...] contains names of Iranian heroes borrowed from the Shahnama” (ibid). Ferdowsi, together with
Nezāmi, may have left the most enduring imprint on Georgian literature (...)[21]
On Turkic identityDespite some popular belief, the
Turanians of Shahnameh (whose sources are based on
Avesta and
Pahlavi texts) have no relationship with the ethno-linguistic group
Turk today.[22] The Turanians of Shahnameh are an
Iranian people representing Iranian nomads of the
Eurasian Steppes and have no relationship to the culture of the Turks.[22] Turan, which is the Persian name for the areas of Central Asia beyond the Oxus up to the 7th century (where the story of the Shahnameh ends), was generally an Iranian-speaking land.[23]
According to
Richard Frye, "The extent of influence of the Iranian epic is shown by the Turks who accepted it as their own ancient history as well as that of
Iran... The Turks were so much influenced by this cycle of stories that in the eleventh century AD we find the
Qarakhanid dynasty in Central Asia calling itself the 'family of Afrasiyab' and so it is known in the Islamic history."[24]
Turks, as an ethno-linguistic group, have been influenced by the Shahnameh since advent of
Saljuqs.[25]
Toghrul III of Seljuqs is said to have recited the Shahnameh while swinging his mace in battle.[25]According to
Ibn Bibi, in 618/1221 the Saljuq of
Rum Ala' al-Din Kay-kubaddecorated the walls of
Konya and
Sivas with verses from the Shahnameh.[26] The Turks themselves connected their origin not with Turkish tribal history but with the Turan of Shahnameh.[27] Specifically in India, through the Shahnameh, they felt themselves to be the last outpost tied to the civilized world by the thread of
Iranianism.[27]
![]()
A battle between the hosts of Iran and Turan during the reign of Kay Khusraw
Ferdowsi concludes the Shahnameh by writing:
I've reached the end of this great history And all the land will talk of me: I shall not die, these seeds I've sown will save My name and reputation from the grave, And men of sense and wisdom will proclaim When I have gone, my praises and my fame.[28]
Another translation of by Reza Jamshidi Safa:
Much I have suffered in these thirty years, I have revived the Ajam with my verse. I will not die then alive in the world, For I have spread the seed of the word. Whoever has sense, path and faith, After my death will send me praise.[29]
This prediction of Ferdowsi has come true and many Persian literary figures, historians and biographers have praised him and the Shahnameh. The Shahnameh is considered by many to be the most important piece of work in
Persian literature.
Western writers have also praised the Shahnameh and Persian literature in general. Persian literature has been considered by such thinkers as
Goethe as one of the four main bodies of world literature.[30] Goethe was inspired by Persian literature, which moved him to write his
West-Eastern Divan. Goethe wrote:
When we turn our attention to a peaceful, civilized people, the Persians, we must—since it was actually their poetry that inspired this work—go back to the earliest period to be able to understand more recent times. It will always seem strange to the historians that no matter how many times a country has been conquered, subjugated and even destroyed by enemies, there is always a certain national core preserved in its character, and before you know it, there re-emerges a long-familiar native phenomenon. In this sense, it would be pleasant to learn about the most ancient Persians and quickly follow them up to the present day at an all the more free and steady pace.[31]
BiographiesSargozasht-Nameh or biography of important poets and writers has long been a Persian tradition. Some of the biographies of Ferdowsi are now considered apocryphal, nevertheless this shows the important impact he had in the Persian world. Among the famous biographies are:[32]
- Chahar Maqaleh ("Four Articles") by Nezami 'Arudi-i Samarqandi
- Tazkeret Al-Shu'ara ("The Biography of poets") by Dowlat Shah-i Samarqandi
- Baharestan ("Abode of Spring") by Jami
- Lubab ul-Albab by Mohammad 'Awfi
- Natayej al-Afkar by Mowlana Muhammad Qudrat Allah
- Arafat Al-'Ashighin by Taqqi Al-Din 'Awhadi Balyani
Poets![]()
Bizhane receives an invitation through Manizheh's nurse
Famous poets of
Persia and the Persian tradition have praised and eulogized Ferdowsi. Many of them were heavily influenced by his writing and used his genre and stories to develop their own Persian epics, stories and poems:[32]
- Anvari remarked about the eloquence of the Shahnameh, "He was not just a Teacher and we his students. He was like a God and we are his slaves".[33]
- Asadi Tusi was born in the same city as Ferdowsi. His Garshaspnama was inspired by the Shahnameh as he attests in the introduction. He praises Ferdowsi in the introduction[34] and considers Ferdowsi the greatest poet of his time.[35]
- Masud Sa'ad Salman showed the influence of the Shahnameh only 80 years after its composition by reciting its poems in the Ghaznavid court of India.
- Othman Mokhtari, another poet at the Ghaznavid court of India, remarked, "Alive is Rustam through the epic of Ferdowsi, else there would not be a trace of him in this World".[36]
- Sanai believed that the foundation of poetry was really established by Ferdowsi.[37]
- Nizami Ganjavi was influenced greatly by Ferdowsi and three of his five "treasures" had to do with pre-Islamic Persia. His Khosro-o-Shirin, Haft Peykar and Eskandar-nameh used the Shahnameh as a major source. Nizami remarks that Ferdowsi is "the wise sage of Tus" who beautified and decorated words like a new bride.[38]
- Khaghani, the court poet of the Shirvanshah, wrote of Ferdowsi:
"The candle of the wise in this darkness of sorrow,The pure words of Ferdowsi of the Tusi are such,His pure sense is an angelic birth,Angelic born is anyone who's like Ferdowsi."[39]
- Attar wrote about the poetry of Ferdowsi: "Open eyes and through the sweet poetry see the heavenly eden of Ferdowsi."[40]
- In a famous poem, Sa'adi wrote:
"How sweetly has conveyed the pure-natured Ferdowsi,May blessing be upon his pure resting place,Do not harass the ant that's dragging a seed,because it has life and sweet life is dear."[41]
- In the Baharestan, Jami wrote, "He came from Tus and his excellence, renown and perfection are well known. Yes, what need is there of the panegyrics of others to that man who has composed verses as those of the Shah-nameh?"
Many other poets, e.g.
Hafez,
Rumi and other mystical poets, have used imageries of Shahnameh heroes in their poetry.
The tragedy of Sohrab
Rostam was unaware that he had a son, Sohrab, by Princess Tahmina. He had not seen the Princess for many years. After years without any real knowledge of one another, Rostam and Sohrab faced each other in battle, fighting on opposing sides. Rostam did not recognise his own son, although Sohrab had suspicions that Rostam may be his father.
They fought in single combat and Rostam wrestled Sohrab to the ground, stabbing him fatally. As he lay dying, Sohrab recalled how his love for his father – the mighty Rostam - had brought him there in the first place. Rostam, to his horror, realised the truth. He saw his own arm bracelet on Sohrab, which he had given to Tahmina many years before and which Tahmina had given to Sohrab before the battle, in the hope that it might protect him.
But he realised the truth too late. He had killed his own son, ‘the person who was dearer to him than all others’. This is one of the most tragic episodes of the Shahname.
Persian historiographyThe Shahnameh's impact on Persian historiography was immediate and some historians decorated their books with the verses of Shahnameh. Below is sample of ten important historians who have praised the Shahnameh and Ferdowsi:[32]
- The unknown writer of the Tarikh Sistan ("History of Sistan") written around 1053
- The unknown writer of Majmal al-Tawarikh wa Al-Qasas (c. 1126)
- Mohammad Ali Ravandi, the writer of the Rahat al-Sodur wa Ayat al-Sorur (c. 1206)
- Ibn Bibi, the writer of the history book, Al-Awamir al-'Alaiyah, written during the era of 'Ala ad-din KayGhobad
- Ibn Esfandyar, the writer of the Tarikh-e Tabarestan
- Muhammad Juwayni, the early historian of the Mongol era in the Tarikh-e Jahan Gushay (Ilkhanid era)
- Hamdollah Mostowfi Qazwini also paid much attention to the Shahnameh and wrote the Zafarnamah based on the same style in the Ilkhanid era
- Hafez-e Abru (1430) in the Majma' al-Tawarikh
- Khwand Mir in the Habab al-Siyar (c. 1523) praised Ferdowsi and gave an extensive biography on Ferdowsi
- The Arab historian Ibn Athir remarks in his book, Al-Kamil, that, "If we name it the Quran of 'Ajam, we have not said something in vain. If a poet writes poetry and the poems have many verses, or if someone writes many compositions, it will always be the case that some of their writings might not be excellent. But in the case of Shahnameh, despite having more than 40 thousand couplets, all its verses are excellent."[42]
Illustrated copiesThe Mongol rulers in Iran revived and spurred the patronage of the Shanameh in its manuscript form.[45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55] The "Great Mongol" or
Demotte Shahnameh, produced during the reign of the
Ilkhanid Sultan
Abu Sa'id, is one of the most illustrative and important copies of the Shahnameh.[56]
The
Timurids continued the tradition of manuscript production. For them, it was considered de rigueur for the members of the family to have personal copies of the epic poem.[57] Consequently, three of
Timur’s grandsons—
Bāysonḡor,
Ebrāhim Solṭān, and Moḥammad Juki—each commissioned such a volume.[57] Among these, the
Baysonghor Shahnameh commissioned by
Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Bāysonḡor is one of the most voluminous and artistic Shahnameh manuscripts.[58]
The production of illustrated Shahnameh manuscripts in the 15th century remained vigorous[57] during the
Qarā-Qoyunlu or Black Sheep (1380–1468) and
Āq Qoyunlu or White Sheep (1378–1508) Turkman dynasties.[57]Many of the extant illustrated copies, with more than seventy or more paintings, are attributable to
Tabriz,
Shiraz, and
Baghdad beginning in about the 1450s–60s and continuing to the end of the century.[57]
The
Safavid era saw a resurgence of Shahnameh productions.[57] Shah
Ismail I used the epic for propaganda purposes: as a gesture of Persian patriotism, as a celebration of renewed Persian rule, and as a reassertion of Persian royal authority.[57] The Safavids commissioned elaborate copies of the Shahnameh to support their legitimacy.[59][60] Among the high points of Shahnameh illustrations was the series of 250 miniatures commissioned by Shah Ismail for his son's
Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp.[61] Two similar cycles of illustration of the mid-17th century, the
Shahnameh of Rashida and the
Windsor Shahnameh, come from the last great period of the Persian miniature.
In honour of the Shahnameh's millennial anniversary, in 2010 the
Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge hosted a major exhibition, called "Epic of the Persian Kings: The Art of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh", which ran from September 2010 to January 2011.[62] The
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC also hosted an exhibition of folios from the 14th through the 16th centuries, called "Shahnama: 1000 Years of the Persian Book of Kings", from October 2010 to April 2011.[63]
In 2013
Hamid Rahmanian illustrated a new English translation of Shanameh (translated by
Ahmad Sadri) using images from various pictures of old manuscripts of the book to create new imagery.[64][65]
![]()
An illustration from the Shahnameh
Scholarly editions have been prepared of the Shahnameh. An early edition was prepared in 1829 in
India by T. Macan. It was based on a comparison of 17 manuscript copies. Between 1838 and 1878, an edition appeared in
Paris by
French scholar J. Mohl, which was based on a comparison of 30 manuscripts. Both editions lacked critical apparatuses and were based on secondary manuscripts dated after the 15th century; much later than the original work. Between 1877 and 1884, the
German scholar J. A. Vullers prepared a synthesized text of the Macan and Mohl editions, but only three of its expected nine volumes were published. The Vullers edition was later completed in Tehran by the Iranian scholars S. Nafisi, Iqbal, and M. Minowi for the millennial jubilee of Ferdowsi, held between 1934 and 1936.
The first modern critical edition of the Shahnameh was prepared by a
Russian team led by E. E. Bertels, using the oldest known manuscripts at the time, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, with heavy reliance on the 1276 manuscript from the
British Museum and the 1333 Leningrad manuscript, the latter of which has now been considered a secondary manuscript. In addition, two other manuscripts used in this edition have been so demoted. It was published in
Moscow by the Institute of Oriental Studies of the
Academy of Sciences of the USSR in nine volumes between 1960 and 1971.[66]
For many years, the Moscow edition was the standard text. In 1977, an early 1217 manuscript was rediscovered in Florence. The 1217 Florence manuscript is one of the earliest known copies of the Shahnameh, predating the Moghul invasion and the following destruction of important libraries and manuscript collections. Using it as the chief text, Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh began the preparation of a new critical edition in 1990. The number of manuscripts that were consulted during the preparation of Khaleghi-Motlagh edition goes beyond anything attempted by the Moscow team. The critical apparatus is extensive and a large number of variants for many parts of the poem were recorded. The last volume was published in 2008, bringing the eight-volume enterprise to a completion. According to
Dick Davis, professor of Persian at Ohio State University, it is "by far the best edition of the Shahnameh available, and it is surely likely to remain such for a very long time".[67]
The only known Arabic translation of the Shahnameh was done in c. 1220 by
al-Fath bin Ali al-Bondari, a Persian scholar from
Isfahan and at the request of the
Ayyubid ruler of Damascus
Al-Mu'azzam Isa. The translation is Nathr (unrhyming) and was largely forgotten until it was republished in full in 1932 in Egypt, by historian Abdelwahhab Azzam. This modern edition was based on incomplete and largely imprecise fragmented copies found in
Cambridge, Paris, Astana, Cairo and Berlin. The latter had the most complete, least inaccurate and well-preserved Arabic version of the original translation by al-Bondari.
There have been a number of English translations, almost all abridged.
James Atkinson of the
East India Company's medical service undertook a translation into English in his 1832 publication for the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland, now part of the
Royal Asiatic Society. Between 1905 and 1925, the brothers Arthur and Edmond Warner published a translation of the complete work in nine volumes, now out of print. There are also modern incomplete translations of the Shahnameh:
Reuben Levy's 1967 prose version (later revised by Amin Banani), and another by Dick Davis in a mixture of poetry and prose which appeared in 2006.[68] Also a new English translation of the book in prose by
Ahmad Sadri was published in 2013.[69]
The Parsis, Zoroastrians, whose ancestors had migrated to India in the 8th or 10th century so they could continue practice of their religion in peace, have also kept the Shahnameh traditions alive. Dr. Bahman Sohrabji Surti, assisted by Marzban Giara, published between 1986 and 1988 the first detailed and complete translation of the Shahnameh from the original Persian verse into English prose, in seven volumes.
Gujarati translationDastur Faramroz Kutar and his brother Ervad Mahiyar Kutar translated the Shahnameh into Gujarati verse and prose and published 10 volumes between 1914 and 1918.
Spanish translationA Spanish translation has been published in 2 volumes by the Islamic Research Institute of the Tehran Branch of McGill University.
In cultureShahnameh has also been adapted to many films and animations:
- In a 1971–1976, Tajikfilm trilogy comprising Skazanie o Rustame[1], Rustam i Sukhrab[2] and Skazanie o Sijavushe[3].
- Bangladesh has made a blockbuster film, Shourab Rustom, in 1993.
- A Bollywood film, Rustom Sohrab [4], based on the story of Rustam and Sohrab, was made in 1963 and starred Prithviraj Kapoor.
- Persian TV series Chehel Sarbaz (Forty Soldiers), released on 2007, directed by Mohammad Nourizad, concurrently tells the story of Rostam and Esfandiar, biography of Ferdowsi, and a few other historical events.[70]
- Persian short animation Zal & Simorgh, 1977, directed by Ali Akbar Sadeghi, narrates the story of Zal from birth until returning to the human society.
- The Legend of Mardoush (2005), a long animated Persian trilogy, tells the mythical stories of Shahnameh from the kingdom of Jamshid to the victory of Fereydun over Zahhak.
- The Last Fiction (2017), a long animated movie, has an open interpretation of the story of Zahhak.[71] The movie is preceded by the graphic novels Jamshid Dawn 1 & 2 (created by the same team) whose aim is to familiarize adolescents and youth with the myth of Jamshid.
See alsoReferences- Lalani, Farah (13 May 2010). "A thousand years of Firdawsi's Shahnama is celebrated". The Ismaili. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
- Ashraf, Ahmad (30 March 2012). "Iranian Identity iii. Medieval Islamic Period". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved April 2010.
- Khaleghi-Motlagh, Djalal (26 January 2012). "Ferdowsi, Abu'l Qāsem i. Life". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
the poet refers... to the date of the Šāh-nāma’s completion as the day of Ard (i.e., 25th) of Esfand in the year 378 Š. (400 Lunar)/8 March 1010
- Zaehner, Robert Charles (1955). Zurvan: a Zoroastrian Dilemma. Biblo and Tannen. p. 10. ISBN 0819602809.
- "A possible predecessor to the Khvatay-Namak could be the Chihrdad, one of the destroyed books of the Avesta (known to us because of its listing and description in the Middle Persian Zoroastrian text, the Dinkard 8.13)." K.E. Eduljee, Zoroastrian Heritage, "Ferdowsi's Shahnameh," http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/shahnameh/
- Safa, Zabihollah (2000). Hamase-sarâ’i dar Iran, Tehran 1945.
- Shahbazi, A. Shapur (1991). Ferdowsī: A Critical Biography. Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers. p. 49. ISBN 0939214830.
- Khatibi, Abolfazl (1384/2005). Anti-Arab verses in the Shahnameh. 21, 3, Autumn 1384/2005: Nashr Danesh.
- Katouzian, Homa (2013). Iran: Politics, History and Literature. Oxon: Routledge. p. 138. ISBN 9780415636896.
- Mutlaq, Jalal Khaleqi (1993). "Iran Garai dar Shahnameh" [Iran-centrism in the Shahnameh]. Hasti Magazine. Tehran: Bahman Publishers. 4.
- Ansari, Ali (2012). The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 193. ISBN 9780521867627.
- Fischer, Michael (2004). Mute Dreams, Blind Owls, and Dispersed Knowledges: Persian Poesis in the Transnational Circuitry. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780822385516.
- "Ferdowsi's "Shahnameh": The Book of Kings". The Economist. 16 September 2010.
- Perry, John (23 June 2010). "Šāh-nāma v. Arabic Words". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
- Seyed-Gohrab, Ali Ashgar (2003). Laylī and Majnūn: Love, Madness and Mystic Longing in Niẓāmī's Epic Romance. Leiden: Brill. p. 276. ISBN 9004129421.
- Köprülü, Mehmed Fuad (2006). Early Mystics in Turkish Literature. Translated by Gary Leiser and Robert Dankoff. London: Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 0415366860.
- Dickson, M.B.; and Welch, S.C. (1981). The Houghton Shahnameh. Volume I. Cambridge, MA and London. p. 34.
- Savory, R. M. "Safavids". Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.).
- Arakelova, Victoria. "Shahnameh in the Kurdish and Armenian Oral Tradition (abridged)" (PDF). Retrieved 28 May 2012.
- Giunshvili, Jamshid Sh. (15 June 2005). "Šāh-nāma Translations ii. Into Georgian". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
- Bosworth, C.E. "Barbarian Incursions: The Coming of the Turks into the Islamic World". In Islamic Civilization, ed. D.S. Richards. Oxford, 1973. p. 2. "Firdawsi's Turan are, of course, really Indo-European nomads of Eurasian Steppes... Hence as Kowalski has pointed out, a Turkologist seeking for information in the Shahnama on the primitive culture of the Turks would definitely be disappointed. "
- Bosworth, C.E. "The Appearance of the Arabs in Central Asia under the Umayyads and the Establishment of Islam". In History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. IV: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century, Part One: The Historical, Social and Economic Setting, ed. M.S. Asimov and C.E. Bosworth. Multiple History Series. Paris: Motilal Banarsidass Publ./UNESCO Publishing, 1999. p. 23. "Central Asia in the early seventh century, was ethnically, still largely an Iranian land whose people used various Middle Iranian languages."
- Frye, Richard N. (1963). The Heritage of Persia: The Pre-Islamic History of One of the World's Great Civilizations. New York: World Publishing Company. pp. 40–41.
- Özgüdenli, Osman G. (15 November 2006). "Šāh-nāma Translations i. Into Turkish". Encyclopædia Iranica.
- Blair, Sheila S. (1992). The Monumental Inscriptions from Early Islamic Iran and Transoxiana. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 11. ISBN 9004093672.
According to Ibn Bibi, in 618/1221 the Saljuq of Rum Ala' al-Din Kay-kubad decorated the walls of Konya and Sivas with verses from the Shah-nama
- Schimmel, Annemarie. "Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact". In Islam and Cultural Change in the Middle Ages, ed. Speros Vryonis, Jr. Undena Publications, 1975. pp. 107–26. "In fact as much as early rulers felt themselves to be Turks, they connected their Turkish origin not with Turkish tribal history but rather with the Turan of Shahnameh: in the second generation their children bear the name of Firdosi’s heroes, and their Turkish lineage is invariably traced back to Afrasiyab—whether we read Barani in the fourteenth century or the Urdu master poet Ghalib in the nineteenth century. The poets, and through them probably most of the educated class, felt themselves to be the last outpost tied to the civilized world by the thread of Iranianism. The imagery of poetry remained exclusively Persian. "
- Ferdowsi (2006). Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings. Translated by Dick Davis. New York: Viking. ISBN 0670034851.
- Ferdowsi's poet, (2010). Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings. Translated by Reza Jamshidi Safa. Tehran, Iran.
- Christensen, Karen; Levinson, David, eds. (2002). Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 48. ISBN 0684806177.
- Azodi, Wiesehöfer (August 18, 2001). Ancient Persia: From 550 BC to 650 AD (New ed.). London: I. B. Tauris. p. Introduction. ISBN 1860646751.
- Nurian, Mahdi (1993). "Afarin Ferdowsi az Zaban Pishinian" [Praises of Ferdowsi from the Tongue of the Ancients]. Hasti Magazine. Tehran: Bahman Publishers. 4.
- Persian: "آفرين بر روان فردوسی / آن همايون نهاد و فرخنده / او نه استاد بود و ما شاگرد / او خداوند بود و ما بنده"
- Persian: "که فردوسی طوسی پاک مغز / بدادست داد سخنهای نغز / به شهنامه گیتی بیاراستست / بدان نامه نام نکو خواستست"
- Persian: "که از پیش گویندگان برد گوی"
- Persian: "زنده رستم به شعر فردوسی است / ور نه زو در جهان نشانه کجاست؟"
- Persian: "چه نکو گفت آن بزرگ استاد / که وی افکند نظم را بنیاد"
- Persian: "سخن گوی دانای پیشین طوسکه آراست روی سخن چون عروس"
- Persian: "شمع جمع هوشمندان است در دیجور غم / نکته ای کز خاطر فردوسی طوسی بود / زادگاه طبع پاکش جملگی حوراوش اند / زاده حوراوش بود چون مرد فردوسی بود"
- Persian: "باز کن چشم و ز شعر چون شکر / در بهشت عدن فردوسی نگر"
- Persian: "چه خوش گفت فردوسی پاکزاد / که رحمت بر آن تربت پاک باد / میازار موری که دانه کش است / که جان دارد و جان شیرین خوش است"
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- "Ten Most Expensive Books of 2006". Fine Books & Collections.
- ""Bayasanghori Shâhnâmeh" (Prince Bayasanghor's Book of the Kings)". UNESCO. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
- Lawrence, Lee (Dec 6, 2013). "Politics and the Persian Language". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on Dec 8, 2013.
- Simpson, Marianna Shreve (April 21, 2009). "ŠĀH-NĀMA iv. Illustrations". iranicaonline.org. Encyclopædia Iranica.
- Eduljee, K. E. "Ferdowsi Shahnameh Manuscripts". www.heritageinstitute.com. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
- Michael Burgan (2009). Empire of the Mongols. Infobase Publishing. pp. 129–. ISBN 978-1-60413-163-5.
- Adamjee, Authors: Stefano Carboni, Qamar. "The Art of the Book in the Ilkhanid Period - Essay - Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History - The Metropolitan Museum of Art". The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
- Komaroff, Authors: Suzan Yalman, Linda. "The Art of the Ilkhanid Period (1256–1353) - Essay - Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History - The Metropolitan Museum of Art". The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
- Vladimir Lukonin; Anatoly Ivanov (30 June 2012). Persian Art. Parkstone International. pp. 65–. ISBN 978-1-78042-893-2.
- "Bahram Gur in a Peasant's House, Ilkhanid Dynasty". Khan Academy.
- "Leaf from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) « Islamic Arts and Architecture".
- "Style in Islamic Art (1250 - 1500 A.D) « Islamic Arts and Architecture".
- Blair, Sheila S. "Rewriting the History of the Great Mongol Shahnama". In Shahnama: The Visual Language of the Persian Book of Kings, ed. Robert Hillenbrand. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004. p. 35. ISBN 0754633675.
- Simpson, Marianna Shreve Simpson (7 May 2012). "Šāh-nāma iv. Illustrations". Encyclopædia Iranica.
- Motlagh, Khaleghi; T. Lentz (15 December 1989). "Bāysonḡorī Šāh-nāma". Encyclopædia Iranica.
- John L. Esposito, ed. (1999). The Oxford History of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 364. ISBN 0195107993.
To support their legitimacy, the Safavid dynasty of Iran (1501–1732) devoted a cultural policy to establish their regime as the reconstruction of the historic Iranian monarchy. To the end, they commissioned elaborate copies of the Shahnameh, the Iranian national epic, such as this one made for Tahmasp in the 1520s.
- Lapidus, Ira Marvin (2002). A History of Islamic Societies (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 445. ISBN 0521779332.
To bolster the prestige of the state, the Safavid dynasty sponsored an Iran-Islamic style of culture concentrating on court poetry, painting, and monumental architecture that symbolized not only the Islamic credentials of the state but also the glory of the ancient Persian traditions.
- Ahmed, Akbar S. (2002). Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society (2nd ed.). London: Psychology Press. p. 70. ISBN 0415285259.
Perhaps the high point was the series of 250 miniatures which illustrated the Shah Nama commissioned by Shah Ismail for his son Tahmasp.
- "Exhibition: Epic of the Persian Kings: The Art of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh". The Fitzwilliam Museum. Archived from the original on 11 April 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
- "Shahnama: 1000 Years of the Persian Book of Kings". Freer and Sackler Galleries. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
- Fassihi, Farnaz (4: 58 pm ET May 23, 2013). "Shahnameh, a Persian Masterpiece, Still Relevant Today". The Wall Street Journal. IRAN.
- "Shahnameh : The Epic of the Persian Kings by Sheila Canby, Ahmad Sadri and Abolqasem Ferdowsi (2013, Hardcover) - eBay". www.ebay.com.
- Osmanov, M. N. O. "Ferdowsi, Abul Qasim". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
- Davis, Dick (Aug 1995). "Review: The Shahnameh by Abul-Qasem Ferdowsi, Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh". International Journal of Middle East Studies. Cambridge University Press. 27 (3): 393–395. JSTOR 176284.
- Loloi, Parvin (2014). "Šāh-Nāma Translations iii. Into English". Encyclopedia Iranica. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- Lyden, Jacki. "'Heart' Of Iranian Identity Reimagined For A New Generation". NPR. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
- Producer's web site (Persian)
- "Iran animation invited to Cannes Film Festival - ISNA". En.isna.ir. 2016-05-01. Retrieved 2016-10-29.
- Poet Moniruddin Yusuf (1919–1987) translated the full version of Shahnameh into the Bengali Language (1963–1981). It was published by the National Organisation of Bangladesh Bangla Academy, in six volumes, in February 1991.
- Borjian, Habib and Maryam Borjian. 2005–2006. The Story of Rostam and the White Demon in Māzandarāni. Nāme-ye Irān-e Bāstān 5/1-2 (ser. nos. 9 & 10), pp. 107–116.
- Shirzad Aghaee, Imazh-ha-ye mehr va mah dar Shahnama-ye Ferdousi (Sun and Moon in the Shahnama of Ferdousi, Spånga, Sweden, 1997. (ISBN 91-630-5369-1)
- Shirzad Aghaee, Nam-e kasan va ja'i-ha dar Shahnama-ye Ferdousi (Personalities and Places in the Shahnama of Ferdousi, Nyköping, Sweden, 1993. (ISBN 91-630-1959-0)
- Eleanor Sims. 1992. The Illustrated Manuscripts of Firdausī's "shāhnāma" Commissioned by Princes of the House of Tīmūr. Ars Orientalis 22. The Smithsonian Institution: 43–68. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629424.
Persian text- A. E. Bertels (editor), Shax-nāme: Kriticheskij Tekst, nine volumes (Moscow: Izdatel'stvo Nauka, 1960–71) (scholarly Persian text)
- Jalal Khāleghi Motlagh (editor), The Shahnameh, in 12 volumes consisting of eight volumes of text and four volumes of explanatory notes. (Bibliotheca Persica, 1988–2009) (scholarly Persian text). See: Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University.
AdaptationsModern English graphic novels:
- Rostam: Tales from the Shahnameh, Hyperwerks, 2005, ISBN 0-9770213-1-9, about the story of Rostam & Sohrab.
- Rostam: Return of the King, Hyperwerks, 2007, ISBN 0-9770213-2-7, about the story of Kai-Kavous and Soodabeh.
- Rostam: Battle with The Deevs, Hyperwerks, 2008, ISBN 978-0-9770213-3-8, the story of the evil White Deev.
- Rostam: Search for the King, Hyperwerks, 2010, ISBN 978-0-9770213-4-5, the story of Rostam's childhood.
External links| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shahnameh. |
| Persian Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
| Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
- English translations by
- Helen Zimmern, 1883, Iran Chamber Society, MIT
- Arthur and Edmond Warner, 1905–1925, (in nine volumes) at the Internet Archive: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
- A king's book of kings: the Shah-nameh of Shah Tahmasp, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF)
- Firdowsi & the Shahname | Kaveh Farrokh
- Text of the Shahnameh in Persian, section by section
十九世纪是工业革命的时代。随着资本主义在西欧各国大行其道，资产阶级意识形态跃居统治地位，功利和实用成为社会崇尚的价值。萨特在《什么是文学》中 曾阐述十九世纪作家与资产阶级的关系。资产阶级把作家看成一种专家，不希望他如同在过去时代那样去思考社会秩序，只要求他阐述一些心理规律，让读者——主 要是资产者——分享他对人的内心世界的实际经验。而由于写作的本性是自由，作家需要维护形式自由。这就产生矛盾。最优秀的作家拒绝与资产阶级合作，他们吹 嘘自己斩断了与资产阶级读者的一切联系。但是他们的决裂只能是象征性的，因为只有资产者读他们的书，能够给予他们荣耀。当
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河岸﹑水邊。呂氏春秋˙孝行覽˙本味：「江浦之橘，雲夢之柚。」宋˙王安石˙題燕侍郎山水圖：「往時濯足蕩湘浦，獨上九嶷尋二女。」
泛指池塘等水面。如：「荷浦」﹑「蓮浦」。宋˙蘇軾˙澄邁驛通潮閣詩二首之一：「貪看白鷺橫秋浦，不覺青林沒晚潮。」宋˙姜夔˙念奴嬌˙鬧紅一舸詞：「只恐舞衣寒易落，愁入西風南浦。」
河川主﹑支流匯合處或入海口。唐˙李白˙荊門浮舟望蜀江詩：「流目浦煙夕，揚帆海月生。」宋˙柳永˙煮海歌：「年年春夏潮盈浦，潮退刮泥成島嶼。」
廖亦武呼吁世界舆论更多地关注底层受难人士 
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