Plate with a hunting scene from the tale ofBahram Gur andAzadeh. The imagery on this plate represents the earliest known depiction of a well-known episode from the story of Bahram Gur, which seems to have been popular for centuries, but was only recorded in the Shahnameh, centuries after this plate was created. Iran,c. 5th century A.D.Metropolitan Museum of Art
The work is of central importance in Persian culture andPersian language. It is regarded as a literary masterpiece, and definitive of the ethno-national cultural identity of Iran.[7]
Ferdowsi started writing theShahnameh in 977 and completed it on 8 March 1010.[8] TheShahnameh is a monument of poetry andhistoriography, being mainly the poetical recast of what Ferdowsi, his contemporaries, and his predecessors regarded as the account ofIran's ancient history. Many such accounts already existed in prose, an example being theShahnameh of Abu-Mansur. A small portion of Ferdowsi's work, in passages scattered throughout theShahnameh, is entirely of his own conception.
TheShahnameh is an epic poem of over 50,000couplets written inEarly New Persian. It is based mainly on a prose work of the same name compiled in Ferdowsi's earlier life in his nativeTus. This proseShahnameh was in turn and for the most part the translation of a Pahlavi (Middle Persian) work, known as theKhwadāy-Nāmag "Book of Kings", a late Sasanian compilation of the history of the kings and heroes of Persia from mythical times down to the reign ofKhosrow II (590–628). TheKhwadāy-Nāmag contained historical information on the later Sasanian period, but it does not appear to have drawn on any historical sources for the earlier Sasanian period (3rd to 4th centuries).[9] Ferdowsi added material continuing the story to the overthrow of the Sasanians by the Muslim armies in the middle of the seventh century.
The first to undertake the versification of the Pahlavi chronicle wasDaqiqi, a contemporary of Ferdowsi, poet at the court of theSamanid Empire, who came to a violent end after completing only 1,000 verses. These verses, which deal with the rise of the prophetZoroaster, were afterward incorporated by Ferdowsi, with acknowledgment, in his own poem. The style of theShahnameh shows characteristics of both written and oral literature. Some claim that Ferdowsi also used Zoroastriannasks, such as the now-lostChihrdad, as sources as well.[10]
Many otherPahlavi sources were used in composing the epic, prominent being theKar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan, which was originally written during the late Sassanid era and gave accounts of howArdashir 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 ofModern Persian. A great portion of the historical chronicles given inShahnameh 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 toZabihollah Safa.[11]
Traditional historiography in Iran holds that Ferdowsi was grieved by the fall of theSasanian Empire and its subsequent rule by Arabs and Turks. TheShahnameh, 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, by learning from it, they could acquire the knowledge needed to build a better world.[12] 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.[13]
This portion of theShahnameh is relatively short, amounting to some 2100 verses or four percent of the entire book.
After an opening in praise of God and Wisdom, theShahnameh gives an account of the creation of the world and of man as believed by theSasanians. 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 grandsonHushang, son ofSiamak, accidentally discovered fire and established theSadeh Feast in its honor. Stories ofTahmuras,Jamshid,Zahhak,Kawa orKaveh,Fereydun and his three sonsSalm,Tur, andIraj, and his grandsonManuchehr are related in this section.
Heroic age
Almost two-thirds of theShahnameh are devoted to the age of heroes, extending from Manuchehr's reign until the conquest ofAlexander the Great. This age is also identified as the kingdom of theKayanians, which established a long history of heroic age in which myth and legend are combined.[14] The main feature of this period is the major role played by theSaka orSistani heroes who appear as the backbone of the Empire.Garshasp is briefly mentioned with his sonNariman, whose own sonSam acted as the leading paladin of Manuchehr while reigning in Sistan in his own right. His successors were his sonZal and Zal's sonRostam, the bravest of the brave, and then Faramarz.
A brief mention of theArsacid dynasty follows the history of Alexander and precedes that ofArdashir I, founder of the Sasanian Empire. After this, Sasanian history is related with a good deal of accuracy. The fall of the Sassanids and the Arab conquest of Persia are narrated romantically.
Message
According to Jalal Khaleghi Mutlaq, theShahnameh 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.[15]
There are themes in the Shahnameh that were viewed with suspicion by the succession of Iranian regimes. During the reign ofMohammad Reza Shah, the epic was largely ignored in favor of the more abstruse, esoteric and dryly intellectual Persian literature.[16] Historians note that the theme ofregicide and the incompetence of kings embedded in the epic did not sit well with the Iranian monarchy. Later, there were Muslim figures such asAli 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.[17] 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.[17]
After theShahnameh, 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 theShahnameh, but none of them could quite achieve the same degree of fame and popularity.
Some experts[who?] believe the main reason theModern 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 theShahnameh, which have had lasting and profound cultural and linguistic influence. In other words, theShahnameh 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 theShahnameh in their works.
Although 19th-century British Iranologist E. G. Browne has claimed that Ferdowsi purposefully avoided Arabic vocabulary, this claim has been challenged by modern scholarship, specifically Mohammed Moinfar, who has noted that there are numerous examples of Arabic words in theShahnameh 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.[18]
TheShahnameh has 62 stories, 990 chapters, and some 50,000 rhyming couplets, making it more than three times the length ofHomer'sIliad and more than twelve times the length of the GermanNibelungenlied. According to Ferdowsi himself, the final edition of theShahnameh 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.Nizami Aruzi reports that the final edition of theShahnameh sent to the court of SultanMahmud of Ghazni was prepared in seven volumes.
TheShirvanshah dynasty adopted many of their names from theShahnameh. The relationship between Shirvanshah and his son, Manuchihr, is mentioned in chapter eight ofNizami'sLayla and Majnun. Nizami advises the king's son to read theShahnameh and to remember the meaningful sayings of the wise.[19]
Indeed, despite all claims to the contrary, there is no question that Persian influence was paramount among theSeljuks ofAnatolia. This is clearly revealed by the fact that the sultans who ascended the throne afterGhiyath al-Din Kai-Khusraw I assumed titles taken from ancientPersian mythology, likeKai Khosrow,Kay Kāvus, andKai Kobad; and thatAla' al-Din Kai-Qubad I had some passages from the Shahname inscribed on the walls ofKonya andSivas. 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.[20]
ShahIsmail I (d.1524), the founder of theSafavid dynasty of Iran, was also deeply influenced by thePersian literary tradition, particularly by theShahnameh, which probably explains the fact that he named all of his sons afterShahnameh characters. Dickson and Welch suggest that Ismail'sShāhnāma-i Shāhī was intended as a present to the youngTahmasp.[21] After defeatingMuhammad Shaybani'sUzbeks, Ismail askedHatefi, a famous poet fromJam (Khorasan), to write aShahnameh-like epic about his victories and his newly established dynasty. Although the epic was left unfinished, it was an example ofmathnawis in the heroic style of theShahnameh written later on for the Safavid kings.[22]
TheShahnameh'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, Kurds, Gurans, Talishis, Armenians, Georgians, North Caucasian peoples, etc.[23]
The names of manyŠāh-nāma heroes, such asRostom-i, Thehmine,Sam-i, orZaal-i, are found in 11th- and 12th-century Georgian literature. They are indirect evidence for an Old Georgian translation of theŠāh-nāma that is no longer extant. ...
TheŠāh-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 theŠāh-nāma are quite popular, and the stories ofRostam and Sohrāb, orBījan and Maniža became part of Georgian folklore.[24]
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'sShahnama 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 theShahnama" (ibid). Ferdowsi, together withNezāmi, may have left the most enduring imprint on Georgian literature (...)[25]
On Turkic identity
Despite a belief held by some, theTuranian ofShahnameh (whose sources are based onAvesta andPahlavi texts) have no relationship withTurks.[26] The Turanians of theShahnameh are anIranian people representing Iranian nomads of theEurasian Steppes and have no relationship to the culture of the Turks.[26] Turan, which is the Persian name for the areas of Central Asia beyond the Oxus up to the 7th century (where the story of theShahnameh ends), was generally an Iranian-speaking land.[27]
According toRichard 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 ofIran... The Turks were so much influenced by this cycle of stories that in the eleventh century AD we find theQarakhanid dynasty in Central Asia calling itself the 'family of Afrasiyab' and so it is known in the Islamic history."[28]
Turks, as an ethno-linguistic group, have been influenced by theShahnameh since the advent ofSeljuks.[29] The Seljuk sultanToghrul III is said to have recited theShahnameh while swinging his mace in battle.[29] According toIbn Bibi, 1221[clarification needed] the Seljuk sultan ofRumAla' al-Din Kay-kubad decorated the walls ofKonya andSivas with verses from theShahnameh.[30] The Turks themselves connected their origin not with Turkish tribal history but with the Turanians ofShahnameh.[31] Specifically in India, through theShahnameh, they felt themselves to be the last outpost tied to the civilized world by the thread ofIranianism.[31]
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
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,
Many Persian literary figures, historians and biographers have praised Ferdowsi and theShahnameh. TheShahnameh is considered by many to be the most important piece of work inPersian literature.
Western writers have also praised theShahnameh and Persian literature in general. Persian literature has been considered by such thinkers asGoethe as one of the four main bodies of world literature.[34] Goethe was inspired by Persian literature, which moved him to write hisWest-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.[35]
Biographies
Sargozasht-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:[36]
Famous poets ofPersia 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:[36]
Anvari remarked about the eloquence of theShahnameh, "He was not just a Teacher and we his students. He was like a God and we are his slaves".[37]
Asadi Tusi was born in the same city as Ferdowsi. HisGarshaspnama was inspired by theShahnameh as he attests in the introduction. He praises Ferdowsi in the introduction[38] and considers Ferdowsi the greatest poet of his time.[39]
Masud Sa'ad Salman showed the influence of theShahnameh only 80 years after its composition by reciting its poems in theGhaznavid 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".[40]
Sanai believed that the foundation of poetry was really established by Ferdowsi.[41]
Nizami Ganjavi was influenced greatly by Ferdowsi and three of his five "treasures" had to do with pre-Islamic Persia. HisKhosro-o-Shirin,Haft Peykar andEskandar-nameh used theShahnameh as a major source. Nizami remarks that Ferdowsi is "the wise sage of Tus" who beautified and decorated words like a new bride.[42]
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.[43]
Attar wrote about the poetry of Ferdowsi: "Open eyes and through the sweet poetry see the heavenly eden of Ferdowsi."[44]
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.[45]
In theBaharestan,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 the imagery ofShahnameh heroes in their poetry.
Persian historiography
TheShahnameh'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 theShahnameh and Ferdowsi:[36]
The unknown writer of theTarikh Sistan ("History ofSistan") written around 1053
The Arab historianIbn Athir remarks in his book,Al-Kamil, that, "If we name it the Quran of'Ajam [i.e., Persians], 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 theShahnameh, despite having more than 40 thousand couplets, all its verses are excellent."[46]
Alexander legends
TheShahnameh contains thefirst Persian legend of Alexander the Great in the tradition of theAlexander Romance. Three sections of theShahnameh are dedicated to Alexander, running over 2,500 verses in total, and Alexander's life is the work's turning point between mythic and historical rulers of Persia. It also represents a turning point of Persian-language representations of Alexander, from negative in pre-Islamic Zoroastrian writings to positive.[47][48] After theShahnameh introduced the Alexander Romance tradition into Persian, the genre would become popular and numerous Alexander legends would be composed in the language, with the most significant works owing much to theShahnameh. These include the anonymousIskandarnameh, theIskandarnameh of Nizami, theAyina-i Iskandari ofAmir Khusrau, and others.[49]
The Mongol rulers in Iran revived and spurred the patronage of theShahnameh in its manuscript form.[52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59] The "Great Mongol" orDemotteShahnameh, produced during the reign of theIlkhanid sultanAbu Sa'id, is one of the most illustrative and important copies of theShahnameh.[60]
TheTimurids continued the tradition of manuscript production. For them, it was considered proper for the members of the family to have personal copies of the epic poem.[61] Consequently, three ofTimur's grandsons—Baysunghur,Ibrahim Sultan, andMoḥammad Juki—each commissioned such a volume.[61] Among these, theBaysunghurShahnameh is one of the most voluminous and artisticShahnameh manuscripts.[62]
The production of illustratedShahnameh manuscripts in the 15th century remained vigorous[61] under theQara Qoyunlu (1380–1468) andAq Qoyunlu (1378–1508) Turkman dynasties.[61] Many of the extant illustrated copies, with more than seventy or more paintings, are attributable toTabriz,Shiraz, andBaghdad beginning in about the 1450s–60s and continuing to the end of the century.[61]
A resurgence ofShahnameh manuscript production occurred in theSafavid era.[61] ShahIsmail 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.[61] The Safavids commissioned elaborate copies of theShahnameh to support their legitimacy.[63][64] Among the high points ofShahnameh illustrations was the series of 250 miniatures commissioned by Shah Ismail for his son'sShahnameh of Shah Tahmasp.[65] Two similar cycles of illustration of the mid-17th century, theShahnameh of Rashida and theWindsorShahnameh, come from the last great period of the Persian miniature.
In honour of theShahnameh's millennial anniversary, in 2010 theFitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge hosted a major exhibition, called "Epic of the Persian Kings: The Art of Ferdowsi'sShahnameh", which ran from September 2010 to January 2011.[66] TheArthur M. Sackler Gallery of theSmithsonian 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.[67]
In 2013Hamid Rahmanian illustrated a new English translation of theShahnameh (translated byAhmad Sadri) creating new imagery from old manuscripts.[68][69]
Scholarly editions have been prepared of theShahnameh.In 1808 Mathew Lumsden (1777–1835) undertook the work of an edition of the poem. The first of eight planned volumes was published in Kolkata in 1811. But Lumsden didn't finish any further volumes.In 1829 Turner Macan published the first complete edition of the poem. It was based on a comparison of 17 manuscript copies.
Between 1838 and 1878, an edition appeared by French scholarJulius von Mohl, which was based on a comparison of 30 manuscripts. After Mohl's death in 1876, the last of its seven volumes was completed byCharles Barbier de Meynard, Mohl's successor to the chair of Persian of the College de France.[70]
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 Johann August Vullers prepared a synthesized text of the Macan and Mohl editions under the titleFirdusii liber regum, 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 theShahnameh was prepared by a Russian team led byE. 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 theBritish 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 theAcademy of Sciences of the USSR in nine volumes between 1960 and 1971.[71]
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 theShahnameh, predating the Mongol 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 the Khaleghi-Motlagh edition goes beyond anything attempted by the Moscow team. The critical apparatus is the extensive number of variants for many parts of the poem that were recorded. The last volume was published in 2008, bringing the eight-volume enterprise to completion. According toDick Davis, professor of Persian at Ohio State University, it is "by far the best edition of theShahnameh available, and it is surely likely to remain such for a very long time".[72]
Arabic translation
The only known Arabic translation of theShahnameh was done inc. 1220 byal-Fath bin Ali al-Bundari, a Persian scholar fromIsfahan and at the request of theAyyubid ruler of DamascusAl-Mu'azzam Isa. The translation is unrhyming (nathr) 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 inCambridge, 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.
English translations
There have been several English translations, almost all abridged.James Atkinson of theEast 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 theRoyal 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 abridged translations of theShahnameh: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.[73] Also, a new English translation of the book in prose byAhmad Sadri was published in 2013.[74]
Other languages
There are various translations of theShahnameh into French and German. An Italian translation was published in eight volumes byItalo Pizzi with the titleIl libro dei re in 1886–1888 (later reissued in two volumes with a compendium in 1915).
Dastur Faramroz Kutar and his brother Ervad Mahiyar Kutar translated theShahnameh into Gujarati verse and prose and published 10 volumes between 1914 and 1918.[citation needed]
A Spanish translation was published in two volumes by the Islamic Research Institute of the Tehran Branch of McGill University.[citation needed]
In popular culture
The Soviet Armenian composerSergey Balasanian and Tajik composer Sharif Bobokalonov wrote the operaKova the Blacksmith (Кузнец Кова) based on the story ofZahhak andKaveh from theShahnameh. It premiered in 1940 in concert with a Russian libretto, and in 1941 on stage with a Tajik-language libretto by Abulkasim Lahuti.[75][76]
TheShahnameh has also been adapted to many films and animations:
In 1971–1976,Tajikfilm produced a trilogy comprisingSkazanie o Rustame,Rustam i Sukhrab andSkazanie o Siyavushe.
Zal & Simorgh (1977), Persian short animation directed byAli Akbar Sadeghi, narrates the story ofZāl from birth until returning to the human society.[80]
Kova the Blacksmith (1987), a short Russian-languagecutout animation made at Tajikfilm by director Munavar Mansurhojaev, based on the story ofZahhak andKaveh.[81]
Chehel Sarbaz (2007), Persian TV series directed byMohammad Nourizad, concurrently tells the story ofRostam andEsfandiar, biography ofFerdowsi, and a few other historical events.[82]
^Khaleghi-Motlagh, Djalal (26 January 2012)."Ferdowsi, Abu'l Qāsem i. Life".Encyclopædia Iranica.Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved27 May 2012.the poet refers [...] to the date of theŠāh-nāma's completion as the day of Ard (i.e., 25th) of Esfand in the year 378 Š. (400 Lunar)/8 March 1010
^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.ISBN0-939214-83-0.
^Khatibi, Abolfazl (2005).Anti-Arab verses in the Shahnameh. 21, 3, Autumn 1384/2005: Nashr Danesh.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^Katouzian, Homa (2013).Iran: Politics, History and Literature. Oxon: Routledge. p. 138.ISBN978-0-415-63689-6.
^Mutlaq, Jalal Khaleqi (1993). "Iran Garai dar Shahnameh" [Iran-centrism in the Shahnameh].Hasti Magazine.4. Tehran: Bahman Publishers.
^Ansari, Ali (2012).The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 193.ISBN978-0-521-86762-7.
^abFischer, Michael (2004).Mute Dreams, Blind Owls, and Dispersed Knowledges: Persian Poesis in the Transnational Circuitry. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 21.ISBN978-0-8223-8551-6.
^Seyed-Gohrab, Ali Ashgar (2003).Laylī and Majnūn: Love, Madness and Mystic Longing in Niẓāmī's Epic Romance. Leiden: Brill. p. 276.ISBN9004129421.
^Köprülü, Mehmed Fuad (2006).Early Mystics in Turkish Literature. Translated by Gary Leiser andRobert Dankoff. London: Routledge. p. 149.ISBN0415366860.
^Dickson, M.B.; and Welch, S.C. (1981).The Houghton Shahnameh.Volume I. Cambridge, MA and London. p. 34.
^abBosworth, C.E. "Barbarian Incursions: The Coming of the Turks into the Islamic WorldArchived 2013-09-28 at theWayback Machine". InIslamic 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". InHistory 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.
^Blair, Sheila S. (1992).The Monumental Inscriptions from Early Islamic Iran and Transoxiana. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 11.ISBN9004093672.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
^abSchimmel, Annemarie. "Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact". InIslam 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.ISBN0670034851.
^Ferdowsi's poet, (2010).Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings. Translated by Reza Jamshidi Safa. Tehran, Iran.
^Azodi, Wiesehöfer (August 18, 2001).Ancient Persia: From 550 BC to 650 AD (New ed.). London: I. B. Tauris. p. Introduction.ISBN1-86064-675-1.
^abcNurian, Mahdi (1993). "Afarin Ferdowsi az Zaban Pishinian" [Praises of Ferdowsi from the Tongue of the Ancients].Hasti Magazine.4. Tehran: Bahman Publishers.
^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"
^Casari, Mario (2023). "The Alexander Legend in Persian Literature". In Ashtiany, Mohsen (ed.).Persian narrative poetry in the classical era, 800-1500: romantic and didactic genres. A history of Persian literature / founding editor - Ehsan Yarshater. London New York Oxford New Delhi Sydney: I.B. Tauris. pp. 443–461.ISBN978-1-78673-664-2.
^Casari, Mario (2023). "The Alexander Legend in Persian Literature". In Ashtiany, Mohsen (ed.).Persian narrative poetry in the classical era, 800-1500: romantic and didactic genres. A history of Persian literature / founding editor - Ehsan Yarshater. London New York Oxford New Delhi Sydney: I.B. Tauris. pp. 491–504.ISBN978-1-78673-664-2.
^Simpson, Marianna Shreve (April 21, 2009)."ŠĀH-NĀMA iv. Illustrations".iranicaonline.org. Encyclopædia Iranica.Archived from the original on May 17, 2023. RetrievedOctober 14, 2011.
^Vladimir Lukonin; Anatoly Ivanov (30 June 2012).Persian Art. Parkstone International. pp. 65–.ISBN978-1-78042-893-2.Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved10 October 2020.
^Blair, Sheila S. "Rewriting the History of the Great Mongol Shahnama". InShahnama: The Visual Language of the Persian Book of Kings, ed. Robert Hillenbrand. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004. p. 35.ISBN0754633675.
^John L. Esposito, ed. (1999).The Oxford History of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 364.ISBN0-19-510799-3.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 theShahnameh, 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.ISBN0-521-77933-2.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.ISBN0-415-28525-9.Perhaps the high point was the series of 250 miniatures which illustrated the Shah Nama commissioned by Shah Ismail for his son Tahmasp.
^Djalali, Kambiz (15 May 2008). "Le Livre des Rois de Ferdowsi et ses traductions dans la philologie et la littérature françaises et allemandes".Revue germanique internationale (7):125–137.doi:10.4000/rgi.403.
^Davis, Dick (Aug 1995). "Review: The Shahnameh by Abul-Qasem Ferdowsi, Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh".International Journal of Middle East Studies.27 (3). Cambridge University Press:393–395.doi:10.1017/S0020743800062413.JSTOR176284.S2CID162740442.
Farmanfarmaian, Fatema Soudavar (2009).Arjomand, Saïd Amir (ed.). "Georgia and Iran: Three Millennia of Cultural Relations An Overview".Journal of Persianate Studies.2 (1). BRILL:1–43.doi:10.1163/187471609X445464.
Further reading
Poet Moniruddin Yusuf (1919–1987) translated the full version ofShahnameh into theBengali language (1963–1981). It was published by the National Organisation ofBangladesh 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 ofFerdousi, Spånga, Sweden, 1997. (ISBN91-630-5369-1)
Shirzad Aghaee,Nam-e kasan va ja'i-ha dar Shahnama-ye Ferdousi (Personalities and Places in the Shahnama ofFerdousi, Nyköping, Sweden, 1993. (ISBN91-630-1959-0)
A. E. Bertels (editor),Shāx-nāme: Kriticheskij Tekst, nine volumes (Moscow: Izdatel'stvo Nauka, 1960–71) (scholarly Persian text)
Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh (editor),The Shahnameh, six volumes of translation and two volumes of notes (New York: Bibliotheca Persica, 1987–2008) (scholarly Persian text)[1]
Paperback republication by Mazda Publishers, Costa Mesa, CA, 2022.[2]
Contemporary Persian and Classical Persian are the same language, but writers since 1900 are classified as contemporary. At one time, Persian was a common cultural language of much of the non-Arabic Islamic world. Today it is the official language ofIran,Tajikistan and one of the two official languages ofAfghanistan.
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