Shahnameh

Bahram Gur and Courtiers Entertained by Barbad the Musician,Page from aManuscript of the Shahnama of Ferdowsi. BrooklynMuseum

The Shahnameh, also transliterated as Shahnama(Persian: pronounced شاهنامه [ʃɒːhnɒːˈme], “The Book ofKings”), is a long epic poem written by the Persian poetFerdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the nationalepic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 60,000 verses,[1]

the Shahnameh is the world’s longest epic poetry writtenby a single poet. It tells mainly the mythical and to someextent the historical past of the Persian Empire from thecreation of the world until the Islamic conquest of Persiain the 7th century. Today Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistanand the greater region influenced by the Persian culture(such as Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Dagestan) cele-brate this national epic.The work is of central importance in Persian cul-ture, regarded as a literary masterpiece, and definitiveof ethno-national cultural identity of modern-day Iran,Afghanistan and Tajikistan.[2] It is also important to thecontemporary adherents of Zoroastrianism, in that ittraces the historical links between the beginnings of the

Shahnameh (Book of Kings) Abu'l Qasim Firdausi (935–1020)

religion with the death of the last Sassanid ruler of Persiaduring the Muslim conquest and an end to the Zoroastrianinfluence in Iran.

1 Composition

Ferdowsi started writing the Shahnameh in 977 A.D andcompleted it on 8 March 1010.[3] The Shahnameh is amonument of poetry and historiography, being mainly thepoetical recast of what Ferdowsi, his contemporaries, andhis predecessors regarded as the account of Iran's ancienthistory. Many such accounts already existed in prose, anexample being the Shahnameh of Abu-Mansur Daqiqi.

1

2 2 CONTENT

Faramarz, son of Rostam, mourns the death of his father, andof his uncle, Zavareh.

The assassination of Khosrau II in a Mughal Era manuscript in1535

A small portion of Ferdowsi’s work, in passages scatteredthroughout the Shahnameh, is entirely of his own concep-tion.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 Fer-dowsi’s earlier life in his native Tus. This prose Shah-nameh was in turn and for the most part the transla-tion of a Pahlavi (Middle Persian) work, known as theXwadāynāmag (“Book of Kings”), a late Sassanid com-pilation of the history of the kings and heroes of Per-sia from mythical times down to the reign of Khosrau II(590–628). The Xwadāynāmag contained historical in-formation on the later Sassanid period, but it does not ap-pear to have drawn on any historical sources for the earlierSassanid period (3rd to 4th centuries).[4] Ferdowsi addedmaterial continuing the story to the overthrow of the Sas-sanids by the Arabs in the middle of the 7th century.The first to undertake the versification of the Pahlavichronicle was Abu-Mansur Daqiqi, a contemporary ofFerdowsi, poet at the court of the Samanids, who came toa violent end after completing only 1,000 verses. Theseverses, which deal with the rise of the prophet Zoroaster,were afterward incorporated by Ferdowsi, with acknowl-edgment, in his own poem. The style of the Shahnamehshows 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.Many other Pahlavi sources were used in composingthe epic, prominent being the Kārnāmag-ī Ardaxšīr-īPābagān, which was originally written during the late Sas-sanid era and gave accounts of how Ardashir I cameto power which, because of its historical proximity, isthought to be highly accurate. Besides, the text is writ-ten in the late Middle Persian, which was the immediateancestor of Modern Persian. Hence, a great portion ofthe historical chronicles given in Shahnameh are based onthis epic and there are in fact various phrases and wordswhich can be matched between these two sources accord-ing to Zabihollah Safa.[5]

According to one account of the sources, a Persian namedDehqan in the court of King Anushehrawan Dadgar hadcomposed a voluminous book in prose form, known asKhoday Nameh. After the fall of the Iranian Empire,Khoday Nameh came into the possession of King YaqubLais and then the Samani king Nuh ordered the poetDaqiqi to complete it, but Daqiqi was killed by his slave.Ferdowsi obtained the book through a friend.

2 Content

The Shahnameh provides a poetic account of the prehis-tory and history of Iran, beginning with the creation of theworld and the introduction of the arts of civilization (fire,cooking, metallurgy, law), and ending with the IslamicConquest of Persia. The work is not precisely chronolog-ical, but there is a general movement through time. Someof the characters live for hundreds of years but most havenormal life spans. There are many shāhs who come andgo, as well as heroes and villains, who also come and go.

2.1 The mythical age 3

Kai Khorso enthroned holding the sword with which he will exe-cute Afrasiyab for the murder of Siyavash

The only lasting images are that of Greater Persia itself,and a succession of sunrises and sunsets, no two ever ex-actly 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 thetragedy of death and loss, yet the next sunrise comes,bringing with it hope of a new day. In the first cycle ofcreation, evil is external (the devil). In the second cy-cle, we see the beginnings of family hatred, bad behav-ior, and evil permeating human nature. Shāh Fereydūn'stwo eldest sons feel greed and envy toward their innocentyounger brother and, thinking their father favors him,they murder him. The murdered prince’s son avenges themurder, and all are immersed in the cycle of murder andrevenge, blood and more blood. In the third cycle, we en-counter a series of flawed shahs. There is a Phaedra-likestory of Shāh Kay Kāvus, his wife Sūdābeh, and her pas-sion and rejection by her stepson, Sīyāvash. In the nextcycle, all the players are unsympathetic and selfish andevil. This epic on the whole is darker over all than mostother epics, most of which have some sort of resolutionand catharsis. This tone seems reflective of two things,perhaps: the conquest of Sassanid Iran, and a reflectionon the last days of Persian Zoroastrianism.It is only in the characterizations of the work’s many fig-ures, both male and female, that Zoroaster’s original viewof the human condition comes through. Zoroaster em-phasized human free will. All of Ferdowsi’s charactersare complex; none is an archetype or a puppet. The best

characters have flaws, and the worst have moments of hu-manity.Traditional historiography in Iran has claimed that Fer-dowsi was grieved by the fall of the Sassanid Empire andits subsequent rule by “Arabs” and “Turks”. The Shah-nameh, the argument goes, is largely his effort to pre-serve the memory of Persia’s golden days and transmitit to a new generation so that they could learn and tryto build a better world.[6] Though the preservation of thepre-Islamic mythistorical legacy seems to be among Fer-dowsi’s main concerns, however a number of authors haveformally challenged these views.[7]

2.1 The mythical age

This portion of the Shahnameh is relatively short,amounting to some 2,100 verses or four percent of theentire 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 Shah-nameh gives an account of the creation of the world andof man as believed by the Sassanians. This introduction isfollowed by the story of the first man, Keyumars, who alsobecame the first king after a period of mountain dwelling.His grandson Hushang, son of Sīyāmak, accidentally dis-covered 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 hisgrandson Manuchehr are related in this section.

2.2 The heroic age

Almost two-thirds of the Shahnameh is devoted to theage of heroes, extending from Manuchehr’s reign untilthe conquest of Alexander the Great (Eskandar). Themain feature of this period is the major role played bythe Saka or Sistānī heroes who appear as the backbone ofthe Persian Empire. Garshāsp is briefly mentioned withhis son Narimān, whose own son Sām acted as the lead-ing paladin of Manuchehr while reigning in Sistān in hisown right. His successors were his son Zāl and Zal’s sonRostam, the bravest of the brave, and then Farāmarz.Among the stories described in this section are the ro-mance of Zal and Rudāba, the Seven Stages (or Labors)of Rostam, Rostam and Sohrab, Sīyāvash and Sudāba,Rostam and Akvān Dīv, the romance of Bijan and Mani-jeh, the wars with Afrāsīyāb, Daqiqi's account of the storyof Goshtāsp and Arjāsp, and Rostam and Esfandyār.

2.3 The historical age

A brief mention of the Arsacid dynasty follows the historyof Alexander and precedes that of Ardashir I, founder ofthe Sassanid Empire. After this, Sassanid history is re-lated with a good deal of accuracy. The fall of the Sas-

4 3 INFLUENCE ON PERSIAN LANGUAGE

Courtiers of Bayasanghori playing chess

sanids and the Arab conquest of Persia are narrated ro-mantically.

2.4 Message

Ferdowsi did not expect his readers to pass over historicalevents indifferently, but asked them to think carefully, tosee the grounds for the rise and fall of individuals and na-tions; and to learn from the past in order to improve thepresent, and to better shape the future. Ferdowsi stresseshis belief that since the world is transient, and since ev-eryone is merely a passerby, one is wise to avoid cruelty,lying, avarice, and other evils; instead one should strivefor justice, honor, truth, order, and other virtues.The singular message that the Shahnameh of Ferdowsistrives to convey is the idea that the history of the SassanidEmpire was a complete and immutable whole: it startedwith Keyumars, the first man, and ended with his fiftiethscion and successor, Yazdegerd III, six thousand years ofhistory of Iran. The task of Ferdowsi was to prevent thishistory from being lost to future Persian generations.According to Jalal Khaleghi Mutlaq, the Shahnamehteaches a wide variety of moral virtues, like worship ofone God; religious uprightness; patriotism; love of wife,family and children; and helping the poor.[8]

3 Influence on Persian language

Rustam kills the Turanian hero Alkus with his lance

After the Shahnameh, a number of other works similarin nature surfaced over the centuries within the culturalsphere of the Persian language. Without exception, allsuch works were based in style and method on the Shah-nameh, but none of them could quite achieve the samedegree of fame and popularity.Some experts believe the main reason the Modern Per-sian language today is more or less the same language asthat of Ferdowsi’s time over 1000 years ago is due to thevery existence of works like the Shahnameh, which havehad lasting and profound cultural and linguistic influence.In other words, the Shahnameh itself has become one ofthe main pillars of the modern Persian language. Study-ing Ferdowsi’s masterpiece also became a requirement forachieving mastery of the Persian language by subsequentPersian poets, as evidenced by numerous references tothe Shahnameh in their works.This is also due to the fact that Ferdowsi went to greatlengths to avoid any words drawn from the Arabic lan-guage, words which had increasingly infiltrated the Per-sian language following the Arab conquest of Persia inthe 7th century. Ferdowsi followed this path not onlyto preserve and purify the Persian language, but also asa stark political statement against the Arab conquest ofPersia.[9] This assertion has been called into question byMohammed Moinfar, who has noted that there are nu-merous examples of Arabic words in the Shahnamehwhich are effectively synonyms for Persian words previ-ously used in the text. This calls into question the idea ofFerdowsi’s deliberate eschewing of Arabic words.[10]

4.1 On Georgian identity 5

The Shahnameh has 62 stories, 990 chapters, and some60,000 rhyming couplets, making it more than threetimes the length of Homer's Iliad, and more than twelvetimes the length of the German Nibelungenlied. Accord-ing to Ferdowsi, the final edition of the Shahnameh con-tained some sixty thousand distichs. But this is a roundfigure; most of the relatively reliable manuscripts havepreserved a little over fifty thousand distichs. Nezami-eAruzi reports that the final edition of the Shahnameh sentto the court of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni was preparedin seven volumes.

4 Cultural influence

A battle scene from the Baysonghori Shahnameh

The Shirvanshah dynasty adopted many of their namesfrom the Shahnameh. The relationship between Shirwan-shah and his son, Manuchihr, is mentioned in chaptereight of Nizami's Leili o Majnoon. Nizami advises theking’s son to read the Shahnameh and to remember themeaningful sayings of the wise.[11]

According to the Turkish historian Mehmet Fuad Ko-prulu:

Indeed, despite all claims to the contrary,there is no question that Persian influence wasparamount among the Seljuks of Anatolia.

This is clearly revealed by the fact that the sul-tans who ascended the throne after Ghiyath al-Din Kai-Khusraw I assumed titles taken fromancient Persian mythology, like Kai Khosrow,Kay Kāvus, and Kai Kobad; and that Ala' al-Din Kai-Qubad I had some passages from theShahname inscribed on the walls of Konya andSivas. When we take into consideration do-mestic life in the Konya courts and the sincer-ity of the favor and attachment of the rulers toPersian poets and Persian literature, then thisfact (i.e. the importance of Persian influence)is undeniable.[12]

Shah Ismail I was also deeply influenced by the Persianliterary tradition of Iran, particularly by the Shahnameh,which probably explains the fact that he named all of hissons after Shahnameh characters. Dickson and Welchsuggest that Ismail’s Shāhnāmaye Shāhī was intendedas a present to the young Tahmāsp.[13] After defeat-ing Muhammad Shaybāni's Uzbeks, Ismāil asked Hātefī,a famous poet from Jam (Khorasan), to write a Shah-nameh-like epic about his victories and his newly estab-lished dynasty. Although the epic was left unfinished, itwas an example of mathnawis in the heroic style of theShahnameh written later on for the Safavid kings.[14]

The Shahnameh's influence has extended beyond the Per-sian sphere. Professor Victoria Arakelova of YerevanUniversity states:

During the ten centuries passed after Fir-dausi composed his monumental work, heroiclegends and stories of Shahnameh have re-mained the main source of the storytelling forthe peoples of this region: Persians, Pashtuns,Kurds, Gurans, Talishis, Armenians, Geor-gians, North Caucasian peoples, etc.[15]

4.1 On Georgian identity

Jamshid Sh. Giunashvili remarks on the connection ofGeorgian culture with that of Shahnameh:

The names of many Šāh-nāma heroes, suchas Rostom-i, Thehmine, Sam-i, or Zaal-i, arefound in 11th- and 12th-century Georgian lit-erature. They are indirect evidence for an OldGeorgian translation of the Šāh-nāma that is nolonger extant. ...

The Šāh-nāma was translated, not only tosatisfy the literary and aesthetic needs of read-ers and listeners, but also to inspire the youngwith the spirit of heroism and Georgian patrio-tism. Georgian ideology, customs, and world-view often informed these translations because

6 5 LEGACY

Georgian manuscript of Shahnameh written in the Georgianscript.

they were oriented toward Georgian poetic cul-ture. Conversely, Georgians consider thesetranslations works of their native literature.Georgian versions of the Šāh-nāma are quitepopular, and the stories of Rostam and Sohrāb,or Bījan and Maniža became part of Georgianfolklore.[16]

4.2 On Turkic identity

Despite some popular belief, the Turanians of Shah-nameh (whose sources are based on Avesta and Pahlavitexts) have no relationship with the ethno-liguistic groupTurk today.[17] The Turanians of Shahnameh are anIranian people representing Iranian nomads of theEurasian Steppes and have no relationship to the cultureof Turks.[17] Turan or Persian for the areas of CentralAsia beyond the Oxus up to the 7th century (where thestory of the Shahnameh ends) was generally an Iranian-speaking land.[18]

According to Richard Frye, “The extent of influenceof the Iranian epic is shown by the Turks who ac-cepted it as their own ancient history as well as that ofIran... The Turks were so much influenced by this cy-cle of stories that in the eleventh century AD we findthe Qarakhanid dynasty in Central Asia calling itself the

'family of Afrasiyab' and so it is known in the Islamichistory.”[19]

Turks, as an ethno-linguistic group have been influencedby the Shahnameh since advent of Saljuqs.[20] Toghrul IIIof Seljuqs is said to have recited the Shahnameh whileswinging his mace in battle.[20] According to Ibn Bibi,in 618/1221 the Saljuq of Rum Ala' al-Din Kay-kubaddecorated the walls of Konya and Sivas with verses fromthe Shahnameh.[21] The Turks themselves connected theirorigin not with Turkish tribal history but with the Tu-ran of Shahnameh.[22] Specifically in India, through theShahnameh, they felt themselves to be the last outposttied to the civilized world by the thread of Iranianism.[22]

4.3 On Mughal identity

The Mughal Empire was ruled by Mughal Emperors whowere direct descendants of Genghis Khan and Timur;they also claimed amalgam with the culture of Turanand directly patronized the Shahnameh the masterpieceof Firdowsi, which particularly inspired servicemen inthe Mughal Army. Manuscripts of the Shahnameh werecomposed during the reign of Babur, Akbar, Jahangir,Shah Jahan and Muhammad Shah.The first Mughal Emperor Babur himself quoted versesfrom the Shahnameh prior to the Battle of Khanwa.Among the most notable Mughal noblemen inspired bythe Shahnameh was the Nawab of Bengal, Alivardi Khan.

5 Legacy

Ferdowsi concludes the Shahnameh by writing:

I've reached the end of this great historyAnd all the land will talk of me:I shall not die, these seeds I've sown will saveMy name and reputation from the grave,And men of sense and wisdom will proclaimWhen I have gone, my praises and my fame.[23]

Another Translation of Ferdowsi’s poet byReza Jamshidi Safa:Much I have suffered in these thirty years,I have revived the Ajam with my verseI will not die then alive in the world,For I have spread the seed of the wordWhoever has sense, path and faith,After my death will send me praise.[24]

This prediction of Ferdowsi has come true and manyPersian literary figures, historians and biographers havepraised him and the Shahnameh. The Shahnameh is con-sidered by many to be the most important piece of work inPersian literature. Western writers have also praised the

5.2 Poets 7

A battle between the hosts of Iran and Turan during the reign ofKay Khusraw

Shahnameh and Persian literature in general. Persian lit-erature has been considered by such thinkers as Goethe asone of the four main bodies of world literature.[25] Goethewas inspired by Persian literature, which moved him towrite West-Eastern Divan. Goethe wrote:

When we turn our attention to a peaceful,civilized people, the Persians, we must—sinceit was actually their poetry that inspired thiswork—go back to the earliest period to be ableto understand more recent times. It will al-ways seem strange to the historians that no mat-ter how many times a country has been con-quered, subjugated and even destroyed by en-emies, there is always a certain national corepreserved in its character, and before you knowit, there re-emerges a long-familiar native phe-nomenon. In this sense, it would be pleasantto learn about the most ancient Persians andquickly follow them up to the present day at anall the more free and steady pace.[26]

5.1 Biographies

Sargozasht-Nameh or biography of important poets andwriters has long been a Persian tradition. Some of thebiographies of Ferdowsi are now considered apocryphal,nevertheless this shows the important impact he had in thePersian world. Among the famous biographies are:[27]

1. Chahar Maqaleh (“Four Articles”) by Nezami'Arudi-i Samarqandi

2. Tazkeret Al-Shu'ara (“The Biography of poets”) byDowlat Shah-i Samarqandi

3. Baharestan (“Abode of Spring”) by Jami

4. Lubab ul-Albab by Mohammad 'Awfi

5. Natayej al-Afkar by Mowlana Muhammad QudratAllah

6. Arafat Al-'Ashighin by Taqqi Al-Din 'AwhadiBalyani

5.2 Poets

Bizhane receives an invitation through Manizheh’s nurse

Famous poets of Persia and the Persian tradition havepraised and eulogized Ferdowsi. Many of them wereheavily influenced by his writing and used his genre andstories to develop their own Persian epics, stories andpoems:[27]

• Anvari remarked about the eloquence of the Shah-nameh, “He was not just a Teacher and we his stu-dents. He was like a God and we are his slaves”.[28]

• Asadi Tusi was born in the same city as Ferdowsi.His Garshaspnama was inspired by the Shahnameh

8 5 LEGACY

as he attests in the introduction. He praises Fer-dowsi in the introduction[29] and considers Ferdowsithe greatest poet of his time.[30]

• Masud Sa'ad Salman showed the influence of theShahnameh only 80 years after its composition byreciting its poems in the Ghaznavid court of India.

• Othman Mokhtari, another poet at the Ghaznavidcourt of India, remarked, “Alive is Rustam throughthe epic of Ferdowsi, else there would not be a traceof him in this World”.[31]

• Sanai believed that the foundation of poetry was re-ally established by Ferdowsi.[32]

• Nizami Ganjavi was influenced greatly by Ferdowsiand three of his five jewls had to do with pre-Islamic Persia. His Khosro-o-Shirin, Haft Peykarand Eskandar-nameh used the Shahnameh as a ma-jor source. Nizami remarks that Ferdowsi is “thewise sage of Tus” who beautified and decoratedwords like a new bride.[33]

• Khaghani, the court poet of the Shirvanshah, wroteof Ferdowsi:

“The candle of the wise in this dark-ness of sorrow,The pure words of Ferdowsi of the Tusiare such,His pure sense is an angelic birth,Angelic born is anyone who’s likeFerdowsi.”[34]

• Attar wrote about the poetry of Ferdowsi: “Openeyes and through the sweet poetry see the heavenlyeden of Ferdowsi.”[35]

• In a famous poem, Sa'adi wrote:

“How sweetly has conveyed the purenatured Ferdowsi,May blessing be upon his pure restingplace,Do not harass the ant that’s dragging aseed,because it has life and sweet life isdear.”[36]

• In the Baharestan, Jami wrote, “He came from Tusand his excellence, renown and perfection are wellknown. Yes, what need is there of the panegyricsof others to that man who has composed verses asthose of the Shah-nameh?"

Many other poets, e.g. Hafez, Rumi and other mysticalpoets, have used imageries of Shahnameh heroes in theirpoetry.

Statue of Rostam in Ramsar, Iran.

5.3 Persian historiography

The Shahnameh's impact on Persian historiography wasimmediate and some historians decorated their bookswith the verses of Shahnameh. Below is sample of ten im-portant historians who have praised the Shahnameh andFerdowsi:[27]

1. The unknown writer of the Tarikh Sistan (“Historyof Sistan") written around 1053

2. The unknown writer of Majmal al-Tawarikh wa Al-Qasas (circa 1126)

3. Mohammad Ali Ravandi, the writer of the Rahat al-Sodur wa Ayat al-Sorur (circa 1206)

4. Ibn Bibi, the writer of the history book, Al-Awamiral-'Alaiyah, written during the era of 'Ala ad-dinKayGhobad

5. Ibn Esfandyar, the writer of the Tarikh-e Tabarestan

6. Muhammad Juwayni, the early historian of theMongol era in the Tarikh-e Jahan Gushay (Ilkhanidera)

7. Hamdollah Qazwini also paid much attention to theShahnameh and wrote the Zafarnameh based on thesame style in the Ilkhanid era

8. Hafez-e Abru (1430) in the Majma' al-Tawarikh

6.1 Mongol/Turk/Turcophone manuscript production 9

9. Khwand Mir in the Habab al-Siyar (circa 1523)praised Ferdowsi and gave an extensive biographyon Ferdowsi

10. 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 writespoetry and the poems have many verses, or if some-one writes many compositions, it will always be thecase that some of their writings might not be excel-lent. But in the case of Shahnameh, despite havingmore than 40 thousand couplets, all its verses areexcellent.”[37]

6 Illustrated copies

An image illustrating the parable of the ship of faith from theHoughton Shahnameh (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Illustrated copies of the work are among the most sump-tuous examples of Persian miniature painting. Severalcopies remain intact, although two of the most famous,the Houghton Shahnameh and the Great Mongol Shah-nameh, were broken up for sheets to be sold separately inthe 20th century. A single sheet from the former was soldfor £904,000 in 2006.[38] The Baysonghori Shahnameh,an illuminated manuscript copy of the work (GolestanPalace, Iran), is included in UNESCO's Memory of theWorld Register of cultural heritage items.[39]

In honour of the Shahnameh's millennial anniversary, in2010 the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge hosted a ma-jor exhibition, called “Epic of the Persian Kings: The Artof Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh", which ran from September2010 to January 2011.[40] The Arthur M. Sackler Galleryof the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC alsohosted an exhibition of beautifully illustrated folios fromthe 14th through the 16th centuries, called “Shahnama:1000 Years of the Persian Book of Kings”, which wason view from October 2010 to April 2011,[41] coincidingwith a museum celebration of Nowruz, the Persian NewYear.

6.1 Mongol/Turk/Turcophone manuscriptproduction

The Great Mongol Shahnameh, produced during thereign of the Ilkhanid Sultan Abu Sa'id, is one of the mostillustrative and important copies of the Shahnameh.[42]

The Timurids continued the tradition of manuscript pro-duction. For them, it was considered de rigueur for themembers of the family to have personal copies of the epicpoem.[43] Consequently, three of Timur’s grandsons—Bāysonḡor, Ebrāhim Solṭān, and Moḥammad Juki—each commissioned such a volume.[43] Among these, theBaysonghori Shahnameh commissioned by Ḡīāṯ-al-DīnBāysonḡor is one of the most voluminous and artisticShahnameh manuscripts.[44]

The production of illustrated Shahnameh manuscripts inthe 15th century remained vigorous[43] during the Qarā-Qoyunlu or Black Sheep (1380–1468) and Āq Qoyunluor White Sheep (1378–1508) Turkman dynasties.[43]

Many of the extant illustrated copies, with more than sev-enty or more paintings, are attributable to Tabriz, Shiraz,and Baghdad beginning in about the 1450s–60s and con-tinuing to the end of the century.[43]

The Safavid era saw a resurgence of Shahnamehproductions.[43] Shah Ismail I used the epic for propa-ganda purposes: as a gesture of Persian patriotism, asa celebration of renewed Persian rule, and as a reasser-tion of Persian royal authority.[43] The Safavids commis-sioned elaborate copies of the Shahnameh to support theirlegitimacy.[45][46] Among the high points of Shahnamehillustrations was the series of 250 miniatures which illus-trated the Shahnameh commissioned by Shah Ismail forhis son Shah Tahmasp.[47]

7 Modern editions

7.1 Scholarly editions

Scholarly editions has 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

10 7 MODERN EDITIONS

An illustration from the Shahnameh

copies. Between 1838 and 1878, an edition appearedin Paris by French scholar J. Mohl, which was basedon a comparison of 30 manuscripts. Both editionslacked critical apparatuses and were based on secondarymanuscripts dated after the 15th century; much laterthan the original work. Between 1877 and 1884, theGerman scholar J. A. Vullers prepared a synthesized textof the Macan and Mohl editions, but only three of its ex-pected nine volumes were published. The Vullers editionwas later completed in Tehran by the Iranian scholars S.Nafisi, Iqbal, and M. Minowi for the millennial jubilee ofFerdowsi, held between 1934 and 1936.The first modern critical edition of the Shahnameh wasprepared by a Russian team led by E. E. Bertel, usingthe oldest known manuscripts at the time, dating fromthe 13th and 14th centuries, with heavy reliance on the1276 manuscript from the British Museum and the 1333Leningrad manuscript, the latter of which has now beenconsidered a secondary manuscript. In addition, twoother manuscripts used in this edition have been so de-moted. It was published in Moscow by the Institute ofOriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSRin nine volumes between 1960 and 1971.[48]

For many years, the Moscow edition was the standardtext. In 1977, an early 1217 manuscript was rediscov-ered in Florence. The 1217 Florence manuscript is oneof the earliest known copies of the Shahnameh, predatingthe Moghul invasion and the following destruction of im-portant libraries and manuscript collections. Using it asthe chief text, Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh began the prepa-

ration of a new critical edition in 1990. The number ofmanuscripts that were consulted during the preparationof Khaleghi-Motlagh edition goes beyond anything at-tempted by the Moscow team. The critical apparatus isextensive and a large number of variants for many parts ofthe poem were recorded. The last volume was publishedin 2008, bringing the eight-volume enterprise to a com-pletion. According to Dick Davis, professor of Persianat Ohio State University, it is “by far the best edition ofthe Shahnameh available, and it is surely likely to remainsuch for a very long time”.[49]

7.2 English translations

Statue of Esfandiyār in Ramsar, Iran.

There have been a number of English translations, almostall abridged. James Atkinson of the East India Com-pany's medical service was the first to undertake a transla-tion into English in his 1832 publication for the OrientalTranslation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland, now partof the Royal Asiatic Society.

11

Between 1905 and 1925, the brothers Arthur and Ed-mond Warner published a translation of the completework in nine volumes, now out of print. A 2006 trans-lation by Dick Davis has made this epic poem accessiblefor English speakers. The translation is a combination ofpoetry and prose, although it is not a complete translationof the Shahnameh.The Parsis, Zoroastrians, whose ancestors had migratedto India in the 8th or 10th century, so they could con-tinue practise of their religion in peace, have also kept theShahnameh traditions alive. Dr. Bahman Sohrabji Surtitranslated the Shahnameh from the original Persian verseinto English Prose, a first detailed and complete transla-tion and published in seven volumes between 1986 and1988, ably assisted by Marzban Giara.

7.3 Gujarati translation

Dastur Faramroz Kutar and his brother Ervad MahiyarKutar translated the Shahnameh into Gujarati verse andprose and published 10 volumes between 1914 and 1918.

7.4 Spanish translation

A Spanish translation has been published in 2 volumes bythe Islamic Research Institute of the Tehran Branch ofMcGill University.

8 Film adaptations

The Shahnameh has been adapted to film in a 1971–1976Tajikfilm trilogy comprising Skazanie o Rustame,[50] Rus-tam i Sukhrab,[51] and Skazanie o Sijavushe.[52] andBangladesh also has made a blockbuster film ShourabRustom in 1993. A Bollywood film Rustom Sohrab basedon the story of Rustam and Sohrab was made in 1963 andstarred Prithviraj Kapoor.

9 Trivia

The Shahnameh, especially the legend of Rostam andSohrab, is cited and plays an important role in the novel"The Kite Runner" by Afghan-American writer KhaledHosseini.

10 See also• List of Shahnameh characters

• Rostam and Sohrab, an opera by Loris Tjeknavorian

• Sohrab and Rustum, an 1853 poem by MatthewArnold

• Naqqāli, a performing art based on Shahnameh

• Vis and Rāmin, an epic poem similar to the Shah-nameh

• Shahrokh Meskoob

• Mir Jalaleddin Kazzazi

11 Notes[1] Lalani, Farah (13 May 2010). “A thousand years of Fir-

dawsi’s Shahnama is celebrated”. The Ismaili. Retrieved24 May 2010.

[2] Ashraf, Ahmad (30 March 2012). “Iranian Identity iii.Medieval Islamic Period”. Encyclopædia Iranica. Re-trieved April 2010.

[3] Khaleghi-Motlagh, Djalal (26 January 2012). “Ferdowsi,Abu'l Qāsem i. Life”. Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved27 May 2012. the poet refers... to the date of the Šāh-nāma’s completion as the day of Ard (i.e., 25th) of Esfandin the year 378 Š. (400 Lunar)/8 March 1010

[4] Zaehner, Robert Charles (1955). Zurvan: a ZoroastrianDilemma. Biblo and Tannen. p. 10. ISBN 0819602809.

[5] Safa, Zabihollah (2000). Hamase-sarâ’i dar Iran, Tehran1945.

[6] Shahbazi, A. Shapur (1991). Ferdowsī: A Critical Biogra-phy. Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers. p. 49. ISBN0939214830.

[7] Khatibi, Abolfazl (1384/2005). Anti-Arab verses in theShahnameh. 21, 3, Autumn 1384/2005: Nashr Danesh.Check date values in: |date= (help)

[8] Mutlaq, Jalal Khaleqi (1993). “Iran Garai dar Shah-nameh” [Iran-centrism in the Shahnameh]. Hasti Maga-zine (Tehran: Bahman Publishers) 4.

[9] “Ferdowsi’s “Shahnameh": The Book of Kings”. TheEconomist. 16 September 2010.

[10] Perry, John (23 June 2010). "Šāh-nāma v. ArabicWords”. Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 28 May 2012.

[11] Seyed-Gohrab, Ali Ashgar (2003). Laylī and Majnūn:Love, Madness and Mystic Longing in Niẓāmī's Epic Ro-mance. Leiden: Brill. p. 276. ISBN 9004129421.

[12] Köprülü, Mehmed Fuad (2006). Early Mystics in Turk-ish Literature. Translated by Gary Leiser and RobertDankoff. London: Routledge. p. 149. ISBN0415366860.

[13] Dickson, M.B.; and Welch, S.C. (1981). The HoughtonShahnameh. Volume I. Cambridge, MA and London. p.34.

[14] Savory, R.M. “Safavids”. Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nded.).

12 11 NOTES

[15] Arakelova, Victoria. “Shahnameh in the Kurdish and Ar-menian Oral Tradition (abridged)" (PDF). Retrieved 28May 2012.

[16] Giunshvili, Jamshid Sh. (15 June 2005). "Šāh-nāmaTranslations ii. Into Georgian”. Encyclopædia Iranica.Retrieved 28 May 2012.

[17] Bosworth, C.E. "Barbarian Incursions: The Coming ofthe Turks into the Islamic World". In Islamic Civiliza-tion, ed. D.S. Richards. Oxford, 1973. p. 2. “Firdawsi’sTuran are, of course, really Indo-European nomads ofEurasian Steppes... Hence as Kowalski has pointed out,a Turkologist seeking for information in the Shahnama onthe primitive culture of the Turks would definitely be dis-appointed.”

[18] Bosworth, C.E. “The Appearance of the Arabs in Cen-tral Asia under the Umayyads and the Establishmentof Islam”. In History of Civilizations of Central Asia,Vol. IV: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the Endof the Fifteenth Century, Part One: The Historical, So-cial and Economic Setting, ed. M.S. Asimov and C.E.Bosworth. Multiple History Series. Paris: Motilal Banar-sidass Publ./UNESCO Publishing, 1999. p. 23. “Cen-tral Asia in the early seventh century, was ethnically, stilllargely an Iranian land whose people used various MiddleIranian languages.”

[19] 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.

[20] Özgüdenli, Osman G. (15 November 2006). "Šāh-nāmaTranslations i. Into Turkish”. Encyclopædia Iranica.

[21] Blair, Sheila S. (1992). TheMonumental Inscriptions fromEarly Islamic Iran and Transoxiana. Leiden: E.J. Brill.p. 11. ISBN 9004093672. According to Ibn Bibi, in618/1221 the Saljuq of Rum Ala' al-Din Kay-kubad dec-orated the walls of Konya and Sivas with verses from theShah-nama

[22] Schimmel, Annemarie. “Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Im-age and Its Application to Historical Fact”. In Islam andCultural Change in the Middle Ages, ed. Speros Vryonis,Jr. Undena Publications, 1975. pp. 107–26. “In fact asmuch as early rulers felt themselves to be Turks, they con-ntected their Turkish origin not with Turkish tribal his-tory but rather with the Turan of Shahnameh: in the sec-ond generation their children bear the name of Firdosi’sheroes, and their Turkish lineage is invariably traced backto Afrasiyab—weather we read Barani in the fourteenthcentury or the Urdu master poet Ghalib in the nineteenthcentury. The poets, and through them probably most ofthe educated class, felt themselves to be the last outposttied to the civilized world by the thread of Iranianism. Theimagery of poetry remained exclusively Persian.”

[23] Ferdowsi (2006). Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings.Translated by Dick Davis. New York: Viking. ISBN0670034851.

[24] Ferdowsi’s poet, (2010). Shahnameh: The Persian Bookof Kings. Translated by Reza Jamshidi Safa. Tehran, Iran.

[25] Christensen, Karen; Levinson, David, eds. (2002). Ency-clopedia of Modern Asia. New York: Charles Scribner’sSons. p. 48. ISBN 0684806177.

[26] Azodi, Wiesehöfer (August 18, 2001). Ancient Persia:From 550 BC to 650 AD (New ed.). London: I.B. Tau-ris. p. Introduction. ISBN 1860646751.

[27] Nurian, Mahdi (1993). “Afarin Ferdowsi az ZabanPishinian” [Praises of Ferdowsi from the Tongue of theAncients]. Hasti Magazine (Tehran: Bahman Publishers).4.

[28] Persian:

نهاد همايون آن / فردوسی روان بر آفريناو / شاگرد ما و بود استاد نه او / فرخنده وبنده ما و بود خداوند

[29] Persian:

بدادست / مغز پاک طوسی فردوسی کهگیتی شهنامه به / نغز سخنهای دادنکو نام نامه بدان / بیاراستستخواستست

[30] Persian:

گوی برد گویندگان پیش از که

[31] Persian:

ور / است فردوسی شعر به رستم زندهکجاست؟ نشانه جهان در زو نه

[32] Persian:

وی که / استاد بزرگ آن گفت نکو چهبنیاد را نظم افکند

[33] Persian:

طوسکه پیشین دانای گوی سخنعروس چون سخن روی آراست

[34] Persian:

غم دیجور در است هوشمندان جمع شمع/ بود طوسی فردوسی خاطر کز ای نکته /زاده / اند حوراوش جملگی پاکش طبع زادگاهبود فردوسی مرد چون بود حوراوش

[35] Persian:

در / شکر چون شعر ز و چشم کن بازنگر فردوسی عدن بهشت

[36] Persian:

که / پاکزاد فردوسی گفت خوش چهموری میازار / باد پاک تربت آن بر رحمتشیرین جان و دارد جان که / است کش دانه کهاست خوش

[37] http://www.qudsdaily.com/archive/1384/html/2/1384-02-25/page2.html

[38] “Ten Most Expensive Books of 2006”. Fine Books & Col-lections.

12.1 Persian text 13

[39] ""Bayasanghori Shâhnâmeh” (Prince Bayasanghor’s Bookof the Kings)". UNESCO. Retrieved 28 May 2012.

[40] “Exhibition: Epic of the Persian Kings: The Art of Fer-dowsi’s Shahnameh". The FitzwilliamMuseum. Retrieved29 May 2012.

[41] “Shahnama: 1000 Years of the Persian Book of Kings”.Freer and Sackler Galleries. Retrieved 29 May 2012.

[42] Blair, Sheila S. “Rewriting the History of the Great Mon-gol Shahnama”. In Shahnama: The Visual Language ofthe Persian Book of Kings, ed. Robert Hillenbrand. Ash-gate Publishing, Ltd., 2004. p. 35. ISBN 0754633675.

[43] Simpson, Marianna Shreve Simpson (7 May 2012). "Šāh-nāma iv. Illustrations”. Encyclopædia Iranica.

[44] Motlagh, Khaleghi; T. Lentz (15 December 1989).“Bāysonḡorī Šāh-nāma”. Encyclopædia Iranica.

[45] John L. Esposito, ed. (1999). The Oxford History of Is-lam. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 364. ISBN0195107993. To support their legitimacy, the Safavid dy-nasty of Iran (1501–1732) devoted a cultural policy to es-tablish their regime as the reconstruction of the historicIranian monarchy. To the end, they commissioned elab-orate copies of the Shahnameh, the Iranian national epic,such as this one made for Tahmasp in the 1520s.

[46] Lapidus, Ira Marvin (2002). A History of Islamic Soci-eties (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.p. 445. ISBN 0521779332. To bolster the prestige ofthe state, the Safavid dynasty sponsored an Iran-Islamicstyle of culture concentrating on court poetry, painting,and monumental architecture that symbolized not only theIslamic credentials of the state but also the glory of the an-cient Persian traditions.

[47] Ahmed, Akbar S. (2002). Discovering Islam: MakingSense of Muslim History and Society (2nd ed.). London:Psychology Press. p. 70. ISBN 0415285259. Perhapsthe high point was the series of 250 miniatures which il-lustrated the Shah Nama commissioned by Shah Ismailfor his son Tahmasp.

[48] Osmanov, M.N.O. “Ferdowsi, Abul Qasim”.TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 11 September2010.

[49] Davis, Dick (Aug 1995). International Journal of MiddleEast Studies (Cambridge University Press). 27 (3): 393–395. JSTOR 176284. Missing or empty |title= (help)

[50] Legend of Rustam at the Internet Movie Database

[51] Rustam and Suhrab at the Internet Movie Database

[52] Legend of Siavush at the Internet Movie Database

12 Further reading

Poet Moniruddin Yusuf (1919–1987) translated the fullversion of Shahnameh into the Bengali Language (1963–1981). It was published by the National Organisation of

Bangladesh Bangla Academy, in six volumes, in February1991.

• Shirzad Aghaee, Imazh-ha-ye mehr va mah darShahnama-ye Ferdousi (Sun and Moon in the Shah-nama of Ferdousi, Spånga, Sweden, 1997. (ISBN91-630-5369-1)

• Shirzad Aghaee, Nam-e kasan va ja'i-ha darShahnama-ye Ferdousi (Personalities and Placesin the Shahnama of Ferdousi, Nyköping, Sweden,1993. (ISBN 91-630-1959-0)

12.1 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 textand four volumes of explanatory notes. (BibliothecaPersica, 1988–2009) (scholarly Persian text). See:Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University.

12.2 Adaptations

• Rostam: Tales from the Shahnameh (Publisher:Hyperwerks 2005), The Story of Rostam & SohrabISBN 0-9770213-1-9, modern English graphicnovel.

• Rostam: Return of the King (Publisher: Hyperwerks2007), The Story of Kai-Kavous and Soodabeh ISBN0-9770213-2-7, modern English graphic novel.

• Rostam: Battle with The Deevs (Publisher:Hyperwerks 2008), The Story of The Evil WhiteDeev ISBN 978-0-9770213-3-8, modern Englishgraphic novel.

• Rostam: Search for the King (Publisher:Hyperwerks 2010), The Story of Rostam’s Child-hood ISBN 978-0-9770213-4-5, modern Englishgraphic novel.

13 External links• Iraj Bashiri, Characters of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh,

Iran Chamber Society, 2003.

• Encyclopædia Iranica entry on Baysonghori Shah-nameh

• Pages from the Illustrated Manuscript of the Shah-nama at the Brooklyn Museum

• Folios from the Great Mongol Shahnama at theMetropolitan Museum of Art

14 13 EXTERNAL LINKS

• The Shahnameh Project, Cambridge University (in-cludes large database of miniatures)

• Ancient Iran’s Geographical Position in Shah-Nameh

• A richly illuminated and almost complete copy ofthe Shahnamah in Cambridge Digital Library

English translations by

• Helen Zimmern, 1883, Iran Chamber Society, MIT

• Arthur and Edmond Warner, 1905–1925, (in ninevolumes) at the Internet Archive: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9

• A king’s book of kings: the Shah-nameh ofShah Tahmasp, an exhibition catalog from TheMetropolitan Museum of Art (fully available onlineas PDF)

15

14 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

14.1 Text• Shahnameh Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahnameh?oldid=674779955 Contributors: Zundark, DanKeshet, Panairjdde~enwiki,

Michael Hardy, Abou Ben Adhem, Charles Matthews, Carax, Dimadick, Mayooranathan, DocWatson42, Bkonrad, NeoJustin, RScheiber,Andycjp, Piotrus, Kusunose, Uly, Avihu, Hoomanb, Haruo, Rich Farmbrough, Dbachmann, Stbalbach, Bender235, Kwamikagami, Ogress,Walter Görlitz, Kessler, Jheald, P Ingerson, Gene Nygaard, Zereshk, Scriptoria, Woohookitty, Sburke, Chris Weimer, Amir85, Dpr,Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Jake Wartenberg, Str1977, Jidan, Chobot, Bgwhite, Adoniscik, Vmenkov, YurikBot, Wavelength, Alex Bakharev, YahyaAbdal-Aziz, Igiffin, Closedmouth, Tallasse, Willtron, JLaTondre, Mais oui!, Tajik, DisambigBot, Nima.nezafati, Sangak1, SmackBot,Jagged 85, Cessator, ParthianShot, Chris the speller, Bluebot, MK8, Behaafarid, Benklaasen, Funper, OrphanBot, Japeo, Jwy, Full-stop, RandomP, Nepaheshgar, 041744, RandomCritic, Kirbytime, Houshyar, Pejman47, Norm mit, JoeBot, Igoldste, Khosrow II, Mr-jahan, Joostvandeputte~enwiki, Joey80, 850 C, CmdrObot, Ipaat, Mahernoz, MarsRover, Themightyquill, Cydebot, Future Perfect atSunrise, Jayen466, Magepub, Doug Weller, Optimist on the run, Thijs!bot, Trevheg, Wakantanka, Daniel, Missvain, Zeeair, Folantin,Massimo Macconi, Babak Hemmatian, BehnamFarid, Kiumars, AstroLynx, Dr. Blofeld, Tchoutoye, Danger, Narssarssuaq, Ekabhishek,MER-C, Dsp13, Midnightdreary, Sangak, Sedmic, Theroadislong, Camerond, Aziz1005, E104421, Jahangard, Danieliness, R'n'B, Com-monsDelinker, Artacoana, MistyMorn, Yonidebot, Ctesiphon7, Johnbod, Aylahs, LordAnubisBOT, Pejuang bahasa~enwiki, Sonabona,Kansas Bear, Intothefire, Darkfrog24, Black Kite, VolkovBot, Thomas.W, AlnoktaBOT, Kyle the bot, Aparhizi, Martinevans123, TXiK-iBoT, AstroWiki, Atabəy, Andres rojas22, Corvus cornix, JESL2, Alborz Fallah, Insanity Incarnate, AlleborgoBot, Deconstructhis, PareMo, SieBot, StAnselm, Coffee, France3470, Yerpo, Paintman, Aramgar, PbBot, OKBot, Johnanth, Maelgwnbot, CultureDrone, Re-gentsPark, Martarius, ClueBot, Razimantv, Dlselden, Arminahmady, Interfase, Monthen, Lususromulus, Warrior4321, Takabeg, Dar-ren23, Miladps3~enwiki, Kurdo777, Saeed.Veradi, Rouzbehg~enwiki, Propars55, Addbot, Misaq Rabab, AkhtaBot, Arararya, Download,Lihaas, AndersBot, SpBot, SamatBot, LinkFA-Bot, Squandermania, Lightbot, Boaby, ,ماني Zorrobot, WikiDreamer Bot, Jarble, Не А,Luckas-bot, Yobot, Miladps~enwiki, KamikazeBot, Hinio, Paige wyatt, Aryashahr, AnomieBOT, Rubinbot, Nkalhor, JackieBot, Sepa-resh, ,نگونبانگونی Lolliapaulina51, ArthurBot, LovesMacs, Star reborn, Xqbot, Anonymous from the 21st century, J04n, Xashaiar,Omnipaedista, Maria Sieglinda von Nudeldorf, Angenne, Wvk, Okok54321ilovecats, FrescoBot, Scientiae Defensor, ChikeJ, LucienBOT,Tobby72, Asraramiz, Lilaac, Pourghadiri, DrilBot, SpacemanSpiff, Turcopole new, Jeppiz, SkyMachine, Tim1357, Inuit18, Polygno-tos, ویکی ,علی Asdfjkl;asdfjkl;ryan, Sasams, Farhikht, Persia2099, Kamran the Great, , Pinkbeast, EmausBot, Artefactual, Johnof Reading, Look2See1, 3L33ter, Iranianson, ZxxZxxZ, Solarra, Atlasrockworld, Hazratemahmood, Pahlavannariman, Pro translator,ZéroBot, Bollyjeff, Knight1993, Akerans, Nicolas Eynaud, A Flor do Sul, Koresdcine, Alborzagros, Khodabandeh14, ChuispastonBot,ClueBot NG, Michaelmas1957, Dr. Persi, Chester Markel, Fatemi, Nachricht, Colorado12345, Snotbot, Lysozym, Helpful Pixie Bot,Behkar, Frankfarsad, Mark Arsten, Konjkaw, Yerevantsi, CitationCleanerBot, Xooon, Hostager, Jaqeli, BattyBot, Gundu1000, Scarlet-Brow, Fatbuu, Basp1, AK456, GH34456K, J77890, WilliamDigiCol, Zyma, KahnJohn27, SaMin SAmIN, Gdaniel111, Bettyboop330,B.sooshiant, HistoryofIran, Irisbox, Qian.Nivan, LouisAragon, Haminoon, Mourinhogentle, MagicatthemovieS, PJDF2367, PahlavanQahremani, Monkbot, Gunduu, Bigpersia, Negahbaan, Salar100b, Ahmedzaibaloch1121, ,محمدسرباز Msanitam, Scytsari and Anony-mous: 221

14.2 Images• File:Ambox_important.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg License: Public do-

main Contributors: Own work, based off of Image:Ambox scales.svg Original artist: Dsmurat (talk · contribs)• File:Bayasanghori_Shahnameh_5.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Bayasanghori_Shahnameh_5.

jpg License: Public domainContributors: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/photos/showgallery.php/cat/793Original artist: The Shâhnâmeh (Bookof Kings) is major epic work of persian poetry “Ferdowsi Tousi”.

• File:Baysonghori_Shahnameh_3_Faramarz_son_of_Rostam_mourns_the_death_of_his_father_and_of_his_uncle_Zavareh.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Baysonghori_Shahnameh_3_Faramarz_son_of_Rostam_mourns_the_death_of_his_father_and_of_his_uncle_Zavareh.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/photos/showgallery.php/cat/793 Original artist: The Shâhnâmeh (Book of Kings) is major epic work of per-sian poetry “Ferdowsi Tousi”. “Bayasanghori Shâhnâmeh” was made in 1430 for Prince Bayasanghor (1399-1433), the grandson of thelegendary Central Asian leader Timur (1336-1405).

• File:Baysonghori_Shahnameh_battle-scene.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Baysonghori_Shahnameh_battle-scene.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/photos/showgallery.php/cat/793 Originalartist: The Shâhnâmeh (Book of Kings) is major epic work of persian poetry “Ferdowsi Tousi”. “Bayasanghori Shâhnâmeh” was made in1430 for Prince Bayasanghor (1399-1433), the grandson of the legendary Central Asian leader Timur (1336-1405).

• File:Bizhan_Shahnameh_Met_1970.301.42_n01.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Bizhan_Shahnameh_Met_1970.301.42_n01.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) Original artist: 'Abd al-Vahhab

• File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_Bahram_Gur_and_Courtiers_Entertained_by_Barbad_the_Musician_Page_from_a_manuscript_of_the_Shahnama_of_Firdawsi_(d._1020).jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Brooklyn_Museum_-_Bahram_Gur_and_Courtiers_Entertained_by_Barbad_the_Musician_Page_from_a_manuscript_of_the_Shahnama_of_Firdawsi_%28d._1020%29.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum,34.6012_IMLS_SL2.jpg Original artist: ?

• File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_Single_Page_with_an_Illustration_from_a_Shahnamah.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Brooklyn_Museum_-_Single_Page_with_an_Illustration_from_a_Shahnamah.jpg License: Public domainContributors: Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2009, 34.6010_IMLS_PS3.jpg Original artist: ?

• File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Originalartist: ?

• File:Esfandiyar_Ramsar.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Esfandiyar_Ramsar.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Alborz fallah

16 14 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

• File:Georgian_manuscript_(Shahname).jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Georgian_manuscript_%28Shahname%29.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Georgian Manuscripts Original artist: ქართული ხელნაწერი წიგნი

• File:Kai_Khusrau_Shahnameh_Met_34.24.5.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Kai_Khusrau_Shahnameh_Met_34.24.5.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) Original artist: ?

• File:Rostam_Ramsar.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Rostam_Ramsar.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0Contributors: Own work Original artist: Alborz fallah

• File:Rustam_Kills_the_Turanian_Hero_Alkus_with_his_Lance.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Rustam_Kills_the_Turanian_Hero_Alkus_with_his_Lance.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:

• http://www.davidmus.dk/en/search?q=Shahnama Original artist: ?• File:Shahnama_(Book_of_Kings)_Abu'l_Qasim_Firdausi_(935–1020).jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/

commons/1/1d/Shahnama_%28Book_of_Kings%29_Abu%27l_Qasim_Firdausi_%28935%E2%80%931020%29.jpg License: Publicdomain Contributors: http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/446551?rpp=60&pg=18&ao=on&ft=india&pos=1076 Original artist: Calligrapher: Bin Shams ad-Din Sheikh MuhammadArtist:Ali NaqiArtist:Aqa NuyanArtist:Ghulam ParmakArtist:Fadl AliArtist:Mui'nArtist:Muhammad Zaman (active 1649–1700)

• File:Shahnameh_-_A_battle_between_the_hosts_of_Iran_and_Turan_during_the_reign_of_Kay_Khusraw.jpg Source:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Shahnameh_-_A_battle_between_the_hosts_of_Iran_and_Turan_during_the_reign_of_Kay_Khusraw.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionOriginal artist: Unknown Calligrapher - Writer : Persian poet Ferdowsi

• File:Ship-of-Faith-Houghton-Shahmana-Metropolitan-Museum.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ship-of-Faith-Houghton-Shahmana-Metropolitan-Museum.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: [1] Original artist: Miza 'Ali

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