Shahnameh

The *Shahnameh* (also spelled *Shahnama*, meaning "Book of Kings") is a monumental epic poem by the Persian poet Ferdowsi, composed over 33 years between roughly 977 and 1010 CE. It is the national epic of Greater Iran, containing about 50,000 couplets (two-line verses), making it one of the longest epic poems ever written and the longest by a single author. The poem recounts Iran's past—largely mythical but partly historical—from the world's creation up to the Muslim conquest in the seventh century. This national epic is celebrated across Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and the broader Persian-influenced region, including Armenia, Dagestan, Georgia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The work is a cornerstone of Persian culture and language, regarded as a literary masterpiece and the definitive expression of Iran's ethno-national identity.

Ferdowsi began the *Shahnameh* in 977 AD and finished it on March 8, 1010. It is primarily a poetic reworking of what he and his contemporaries considered ancient Iranian history, drawing on earlier prose accounts like the *Shahnameh of Abu-Mansur*. A small portion of the poem consists of Ferdowsi's own original passages. The epic is based largely on a prose version compiled earlier in his life in his native Tus, which itself was mostly a translation of a late Sasanian Middle Persian work called the *Khwadāy-Nāmag* ("Book of Kings"). That source compiled the history of Persian kings and heroes from mythical times to the reign of Khosrow II (590–628), drawing on historical information for the later Sasanian period but not for the earlier one. Ferdowsi extended the narrative to the overthrow of the Sasanians by Muslim armies in the mid-seventh century.

The first poet to attempt versifying the Pahlavi chronicle was Daqiqi, a contemporary of Ferdowsi at the Samanid court, who completed only 1,000 verses before dying violently. Those verses, about the rise of the prophet Zoroaster, were later incorporated by Ferdowsi with acknowledgment. The *Shahnameh*'s style blends features of written and oral literature. Some scholars suggest Ferdowsi also used Zoroastrian texts, such as the lost *Chihrdad*, as sources. Other Pahlavi sources were important, notably the *Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan*, a late Sasanian work detailing Ardashir I's rise to power, considered historically accurate due to its proximity to the events. This text is written in late Middle Persian, the direct ancestor of Modern Persian, and many phrases and words in the *Shahnameh* match it, according to scholar Zabihollah Safa.

Traditional Iranian historiography holds that Ferdowsi, grieved by the fall of the Sasanian Empire and subsequent Arab and Turkish rule, wrote the *Shahnameh* to preserve Persia's golden age and pass its lessons to future generations. However, some authors have challenged this view, arguing that Ferdowsi's main concern was not solely preserving pre-Islamic myth and history.

The poem is divided into three sections. The mythical age is short, about 2,100 verses (four percent of the whole). It opens with praise of God and Wisdom, then describes the creation of the world and humanity as the Sasanians believed. The first man, Keyumars, became the first king after living in the mountains. His grandson Hushang accidentally discovered fire and established the Sadeh Feast. Stories follow of Tahmuras, Jamshid, Zahhak, Kawa (or Kaveh), Fereydun and his three sons Salm, Tur, and Iraj, and his grandson Manuchehr.

The heroic age occupies nearly two-thirds of the epic, spanning from Manuchehr's reign to Alexander the Great's conquest. This period is also called the kingdom of the Kayanians, blending myth and legend. Central are the Saka (or Sistani) heroes, who form the empire's backbone. Garshasp is briefly mentioned, along with his son Nariman, whose son Sam served as Manuchehr's leading paladin while ruling Sistan. Sam's successors were his son Zal and Zal's son Rostam, the bravest of heroes, followed by Faramarz. Stories include the romance of Zal and Rudaba, the Seven Labors of Rostam, Rostam and Sohrab, Siyavash and Sudaba, Rostam and Akvan Div, the romance of Bijan and Manijeh, wars with Afrasiab, Daqiqi's account of Goshtasp and Arjasp, and Rostam and Esfandyar.

The historical age briefly mentions the Arsacid (Parthian) dynasty after Alexander's history and before Ardashir I, founder of the Sasanian Empire. Sasanian history is then related with considerable accuracy, ending with the fall of the empire.