Ferdowsi
Author of the Shahnameh, the greatest epic of Persian-speaking countries.
His epic poem is one of the world's longest created by a single poet and the greatest epic of Persian-speaking countries.[1] The Persian poet known by the pen name Ferdowsi, whose full name is given as Abu al-Qasim Mansur bin Hasan Tosi, lived from 940 to 1025 and wrote the Shahnameh, an epic poem also referred to as the "Book of Kings".[1] Within Persian literature, Ferdowsi is regarded as a highly influential figure, and he is also considered among the most significant poets in literary history.[1]
Last updated 2026-10-07 from the source article.
Quick Facts
- Birthplace
- Tus, Samanid Empire
- Place of death
- Tus, Ghaznavid Empire
- Occupation
- Poet
- Notable works
- Shahnameh
- Genre
- Persian poetry
- National epic
- Khorasan style
- Language
- Early New Persian
- Resting place
- Tomb of Ferdowsi, Razavi Khorasan, Iran
- Children
- 2
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Ferdowsi was born in 940 in the village of Paj, near Tus in Khorasan, into a family of Persian landowners called dehqans.[2] The dehqans were landowning Iranian gentry who flourished under the Sasanian dynasty and saw it as their task to preserve pre-Islamic cultural traditions.[3][4] Ferdowsi completed the first version of the Shahnameh in 994 while receiving patronage from the Samanid prince Mansur.[3] Ferdowsi was buried in his own garden after a local cleric forbade burial in the cemetery of Tus.[5]
Around 977, Ferdowsi started composing the Shahnameh, with the goal of carrying forward the poetic project that his contemporary Daqiqi had begun.[3] After the Samanid dynasty was replaced by the Turkic Ghaznavids, Ferdowsi altered parts of his poem to include praise for Sultan Mahmud.[3] The Shahnameh was finished by Ferdowsi on the 8th of March, 1010.[3] Ferdowsi's wife, who likely could read and write, belonged to the same dehqan social class as he did.[3]
What the cited sources add
The Encyclopædia Iranica account by Shahbazi states that the Ferdowsi mausoleum in Tus was built between 1928 and 1934 and remodeled in 1969.[6] Construction of the tomb started in 1928 under the supervision of Šāhroḵ and finished in 1934 for Ferdowsi's millenary celebration.[6] The Cambridge History of Iran, a 747-page book published by Cambridge University Press on June 27, 1975, discusses the linguistic and cultural transformations on the Iranian Plateau that followed the 7th-century Islamic conquests.[7][8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Ferdowsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Search Results – Brill Reference", referenceworks.brillonline.com; Kia 2016, p. 160; Dahlén 2016, p. 249; Dabashi 2012, p. 39 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ferdowsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Davis 2006, p. xviii (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ferdowsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Khaleghi-Motlagh 1999, p. 514–523 Shahnameh published by Eisenbrauns, Inc. Vol. 6, Pg 341 Vs 657 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ferdowsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Khaleghi-Motlagh 1999, p. 514–523 Shahnameh published by Eisenbrauns, Inc. Vol. 6, Pg 341 Vs 657; Davis 2006, p. xviii (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ferdowsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Feuillebois 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Shahbazi, "Mausoleum", Encyclopædia Iranica, 26 January 2012. facts only, no text reused. iranicaonline.org
- Open Library record, ISBN 0521200938 ("The Cambridge History of Iran"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
- Wikipedia, "Ferdowsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Davis 2006, p. xviii; Frye, "The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs", Cambridge University Press, 1975, p. 136; (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Ferdowsi (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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