| Q. | can anyone help me find a good summary of the epic Shahnameh? | Related Search:
Books & Authors | | | less than a page would be great. thanks so much!
| | A. | The Shahnameh or The Epic of Kings is one of the definite classics of the world. It tells hero tales of ancient Persia. The contents and the poet’s style in describing the events takes the readers back to the ancient times and makes he/she sense and feel the events. The Shahnameh was written by the famous poet, Ferdowsi who worked for over thirty years to finish his masterpiece.
Ferdowsi is considered to be one the greatest of all Persian poets and the Shahnameh is regarded as the Persian national epic. For a millennium, people of greater Persia have continued to read and listen to recitations from this masterwork.
The Shahnameh was written approximately 1,000 years ago, and is a record of pre-Islamic Iran. It is the history of Iran’s past, preserved in a majestic verse.
The Shahnameh has 62 stories, 990 chapters, and some 55,000 rhyming couplets, making it more than seven times the length of Homer’s Illiad, and more than twelve times the length of the German Nibelungenlied. The Shahnameh took Ferdowsi some 30 years to complete, and is based mainly on a prose work of the same name compiled in the poet’s early manhood in his native Tus, a region in modern day Iran. This prose was for the most part the translation of a Pahlavi (Middle Persian) work, the Khvatay-namak, a history of the kings of Persia from mythical times down to the reign of Khosrow II (590-628 CE), but it also contained additional material continuing the story to the overthrow of the Sassanians by the Arabs in the middle 7th century A.D.
The first to undertake the versification of this chronicle of pre-Islamic and legendary Persia was Daqiqi, a poet at the court of the Samanids, who came to a violent end after completing only 1,000 verses. These verses, which deal with the rise of the prophet Zoroaster, were afterward incorporated by Ferdowsi, with due acknowledgments, in his own poem.
The Shahnameh is divided into 3 successive parts: The Mythical, Heroic & Historic Ages.
The Mythical Age (the shortest section, represents only 4% of the book) gives an account of the creation of the world and of man as believed by the Sassanians. This introduction is followed by the story of the first man, Keyumars, who also becomes the first King.
The Heroic Age (the longest section, represents 65% of the book) is devoted to the age of Heroes, extending from Manuchehr’s reign until the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great. The main feature of this period is the role played by the Sagzi (Saka) or Sistani heroes who appear as the backbones of the Persian Empire. This section includes: the Love story of Zal and Rudabeh, the Seven Labors of Rostam (Haft Khan), Rostam and Sohrab, Siyavash and Soodabeh, Rostam and Akhvan Deev, Rosatm and Esfandiyar, Bejan and Manijeh, Goshtasp, Arjasp and the many wars with Afrasiyab.
The Historical Age (represents almost 30% of the book) a brief mention of the Ashkanian Dynasty follows the history of Alexander and precedes that of Ardeshir I, Founder of the Sassanian Dynasty. It is at this point in the book that Sassanid history is related with a good deal of accuracy. The fall of the Sassanids and the Arab conquest of Persia are narrated in a moving manner where Ferdowsi himself laments over this catastrophe and over what he calls the arrival of the “army of darkness”. | | | |
| Q. | IRANIAN LITERATURE: SHAHNAMEH The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi: An Icon to National Identity? | Related Search:
Higher Education (University ) | | | have you read this essay? if so can you help me evaluate it by identifying its strong points and weaknesses. it's also available at this website: [Link]  .
| | A. | yes it's our our national identity .and we love ferdowsi because our literature is of him. it isn't easy and it is almost hard . all teh people of iran can't read yhis very well because the vocabulery and pronounce who is in that are hard . i don't know where you can buy this because i'm in iran . | | | |
| Q. | What historical figure does the Jamshid of the Shahnameh represent? | Related Search:
History | | |
In your opinion of course. I don't see how there can be a wrong answer to this since the author of the Shahnameh died about a thousand years ago and isn't around to tell us. :)
I need answers people. Are telling me that none of the 100's of Iranians on here have read the Shahnameh? :(
Camerond you supplied mythological info on Jamshid yet you failed to give me the simple answer I was looking for. If I wanted information from wikipedia I could have simply looked it up. :(
| | A. | Jamshēd, Jamshīd (Persian: جمشید) or Jam (Persian: جم) in Middle- and New Persian, or Yima in Avestan is a mythological figure of Greater Iranian culture and tradition.
In tradition and folklore, Jamshid is described as having been the fourth and greatest king of the epigraphically unattested Pishdadian dynasty ( before Kayanian dynasty). This role is already alluded to in Zoroastrian scripture (e.g. Yasht 19, Vendidad 2), where the figure appears as Avestan language Yima(-Kshaeta) "(radiant) Yima," and from which the name 'Jamshid' then derives.
'Jamshid' remains a common Iranian and Zoroastrian male name. Edward FitzGerald transliterated the name as 'Jamshyd'. In the eastern regions of Greater Iran, Central Asia, and by the Zoroastrians of the Indian subcontinent it is rendered as 'Jamshed'.
According to the Shāhnāma of the poet Firdausī, Jamshid was the fourth king of the world. He had command over all the angels and demons of the world, and was both king and high priest of Hormozd (middle Persian for Ahura Mazda). He was responsible for a great many inventions that made life more secure for his people: the manufacture of armor and weapons, the weaving and dying of clothes of linen, silk and wool, the building of houses of brick, the mining of jewels and precious metals, the making of perfumes and wine, the navigation of the waters of the world in sailing ships. The sudreh and kushti of the Zoroastrianism are also attributed to Jamshid. From the skin-clad followers of Keyumars, humanity had risen to a great civilization in Jamshid's time.
Jamshid also divided the people into four groups:
* The priests, who conducted the worship of Hormozd
* The warriors, who protected the people by the might of their arms
* The farmers, who grew the grain that fed the people
* The artisans, who produced goods for the ease and enjoyment of the people
Jamshid had now become the greatest monarch the world had ever known. He was endowed with the royal farr (Avestan: khvarena), a radiant splendor that burned about him by divine favor. One day he sat upon a jewel-studded throne and the divs who served him raised his throne up into the air and he flew through the sky. His subjects, all the peoples of the world, marvelled and praised him. On this day, which was the first of the month of Farvardin, they first celebrated the holiday of Nawrōz ("new day"). In the variant of the Zoroastrian calendar followed by the Zoroastrians of India, the first day of the month of Farvardin is still called Jamshēd-i Nawrōz.
Jamshid was said to have had a magical seven-ringed cup, the Jām-e Jam which was filled with the elixir of immortality and allowed him to observe the universe. | | | |
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