شاهنامه فردوسی

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Life

Ferdowsi was born in the Iranian province of Khorasan, in a village near Tus, in 935. His great epic, the Shahnama ("The Epic of Kings"), to which he devoted most of his adult life, was originally composed for eventual presentation to the Samanid princes of Khorasan, who were the chief instigators of the revival of Iranian cultural traditions after the Arab conquest of the seventh century. During Ferdowsi's lifetime this dynasty was conquered by the Ghaznavid Empire, and there are various stories in medieval texts describing the lack of interest shown by the new ruler of Khorasan, Sultan Mahmud of Ghaznavid, in Ferdowsi and his lifework. According to historians, Mahmud had promised Ferdawsi a dinar for every word written in the Shahnama, but later retracted and presented him with dirhams, which were at that time, much less valuable than dinar. Ferdowsi rejected the money and returned home with a broken heart.Ferdowsi is said to have died around 1020 in poverty and embittered by royal neglect, though fully confident of his work's ultimate success and fame. Later it is said that Mahmud sent the amount promised to Ferdowsi's village, but when the messengers reached his house, he had died a few hours ago. According to legend, his daughter refused to receive the amount, thus, making Ferdowsi's Shahnama immortal.

Ferdowsi Mausoleum in Tus

Books

His masterwork, the Shahnama, is the most popular and influential manifestation of true Iranian national epics. The Shahnama, or the "Book of Kings," consists of the translation of an even older Pahlavi (Middle Persian) work. It has been a work of exceptional popularity among the Persians for over a thousand years. In brief it tells the history of old Persia before Arab conquest of the region, this tale all written in poetic form and in old Persian language starts from 7000 years ago telling the story of Persian Kings and their doings.

Scenes from the Shahnameh carved into reliefs at Tus, where Ferdowsi is buried.

Influence

Ferdowsi is one of the undisputed giants of Persian literature. After Ferdowsi's Shahnama 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 Ferdowsi's Shahnama, but none of them could quite achieve the same degree of fame and popularity as Ferdowsi's masterpiece.

Of all the great Iranian poets, Ferdowsi stature is the most prolific because of the strides he made in reviving and regenerating the Persian language and cultural traditions. In fact, his works are cited as a crucial component in the persistence of the Persian language, as those works allowed much of the tongue to remain codified and intact. In this respect, Ferdowsi surpasses Nezami, Khayyam, Asadi Tusi, and other seminal Persian literary figures in his impact on Persian culture and language.

References

• E.G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. ISBN 0-700-70406-X
• Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. ASIN B-000-6BXVT-K

See also

• List of Persian poets and authors
• Persian literature
• Sassanid dynasty