International Society of communication and Development among universities www.europeansp.org Hero’s War crying (declaiming) in Shahnameh Maryam Hashem University of payam noor Abstract Ranting Among The Heros In Shahnameh( epic of kings) Iran is one of the countries leading in epic storytelling. The Shahnameh is the most famous epic stories collection in Iran's literature. The current research intends to study the ranting, as one of the important features of epic. In other words, the epic speech is associated with ranting. Ranting is one of the features of the heroes, especially in the war fields. The feature has been observed in Iran and other nations. First, the meaning of ranting will be presented. Second, the other Iranian epic poets and how the wars were practiced in ancient Iran will be reviewed. Then, the eldest ranting in Persian literature will be reminded. Finally, a sample of the heros' ranting will be provided. Keywords: Ranting, Heroes, Shahnameh Introduction: The Shahnameh is one of the most beautiful epic compositions in the world. This ancient epic story collection involves the history of the ancient Iran. It presents stories on wars and combats of the Iranian heroes and braves with other Aniranian heros and braves. When one reads the Shahnameh, he or she will be introduced with the Iranian customs and behaviors at the war fields. In ancient times, the combatants were offerring special behaviors in the war fields. The individual heros and braves were firstly telling their rivals about their races by using ranting. The Downloaded from mls.europeansp.org at 1:17 +0330 on Tuesday September 28th 2021 heros were adoring their races with presenting their heroic and courage in previous wars. In this manner, their rivals were challenged. With expressing their races and courage which were mostly intertwined with enlargement, they were aiming their enemies' mentality, or in modern times known as psychological war, so that the war powers of their rivals could be lessoned and they could manage to win the war more easily. The Shahnameh is a beautiful example of these rantings. Having reviewed the ancient and modern writings on ranting, together with having © 2016 The Authors. Published by European Science publishing Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of European Science publishing Ltd. 2 Maryam Hashem/ 00 (2016) 000–000 presented how the wars were practiced by Iranian army, and having given the eldest sample of ranting with their examples clearly been observed in Shahnameh, the current research intends to outline the beautiful custom, heros' ranting in the war fields. Problem Description: The Shahnameh is an epic composition which presented the Iranian ancient history and outlined how the Iranian kings were ruling their land and other regions. It is full of wars occurred in ancient Iran. Sometimes, a war was occurring between Iran and other countries while , sometimes, the Iranian heros and braves were asisting their friend and confederate countries while fighting against their common enemies. Ferdowsi managed to outline the war fields and the combat customs in a beautiful manner. The current research tried to study one of the customs of the war field, ranting of the heros. With giving examples from the ancient writings and the epic compositions, the research tries to study how ranting is done. Necessity and Importance of Problem: The Shahnameh is a life story of the ancient Iran. This big composition tells about the behaviors and characteristics of the kings, heros and braves whether in the war fields or out of them. Ferdowsi told about the ancient events. He outlined the wars between Iran and other countries or the wars occurred between the heros and braves. This way we are introduced with the methods and customs before the wars began. The originality of the research is that it outlines how the heros were behaving at the beginning of the war, or as it known as ranting. Research Background: When we review the theses and articles on Shahnameh, we can percieve that ranting was not perfectly regraded by those who did researches on Shanameh , e.g. Ghadam Ali Sarami and others. However, the heros' ranting wasn't also generally regarded in terms of the war fields. Lexical Meaning: Downloaded from mls.europeansp.org at 1:17 +0330 on Tuesday September 28th 2021 Ranting: reading poems on ranting and fighting mostly with bragging( Dehkhoda's dictionary): Boasting oneself( Moeen's Persian Dictionairy) 1- ( figure of speech) boasting oneself, 2- ( ancient) reading poems at fighting for boasting oneself( Amid Dictionairy) Presentation of Epic and Ranting: Given the fact that , in terms of meaning, the epic involves bravery and courage , the ranting is a kind of poem which tells about the wars and braveries and as Aristotle observed it is a kind of Maryam Hashem/ Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 00 (2016) 000–000 3 imitation on the behaviors and manners of the great men . Mostly, the heros of the epic events are ambitious men whose attempts maintain a nation's sovereignty and independence while gaining honor for their country. Their wars , especially in Iranian heroic epics involve fighting between good and bad or a war among the divine powers( Professor Farough Safizadeh,102. 2012) Shahnameh's best descriptions especially go to the war field. In the war field, the patched battles are sometimes are recalled which are important just as the wars among the teammates. In pitched battles, the rivals were introduced at first. Next, they were trying to avoid their rivals fighting which might lead to death. Normally, after throwing axe against each other, they were trying hitting with some bricks. Then , they were deciding to use swords( Zabihollah Safa, 233.1993) The pitched battles are more common in Shahnameh. Mehrdad Bahar believed that most of the contents of Shahnameh are linked with the Parthian dynasty. For instance, Rostam , indeed as Sorena , the Parthian hero, lived in Sistan. Clearly, this indicates that these wars differ from those in Sassanid dynasty. Sometimes, before a big war, or after it, the army was returning back , some heros were chosen among the two fighting armies so that they could try pitched battle. In a pitched battle, the heros were going before their field marshals to get orders. Then, they were getting back to the field, boasting onesleves, claiming the field. The awl was being braought to the hero by a rider who could understand the languages of both rivals and was responsible for interpretting. Before begging to fight, the rivals were asking the interpretter about their rival's name. Next, they were boosting of their race and bravery while humiliating their rival. Finally, they were starting to fight by using spear, awl, sowrd and archery. If none of them were defeated, they would got off the horse and a wrestling began. The one who was defeated would be beheaded, his head would be put on the tip of the spear with which the winner would return back toward his army. The interpretor was safe and was feeling secure. The heros were agreeing not to harm him. If the hero was losing the awl , he would be percieved as black sheep of the family and the other heros would do their best to get back the awl. (Khanlari,576.1978) Downloaded from mls.europeansp.org at 1:17 +0330 on Tuesday September 28th 2021 Ranting among the Iranian heros against their rivals is typically considered as boasting oneslef and a honor of the nation's race and originality and victories gained previously. The free Iranian people were respected in direct or indirect manner with boasting their braveries against the outsiders or as emerged within the honors of a hero in terms of his race and ancestry. This could be percieved as a research on the innate greatness of the older Iran. The most common psychological war in Shahnameh is the ranting of the heros before the pitched battle. Before the war began, each of the rivals were reminding the victories and braveries they had in the past while also humiliating their their rival enemey's race and originality in order to make them fear and scare. This could destroy their rival's mentality with paralyzing them when trying to think in a correct manner. In consequence they could manage to gain the upper hand and could pave the 4 Maryam Hashem/ 00 (2016) 000–000 way to win. The psychological war is commonly seen among the heros( Fallah, Gholamali, 14, 54-55, 113) The sixth feature of hero is eloquence which means he should express the materials and contents by using repartee and fluency and should manage to boast himself, ranting against his rival enemy and shouldn't be failed to give incisive answers( Nadooshan, 1984). The ranting is one of the special speeches in the heroic literature which involves boasting of the heros and expressing their honors and activites. It is mostly applied at war times while also being observed in other situations. This is while other heroic or martial stories of the Shahnameh use few or none of these ranting speeches of the braves and warriors( Saramali Ghadami, 1989, 300). After Frood was killed, Toos , as the commander of Iran's army, ordered to move toward the borders of Tooran. The army reached the bank of Kasehrood. A hero of Tooran, Plashan, welcomed them to prevent the Iranians entering. Giv was prepared to fight against him. However, Bijan asked his father to give up his decision and with giving armor to Sivosh, make him ready to fight against Plashan. Bijan weared the armor by Giv's help and went to fight against the enemy.