SHAHNAMEH: THE PERSIAN BOOK OF KINGS PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Abolqasem Ferdowsi,Dick Davis | 1040 pages | 07 Jul 2016 | Penguin Books Ltd | 9780143108320 | English | London, United Kingdom Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings PDF Book Western writers have also praised the Shahnameh and Persian literature in general. Lists with This Book. It is an adaptation, as labeled on the first page; it is certainly shorter than the full text as listed for the Penguin etc. According to Richard Frye , "The extent of influence of the Iranian epic is shown by the Turks who accepted it as their own ancient history as well as that of Iran So he sends the noble young warrior on an impossible mission: to bring the proud and invincible Rostam back to the court in chains. Jul 11, Ahmad Sharabiani rated it it was amazing Shelves: poetry , classics , historical , 11th-century , iranian. Consisting of more than 50, rhyming couplets, it is the longest poem ever written by a single author. The Florence manuscript is one of the earliest known copies of the Shahnameh , predating the Moghul invasion and the following destruction of important libraries and manuscript collections. Small wonder then that so many Iranians regard him as the saviour of the Persian language. Nafisi, Iqbal, and M. The Penguin Book of Hell. Long epic Persian poem written by Ferdowsi. Love this book, it's my second time reading this!. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shahnameh. Ferdowsi started writing the Shahnameh in and completed it on 8 March Hafez , Rumi and other mystical poets, have used imageries of Shahnameh heroes in their poetry. Dec 10, Manon rated it it was amazing. The book was published in multiple languages including English, consists of pages and is available in Hardcover format. I was inspired to read this in preparation for Hamid Rahmanian's Feathers of Fire, a puppet show based on Shahnameh. This prodigious narrative, composed by the poet Ferdowsi between the years and , tells the story of pre- Islamic Iran, beginning in the mythic time of Creation and continuing forward to the Arab invasion in the seve Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings, Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Dick Davis Translator , Azar Nafisi Foreword Among the great works of world literature, perhaps one of the least familiar to English readers is the "Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings," the national epic of Persia. The Bridges of Constantine by Ahlam Mosteghanemi. Recent Downloads. I loved the early stories the best, those about Sam, Zal, and Rostam, the epic heroes on par with Achilles. More filters. Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings Writer Jul 15, Mrs. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. They have more colorful characters, and livelier adventures. Iran , Azerbaijan , Afghanistan and the greater region influenced by Persian culture such as Georgia , Armenia , Turkey and Dagestan celebrate this national epic. The Shahnameh 's impact on Persian historiography was immediate and some historians decorated their books with the verses of Shahnameh. Much of the depth and sympathy in the Iliad stems from the fact that Homer uses the power of rhetoric to make it easy to understand the motivations behind all the pointless conflicts. Johnson Does naming a thing help you understand it? By Joobin Bekhrad 16th August Hafiz is celebrated for interweaving the erotic and the mystic, the melancholy of mortality and fate, as well as philosophical paradoxes into his intensely emotional love songs. The story towards the end was a bit convulted, i must say. The wily Turanian King Afrasyab is nearly as long-lived as Rostam and somehow manages to escape time and again from certain death. From The Washington Post : The Shahnameh is the great epic of ancient Persia, opening with the creation of the universe and closing with the Arab Muslim conquest of the worn-out empire in the 7th century. Michelle Anjirbag rated it really liked it Sep 13, The champion Rostam boldly undertakes seven Herculean trials. Books by Abolqasem Ferdowsi. Without the right cultural baggage, the pleasures of the two works are virtually inaccessible. A handsomely designed and illustrated collection of wonderfully retold stories from the Perisan epic Shahnameh. There are also modern incomplete translations of the Shahnameh : Reuben Levy 's prose version later revised by Amin Banani , and another by Dick Davis in a mixture of poetry and prose which appeared in With the coming of Islam and its conquests the Persian scholarly, administrative and technocratic community once again played a highly critical role in enabling the rise of the Arabic Golden Age that then passed on the knowledge and texts of the classical world to enable the Western Renaissance. Book Description Penguin Classics, In other words, the Shahnameh itself has become one of the main pillars of the modern Persian language. Especially under the Caliph Manun the House of Wisdom grew to become a national library, a center of translation from all languages and cultures into Arabic and Persian and a national Academy of Arts and Sciences supporting scholarly research, writing and projects. Pursue desire, consider life a game And, if you can, look out for luck and fame— But know the world's your enemy; your head Will lie in dust, the grave will b Just magnificent in every way. Hardcover , pages. I'm sure if you grew up with classic Western Fairy tales, there's one that will shock you: 'Western writers stole that idea from here! Here's an example from near the beginning. The Barmacid Vizirs under Haroun Al-Rashid and Mamun established a key institution, the "House of Wisdom" or "Bayt-al-Hikma" which in and of itself, along with replicated instituions elsewhere in the Caliphate, may be credited with preservation of the bulk of the heritage of classical antiquity and perhaps enabling the rise of the Renaissance in the West. The book is beautifully presented with each page illustrated by Shirin Adl showing characters and colourful page borders. Famous poets of Persia and the Persian tradition have praised and eulogized Ferdowsi. I couldn't really put it down as it drew to a close. Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings Reviews The cycles of inheritors to great kingdoms being abandoned, growing to maturity, and taking back their kingdom by strength can become repetitive if you read it this way. Aug 21, Casey Koester rated it it was ok Shelves: Dick Davis is the premier translator of Persian poetry at work today. Traditional historiography in Iran has claimed that Ferdowsi was grieved by the fall of the Sassanid Empire and its subsequent rule by "Arabs" and "Turks". He called on all writers in Germany and the West to rise to their cosmopolitan duty to widen their cultural horizons globally beyond their own familiar tradition of the West in order to strengthen their own creative powers and participate in the globalization of literature and human consciousness: "I am more and more convinced, that poetry is the universal possession of mankind, revealing itself everywhere and at all times in hundreds and hundreds of men. Encyclopedia Iranica. There are quite a few and a map would improve my understanding of the text immensely. Leiden: E. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. I've tried searching for maps of The Shahnameh online, but with no English success so far. Abolqasem Ferdowsi. Want to Read saving…. Although the epic was left unfinished, it was an example of mathnawis in the heroic style of the Shahnameh written later on for the Safavid kings. Archived from the original on November 17, The work is not precisely chronological, but there is a general movement through time. More modern in his consciousness, he exhibits a scepticism towards both political loyalty and religious orthodoxy and faith. It requires both as it does get somewhat repetitive in terms of descriptors for the noble knights and savagery of battle and the beauty of women, the fruit of deceit, envy, greed, treachery, fratricide, patricide, infanticide, but it is worth the time. I only wish I had been able to read it in its original language, as its narrative must be so subtly nuanced and multi-layered. In its pages, the 11th-century poet Abolqasem Ferdowsi chronicles the reigns of a hundred kings, the exploits of dozens of epic heroes and the seemingly never-ending conflict between early Iran and its traditional enemy, the country here called Turan a good-sized chunk of Central Asia. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. The prose of the translation reads well, but the poetry is rather lame. View all 12 comments. Their purses of hoarded coins remained closed, and my bright heart grew weary at their stinginess. A crucial turning point in history was when after internecine conflict in the succession to the leadership after Mohammad, the Abbasid Caliphate took power and moved the headquarters from the Ummayad capital in Damascus to the newly founded capital in Baghdad. Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings Read Online This reminds us that Persian was a literary, court and governmental language used alongside Arabic from the Ottoman Empire to Iran and throughout India, such that Persian Literature is not by any means confined to Iran. The 10th Century poet Daqiqi had written some 1,odd verses of his Khodainameh, based on a book now known as the Abu Mansuri Shahnameh, after its patron, one Abu Mansur. Like Byron he was an aristocratic rebel with a touch of self-destructiveness about him. The Republic. Freer and Sackler Galleries. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC also hosted an exhibition of folios from the 14th through the 16th centuries, called "Shahnama: Years of the Persian Book of Kings", from October to April Sure, there are always a few level-headed, intelligent fellows, like Caesar, Odysseus, the Sire de Coucy-- and in the Shahnameh, Rostam--but even they can't escape the machinations of the headstrong, foolish jerks that surround them.