draws on the depths of legend and then carries its story into historical times, The Shahnameh, the argument goes, is largely his effort to preserve the memory of Persia's golden days and transmit it to a new generation so that they could learn and try to build a better world. Stories of Tahmuras, Jamshid, Zahhāk, Kawa or Kaveh, Fereydūn and his three sons Salm, Tur, and Iraj, and his grandson Manuchehr are related in this section. Download full-text PDF. It was published in Moscow by the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in nine volumes between 1960 and 1971. If you don't want to shell out $75 you can read the full text online. And men of sense and wisdom will proclaim, When I have gone, my praises and my fame.[29]. Georgian versions of the Šāh-nāma are quite popular, and the stories of Rostam and Sohrāb, or Bījan and Maniža became part of Georgian folklore.[21]. [28] Specifically in India, through the Shahnameh, they felt themselves to be the last outpost tied to the civilized world by the thread of Iranianism.[28]. SINGLE PAGE ORIGINAL JP2 TAR download. [23] The Turanians of Shahnameh are an Iranian people representing Iranian nomads of the Eurasian Steppes and have no relationship to the culture of the Turks. After the Shahnameh, a number of other works similar in nature surfaced over the centuries within the cultural sphere of the Persian language. The only known Arabic translation of the Shahnameh was done in c. 1220 by al-Fath bin Ali al-Bondari, a Persian scholar from Isfahan and at the request of the Ayyubid ruler of Damascus Al-Mu'azzam Isa. The Xwadāynāmag contained historical information on the later Sasanian period, but it does not appear to have drawn on any historical sources for the earlier Sasanian period (3rd to 4th centuries). Shahnameh-ye Davari, dating to 1272 (1856) is one of the last Shahnamehs, copied and illustrated in the traditional style. Download: A text-only version is available for download. Into English", "India's vanishing Parsis - Not fade away", "Iran animation invited to Cannes Film Festival - ISNA", Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University, Ancient Iran’s Geographical Position in Shah-Nameh, A richly illuminated and almost complete copy of the, Ferdowsi millennial celebration in Berlin, Inscription of Xerxes the Great in Van Fortress, Achaemenid inscription in the Kharg Island, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shahnameh&oldid=1004177543, Articles containing Persian-language text, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from May 2012, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from May 2012, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2015, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2017, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Lines of 22 syllables with two rhyming couplets in the same metre (, Poet Moniruddin Yusuf (1919–1987) translated the full version of. However, despite best efforts, there are several places in this text where the … These verses, which deal with the rise of the prophet Zoroaster, were afterward incorporated by Ferdowsi, with acknowledgment, in his own poem. Due to the difficulty of converting this 600 page text to etext, the project was put on hold for several years until OCR technology matured. However, the roots of the narrative date much earlier. 5 out of 5 stars (1) 1 product ratings - Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings. [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] The "Great Mongol" or Demotte Shahnameh, produced during the reign of the Ilkhanid Sultan Abu Sa'id, is one of the most illustrative and important copies of the Shahnameh. [45], The Mongol rulers in Iran revived and spurred the patronage of the Shahnameh in its manuscript form. turning the finest stories of Ferdowsi's original into an elegant combination But I will not die after this, I will remain alive, as I have scattered the seeds of speech." Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and the greater region influenced by Persian culture such as Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Dagestan celebrate this national epic. Medieval Islamic Period", http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/shahnameh/, "Ferdowsi's "Shahnameh": The Book of Kings", "Shahnameh in the Kurdish and Armenian Oral Tradition (abridged)", "Šāh-nāma Translations ii. [62] Two similar cycles of illustration of the mid-17th century, the Shahnameh of Rashida and the Windsor Shahnameh, come from the last great period of the Persian miniature. [26] According to Ibn Bibi, in 618/1221[clarification needed] the Saljuq of Rum Ala' al-Din Kay-kubad decorated the walls of Konya and Sivas with verses from the Shahnameh. Scholarly editions have been prepared of the Shahnameh. KINDLE download. Today it is the official language of. Studying Ferdowsi's masterpiece also became a requirement for achieving mastery of the Persian language by subsequent Persian poets, as evidenced by numerous references to the Shahnameh in their works. Almost two-thirds of the Shahnameh is devoted to the age of heroes, extending from Manuchehr's reign until the conquest of Alexander the Great. least familiar to English readers is the, Advanced embedding details, examples, and help, Terms of Service (last updated 12/31/2014). The style of the Shahnameh shows characteristics of both written and oral literature. Shahnameh, The Epic of the Persian Kings, akin to The Iliad and Romance of the three Kingdoms, has a beautiful new edition. Close. Read full-text. Ferdowsi started writing the Shahnameh in 977 and completed it on 8 March 1010. ITEM TILE download. It was based on a comparison of 17 manuscript copies. Translated by Helen Zimmern ... And he continued to pile evil upon evil till the measure thereof was full to overflowing, and all the land cried out against him. Now Dick Davis, Shahnameh:The … The number of manuscripts that were consulted during the preparation of Khaleghi-Motlagh edition goes beyond anything attempted by the Moscow team. In honour of the Shahnameh's millennial anniversary, in 2010 the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge hosted a major exhibition, called "Epic of the Persian Kings: The Art of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh", which ran from September 2010 to January 2011. Uploaded by This calls into question the idea of Ferdowsi's deliberate eschewing of Arabic words.[15]. This is - where published, and the eighth volume has only just been published in late 2007 - the standard text now, replacing the Moscow edition. Download full-text PDF Read full-text. [13] These include the line: tofu bar to, ey charkh-i gardun, tofu! 2005–2006. Consisting of some 60,000 verses, the Shahnameh is the world's longest epic poetry written by a single poet. [57], The Timurids continued the tradition of manuscript production. Download full-text PDF Read full-text. Some experts[who?] 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.This prodigious narrative, composed by the poet Ferdowsi between the years 980 and 1010, tells the story of pre- Islamic Iran, beginning in the mythic time of Creation and continuing forward to the Arab invasion in the … [58] The Safavids commissioned elaborate copies of the Shahnameh to support their legitimacy. [63] The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC also hosted an exhibition of folios from the 14th through the 16th centuries, called "Shahnama: 1000 Years of the Persian Book of Kings", from October 2010 to April 2011. Abu al-Qasim Firdawsi, the author, worked for some 30 years on the Shahnameh, which he … [10] The main feature of this period is the major role played by the Saka or Sistānī heroes who appear as the backbone of the Empire. Shahnameh are far more than that of Homer's Iliad. It tells mainly the mythical and to some extent the historical past of the Persian Empire from the creation of the world until the Muslim conquest in the seventh century. 01- The Shah of Old Kaiumers first sat upon the throne of Persia, and was master of the world. download 1 file . Western writers have also praised the Shahnameh and Persian literature in general. This paper presents a comparative look at the immortal effect of this Iranian poet with Homer's poem--the Greek blind poet. It is divided into three parts—the mythical, heroic, and historical ages. Edmund Hayes. I … A single sheet from the former was sold for £904,000 in 2006. Giunashvili remarks on the connection of Georgian culture with that of Shahnameh: The names of many Šāh-nāma heroes, such as Rostom-i, Thehmine, Sam-i, or Zaal-i, are found in 11th- and 12th-century Georgian literature. This prodigious narrative, composed Pages: 369-393. Between 1905 and 1925, the brothers Arthur and Edmond Warner published a translation of the complete work in nine volumes, now out of print. ... depict the aesthetic nature of the origina l text of the “Shahnameh After this, Sasanian history is related with a good deal of accuracy. Both editions lacked critical apparatuses and were based on secondary manuscripts dated after the 15th century; much later than the original work. For them, it was considered de rigueur for the members of the family to have personal copies of the epic poem. Nezami-e Aruzi reports that the final edition of the Shahnameh sent to the court of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni was prepared in seven volumes. [44] The Baysonghori Shahnameh, an illuminated manuscript copy of the work (Golestan Palace, Iran), is included in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register of cultural heritage items. The 1217 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. It is claimed that Ferdowsi went to great lengths to avoid any words drawn from the Arabic language, words which had increasingly infiltrated the Persian language following the Arab conquest of Persia in the 7th century. Dante's "Divine Comedy," the plays of Shakespeare, the epics of [18] After defeating Muhammad Shaybāni's Uzbeks, Ismāil asked Hātefī, a famous poet from Jam (Khorasan), to write a Shahnameh-like epic about his victories and his newly established dynasty. Georgian ideology, customs, and worldview often informed these translations because they were oriented toward Georgian poetic culture. It will always seem strange to the historians that no matter how many times a country has been conquered, subjugated and even destroyed by enemies, there is always a certain national core preserved in its character, and before you know it, there re-emerges a long-familiar native phenomenon. When we take into consideration domestic life in the Konya courts and the sincerity of the favor and attachment of the rulers to Persian poets and Persian literature, then this fact (i.e. The first modern critical edition of the Shahnameh was prepared by a Russian team led by E. E. Bertels, using the oldest known manuscripts at the time, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, with heavy reliance on the 1276 manuscript from the British Museum and the 1333 Leningrad manuscript, the latter of which has now been considered a secondary manuscript. "[25], Turks, as an ethno-linguistic group, have been influenced by the Shahnameh since advent of Saljuqs. [citation needed], The Shahnameh, especially the legend of Rostam and Sohrab, is cited and plays an important role in the novel The Kite Runner by Afghan-American writer Khaled Hosseini. Rostam or Rustam (Persian: رستم ‎ ) is a legendary hero in Persian mythology, the son of Zāl and Rudaba, whose life and work was immortalized by the 10th-century Persian poet Ferdowsi in the Shahnameh, or Epic of Kings, which contains pre-Islamic Iranian folklore and history. Garshāsp is briefly mentioned with his son Narimān, whose own son Sām acted as the leading paladin of Manuchehr while reigning in Sistān in his own right. [27] The Turks themselves connected their origin not with Turkish tribal history but with the Turan of Shahnameh. The Shahnameh (Persian: شاهنامه‎, romanized: Šāhnāme pronounced [ʃɒːhnɒːˈme]; lit. ' [58] Shah Ismail I used the epic for propaganda purposes: as a gesture of Persian patriotism, as a celebration of renewed Persian rule, and as a reassertion of Persian royal authority. Among the great works of world literature, perhaps one of the Rostam/ Tahamtan: the son of Dastan/Zal; Persia's greatest hero Zal/ Dastan: the father of Rostam; the king of Seistan and Zabual /Zabulestan The Shahnameh has also been adapted to many films and animations: Long epic Persian poem written by Ferdowsi, Contemporary Persian and Classical Persian are the same language, but writers since 1900 are classified as contemporary. [58] Consequently, three of Timur’s grandsons—Bāysonḡor, Ebrāhim Solṭān, and Moḥammad Juki—each commissioned such a volume. The Shahnameh contains 62 stories, told in 990 chapters with 50,000 rhyming couplets. There is a quest for justice through out the text, which resonates strongly with the struggles of the current political environment. Between 1877 and 1884, the German scholar Johann August Vullers prepared a synthesized text of the Macan and Mohl editions under the title Firdusii liber regum, but only three of its expected nine volumes were published. [4] The Shahnameh is a monument of poetry and historiography, being mainly the poetical recast of what Ferdowsi, his contemporaries, and his predecessors regarded as the account of Iran's ancient history. Opposing political parties use the stories of Shahnameh to gain popularity among the people. It is based mainly on a prose work of the same name compiled in Ferdowsi's earlier life in his native Tus. The fall of the Sassanids and the Arab conquest of Persia are narrated romantically. In 1808 Mathew Lumsden (1777-1835) undertook the work of an edition of the poem. [6], Many other Pahlavi sources were used in composing the epic, prominent being the Kārnāmag-ī Ardaxšīr-ī Pābagān, which was originally written during the late Sassanid era and gave accounts of how Ardashir I came to power which, because of its historical proximity, is thought to be highly accurate. The Epic of Kings by Ferdowsi, part of the Internet Classics Archive Dastur Faramroz Kutar and his brother Ervad Mahiyar Kutar translated the Shahnameh into Gujarati verse and prose and published 10 volumes between 1914 and 1918. Goethe wrote: When we turn our attention to a peaceful, civilized people, the Persians, we must—since it was actually their poetry that inspired this work—go back to the earliest period to be able to understand more recent times. This made him really close to death, but he was saved by another true hero. The Safavid era saw a resurgence of Shahnameh productions. Among the stories described in this section are the romance of Zal and Rudāba, the Seven Stages (or Labors) of Rostam, Rostam and Sohrab, Sīyāvash and Sudāba, Rostam and Akvān Dīv, the romance of Bijan and Manijeh, the wars with Afrāsīyāb, Daqiqi's account of the story of Goshtāsp and Arjāsp, and Rostam and Esfandyār. B. Kone had left as a boy returned as a boy ), which Ferdowsi used as a reference to the Muslim invaders who despoiled Zoroastrianism.[13]. After an opening in praise of God and Wisdom, the Shahnameh gives an account of the creation of the world and of man as believed by the Sassanians. The Vullers edition was later completed in Tehran by the Iranian scholars S. Nafisi, Iqbal, and M. Minowi for the millennial jubilee of Ferdowsi, held between 1934 and 1936. See what's new with book lending at the Internet Archive. This is clearly revealed by the fact that the sultans who ascended the throne after Ghiyath al-Din Kai-Khusraw I assumed titles taken from ancient Persian mythology, like Kai Khosrow, Kay Kāvus, and Kai Kobad; and that Ala' al-Din Kai-Qubad I had some passages from the Shahname inscribed on the walls of Konya and Sivas. They are indirect evidence for an Old Georgian translation of the Šāh-nāma that is no longer extant. [26] Toghrul III of Seljuqs is said to have recited the Shahnameh while swinging his mace in battle. He dedicated thirty-three years of his life to Shahnameh and finished its second redaction one thousand and three years ago, in March 1010. "A possible predecessor to the Khvatay-Namak could be the Chihrdad, one of the destroyed books of the Avesta (known to us because of its listing and description in the Middle Persian Zoroastrian text, the Dinkard 8.13)." [58] Many of the extant illustrated copies, with more than seventy or more paintings, are attributable to Tabriz, Shiraz, and Baghdad beginning in about the 1450s–60s and continuing to the end of the century.[58]. Introduction The literature of every nation is a mirror of the entirety of thought, culture and customs of that nation, which can be expressed in elegance and artistic delicacy in many different ways. $108.99. The Turks were so much influenced by this cycle of stories that in the eleventh century AD we find the Qarakhanid dynasty in Central Asia calling itself the 'family of Afrasiyab' and so it is known in the Islamic history. The seminal work of Persian literature is the Shahnameh, an epic poem that recounts the history of pre-Islamic Persia or Iranshahr (Greater Iran). Conversely, Georgians consider these translations works of their native literature. Between 1838 and 1878, an edition appeared in Paris by French scholar Julius von Mohl, which was based on a comparison of 30 manuscripts. Main Characters Bahman: The son of Esfandyar; the grandson of Goshtasp; the king of Persia after Goshtasp. The text is written in the late Middle Persian, which was the immediate ancestor of Modern Persian. I have struggled much these thirty years [31] Goethe was inspired by Persian literature, which moved him to write his West-Eastern Divan. Ferdowsi concludes the Shahnameh by writing: I've reached the end of this great history least familiar to English readers is the Shahnameh: The Persian Book of The Epic of Kings By Ferdowsi Written 1010 A.C.E. The first of eight planned volumes was published in Kolkata in 1811. Read full-text. Finally in 2003, the text was OCR-ed and proofed at Distributed Proofing. 'The Book of Kings'')[a] is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. "The Appearance of the Arabs in Central Asia under the Umayyads and the Establishment of Islam". [14] This assertion has been called into question by Mohammed Moinfar, who has noted that there are numerous examples of Arabic words in the Shahnameh which are effectively synonyms for Persian words previously used in the text. There are also some addition volumes of notes. on January 17, 2020, There are no reviews yet. This modern edition was based on incomplete and largely imprecise fragmented copies found in Cambridge, Paris, Astana, Cairo and Berlin. [23] Turan, which is the Persian name for the areas of Central Asia beyond the Oxus up to the 7th century (where the story of the Shahnameh ends), was generally an Iranian-speaking land. [8] Although most scholars have contended that Ferdowsi's main concern was the preservation of the pre-Islamic legacy of myth and history, a number of authors have formally challenged this view.[9]. It came about that on a certain day Rostam arose from his couch, and his mind was filled with forebodings. Download citation. Free shipping. Download full-text PDF. [58] Among these, the Baysonghor Shahnameh commissioned by Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Bāysonḡor is one of the most voluminous and artistic Shahnameh manuscripts. Nizami advises the king's son to read the Shahnameh and to remember the meaningful sayings of the wise.[16]. The Shahnameh's impact on Persian historiography was immediate and some historians decorated their books with the verses of Shahnameh. The Shahnameh is considered by many to be the most important piece of work in Persian literature. “Almost every page of Georgian literary works and chronicles [...] contains names of Iranian heroes borrowed from the Shahnama” (ibid). According to Dick Davis, professor of Persian at Ohio State University, it is "by far the best edition of the Shahnameh available, and it is surely likely to remain such for a very long time".[69]. This age is also identified as the kingdom of Keyaniyan, which established a long history of heroic age in which myth and legend are combined. [citation needed], A Spanish translation has been published in two volumes by the Islamic Research Institute of the Tehran Branch of McGill University. In 1829 Turner Macan published the first complete edition of the poem. [12] Historians note that the theme of regicide and the incompetence of kings embedded in the epic did not sit well with the Iranian monarchy. Using it as the chief text, Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh began the preparation of a new critical edition in 1990. The critical apparatus is extensive and a large number of variants for many parts of the poem were recorded. The tragic image of chaste women in Shahnameh is shown as the mothers not sweethearts (Eslami Nadooshan, 1991). This introduction is followed by the story of the first man, Keyumars, who also became the first king after a period of mountain dwelling. Full text of Shahnameh published in French for first time Tehran, Feb 10, IRNA – The French version of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh the "Persian Book of Kings" was published in France with translation of Pierre Lecoq by Les Belles Lettres publications. The Story of Rostam and the White Demon in Māzandarāni. Translated by: Helen Zimmern 8 - Rostam and Sohrab Give ear unto the combat of Sohrab against Rostam, though it be a tale replete with tears. Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and Homer's Iliad are among the first literary masterpieces of Iran and Greece. An Italian translation has been published in eight volumes by Italo Pizzi with the title: Il libro dei re. in order to keep Persian ajam (meaning non-Arabic, or specifically Iranian). The Shahnameh in India: Tārīkh-i Dilgushā-yi Shamshīr Khānī 425 There are at least two aspects of this: first, the addition of extra lines quoted from the Shahnameh; and secondly, the addition of verses not found in Ferdowsi’s text – at least, not in the normative editions.37 The … As a window on the world, Shahnameh belongs in the company of such literary masterpieces as of prose and verse. There are also modern incomplete translations of the Shahnameh: Reuben Levy's 1967 prose version (later revised by Amin Banani), and another by Dick Davis in a mixture of poetry and prose which appeared in 2006. The Shirvanshah dynasty adopted many of their names from the Shahnameh. A brief mention of the Arsacid dynasty follows the history of Alexander and precedes that of Ardashir I, founder of the Sasanian Empire. The Shahnameh has 62 stories, 990 chapters, and some 50,000 rhyming couplets, making it more than three times the length of Homer's Iliad, and more than twelve times the length of the German Nibelungenlied. It tells the story of ancient Persia, beginning in the mythic time of Creation and continuing forward to the Arab-Islamic invasion in the seventh century. The Shahnameh (Shāhnāmih, Book of kings) functioned as a foundational text for Persian readers on the Iranian plateau, in Central Asia, and Southwest Asia since shortly after its appearance at the Samanid court in various prose and verse renditions in the tenth century. "As this famous book comes to an end the country will be full of talk about me whoever has intelligence, judgement and religion will pour blessings on me after I die. Into Georgian", Barbarian Incursions: The Coming of the Turks into the Islamic World, "The Art of the Book in the Ilkhanid Period - Essay - Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History - The Metropolitan Museum of Art", "The Art of the Ilkhanid Period (1256–1353) - Essay - Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History - The Metropolitan Museum of Art", "Bahram Gur in a Peasant's House, Ilkhanid Dynasty", "Leaf from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) « Islamic Arts and Architecture", "Style in Islamic Art (1250 - 1500 A.D) « Islamic Arts and Architecture", "Exhibition: Epic of the Persian Kings: The Art of Ferdowsi's, "Shahnama: 1000 Years of the Persian Book of Kings", "Shahnameh, a Persian Masterpiece, Still Relevant Today", "Shahnameh : The Epic of the Persian Kings by Sheila Canby, Ahmad Sadri and Abolqasem Ferdowsi (2013, Hardcover) - eBay", "Šāh-Nāma Translations iii. In 1977, an early 1217 manuscript was rediscovered in Florence. Ferdowsi, together with Nezāmi, may have left the most enduring imprint on Georgian literature (...)[22], Despite a belief held by some, the Turanians of Shahnameh (whose sources are based on Avesta and Pahlavi texts) have no relationship with Turks. Download citation. Below is sample of ten important historians who have praised the Shahnameh and Ferdowsi:[33], Illustrated copies of the work are among the most sumptuous examples of Persian miniature painting. The work is of central importance in Persian culture and Persian language, regarded as a literary masterpiece, and definitive of the ethno-national cultural identity of Iran. The latter had the most complete, least inaccurate and well-preserved Arabic version of the original translation by al-Bondari. The Shahnameh, also transliterated as Shahnama ( , "The Book of Kings"), is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. $99.00. For the first time in English, in the most complete form Hafez, Rumi and other mystical poets, have used imageries of Shahnameh heroes in their poetry. Posted by 7 years ago. [32], Sargozasht-Nameh or biography of important poets and writers has long been a Persian tradition. "Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact". and cruelty, blissful love and bitter grief. Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings. His grandson Hushang, son of Sīyāmak, accidentally discovered fire and established the Sadeh Feast in its honor. Later, there were Muslim figures such as Ali Shariati, the hero of Islamic reformist youth of the 1970s, who were also antagonistic towards the contents of the Shahnameh since it included verses critical of Islam. [68], For many years, the Moscow edition was the standard text. ‌عجم زنده کردم بدین پارسی. In its The Shahnameh (Book of Kings) is the national epic of Iran composed by the poet Ferdowsi between 980 and 1010 AD. Section lxxiii., and Section lxxvii. [64], In 2013 Hamid Rahmanian illustrated a new English translation of Shahnameh (translated by Ahmad Sadri) using images from various pictures of old manuscripts of the book to create new imagery.[65][66]. The Shahnameh is a Persian epic poem of more than 50,000 couplets that recounts the pre-Islamic and Sassanid history of Persia and the story of the Islamic conquest. [17], Shah Ismail I (d.1524), the founder of the Safavid dynasty of Iran, was also deeply influenced by the Persian literary tradition, particularly by the Shahnameh, which probably explains the fact that he named all of his sons after Shahnameh characters. Many of them were heavily influenced by his writing and used his genre and stories to develop their own Persian epics, stories and poems:[33], "The candle of the wise in this darkness of sorrow,The pure words of Ferdowsi of the Tusi are such,His pure sense is an angelic birth,Angelic born is anyone who's like Ferdowsi. For I have spread the seed of the word. PDF download. According to Ferdowsi himself, the final edition of the Shahnameh contained some sixty thousand distichs. It's pretty interesting stuff. The Shahnameh is an epic poem of over 50,000 couplets written in Early New Persian. download 1 file . And all the land will talk of me: