About the Book
The Epic of Kings / translated by Helen Zimmern
"Shahnameh: The Epic of Kings" is the epic poem of the Persian poet Ferdowsi which tells of the mythological and historical past of Persia from the creation of the world up until the Islamic conquest in the seventh century. Written between 977 and 1010 AD, the "Shahnameh" is a captivating story of the ancient world and details much of Persia's history, culture, and ancient religions. The Helen Zimmern prose translation of the "Shahnameh" is presented here.
About the Author
Firdausi (c.930-1020)
Ferdowsi, the son of a wealthy land owner, was born in 940 in a small village named Paj near Tus in Khorasanin North East of Iran.
Ferdowsi was a Shi'ite Muslim, which is apparent from the Shahnameh itself [1] and also confirmed by early accounts[2]. In recent times, however, some have doubted on his Shi'ism.
His great epic, the Shahnameh ("The Great Book": in Persian, Shah means king, monarch or dynast, but when it is used as a prefix, it means "Big", "Great" or "Major".), to which he devoted more than 35 years, was originally composed for 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.
When he was just 23-years old, he found a 'Shahnameh' written by Abu-Mansour Almoammari; it was not, however, in poetic form. It consisted of older versions ordered by Abu-Mansour ibn Abdol-razzagh. The discovery would be a fateful moment in the life of the poet. Ferdowsi started his composition of the Shahnameh in the Samanid era in 977 A.D[3]. During Ferdowsi's lifetime the Samanid dynasty was conquered by the Ghaznavid Empire.
After 30 years of hard work, he finished the book and two or three years after that, Ferdowsi went to Ghazni, the Ghaznavid capital, to present it to the king. There are various stories in medieval texts describing the lack of interest shown by the new king, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, in Ferdowsi and his lifework. According to historians, Mahmud had promised Ferdowsi a dinar for every distich written in the Shahnameh (60,000 dinars), but later retracted and presented him with dirhams (20,000 dirhams), which were at that time much less valuable than dinars (every 100 dirhams worth 1 dinar). Some think it was the jealousy of other poets working at the king's court that led to this treachery; the incident encouraged Ferdowsi's enemies in the court. Ferdowsi rejected the money and, by some accounts, he gave it to a poor man who sold wine. Wandering for a time in Sistan and Mazandaran, he eventually returned to Tus, heartbroken and enraged.
