Ferdowsi and Iran Renaissance: Ferdowsi wa Now Zayesh-i Farhangi wa Elmi-i Iran (Volume 1) (Persian Edition)

Ferdowsi was born in Khorassan in village of Bazh, District of Tabaran, near the town of Toos, in 940. His great epic book, the Shahnameh, to which he devoted most of his life, was originally composed for the Samanid princes of Khorassan, who were the chief supporters of the revival of Persian cultural traditions after the Arab invasion of the seventh century. During Ferdowsi's lifetime Samanid dynasty was defeated by the Ghaznavid, and there are various stories in medieval texts describing the lack of interest shown by the new ruler of Khorassan, Sultan Mahmud of Ghaznavi, in Ferdowsi and his lifework, Shahnameh. The Shahnameh or The Epic of Kings is one of the definite classics of the world. It tells hero tales of ancient Persia. The contents and the poet's style in describing the events takes the readers back to the ancient times and make the reader sense and feel the events. Ferdowsi worked for thirty years to write this masterpiece. An important feature of this work is that during the period that Arabic language was known as the main language of science and literature, Ferdowsi used only Persian in his masterpiece. As Ferdowsi himself says "Persian language is revived by this work". Shahnameh is composed in nearly sixty thousand verses. This great book can be divided into three different eras : The mythological era, the heroism era and the historical era. The parts on myths include all from the Giuo’marth / Kew’marth age until Jamshid. The heroic parts start from Kaveh's rising against Zahak and end with Rostam's murder. The historical parts deal with events that come after the Kianid's era. These are also closely related with the legends and epics. The following are among the most notable features of this masterpiece : - Descriptions of natural scenery, combat zones, heroes, armies, etc. - Interesting exaggerations and innovation in mythical narrative style. - Combination of love stories with the elements of epic. - Wise messages and advice which reader can find in every story. - The harmony between the language and style of speech and the subjects of epics. - The eloquence and simplicity of the language. - Preservation of many Old Persian words. The great epic poet of Iran came from a wealthy family. He was a true patriot and loved Iran and Iranians. The epic stories which he turned into poetry were sometimes told even before his time. Such stories as those taken from Abu-Mansouri's Shahnameh, or others as in Daqiqi's Goshtasp Nameh, stories about Rostam and Garshasp family narrated perhaps by "Azad Sarv", and other stories such as "Battle of Bijan against Gorazan", "Story of Alexander", etc. . Selected samples of his work are accessible in Persian. Ferdowsi is said has passed away around 1020 in poverty and embittered by royal neglect, though confident of his and his poem's ultimate fame. Ferdowsi began to compose the Shahnameh when the Persian language was suffered of the imposed Arabs restrictions on Iran cultural affairs. Ferdowsi by composing the Shahnameh taught Iranian resistance against such plot. He paved the way for giving new life to Iran independence and growth of native knowledge, though the fruits of his efforts was shown itself a century later by the emerging the Hakim Umar Khayyam and other scholars.