Ferdowsi

Ferdowsi was a Persian poet who composed the Shahnameh, a vast epic recounting the legendary and historical past of Iran.

Shahnameh: A Persian epic poem narrating Iran’s mythic and historical past from creation to the Arab conquest. Ferdowsi’s principal work, composed over decades in verse.
Abu Mansur's prose Shahnameh: A lost prose compilation of Iranian royal legends produced in the 10th century under Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Abd al-Razzaq. It was a major written source behind the epic tradition Ferdowsi versified.
Mahmud of Ghazni: The Ghaznavid ruler who reigned from 998 to 1030 and expanded his empire across Iran and South Asia. Later tradition links him to Ferdowsi’s reception and a disputed payment for the epic.
Naqqāli: A traditional Persian form of oral storytelling, often performed by a narrator accompanying a narrative with gestures and images. Naqqāls have kept Shahnameh stories alive through public performance.
Iranian literature: Literary works produced in the languages and cultural traditions of Iran across historical periods. The Shahnameh became a foundational reference point within Iran’s literary inheritance.
New Persian: The modern Iranian language that developed from Middle Persian and is written chiefly in the Perso-Arabic script. Ferdowsi’s poem helped establish New Persian as a literary language.
Khwaday-Namag: A lost Middle Persian chronicle of Iranian kings that informed later accounts of Iran’s legendary and historical past. It belongs to the older tradition of royal history underlying the Shahnameh.
Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Abd al-Razzaq: A 10th-century governor of Tus who sponsored a Persian prose compilation of Iranian royal legends. His commissioned compilation helped transmit material that Ferdowsi later rendered in verse.
Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp: A lavishly illustrated Safavid manuscript of the Shahnameh produced in the 16th century. Its miniatures show how later patrons transformed Ferdowsi’s epic into courtly visual art.
Persian language: An Indo-Iranian language spoken chiefly in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan under regional names and standards. The epic’s literary prestige strengthened Persian’s standing after the Arab conquest.

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