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ENG 283E: Our Premodern Epics: How Epics Create Culture and Vice Versa

Ferdowsi's Shahnameh

Ferdowsi wrote his Shahnameh at the turn of the eleventh century CE, celebrating the origin story of Persian Empire up until it was conquered in the 7th century by the Islamic Empire. The Shahnameh is noted for how it preserved Persian culture and language and the Zoroastrian system of belief.

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This picture is one of the four leaves that were discovered of Ferdowsi’s manuscript of the Shahnameh. The dispersal of this manuscript occurred in the early fourteenth century AH. The Walters Art Museum Illuminated Manuscripts traced these manuscripts back to Shiraz, Iran, where they believe it was copied by Qawām al-Dawlah wa-al-Dīn Ḥasan. This specific leaf of the manuscript depicts the Battle of the Iranians and the Turanians.