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

Ferdowsi Shahnameh








This picture relates to the Shahnameh because it's a statue of the creator of this epic.  Its location is also related because it is located in NW Tehran, which is just above the central part of Iran, where Fredowsi is from.  Ferdowsi was a poet who worked for the king and wrote down the history of Persia for him. He was also a poet, and one day he wrote a spiteful poem about the king because the king gave him silver instead of the gold he promised him.  The king heard of this and summoned him to be killed.  Ferdowsi begged for his forgiveness and was successful at doing so.  The king had banished him from the town.  People complained and the king sent hims 60,000 gold pieces and other valuables but by the time they got to him, he was dead.  This relates tho the epic because the novel was about the different kings of Persia during Ferdowsi's time alive as well as Persian accomplishments.  It was really a thick book of historical recordings of the great leaders's accomplishments and advancements down from myth the actuality.  This book is considered the national epic or of Greater Iran.  This just shows how much data meant.  It was a timeline of the culture and how the persian's dynasties adapted.

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