Ferdowsi (Firdawsi)
Firdawsi, c.935-c.1020, whose original name was Abolqasem Mansur, is
considered one of the greatest Persian poets; he is the author of the Iranian national
epic, the Shah Namah (Book of Kings). Little is known about his life except that he lived
and died in the eastern Iranian province of Khorasan. Most of what is written about him
appears to be legend.
The Shah Namah, nearly 60,000 couplets long, traces the fortunes of Persia dynasty by
dynasty, from the creation of man to the Arab conquest (c.637-51). It was based on earlier
chronicles by other poets and legends passed down to Firdawsi. He began the work
during the Samanid dynasty, worked on it continuously for 35 years, and completed it in
1010, after the conquest of Khorasan by Mahmud of Ghazni, to whom the poem is dedicated.
The work had a profound effect on later Persian literature and provided favorite themes
for later Persian painters.