Ferdowsi
فردوسی
The poet of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran, credited with keeping the Persian language and its old stories alive.
- Known for
- The Shahnameh (Book of Kings)
- Forms
- Epic
- Places
- Razavi Khorasanخراسان رضوی
- Collection
- The Greats
Abolqasem Ferdowsi spent some thirty years on the Shahnameh, the Book of Kings: around 50,000 couplets telling the history of Iran from the creation of the world to the Arab conquest in the seventh century, through kings and heroes such as Rostam.
He wrote in a Persian with few Arabic loanwords, at a time when Arabic was the language of learning, and Persian speakers still credit him with saving the language. His tomb stands in Tus, near Mashhad.
Booksکتابها
The principal works of Ferdowsi.
The Shahnameh
شاهنامهThe Book of Kings, Iran’s national epic, in some fifty thousand couplets. It runs from the first mythical kings through the age of heroes, with Rostam, Sohrab and Siyavash, to the fall of the Sasanian empire to the Arab conquest. Ferdowsi worked on it for some three decades in Tus, writing in a Persian almost free of Arabic loanwords.
Read 2 poems
Poems by Ferdowsiشعرها
In the original Persian, beside an English translation.
به نام خداوند جان و خرد
کزین برتر اندیشه برنگذرد
In the name of the Lord of soul and wisdom,
beyond whom thought can rise no higher;
In the Name of the Lord of Soul and Wisdom
توانا بود هر که دانا بود
ز دانش دل پیر برنا بود
Whoever has knowledge has power;
through knowledge an old heart grows young.
Whoever Knows Is Strong
Ferdowsi in Iranian history
Iranian historyThe Arab conquest and the Persian revivalفتح اعراب و احیای زبان فارسی
Islam reached Iran with the Arab armies of the 7th century. Persian survived, took on a new script and, under dynasties such as the Samanids, returned as one of the great literary languages of the world.