Shahnameh, in itself, is the entire mythical history of the Iranians in verse. It begins with the reign of the first human king, Gayomart (the first human in Iranian mythology) and goes on until the reign of Yazdgerd III, the last Sassanid ruler of Iran.
Traditionally, Shahnameh is divided into three parts: mythical, epic and historical. The language of all three parts is overall devoid of Arabic borrowings, which constitute only a small part of the vocabulary of this book. In contrast to other poets, Ferdowsi has used an excessively high percentage of Iranian (now archaic) words, which may make the reading and understanding of this book a little bit difficult.
If interested in deepening their knowledge of Iranian mythology, students may find a captivating lecture series by Dr. Jaleh Amouzgar on the topic here.
Reading: Ferdowsi, Rustam and Sohrab (رستم و سهراب)
Read the following excerpts from the tragic story of the famous Iranian hero Rustam and his son, Sohrab, found in the Shahnameh of Firdawsi. Here you will find two excerpts from the story (Part 1, Part 2). Make use of the vocabulary for clarifying the meaning of the difficult words and expressions.
Here you can find the summary of the story of Rustam and Sohrab.
Listening: The summary of of the 7 heroic feats of Rustam, telling the story of how this Iranian hero freed the captive king from the hands of the Mazandaranis, narrated in simple language by Dr. M. J. Mahjoub.
Subject of Conversation: The influence of Shahnameh for the development of Persian literature (تاثیر شاهنامه بر تحول ادبیات فارسی)
Each student will prepare materials on the topic given above beforehand and later present his/her arguments on the importance of Firdawsi and his Shahnameh for the Persian literature. Creative and original approaches will be encouraged and taken into account when assessing the success of each student.
Homework:
- Read both of the above mentioned parts of the Shahname and try to learn the vocabulary.
- Listen to the entire audio file (the summary of Rustam’s 7 heroic feats’ story) and answer to the following questions: a. According to the story-teller’s explanation, whose nickname is Dastan (دستان)? b. When Rustam faces two possible paths, which one does his father advise him to take? c. What is considered Rustam’s first feat, and who actually carries it out? d. According to the story, what causes the witch ( جادو) to reveal her true, dark face? e. How does the story of the seven feats conclude? What happens at the very end?