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Shāh-nāmeh
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illustration from the Shāh-nāmeh Shāh-nāmah: Aradashīr, Haftvad Shāh-nāmah: Hormuz
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Shāh-nāmeh

work by Ferdowsī
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Also known as: “Book of Kings”, “Book of Kings”, “The Epic of the Kings”
Article History
Category: Arts & Culture
Persian:
“Book of Kings”
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illustration from the Shāh-nāmeh
illustration from the Shāh-nāmeh
Bahrum Gur killing a dragon, illustration from the Shāh-nāmeh, 1320–60; in the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Shāh-nāmeh, celebrated work of the epic poet Ferdowsī, in which the Persian national epic found its final and enduring form. Written for Sultan Maḥmūd of Ghazna and completed in 1010, the Shāh-nāmeh is a poem of nearly 60,000 verses, mainly based on the Khvatay-nāmak, a history of the kings of Persia in Pahlavi (Middle Persian) from mythical times down to the 7th century. Ferdowsī versified and updated the story to the downfall of the Sāsānian empire (mid-7th century), and, for nearly 1,000 years, it has remained one of the most popular works in the Persian-speaking world.