Love and Loss in Ancient Persia
Early World Literature
5 HEROES / Page 5.2 Love and Loss in Ancient Persia On this page: 0 of 4 attempted (0%) | 0 of 4 correct (0%)
Love and Loss in Ancient Persia
By Lynn Cianfarani
In a recent book about his travels through Iran, Nicholas Jubber, a British writer, recollected an underground party he had attended while he was in the country. It was a private affair packed with twentysomethings dancing to a loud, thrashing heavymetal band. Jubber could barely make out the lyrics, but the partygoers chanted along as if the songs were modern Iranian favorites. The lyrics, however, were far from contemporary. They came from a thousandyearold Persian epic known as the Shahnameh.1
The Shahnameh is Persia’s most famous work of poetry. Composed by the revered poet Abolqasem Ferdowsi in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries, the “Book of Kings,” as the work is called in English, recounts the history of the world through Iran’s eyes, from the time of creation to the Arab Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century. It is the national epic of Iran and an anchor for all Persian people. While the Shahnameh compares to other famous epics, it differs from them in important ways. Composed of approximately 50,000 rhyming couplets, it’s more than twice the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined. Additionally, classical epics typically cover just one generation, while the Shahnameh offers a mythological and historical overview of fifty generations of monarchs.
Ferdowsi was born in 935 CE, nearly two hundred years after the conquest. As fate would have it though, he lived in an area of Iran that was under the rule of the Samanids, the first native dynasty to reign since the Arab victory. The Samanids saw it as their obligation to preserve the language and stories of their ancient past, and undertook a number of projects, including replacing Arabic with Persian as the official language of the court,2 to reassert Persian cultural pride. Their charge to Ferdowsi, an educated member of the landowning elite, was to compile the stories of Persia in verse.
Statue of Ferdowsi sculpted by Abolhassan Sedighi, Ferdowsi Square, Tehran, Iran.
Photo courtesy of Seyed Emad Karimifard / Wikimedia Commons
The Shahnameh became Ferdowsi’s life’s work. He began writing the epic in his thirties, finishing it more than twentyfive years later. It’s thought that he received no payment during this time other than a tax break on his land,3 an indication of his profound drive to preserve the Persian language and culture. His worry, common at the time, was that the Arab conquest would lead to a loss of Persian identity.
His concern was not for naught. In fact, some have credited Ferdowsi’s writing with saving the Persian language. According to Sunil Sharma, Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Comparative Literature at Boston University, the Persian language of today “is remarkably unchanged from Ferdowsi’s Persian, despite the passage of a millennium.”4
Ferdowsi devoted so many years to his Shahnameh that when he completed it in 1010 the Samanids were no longer in power. They had been overthrown by the Ghaznavids, a Turkic ruling dynasty. As legend has it, when Ferdowsi presented his completed epic to the new ruler of his district, the ruler refused to pay him the 60,000 gold coins he had been promised. Ferdowsi was aware that his epic might not be well received by the new government, but predicted that it would outlive the political conflict of his day. In his final verse of the Shahnameh, he writes:
I shall not die, these seeds I’ve sown will save My name and reputation from the grave, And men of sense and wisdom will proclaim, When I have gone, my praises and my fame.5
The Persian people have indeed sung Ferdowsi’s praises, and continue to recognize his accomplishments. In another one of Jubber’s Iranian adventures, he visited the home of a Tehrani family. During an afterdinner conversation the father of the family pulled a copy of the Shahnameh off his shelf. “Because of this book,” the man told Jubber, tapping on its cover, “because of this book we are Persian. Without it—poof.”6 Indeed, one can hardly go far in modern Iran without seeing Ferdowsi’s name. In Tehran, Ferdowsi Avenue is a major thoroughfare, running the length of the city and ending in Ferdowsi Square, where a large white statue of Ferdowsi, clutching his cherished book, greets passersby. Every May 15, or National Ferdowsi Day, the country honors the poet’s work.
Multiple Choice Question
What differentiates the Shahnameh from the betterknown epics the Iliad and the Odyssey?
The Shahnameh doesn’t include any female characters. The Shahnameh is much older. The Shahnameh was written in Arabic. The Shahnameh contains stories that span multiple generations.
Multiple Choice Question
Why did Ferdowsi feel so compelled to create the Shahnameh?
He wanted to ensure that Persian culture was preserved. He was forced to create it for his king. He wanted to create an entirely new religion based on his own teachings. He wanted to impress a lover.
It should be noted that Ferdowsi’s epic was not completely original. There were other “books of kings” in existence during Ferdowsi’s time, and Ferdowsi himself admitted that “what I tell hath all been told before.”7 However, Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh is the only work that still exists in its entirety. There is a reason for this, says, Nasrin Askari, Professor of Classical Persian Literature at the University of British Columbia. Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh survived because it contained “a wisdom and an eloquent prose” that the other books lacked.8
Although the Shahnameh is unfamiliar to many in the West, its appeal is universal. Common themes flow through all of the Shahnameh’s tales. “The nature of the good man, the good hero, is a central focus of Ferdowsi’s concern,” writes the translator Dick Davis in his introduction to the text. “The characters we seem most strongly invited to admire…constantly ask themselves not, ‘How do I win?’ but ‘How do I act well?’”9 (We’ll be reading Davis’s translation in the following pages.)
Fate also plays a role in many of the stories, as characters endure lives that have, as the narrator reminds us, been predestined for them. Ferdowsi also makes frequent references to the certainty of death and the fleeting nature of life, remarking that “our lives pass from us like the wind, and why should wise men grieve to know that they must die?”10 It is not surprising, either, that in this book of kings, loyalty to one’s monarch is emphasized. As one passage puts it, “hell will be home for whoever turns aside the king’s command.”11 To today’s reader, such blind reverence to a ruler might seem suspect, but in Ferdowsi’s Persia loyalty to the king (in Persian, shah) was equivalent to loyalty to God.
Each of the stories in the Shahnameh has its fans, but none is more popular than “The Tale of Sohrab.” This legend begins with the birth of Sohrab, a precocious young warrior from Turan, a neighboring civilization to Persia. Sohrab’s mother, the princess Tahmineh, will not reveal who his father is, but Sohrab’s strength and military prowess suggest a special lineage; as the narrator tells us, “at three he played polo and at five he took up archery and javelin.”12 When Sohrab reaches the age of ten, however, he demands that his mother tell him about his father. He swells with pride when he discovers that his dad is the famous Iranian warrior, Rostam. With youthful arrogance, he decides to set out with an army to overthrow the shah of Persia, Kay Kavus, and place his father on the vacant throne.
Kavus gets word that an attacking army is on its way and calls on Rostam, his national hero, to lead the defense. Rostam ignores the request, angering the shah. Eventually, however, Rostam submits to his shah, conceding that “the world is yours; we are all your subjects. I have come to hear your orders.”13
Rostam and Sohrab end up facing each other in battle three times, over three successive days, never fully realizing that they are in fact father and son. In their final encounter, they tether their horses and approach each other for oneonone combat. An agonizing tragedy ensues.
The “Tale of Sohrab” stays with readers, prodding them to ponder unanswered questions. Why did Sohrab continue to fight when he suspected that his rival might be his father? Should loyalty to one’s leader—even an incompetent leader—be
unconditional? What is the point of glory if life is only temporary? And what, exactly, makes a “hero”?
Fortunately you don’t have to visit Tehran to fall for Ferdowsi’s work. Wherever you are, reading the Shahnameh will bring you into his world. With an eloquence matched by few other storytellers, Ferdowsi continues to lead us on an unforgettable dance through ancient Persia.
Multiple Choice Question
How is the king (or shah) regarded by the Shahnameh?
as a tragic figure as a friend to all as a representative of God as a powerless figurehead
Multiple Choice Question
Which of the following statements BEST summarizes the role the Shahnameh has played in Persian society?
It used to be considered important, but has largely been forgotten. It has primarily interested scholars and artists, who have singlehandedly kept its memory alive. It has played and continues to play an important role in the lives of Persians. It is more important to Iranians than Islam.
1 Nicholas Jubber, Drinking Arak Off an Ayatollah’s Beard: A Journey Through the InsideOut Worlds of Iran and Afghanistan (Cambridge, MA: De Capo Press, 2010), 18.
2 Cyrus Shahmiri, “Samanid Dynasty,” Iran Chamber Society, accessed December 5, 2013, http://www.iranchamber.com/history/samanids/samanids.php.
3 Charles Melville, Interviewed by Melvynn Bragg, “Shahnameh of Ferdowsi,” In Our Time, BBC Radio4, December 13, 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p7dcv.
4 Sunil Sharma, personal communication with author, December 3, 2013.
5 Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings, trans. Dick Davis (New York: Penguin, 2006), 854.
6 Nicholas Jubber, Drinking Arak Off an Ayatollah’s Beard: A Journey Through the InsideOut Worlds of Iran and Afghanistan (Cambridge, MA: De Capo Press, 2010), 23.
7 Abul Kasim Firdausi, The Shahnama of Firdausi, trans. Arthur George Warner and Edmund Warner, (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Truebner and Co, 1905), 108.
8 Nasrin Askari, personal communication with author, December 4, 2013.
9Dick Davis, trans., Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings, (New York: Penguin, 2006), xv.
10 Ferdowsi, Shahnameh, 40.
11 Ibid., 398.
12 Ibid., 190.
13 Ibid., 197.
Early World Literature
5 HEROES / Page 5.3 Shahnameh On this page: 0 of 5 attempted (0%) | 0 of 4 correct (0%)
Shahnameh
By Abolqasem Ferdowsi
Translated by Dick Davis
Pages from the Shahnameh. Opaque watercolor, ink and gold on paper, 1619.
The Tale of Sohrab
Rostam Loses Rakhsh
At dawn one day Rostam decided to go hunting, to drive away the sadness he felt in his heart. Filling his quiver with arrows, he set off for the border with Turan, and when he arrived in the marches he saw a plain filled with wild asses; laughing, his face flushed with pleasure, he urged Rakhsh forward. With his bow, his mace, and his noose he brought down his prey and then lit a fire of brushwood and dead branches; next he
selected a tree and spitted one of the slaughtered asses on it. The spit was as light as a feather to him, and when the animal was roasted he tore the meat apart and ate it, sucking the marrow from its bones. He sank back contentedly and slept. Cropping the grass, his horse Rakhsh wandered off and was spotted by seven or eight Turkish horsemen. They galloped after Rakhsh and caught him and bore him off to the city, each of them claiming him as his own prize.
Rostam woke from his sweet sleep and looked round for his horse. He was very distressed not to see Rakhsh there and set off on foot toward the closest town, which was Samangan. To himself he said, “How can I escape from such mortifying shame? What will our great warriors say, ‘His horse was taken from him while he slept?’ Now I must wander wretched and sick at heart, and bear my armor as I do so; perhaps I shall find some trace of him as I go forward.”
Samangan
The king of Samangan was told that the Crown Bestower, Rostam, had had his horse Rakhsh stolen from him and was approaching the town on foot. The king and his nobles welcomed him and enquired as to what had happened, adding, “In this town we all wish you well and stand ready to serve you in any way we can.” Rostam’s suspicions were laid to rest and he said, “In the pastures, Rakhsh wandered off from me; he had no bridle or reins. His tracks come as far as Samangan and then peter out into reeds and the river. If you can find him, I shall be grateful, but if he remains lost to me, some of your nobility will lose their heads.”
The king responded, “No one would dare to have done this to you deliberately. Stay as my guest and calm yourself; tonight we can drink and rejoice, and drown our worries with wine. Rakhsh is such a worldrenowned horse, he will not stay lost for long.”
Mollified by his words, Rostam agreed to stay as the king’s guest. He was given a chamber in the palace and the king himself waited on him. The chieftains of the army and the city’s nobility were summoned to the feast; stewards brought wine, and dark eyed, rosycheeked girls sought to calm Rostam’s fretfulness with their music. After a while Rostam became drunk and felt that the time to sleep had come; his chamber had been sweetened with the scents of musk and rosewater, and he retired there for the night.
Tahmineh
When one watch of the night had passed, and Venus rose into the darkened sky, a sound of muffled whispering came to Rostam’s ears; gently his chamber door was
pushed open. A slave entered, a scented candle in her hand, and approached the hero’s pillow; like a splendid sun, a paradise of tints and scents, her mistress followed her. This beauty’s eyebrows curved like an archer’s bow, and her ringlets hung like nooses to snare the unwary; in stature she was as elegant as a cypress tree. Her mind and body were pure, and she seemed not to partake of earthly existence at all. The lionhearted Rostam gazed at her in astonishment; he asked her what her name was and what it was that she sought on so dark a night. She said:
“My name is Tahmineh; longing has torn My wretched life in two, though I was born The daughter of the king of Samangan, And am descended from a warrior clan. But like a legend I have heard the story Of your heroic battles and your glory, Of how you have no fear, and face alone Dragons and demons and the dark unknown, Of how you sneak into Turan at night And prowl the borders to provoke a fight, Of how, when warriors see your mace, they quail And feel their lion hearts within them fail I bit my lip to hear such talk, and knew I longed to see you, to catch sight of you, To glimpse your martial chest and mighty face— And now God brings you to this lowly place. If you desire me, I am yours, and none Shall see or hear of me from this day on; Desire destroys my mind, I long to bear Within my woman’s womb your son and heir; I promise you your horse if you agree Since all of Samangan must yield to me.”
When Rostam saw how lovely she was, and moreover heard that she promised to find Rakhsh for him, he felt that nothing but good could come of the encounter; and so in secret the two passed the long hours of night together.
As the sun cast its noose in the eastern sky, Rostam gave Tahmineh a clasp which he wore on his upper arm and said to her, “Take this, and if you should bear a daughter, braid her hair about it as an omen of good fortune; but if the heavens give you a son, have him wear it on his upper arm, as a sign of who his father is. He’ll be a boy like Sam, the son of Nariman, noble and chivalrous; one who’ll bring down eagles from their cloudy heights, a man on whom the sun will not shine harshly.”
Then the king came to Rostam and asked how he had slept, and brought news that Rakhsh had been found. Rostam rushed out and stroked and petted his horse, overjoyed to have found him; he saddled him and rode on his way, content with the king’s hospitality and to have found his horse again.
Multiple Choice Question
What does the king of Samangan’s reception of Rostam imply about Rostam’s reputation? Choose the BEST answer.
Rostam is desperate and in need of help. Rostam is someone who must be accommodated. Rostam is very good at making new friends. Rostam is a decent person but a bad horseman.
Multiple Choice Question
How did Tahmineh convince Rostam to spend the night?
by insisting that it is the gentlemanly thing to do by threatening him by engaging in a battle of wits by promising to find his horse for him
Response Board Question In her speech to Rostam, Tahmineh provides many reasons why she feels he is a hero. List three of the qualities that she believes make him so admirable.
No response saved yet.
