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Shahnameh : the Persian book of kings / by Abolqasem Ferdowsi ; translated by Dick Davis ; with a foreword by Azar Nafisi.

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New York : Penguin Books, 2007, c2006.

Epic poetry, Persian -- Translations into English.

Iran -- History -- To 640 -- Poetry.

9780143104933 (pbk.)

0143104934 (pbk.)

Penguin classics deluxe edition.

xxxvii, 886 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

The first kings -- The demon-king Zahhak -- The story of Feraydun and his three sons -- The story of Iraj -- The vengeance of Manuchehr -- The tale of Sam and the Simorgh -- The tale of Zal and Rudabeh -- Rostam, the son of Zal-Dastan -- The beginning of the war between Iran and Turan -- Rostam and his horse Rakhsh -- Rostam and Kay Qobad -- Kay Kavus's war against the demons of Mazanderan -- The seven trials of Rostam -- The King of Hamaveran and his daughter Sudabeh -- The tale of Sohrab -- The legend of Seyavash -- Forud, the son of Seyavash -- The Akvan Div -- Bizhan and Manizheh -- The occultation of Kay Khosrow -- Rostam and Esfandyar -- The death of Rostam -- The story of Darab and the Fuller --Sekandar's conquest of Persia -- The reign of Sekandar -- The Ashkanians -- The reign of Ardeshir -- The reign of Shapur, son of Ardeshir -- The reign of Sapur Zu'l Aktaf -- The reign of Yazdegerd the Unjust -- The reign of Bahram Gur -- The story of Mazdak -- The reign of Kesra Nushin-Ravan -- The reign of Hormozd -- The reign of Khosrow Parviz : Ferdowsi's lament for the death of his son -- The story of Khosrow and Shirin -- The reign of Yazdegerd.

Among the great works of world literature, perhaps one of the least familiar to English readers is the Shahnameh, the national epic of Persia. This prodigious narrative, composed by the poet Ferdowsi between the years 980 and 1010, tells the story of pre-Islamic Iran, beginning in the mythic time of Creation and continuing forward to the Arab invasion in the seventh century. As a window on the world, Shahnameh belongs in the company of such literary masterpieces as Dante's Divine Comedy, the plays of Shakespeare, the epics of Homer--classics whose reach and range bring whole cultures into view. In its pages are unforgettable moments of national triumph and failure, human courage and cruelty, blissful love and bitter grief. Now Dick Davis, the greatest modern translator of Persian poetry, has revisited that poem, turning the finest stories of Ferdowsi's original into an elegant combination of prose and verse.

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