Iranians Mark National Day of Ferdowsi
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranians on Tuesday commemorated the national day of Ferdowsi, a highly revered 10th-century Persian poet who created Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran.
Hakim Abu'l-Qasim Firdowsi Tusi commonly transliterated as Ferdowsi (or Firdausi, Firdavsi), (940-1020 C.E.) is a highly revered Persian poet. He was the author of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran and related societies.
Ferdowsi is best known for his literary epic Shahnameh, to which he devoted most of his life. Shahnameh was originally drafted by Ferdowsi for the Princes of Samanids, who were responsible for revival of the Persian cultural traditions after the Arab invasion. Ferdowsi would live to see the Samanids conquered by the Ghaznavid Turks. The new ruler Mahmud of Ghaznavi would lack the same interest in Ferdowsi's work as that shown by the Samanids, resulting in him losing favor with the royal court. Ferdowsi died in 1020 C.E. in "poverty and embittered by royal neglect" though confident that the work that he had created would last the test of time.
Ferdowsi's literary masterpiece is in many ways a political, social reflection of his time period. Shahnameh marks a transitional period for the Persian culture, in a sense that in one hand it represents the summation of what has transpired before and the irretrievable Persian golden age, and on the other what is to come in way of adaptation of a new cultural identity and creation of a new "self-image. "As such an accurate historical background is consequential to understanding the message and the importance of Shahnameh and indeed of Ferdowsi's ordeal.
Hakim Abu'l-Qasim Firdowsi Tusi commonly transliterated as Ferdowsi (or Firdausi, Firdavsi), (940-1020 C.E.) is a highly revered Persian poet. He was the author of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran and related societies.
Ferdowsi is best known for his literary epic Shahnameh, to which he devoted most of his life. Shahnameh was originally drafted by Ferdowsi for the Princes of Samanids, who were responsible for revival of the Persian cultural traditions after the Arab invasion. Ferdowsi would live to see the Samanids conquered by the Ghaznavid Turks. The new ruler Mahmud of Ghaznavi would lack the same interest in Ferdowsi's work as that shown by the Samanids, resulting in him losing favor with the royal court. Ferdowsi died in 1020 C.E. in "poverty and embittered by royal neglect" though confident that the work that he had created would last the test of time.
Ferdowsi's literary masterpiece is in many ways a political, social reflection of his time period. Shahnameh marks a transitional period for the Persian culture, in a sense that in one hand it represents the summation of what has transpired before and the irretrievable Persian golden age, and on the other what is to come in way of adaptation of a new cultural identity and creation of a new "self-image. "As such an accurate historical background is consequential to understanding the message and the importance of Shahnameh and indeed of Ferdowsi's ordeal.