Shahnama Studies II: The Reception of Firdausi's Shahnama (Studies in Persian Cultural History)

This volume explores different aspects of the reception of Firdausi's Shahnama or ‘Book of Kings', both within Iran and in neighbouring lands. Later poets and writers not only looked to Firdausi's work for a model, but supplemented its stories with other narratives or absorbed the characters and the moral values of the poem into their own works. Several chapters focus on the literary traditions fed by the Shahnama, including reports of the continuing oral performances of its more popular stories. Others discuss Firdausi's impact on the creative imagination of the miniature painters who illustrated manuscript copies of the Shahnama in the courts of the Ottoman Empire, Moghul India, and the Central Asia Khanates up till the seventeenth century.Contributors include Gabrielle van den Berg, Francesca Leoni, Farhad Mehran, Bilha Moor, Adeela Qureshi, Ravshan Rahmoni, Julia Rubanovich, Karin Ruehrdanz, Jan Schmidt, Ivan Steblin-Kamenski, Zeren Tanindi, Lâle Uluç, Evangelos Venetis, Olga Yastrebova, and Marjolijn van Zutphen. Contributors -- List Of Illustrations -- Abbreviations -- Introduction / Charles Melville -- Part I. The Reception Of The Shahnama: Later Epics: Tracking The Shahnama Tradition In Medieval Persian Folk Prose / Julia Rubanovich -- Demons In The Persian Epic Cycle: The Div Shabrang In The Leiden Shabrangnama And In Shahnama Manuscripts / Gabrielle Van Den Berg -- Faramarz's Expedition To Qannuj And Khargah: Mutual Influences Of The Shahnama And The Longer Faramarznama / Marjolijn Van Zutphen -- The Influence Of The Shahnama In The Extended Version Of Arday Virafnama By Zartusht Bahram / Olga Yastrebova -- Picturing Evil: Images Of Divs And The Reception Of The Shahnama / Francesca Leoni -- Part Ii. The Shahnama In Neighbouring Lands: The Reception Of Firdausi's Shahnama Among The Ottomans / Jan Schmidt -- The Illustration Of The Shahnama And The Art Of The Book In Ottoman Turkey / Zeren Tanindi -- The Shahnama Of Firdausi In The Lands Of Rum / Lale Uluc -- -- Bahram's Feat Of Hunting Dexterity As Illustrated In Firdausi's Shahnama, Nizami's Haft Paikar And Amir Khusrau's Hasht Bihisht / Adeela Qureshi -- The Samarqand Shahnamas In The Context Of Dynastic Change / Karin Ruehrdanz -- Part Iii. Manuscript Studies: Mapping Illustrated Folios Of Shahnama Manuscripts: The Concept And Its Uses / Farhad Mehran -- Shahnama Kings And Heroes In 'aja'ib Al-makhluqat Illustrated Manuscripts / Bilha Moor -- Part Iv. Oral Traditions: Field Reports: Sistani Legends About Rustam And His Descendants / Ivan Steblin-kamensky -- The Oral Variant Of The Story Of Barzu Amongst The Tajiks Of Boysun / Ravshan Rahmoni -- The Shahnama Oral Tradition In Contemporary Iran: The Cases Of Firuzkuh And Khurasan / Evangelos Venetis -- General Index. Edited By Charles Melville, Gabrielle Van Den Berg. Includes Index. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Introduction Part I: The reception of the Shahnama: later epics Julia Rubanovich: Tracking the Shahnama Tradition in Medieval Persian Folk Prose Gabrielle van den Berg: Demons in the Persian Epic Cycle: The Div Shabrang in the Leiden Shabrangnama and in Shahnama Manuscripts Marjolijn van Zutphen: Faramarz’s Expedition to Qannuj and Khargah: Mutual Influences of the Shahnama and the Longer Faramarznama Olga Yastrebova: The Influence of the Shahnama in the Extended Version of Arday Virafnama by Zartusht Bahram Francesca Leoni: Picturing Evil: Images of Divs and the Reception of the Shahnama Part II: The Shahnama in neighbouring lands Jan Schmidt: The Reception of Firdausi’s Shahnama Among the Ottomans Zeren Tanındı: The Illustration of the Shahnama and the Art of the Book in Ottoman Turkey Lâle Uluç: The Shahnama of Firdausi in the Lands of Rum Adeela Qureshi: Bahram’s Feat of Hunting Dexterity as Illustrated in Firdausi’s Shahnama, Nizami’s Haft Paikar and Amir Khusrau’s Hasht Bihisht Karin Ruehrdanz: The Samarqand Shahnamas in the Context of Dynastic Change Part III: Manuscript studies Farhad Mehran: Mapping Illustrated Folios of Shahnama Manuscripts: The Concept and Its Uses Bilha Moor: Shahnama Kings and Heroes in ‘Aja’ib al-Makhluqat Illustrated Manuscripts Part IV: Oral tradit ions: field reports Ivan Steblin-Kamensky: Sistani Legends about Rustam and his Descendants Ravshan Rahmoni: The Oral Variant of the Story of Barzu Amongst the Tajiks of Boysun Evangelos Venetis: The Shahnama Oral Tradition in Contemporary Iran: The Cases of Firuzkuh and Khurasan This volume explores different aspects of the reception of Firdausi's Shahnama or 'Book of Kings', both within Iran and in neighbouring lands. Later poets and writers not only looked to Firdausi's work for a model, but supplemented its stories with other narratives or absorbed the characters and the moral values of the poem into their own works. Several chapters focus on the literary traditions fed by the Shahnama , including reports of the continuing oral performances of its more popular stories. Others discuss Firdausi's impact on the creative imagination of the miniature painters who illustrated manuscript copies of the Shahnama in the courts of the Ottoman Empire, Moghul India, and the Central Asia Khanates up till the seventeenth century. Contributors include Gabrielle van den Berg, Francesca Leoni, Farhad Mehran, Bilha Moor, Adeela Qureshi, Ravshan Rahmoni, Julia Rubanovich, Karin Ruehrdanz, Jan Schmidt, Ivan Steblin-Kamenski, Zeren Tanindi, Lâle Uluç, Evangelos Venetis, Olga Yastrebova, and Marjolijn van Zutphen Shahnama Studies III focuses on the hugely successful afterlife of the Shahnama or Book of Kings, completed by the poet Firdausi around 1010 AD. This long epic grew out to be an icon of Persian culture and served as a source of inspiration for art and literature, leaving its traces in manifold ways. The contributors to this volume each treat an aspect of the rich legacy of the Shahnama and offer new insights in Shahnama manuscript studies, the illustration of the Shahnama, the phenomenon of later epics, and the Shahnama in later texts and contexts.