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The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi is a monumental text: it comprises 50,000 rhyming verses that span the life of Kayumars, the poem’s first human, all the way to the inception of Islam. The poem is filled with badass women, radical acts of courage and tragic egomania, tales of love and loss, Game of Thrones-like war scenes, imagery of exquisite sun rises, and a commentary on the pursuit of wisdom. The Shahnameh has been circulated, illustrated, read, and performed in a vast cultural geography stretching from Bosnia to India since its composition in the eleventh century.
Over the centuries, many empires from Iran to India have placed their dynastic histories within the fictive universe of the Shahnameh and many poets have emulated its stories and style. Since the rise of nation-states in the twentieth century, Afghans, Tajiks, and Iranians have framed the Shahnameh as a document of their national identity. All of this to say: the Shahnameh has played a key role in how collectives have defined themselves in the past 900 years in the Persianate world.
This spring, we will focus on The Legend of Siavash to appreciate the often overlooked dramatic qualities of the Shahnameh. At the end of the quarter, we will practice reciting excerpts of this moving story with visiting artists from San Diego, led by Mahmud Behruzian, who will perform The Legend of Siavash with us! Intrigued yet?