Luke Boston - Capstone Presentation

4/8/2019 7:00 PM to 4/8/2019 8:00 PM

The National Epic at Work: The Shahnameh and Iranian Identity

Few texts are as central to a culture as the Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, is to Iran. My research examines the historical context of this tenth century epic poem in order to identify its powerful role in shaping Iranian identity. The author of the Shahnameh, Ferdowsi, lived in the wake of the conquest of Iran by the Arabs, whose language, culture, and religion had threatened to replace the traditions of the ancient Persian empires. By compiling and versifying pre-Islamic Iran rich folk history in the Shahnameh, Ferdowsi both redefined and reaffirmed Iranian identity. His emphasis on the continuity of a singular Iranian civilization through time suggests that his people possessed a national spirit that no invader could replace. In the words of Mohammed Ali Foroughi, Prime Minister of Iran in the 1940s, “Any group who considers [the heroes of the Shahnameh] as its own is considered Iranian.”

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