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Ferdowsi

Middle Eastern, Persian and Hebrew Literature

Ferdowsi, born Abu al-Qasim Mansur, was a Persian poet who lived from around 940 to 1025 in the Khorasan region, first under Samanid patronage and later under the rise of the Ghaznavid dynasty. He is the author of the Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, a long epic poem he composed over roughly three decades, completing it in 1010, that recounts the mythical and historical past of Iran from the creation of the world to the Muslim conquest in the seventh century. The Shahnameh is one of the longest epic poems ever written by a single author and is regarded as the national epic of Greater Iran, a foundational text of the Persian language that shaped Persian literary and cultural identity for a thousand years. Ferdowsi is celebrated as one of the most influential figures in Persian literature and in the history of world literature more broadly.

Facts
Birth Year
940 1
Wikipedia's lead gives 940-1025 for Ferdowsi's dates; his exact birth year is not independently recorded and this range is treated as approximate by modern scholarship.
Birth Date
0940-01-03 1
Death Year
1025 1
Wikipedia's lead gives 940-1025 for Ferdowsi's dates; his exact death year is not independently recorded and this range is treated as approximate by modern scholarship.
Classification
Original Language
Persian 1
Ferdowsi
Filter Results1 entry
Connections

In Genre

Epic, Genres
Source Ferdowsi (Wikipedia)

Works Attributed

Shahnameh, Works
Sources
1. Ferdowsi (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    Abu al-Qasim Mansur bin Hasan Tosi (940-1025), better known by his pen name Ferdowsi, was a Persian poet who is notable for being the author of the Shahnameh ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poems created by a single poet, and the greatest epic of the Persian-speaking countries.
  • Original language statement
    Ferdowsi, born Abu al-Qasim Mansur, was a Persian poet who lived from around 940 to 1025 in the Khorasan region, first under Samanid patronage and later under the rise of the Ghaznavid dynasty.
  • Lead paragraph
    Abu al-Qasim Mansur bin Hasan Tosi (940-1025), better known by his pen name Ferdowsi, was a Persian poet who is notable for being the author of the Shahnameh (or Shahnama, "Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poems created by a single poet, and the greatest epic of the Persian-speaking countries. Ferdowsi is celebrated as one of the most influential figures of Persian...
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