The Lion and the Throne: Stories from the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, Vol. 1
- Book Review,
by Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Dick Davis (Translator)
Choice Magazine
A beautiful book... reminiscent of a medieval Persian manuscript... the volume is a rich and evocative example of bookmaking.
Choice Magazine
A beautiful book...reminiscent of a medieval Persian manuscript. ...The volume is a rich and evocative example of bookmaking.
Book Description
Among the masterpieces of world literature, perhaps the least familiar to English readers is the Persian book of kings (Shahnameh, in Persian). This prodigious national epic, composed by the poet Ferdowsi between 980 and 1010, tells the story of ancient Persia, beginning in the mythic time of Creation and continuing forward to the Arab-Islamic invasion in the seventh century. the Lion and the Throne covers the first third of the Shahnameh and is followed by two volumes to complete the epic. Brilliantly translated and magnificently illustrated, these volumes give English-language readers access to a world of vanished wonders. The origins of civilizationƒthe notion of kingship...tenderness, a longing for justice, and social order...the first kings felled by foolish pride...demons on the throneƒspiritual heroes and their martial virtues...mythical birdsƒromance and passion - these are some of the threads woven together to form the rich tapestry of ancient Persia. Translator Dick Davis combines his skills as a poet and a Ferdowsi scholar to evoke the metrical music, impact, and nuance of Ferdowsi's monumental poem. Breathtaking miniatures from the finest Persian shahnameh manuscripts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries heighten the emotional impact of the text. A short afterword by the eminent art historian Stuart Cary Welch, curator emeritus of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, unravels the history behind these paintings.
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Persian
From the Publisher
This is the second editon of the book with the stories translated directly from the original poem.
About the Author
ABOLQASEM FERDOWSI was born in Khorasan in a village near Tus, in 940. His great epic the Shahnameh, to which he devoted most of his adult life, was originally composed for the Samanid princes of Khorasan, who were the chief instigators of the revival of Persian cultural traditions after the Arab conquest of the seventh century. During Ferdowsi's lifetime this dynasty was conquered by the Ghaznavid Turks, and there are various stories in medieval texts describing the lack of interest shown by the new ruler of Khorasan, Mahmud of Ghazni, in Ferdowsi and his lifework. Ferdowsi is said to have died around 1020 in poverty and embittered by royal neglect, though confident of his and his poem's ultimate fame. DICK DAVIS was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1945 and educated at KingÍs College, Cambridge (B.A. and M.A. in English Literature), and at the University of Manchester (Ph.D. in Medieval Persian Literature). He is currently professor of Persian at Ohio State University. He lived for eight years in Iran (1970-78), as well as for periods in Greece and Italy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His other translations from Persian include Fathers and Sons, and Sunset of Empire: Stories from the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, Volumes II and III (Mage, 2000, 2003), Borrowed Ware: Medieval Persian Epigrams (Mage, 1997), My Uncle Napoleon (Mage, 1996, Random House, 2005), The Legend of Seyavash (Penguin Classics, 1992, Mage, 2004), and with Afkham Darbandi, The Conference of the Birds (Penguin Classics, 1984). STUART CARY WELCH is the curator emeritus of Islamic and Later Indian art at the Harvard University Art Museums and former curator of Islamic art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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