Ferdowsi

Abū ʾ l - Qāsim Firdausi (Persian ابوالقاسم فردوسی; * 940 or 941 in Baz, a village in the district of Tus, Iran ( in Mashhad ), † 1020 in Tus ) was a Persian poet and one of the greatest epic poet. He is the author of the monumental, comprehensive about 60,000 verses Shahnameh (Eng. ' Book of Kings '), the national epic of the Persian-speaking world, which was started at a small part of the poet Daqiqi. With the Shahnameh Firdausi has created the world's largest epic of a single poet.

Equity and Father Name Firdausi been handed differently. Arab historian al - Bundari, who translated the Shahnameh into Arabic is called as the name Mansur b. Hasan. His pseudonym " Firdausi 'literally means' the Paradise ".

Life

Besides his Kunya ( Abu'l- Qāsim ) and his artist name " Firdausi " is nothing certain is known about his name or the identity of his family. As a member of a wealthy family Dihqān he was so berichetet Nizami ʿ Arūḍī ( Nezami -ye ʿ Arūẓī ), a " man with influence in his village" and initially financially independent.

Many passages of his works reveal his love for Iran. He was certainly familiar with the Arabic language and also had very early acquired a great knowledge of the history of ancient Iran and legends that he had met through his familiar environment.

Due to the increasing preoccupation with his life's work, which he had begun around 976, however, he became impoverished. He turned then under the protection of the then most powerful ruler of the Islamic world, Mahmūd of Ghazni, the numerous artists and writers had gathered at his court, but even regarded as little art direction. Aside from a trip to Baghdad Firdausi spent his entire life in Khorasan, where he traveled around a lot while gathering material for his work.

In his 65th year he traveled to Ghazni to Mahmūd submit his work, however, which this gave little attention. Firdausi complained Mahmūd did not even look at it appreciated and Nizami ʾ Arūḍī kolportierte the tradition, promised after the Mahmūd for each verse a gold coin, but only one silver coin should have given. The real reason for the rejection of the work may lay in the lack of literary understanding of the ruler, as in the religious differences between the Sunni and Firdausi Mahmūd. Firdausi has given much space in the Shahnameh the description of Zoroastrian thought and festival culture, while Islam is not mentioned. Only in the last chapter of the Shahnameh in which Firdausi represents the end of the Sassanid Empire, can be found in the letter of Rostam Farrokhzad at his brother before the Battle of Kadesia verses that explain what Iran expected after the Arab conquest and then following Islamization. According to legend, Firdausi is because of these critical verses - have been denied burial in the Islamic cemetery of his home town - but especially because of its Shiite denomination. Nizami ʿ According Arūḍī this is the decision of been a " fanatical Wā'iz (Ecclesiastes, Mullah ) of Ṭābarān (a village near Tus ) ", which is why the " pride of the Iranians " was buried in his own garden within the city walls Ṭābarāns. According to the report the tomb quickly became a place of pilgrimage.

Firdausi was one of the first representatives of the new Persian literary language that arose in the 10th century at the court of the Samanids. In the early 20th century made ​​Iranian nationalists Firdausi the " revivalist " of Iranian identity and the Shahnameh to the monument. Particular reference is made in this connection to the almost complete absence Arabic vocabulary in the Shahnameh, a fact which should, however, be due to the sources Firdausi: The chapter on Alexander, which is based on an Arabic manuscript, he used just as well the Arab vocabulary its submission.

Under the reign of Reza Shah and the establishment of an Iranian national state Firdausi was of outstanding importance. As a poet of the national epic of him in 1934 a newly constructed mausoleum was dedicated, in which his remains were reburied. Under the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1975 under the patronage of Queen Farah Pahlavi a festival in honor of Firdausi, the annual Tus Festival, donated.

After the poet Firdausi University, Mashhad was named.

Translated Versions

• Friedrich Rückert: Firdosi 's Book of Kings ( Shahnameh ) Sage I- XIII. From the estate edited by E. A. Bayer. Reprints: epubli, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86931-356-6.
• Friedrich Rückert: Firdosi 's Book of Kings ( Shahnameh ) Sage XV -XIX. From the estate edited by E. A. Bayer. Reprints: epubli, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86931-407-5.
• Friedrich Rückert: Firdosi 's Book of Kings ( Shahnameh ) Sage XX -XXVI. From the estate edited by E. A. Bayer. Reprint of the first edition. epubli Berlin, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86931-555-3. ( Details)
• Friedrich Rückert: Rostem and Suhrab. A heroic story in 12 books. Reprint of the first edition of 1838. Epubli, Berlin, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86931-571-3. ( Details)
• Abu al -Qasim Hassan Firdawsi: Houghton Shahnama, Harvard University Press; Facsimile Ed edition, 1981 ( English ) ISBN 0-674-40854-3; ISBN 978-0-674-40854-8
• Abu al -Qasim Hassan Firdawsi: The Legend of Seyavash, Penguin Classics Paperback, Penguin Books Ltd, 1992 ( English ), ISBN 0-14-044566-8, ISBN 978-0-14-044566-4