The Shahs of Old

April 11, 2005 9:41 AM

The Epic of Kings.Dr Charles Melville, a lecturer of the University of Cambridge is compiling a list of all the world’s handwritten and illustrated versions of the Shahnameh, the masterpiece of Iranian poet Ferdowsi. “In the first step, I began to search libraries and museums in Iran, Turkey, the United States, India, and a number of European countries. After finding the sources, I traveled to the countries to study the versions that I had found in my search”. Ferdowsi's epic poem (English translation here) has 62 Stories, 990 Chapters, and contains 60,000 rhyming couplets -- making it more than seven times the length of Homer's Iliad.
posted by matteo (6 comments total)

Holy coincidence, matteo! Just this weekend I was proofreading Charles Melville's essay for the publication of the proceedings from this symposium, related to this exhibition. (Some nice illustrations from the Shanama and other texts included.) And thanks for all the Ferdowsi links -- very cool.
posted by scody at 10:36 AM on April 11, 2005

ESP Filter!
Thanks!
posted by matteo at 10:45 AM on April 11, 2005

Great post! As a longtime Persophile (Farsofile?), I was thrilled a couple of years ago when I snagged a copy of Reuben Levy's long out of print abridged version of Ferdowsi, The Epic of the Kings, at the Strand for a dollar ($1). ("The only complete translation of the Book of Kings into English verse is that of Arthur George and Edmond Warner, The Sháhnáma of Firdausi, 9 vols., London, 1905-25. Unfortunately, it is available only in large research libraries."—the quote is from this useful summary of the epic and its tradition; I link to the Google cache because the original link doesn't work. I note that this guy is selling a CD-ROM of the complete translation for $15, and I also note that the Britannica doesn't realize there was a complete translation into English.)

And I regret to report that the Helen Zimmern version available online (linked to in your post at two different sites, from the words "masterpiece" and "here") is so brutally cut it's worthwhile only as a summary of occasional bits -- you can't even follow the plot very well. To give an example, the fourth and fifth paragraphs of the Zimmern version ("Now Husheng was a wise man and just, and the heavens revolved over his throne forty years... And Jemshid's power increased, and the world was at peace, and men beheld in him nought but what was good") represent six pages (two chapters) of Levy's already abridged version -- and Levy always includes bracketed summaries of what's been left out. This is not a complaint about the post, obviously, but about the poor nature of the only available online translation.
posted by languagehat at 1:55 PM on April 11, 2005

no, you're -- as always -- right, I wish I had found a better edition linked online. myself, a few years ago, I had to read "Firdawsi" in French, in Jules Mohl's famous traduction (the book is at my parent's, I'll be happy to check it out the multi-volume when I visit next Sunday). thanks for the info, professore.

I found it a work of terrible beauty.

one wishes that somebody took the trouble to re-publish it in English, as a labor of love*. but with the possible exception of Loeb's and a few others I don't see any such publishing outfit anywhere. at the very least, I'd love to see the Gutenberg project team in action here.

*not that the people who should really read it would take the time, but still...
posted by matteo at 2:54 PM on April 11, 2005

oh, and by the way L-Hat, the Strand saved you 50 bucks + postage!
posted by matteo at 3:10 PM on April 11, 2005

oh, dear - pity about the dearth of complete english translations...i will have to leave "learn farsi and read the shah-nameh in the original" in my list of "50 things i must do before i die"

(also included - & lifted directly from perec's list - is "drink a bottle of rum found in a shipwreck, like captain haddock in *red rackham's treasure*"...this one seems to be the simpler and more likely of the two...)
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:10 PM on April 11, 2005