Table of Contents

  • SAFAVID DYNASTY (cont.)

    Rudi Matthee

    Annotated bibliography.

  • SAFFARIDS

    C. Edmund Bosworth

    a dynasty of medieval Islamic eastern Iran which ruled from 247/861 to 393/1003.  From a base in their home province of Sistān, the first Saffarids built up a vast if transient military empire, at one point invading Iraq and threatening Baghdad.  

  • SAFIDRUD

    Eckart Ehlers

    With a length of 670 km the Safidrud is the second largest river of Iran.  Its headwaters are located in the Zagros ranges of northwestern Iran in the province of Kordestān.  Originating in the mountain range of the Kuh-e Čehel Čašma, the headwater region is moist and rainy.

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  • SAFINA-YE ḴOŠGU

    Stefano Pello

    An important Indo-Persian taḏkera (collection of biographical notices of poets with anthologies of their verse) of the 18th century, by Bindrāban Dās Ḵošgu.

  • SAFINE-YE SOLAYMANI

    M. Ismail Marcinkowski

    (“Ship of Solayman”), a Persian travel account of an embassy sent by the Safavid ruler Shah Solayman (r. 1666-94) to Siam in the year 1685.

  • ṢAFJĀHĪ DYNASTY

    Cross-Reference

    See DECCAN.

  • ŠAFT

    Marcel Bazin

    district and small town in southwestern Gilān.

  • SAGDID

    Cross-Reference

    in Zoroastrian practice, a purificatory ritual, involving a dog, before a body is carried away to be exposed; see DOG ii. In Zoroastrianism.

  • ŠĀH ḴALIL-ALLĀH

    Farhad Daftary

    the forty-fifth imam of the Qāsemšāhi branch of Nezāri Ismaʿilis in the 18th century.

  • ŠĀH ṬĀHER ḤOSAYNI DAKKANI

    Farhad Daftary

    (1480-90s-1549), thirty-first and the most famous imam of the Moḥammadšāhi (or Moʾmeni) branch of the Nezāri Ismaʿilis. A resident of Deccan, Šāh Ṭāher was a learned theologian, poet, literary stylist, and an accomplished diplomat who rendered valuable services to the Neẓāmšāhi dynasty of Aḥmadnagar.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA iv. Illustrations

    Marianna Shreve Simpson

    It is within the medieval arts of the object, and particularly on portable ceramic and metalwork vessels made in Persia and neighboring regions during the 12th and 13th centuries, that the early history and iconography of Šāh-nāma imagery can be most fully appreciated.

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  • ŠĀH-NĀMA v. ARABIC WORDS

    John Perry

    Moïnfar calculates that the Šāh-nāma contains 706 words of Arabic origin, occurring a total of 8,938 times. The 100 words occurring most frequently account for 60 percent of all occurrences.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA — EXCURSUS

    Amin Banani

    Essay: “Reflections on Re-reading the Iliad and the Shahnameh” by Amin Banani.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA vi. The Šāh-nāma as a Source for Popular Narratives

    Julia Rubanovich

    Šāh-nāma has been the source for different versions of the stories, such as the ones published in Eskandar-nāma and Dārāb-nāma, narrated by storytellers in public. The voluminous works with branching plots, relate the heroic-romantic adventures of their eponymous heroes, often with a religious, Islamic emphasis.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS i. INTO TURKISH

    Osman G. Özgüdenli

    Turks have been influenced by the Šāh-nāma since the advent of the Saljuqs in Persia. Their last prince in Persia, Ṭoḡrel III, recited verses from the Šāh-nāma while swinging his mace in battle.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS ii. INTO GEORGIAN

    Jamshid Sh. Giunashvili

    was translated, not only to satisfy the literary and aesthetic needs of readers and listeners, but also to inspire the young with the spirit of heroism and Georgian patriotism.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS iii. INTO ENGLISH

    Parvin Loloi

    Ferdowsi’s epic, the Šāh-nāma, was first introduced to English readers by Sir William Jones, who in his many essays on Oriental poetry, compared Ferdowsi to Homer.

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  • ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS xiii. INTO POLISH

    Anna Krasnowolska

    The first, brief mention of Ferdowsi in Polish was made by Ignacy Krasicki (1735-1801) in his work on poets and poetry, and he included in his collection of Oriental tales two passages originating from the Šāh-nāma.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS xiv. INTO RUSSIAN

    Natalia Chalisova

    The first translation of the Šāh-nāma into Russian dates from 1849, when V. Zhukovski (d. 1852) wrote his poem Rustem and Zorab.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS xv. INTO JAPANESE

    Hashem Rajabzadeh

    After ʿOmar Ḵayyām, whose Robāʿiyāt was introduced to Japanese readers around the turn of the 20th century, Ferdowsi was the first Persian poet to attract the attention of Japanese writers.

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