Shahnama Studies III

Shahnama Studies III focuses on the hugely successful afterlife of the Shahnama or Book of Kings, completed by the poet Firdausi around 1010 AD. This long epic grew out to be an icon of Persian culture and served as a source of inspiration for art and literature, leaving its traces in manifold ways. The contributors to this volume each treat an aspect of the rich legacy of the Shahnama and offer new insights in Shahnama manuscript studies, the illustration of the Shahnama, the phenomenon of later epics, and the Shahnama in later texts and contexts.

Gabrielle van den Berg, PhD (1997), University of Leiden, is Senior University Lecturer in the Cultural History of Central Asia and Iran. She has published on classical Persian literature and on the oral traditions of Central Asia.

Charles Melville, PhD (1978), University of Cambridge, is Professor of Persian History at Cambridge. He has published on the history of Iran from the Mongols to the Safavids, Persian historiography, and the Shahnama of Firdausi.

Contributors: Michele Bernardini, Tülün Değirmenci, Fatma Sinem Eryılmaz, Alyssa Gabbay, Charles Melville, Firuza Melville, Shiva Mihan, Raya Shani, Maria Szuppe, Gabrielle van den Berg, Christine van Ruymbeke, Marjolijn van Zutphen, Laura Weinstein, and Kumiko Yamamoto