The Sistani Cycle of Epics and Iran’s National History

The Sistani Cycle of Epics and Iran’s National History PDF Author: Saghi Gazerani
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004282963
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
This work examines the entire corpus of the Sistani Cycle of Epics, both parts included in Ferdowsi’s Shāhnāmeh and those appearing in separate manuscripts. It argues that the so-called “epic literature” of Iran constitutes a kind of historiography, encapsulating reflections of watershed events of Iran’s antiquity. By examining the symbiotic relationship of the texts’ content and form, the underpinning discourse of the various stories is revealed to have been shaped by polemics of political legitimacy and religious conflict. This discourse, however, is not abstract. The stories narrate, within their generic constraint, some of the affairs of the Sistani kingdom and its relationship to the Parthian throne, mainly from the first century BCE to the end of the second century CE.

The Sistani Cycle of Epics and Iran’s National History

The Sistani Cycle of Epics and Iran’s National History PDF Author: Saghi Gazerani
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004282963
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Get Book Here

Book Description
This work examines the entire corpus of the Sistani Cycle of Epics, both parts included in Ferdowsi’s Shāhnāmeh and those appearing in separate manuscripts. It argues that the so-called “epic literature” of Iran constitutes a kind of historiography, encapsulating reflections of watershed events of Iran’s antiquity. By examining the symbiotic relationship of the texts’ content and form, the underpinning discourse of the various stories is revealed to have been shaped by polemics of political legitimacy and religious conflict. This discourse, however, is not abstract. The stories narrate, within their generic constraint, some of the affairs of the Sistani kingdom and its relationship to the Parthian throne, mainly from the first century BCE to the end of the second century CE.

The Sistani Cycle of Epics

The Sistani Cycle of Epics PDF Author: Ameneh Gazerani
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Epic literature, Iranian
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Abstract: This dissertation is concerned with the study of the Sistani Cycle of Epics (SCE), a body of literature produced in its extant form from 11-13th centuries in Iran. It was during the same period that Iran's grand epic, the Shahnameh, was composed. Although Ferdowsi, the composer of the Shahnameh, has included some of the most famous stories of the SCE into his work, most of the Sistani stories were excluded from Ferdowsi's work. Modern scholarship dismissed the SCE as secondary to the Shahnameh, therefore, neglecting to examine it. In this study, first I examine the connection between the epics and the province of Sistan, their birthplace. I postulate that during the pre-Islamic period, especially from the Parthian period onward, the epics played a role in constructing a specifically Sistani identity. Therefore, in the first three chapters I examine the way in which the epics helped shape a distinctly Sistani identity by examining the region's topography, political history, and historiographical production. Arguing that up until the medieval period the epics were regarded as reflecting historical reality, in the following chapter I examine the genre for the ways in which it accommodated the historical narration, whose referents were past events. Instead of separating fact from fiction, I examine the ways in which the heroic discourse, by certain modification of the generic requirements, allows for the recounting of such historical episodes. The two areas, where the reference to past events is apparent, are most prevalent in depictions of Sistan's relationship to the land of India and the reflections of episodes of Parthian history. Next, I shift the focus of the study to medieval literary milieu, which produced the extant form of the epics. I postulate that during the medieval period the epics were used in order to create another identity, i.e. a distinct Iranian identity. As a result of this endeavor to create or to revive the Iranian identity, the two bodies of epics contain divergent stories, and. I scrutinize some of these stories and speculate about the reasons for the existence of such drastically different narrations.

Routledge Revivals: Medieval Islamic Civilization (2006)

Routledge Revivals: Medieval Islamic Civilization (2006) PDF Author: Josef Meri
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351668234
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Book Description
Islamic civilization flourished in the Middle Ages across a vast geographical area that spans today's Middle and Near East. First published in 2006, Medieval Islamic Civilization examines the socio-cultural history of the regions where Islam took hold between the 7th and 16th centuries. This important two-volume work contains over 700 alphabetically arranged entries, contributed and signed by international scholars and experts in fields such as Arabic languages, Arabic literature, architecture, history of science, Islamic arts, Islamic studies, Middle Eastern studies, Near Eastern studies, politics, religion, Semitic studies, theology, and more. Entries also explore the importance of interfaith relations and the permeation of persons, ideas, and objects across geographical and intellectual boundaries between Europe and the Islamic world. This reference work provides an exhaustive and vivid portrait of Islamic civilization and brings together in one authoritative text all aspects of Islamic civilization during the Middle Ages. Accessible to scholars, students and non-specialists, this resource will be of great use in research and understanding of the roots of today's Islamic society as well as the rich and vivid culture of medieval Islamic civilization.

The Kushnameh

The Kushnameh PDF Author: Iranshah
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520385314
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
The first English translation of a strange and unusual Persian epic, this action-packed tale of an evil, monstrous king explores questions of nature and nurture and brings the global middle ages to life. The great Persian epic known as the Kushnameh follows the entangled lives of Kush the Tusked––a monstrous antihero with tusks and ears like an elephant, descended from the evil emperor Zahhak––and Abtin, the exiled grandson of the last true Persian emperor. Abandoned at birth in the forests of China and raised by Abtin, Kush grows into a powerful and devious warrior. Kush and his foes scheme and wage war across a global stage reaching from Spain and Africa to China and Korea. Between epic battles and magnificent feasts are disturbing, sometimes realistic portrayals of abuse and oppression and philosophical speculation about nature and nurture and the origins of civilization. A fantastical adventure story stretching across the known world and a literary classic of unparalleled richness, this important work of medieval Persian literature is a valuable source for understanding the history of racism and constructions of race and the flows of lore and legend from the Central Asian Silk Road and the Sahara to the sea routes of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. The Kushnameh is a treasure trove of Islamic and pre-Islamic Persian cultural history and a striking contemporary document of the “global middle ages,” now available to English-speaking readers for the first time.

Medieval Islamic Civilization

Medieval Islamic Civilization PDF Author: Josef W. Meri
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135455961
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 979

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Book Description
Medieval Islamic Civilization examines the socio-cultural history of the regions where Islam took hold between the seventh and sixteenth century. This important two-volume work contains over 700 alphabetically arranged entries, contributed and signed by international scholars and experts in fields such as Arabic languages, Arabic literature, architecture, art history, history, history of science, Islamic arts, Islamic studies, Middle Eastern studies, Near Eastern studies, politics, religion, Semitic studies, theology, and more. This reference provides an exhaustive and vivid portrait of Islamic civilization including the many scientific, artistic, and religious developments as well as all aspects of daily life and culture. For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit www.routledge-ny.com/middleages/Islamic.

Selected Studies on Genre in Middle Eastern Literatures

Selected Studies on Genre in Middle Eastern Literatures PDF Author: Hülya Çelik
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527515265
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
The examination of literary genres in the Middle East opens the possibility of gaining new insights into the intellectual universe of Middle Eastern societies, the question of production of meaning, what “literature” meant in different historical periods, and the underlying epistemology of producing knowledge, and how this epistemology has changed over time. This book comprises 12 case studies from the three major Middle Eastern languages – Arabic, Persian, and Turkish – written by experts in the field. It brings together a wide range of approaches – from the study of epics to an analysis of travelogues, and from classical poetry to novels. Instead of focusing on one period or juxtaposing the classical genres and the West-induced development of “modern genres,” the studies in their totality apply a broad diachronic and synchronic perspective, with the potential to create a comparative framework for the study of the sociocultural and narratological dimensions of genre in the Middle East.

Khwadāynāmag The Middle Persian Book of Kings

Khwadāynāmag The Middle Persian Book of Kings PDF Author: Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004277641
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
In Khwadāynāmag. The Middle Persian Book of Kings Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila analyses the lost sixth-century historiographical work of the Sasanians, its lost Arabic translations, and the sources of Firdawsī's Shāhnāme.

The Diez Albums

The Diez Albums PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004323481
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 690

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Book Description
The five Diez albums in Berlin, acquired by Heinrich Friedrich von Diez in Constantinople around 1789, contain more than 400 figurative paintings, drawings, fragments, and calligraphic works originating for the most part from Ilkhanid, Jalayirid, and Timurid workshops. Gonnella, Weis and Rauch unite in this volume 21 essays that analyse their relation to their “parent” albums at the Topkapı Palace or examine specific works by reflecting upon their role in the larger history of book art in Iran. Other essays cover aspects such as the European and Chinese influence on Persianate art, aspects related to material and social culture, and the Ottoman interest in Persianate albums. This book marks an important contribution to the understanding of the development of illustrative imagery in the Persianate world and its later perception. Contributors are: Serpil Bağcı, Barbara Brend, Massumeh Farhad, Julia Gonnella, Claus-Peter Haase, Oliver Hahn, Robert Hillenbrand, Yuka Kadoi, Charles Melville, Gülru Necipoğlu, Bernard O'Kane, Filiz Ҫakır Phillip, Yves Porter, Julian Raby, Christoph Rauch, Simon Rettig, David J. Roxburgh, Karin Rührdanz, Zeren Tanındı, Lâle Uluç, Ching-Ling Wang, and Friederike Weis.

The Oral Background of Persian Epics

The Oral Background of Persian Epics PDF Author: Kumiko Yamamoto
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004502688
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
This volume discusses the indirect influence of oral transmission on the genesis and evolution of the Persian written epic tradition. On the basis of formal characteristics of naqqâli (Persian storytelling) performance, a set of formal and thematic criteria is proposed to determine the extent to which written Persian epics show structures ultimately deriving from oral performance. It is applied to the Shâh-nâme of Ferdowsi (c. 1000) and to the Garshâsp-nâme of Asadi (c. 1064-66). The first part of the book examines the Oral-Formulaic Theory and proposes an alternative approach focusing on naqqâli. The book may be relevant to both oralists and Iranists; it demonstrates the complex process where orality interacts with written tradition in the genesis of the Shâh-nâme.

The Oral Background of Persian Epics

The Oral Background of Persian Epics PDF Author: Kumiko Yamamoto
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004125872
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
This book proposes a set of criteria for determining the extent to which oral tradition influences written Persian epics. The criteria are applied to Persian epics, the Shah-name (c. 1000) and the Garshasp-name (c. 1064-66).