My aesthetic is like dark academia but the medieval Iranian / Islamic golden age version. Shop on Etsy

epic poem smackdown! tell me which epic is your favorite (and why! if you feel so inclined). apologies in advance to everyone whose favorite i left off but unfortunately tumblr is stifling my power with this ten option limit

Arghavan Khosravi — “Siavash”  (acrylic on found wood block printed fabric, acrylic, canvas mounted on two seperate wood panels, 2018) 

Image, the Simurgh of Persian mystical literature, with Prince Zal, from the Shahnameh; 1428 CE.

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❝A Sufi awoke one night and said to himself, 'It seems to me that the world is like a chest in which we are put and the lid shut down. We give ourselves to foolishness. When death lifts the lid, he who has acquired wings soars away to eternity, while he who has not, stays in the chest prey to a thousand tribulations.' Make sure then that the bird of ambition acquires wings of aspiration ... Before the lid of this chest is opened become a bird of the Spirit, ready to spread your wings.❞ — Farid al-Din Attar, Conference of the Birds (trans. C.S. Nott, with minor edits), 76 #30.

[Ayn Kha]

Shahnameh illustration

I shall not die. These seeds I’ve sown will save my name and memory from the grave.

Shahnameh by Ferdowsi

A.Z. Foreman is an amazing linguist who's not only an expert in reconstruction who can personally pronounce even dead languages like a native speaker, he's also a translator and poet in his own right. Even just this little bit is amazing, maybe the best translation of the Shahnameh I've yet seen.

Exordium

Now in the name of God all things extol, The Lord of wisdom and the human soul, Beyond which there does not exist a thing Our minds can ever compass, Sovereign King Of all that is, of every name and place, Guide and sustainer of the human race, The cosmic Lord who wheels the stars of night, Who gave the sun, the moon and Venus light, Above all name or thought or signifying, High artificer of the underlying. You can't make out your Maker with your eye However much you strain it. Do not try. Minds can't grasp Him. He is the overall Being unnameable, unplaceable. It would take more than sapience to attain Things so beyond this elemental plane. Our minds with every word in their command Have only words for what they understand, So none knows how to praise Him as He is. Just bind yourself in reverence. You are His. He measured out the intellect, defined The soul of man. How would a measured mind Contain Him? Could the implements of thought Or soul or language rightly praise what brought Them into being? You need but confess That He exists, and speak no idleness. Seek the right path. Have reverence and awe, And go about with care to heed His law. This is the fact: to know is to be strong. And knowing God will turn the old heart young. But words can never pierce the veil we see. Our mind will never touch His quiddity.

In Praise of Reason

Now that I see the chance for it arise Here let me talk of reason to the wise, For it is greater than God's other gifts. Better its praise than justice. It uplifts The heart. It is life's vanguard, guides the vexed. It is your aid in this world and the next, Your fount of grief and joy, the origin Of every moment that you lose or win. If it goes dark, even the brightest soul Will never live a day of feeling whole Or happy. So a man of eloquence Once said to nourish our intelligence: "Whoever does not pay his wisdom heed Will slice himself to shreds with every deed, Wise men deem him an idiot and a danger As his own people turn him out a stranger." In this world as the next, it keeps you free. The man whose reason breaks finds slavery. For reason is the sole eye of the soul. The eyeless in this world have no control. It was created first, before all else, To brace the soul and the three sentinels Called eye and ear and tongue. These are the three That bring about all ill and good you see. Who can praise soul and reason fitly here? Even if I were fit to, who could hear? Since we're unfit to speak about all this, Let's hear instead how God made all that is. You, authored by the Lord who willed the days, Don't know this world's overt or covert ways. Let those who know show you the way. Go on Throughout this world, and talk to everyone. And when you've heard all wise men have to say, Still don't stop learning for a single day. Then, when you reach the high word-branches, know That knowledge cannot reach the root below.

The Creation of the World

You need to know the truth, as we begin, Of this world's elemental origin, When out of nothing God created matter In order for His potency to matter. From it, the stuff of the four elements Came in no time and with no toil. Immense Fire arose shining, burning into birth, Then wind and water flowed upon dark earth. First, fire was blown to motion. Hot and high It blazed till there was such a thing as dry. Then it was stilled again as cold took hold, And the first moisture grew out of the cold. The elements existed now, and curled Together so to form our fleeting world. Combining and compounding genera Formed the high orders of phenomena. So came the skydome spinning black and blue With wonders at full tilt, forever new, Revealing stars and planets and their signs, Each in its place, befitting His designs. The spheres were shaped inside each other, cast In motion as the structure set. At last, With sea and desert, dale and mountain height, The earth shone like a colored lamp at night. The mountains loomed. The waters coalesced And every sprouting plant reared up its crest. But Earth itself received no place on high. It was the darkling axis. In the sky A starfield's wonders blazoned overhead Lighting the earth up with the sheen they shed. Fire surges up. Water pours down. The sun Goes round the earth to make its daily run. Grass sprouted up with the assorted trees Happily pressing their heads upward. These Just grow and do not move, for they lack all The animacy of an animal. Animals soon appeared. Those moving things Tamed growing plants beneath their legs and wings. They eat and sleep and rest, and so they thrive. Their satisfaction lies in being alive. No speaking tongue, no seeking mind, they're free To gratify themselves on grass and tree. They do not know if they do good or ill. The Lord asks nothing of them. Grants no will. He is almighty, all-knowing and fair, So nothing's hidden from Him anywhere, Yet none of His creations comprehend The way the workings of this world will end.

I wouldn't be mad at all at a Persian Repunzel.

I wouldn't personally be mad at any race honestly, people need to leave that lady from the FANCASTING alone.

But anyway, the Grimm brothers, when they wrote the Rapunzel, we all know was inspired by a Persian Epic (Shahnameh by Daqiqi & Ferdowsi) but she the inspiring character was a side character that simply let's down her hair from a tower to help the protagonist. That's it. Then the brothers were like, "We can build off this, we can make a full-fledged story here."

Edit: ALSO, there have been multicultural Rapunzel retellings for decades.

Also, I just wish Disney would tell new fairytales and in 2d animation as well, not the same story over and over. I miss 2d animation from Disney.

Chapter 111. Return of Kay Kavus.

Kay Kavus and his army returned to Iran in a giant cloud of dust, and the entire nation partied. Several army commanders showed up to congratulate Kay Kavus on his great victory, and to congratulate Rostam a little more sincerely. But, as Kay Kavus had the sense to pay them their salaries, everyone stayed quite happy and quite loyal. Continue reading Chapter 111. Return of Kay Kavus.

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Niceeee book

Im fine,hop3 you enjoy,love u all

Eskandar Sees the Talking Trees, from a dispersed manuscript of the Book of Kings (Shahnameh) by Firdausi (d. 1020)

Uzbekistan, Bukhara, 16th century

Alexander the Great's encounter with the enigmatic Trees of the Sun and Moon. The talking trees located at the edge of the earth offer the all-powerful ruler a prophetic glimpse of the untimely death that awaits him, in spite of his supreme power.

اگر شاهنامه زیباترین داستان اساطیری نیست، پس چیه؟

Reading the Shahnameh like

The Last Fiction

“Just what’s this thing?”,you will ask the question.Spoilers ahead

It’s an Iranian animated movie.

 Based on a chapter of the Shahnameh, Iran’s millennium-old national epic.

When Jamshid, the mighty king of Persia abandons his empire to conquer more territories, Zahak cunningly takes his place. However, something very sinister begins to transpire. Any young man who enlists to work in the palace, mysteriously goes missing and is never to be seen again.

Fed up with the rising taxes and unknown whereabouts of their sons and husbands, people of Jamkard try to protest and inquire. But, their attempts would always be violently shut-down by ruthless guards. More’s the pity, Zahak, unexpectedly, orders to kill all the new-born babies and devastates many families. Among those devastated and angry people, there was Kaveh, a courageous ironsmith, extremely angry with tyranny of Zahak.

 Kaveh forms an army of outlaws to rebel against the ruler of Persia. But he and his army need a champion who isn’t only a skillful fighter, but can also defeat mystical demons. Kaveh finds this warrior, in the rubbles of Jamkard beside the dead body of his mother.

He names him Afaridoun and trains him rigorously. After years and years of rigid martial exercises, Afaridoun, finally is ready to defeat the evil ruler and the supernatural beasts surrounding him. But as the time gets closer, Afaridoun reckons he has to fight a greater enemy, more powerful and menacing; he has to fight his own demons.

See links:

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/the-last-fiction-set-to-become-first-iranian-animated-feature-to-qualify-for-oscars-exclusive-180272.html

https://shahnamehpajohan.ir/%D8%A2%D8%AE%D8%B1%DB%8C%D9%86-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AF-%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B7-%D8%A7%D8%B3%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%AA%D8%B1%DB%8C%D9%86-%D9%81/

My say:It’s an Interesting breakthrough from Iran’s animation studios.It won’t let you down:)

It’s based on a legend outlined in Iran’s Millienia spaning Ferdowsi’s collection of epic myths:The Shahnameh(:The Book Of Kings)

With Five Stars for excellent it gets 4,5 of them.

zāl and simorgh

زال‬⁩ و ⁧‫سیمرغ

One of my favourite tales from the Šahnameh‬⁩… Simorgh is a powerful mythological bird, and in the myth she saves baby Zāl from dying after he is abandoned near the Alborz (البرز) mountains. She raises him as her own, until she returns him - when he’s grown - back to his father and kingdom.

She gifts him some of her feathers before he leaves though, so that when he is in need he can burn them and she’ll be summoned to aid him.

Later, when Zāl’s wife Rudābeh (رودابه) is having difficulty during child-birth, Zāl burns a feather and Simorgh arrives, she then helps perform… the world’s first c-section.

I'm curious about the comparisons people could make between Joseph from the Book of Genesis and Siavash from the epic poem the Shahnameh.

Pleaseeeeee interact and feed my brain