Rashīd al-Dīn and the Shāhnāmeh
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12563462 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Charles Melville (0000-0003-2132-2175, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | 201-214 |
| Publication date | 2016-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1356-1863 • E-ISSN: 1474-0591 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1356186315000693 |
| OpenAlex | W2345955946 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 10 |
This paper explores some different, interrelated versions of the history of the Pīshdādiyān, the earliest dynasty represented in the Shāhnāmeh , especially the recently edited text of Rashīd al-Dīn's Jāmi‘al-tawārīkh . This is compared with Bal‘amī’s Persian version of the History of al-Ṭabari and Qāḍī Baiḍāwī’s Niẓām al-tawārīkh , of which the latter is shown to provide much the closer basis for Rashīd al-Dīn's work — especially when confronted with the manuscripts of the Jāmi‘al-tawārīkh contemporary with the life of Rashīd al-Dīn. Comparison with both the early Arabic and Persian witnesses of the work suggests that the printed edition does not represent Rashīd al-Dīn's original text, but later reworkings of his chronicle — such as that by the fifteenth-century historian, Ḥāfiẓ-i Abrū — which draw more directly on the Shāhnāmeh . In so far as there is discernible subtext to Rashīd al-Dīn's coverage of these earliest periods of Iranian monarchical history, it is more to emphasise the didactic message of the Shāhnāmeh and the justice and constructive achievements of the first kings, than to follow Firdausī’s narrative. Despite the potency of idea of the Shāhnāmeh as expressing Persian kingly traditions, it is suggested that perhaps it was only after the time of Rashīd al-Dīn and the Islamisation of the Mongol rulers that historians appreciated and emulated the literary and narrative aspects of the text for their own sake
Arabic · Archaeology · Art · Civilization · Monarchy · Political science · Politics · Rash · Theology · Byzantine Studies and History · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Medicine · Philosophy · Dermatology
The Illustration of History in Persian Manuscripts
Ancient Iranian Kings in the World History of Rashid Al-Din
The Sultan's Life as a Tragedy? Zeyā al-Din Barani, Moʿezz al-Din Keyqobād, and the Performance of Tārikh
The Topkapı Manuscript of the Jāmic al-Tawārikh (Hazine 1654) from Rashidiya to the Ottoman Court
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2018 - 2021 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |