‘The Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp’ to be unveiled in Tehran

National Iranian literary treasure The Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp is slated to be unveiled at the Art Cultural Center in Iran’s capital city of Tehran.

Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati along with a number of cultural officials and literary scholars will be attending the unveiling gala on Monday, April 28.

Several parts of the great book will be recited at the event. Participants will also enjoy traditional Persian storytelling of the book, known as Naqqali.

The Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, as a manuscript of the Islamic world, is a 16th-century copy commissioned by the Safavid king, Shah Tahmasp.

The book is the most luxuriously illustrated copy of ancient Persian epic (The Shahnameh) ever produced in the history of Persian painting with magnificent nasta’liq script.

The Shahnameh (The Book of Kings) is a classic among epic Persian poetry written by the master of Persian literature, Hakim Abulqasim Ferdowsi (11th century).

The book, composed of about 55,000 couplets. recounts Iran’s mythical and historical past. It was written in Persian at a time when Arabic was the main scientific and literary language of Iran.

The stories of The Shahnameh tell the long history of the Iranian people. The book begins with the creation of the world and the origin myths of the arts of civilization such as fire, cooking, metallurgy and social structures.

The romance of Zal and Rudaba, the Seven Stages (or Labors) of Rostam, Rostam and Sohrab, Rostam and Esfandyar, Siavash and Soudabeh, Rostam and Akvan-e Div, and the romance of Bizhan and Manizheh are among the most popular Shahnameh stories.

Ferdowsi spent over three decades on the book that was written in Persian at a time when Arabic was the main scientific and literary language of Iran.

TheShahnameh has been one of the greatest inspirations of Iranian people in life and arts and among the first Persian manuscripts to be illustrated.