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Shahnameh  is the whole mirror of ancient beliefs and Iranian's identity in far past years to the end of Sassanid's times. Most of Iranian ancient beliefs are manifested in each three parts of this epical work especially in mythic and epic periods. Herbages are the phenomena that is the subject of contemplation in mythical and also Totemic and anima beliefs which are some of the first forms of religion. The reflection of these beliefs which are sometimes similar to the other folk's myth, can be found in Shahnameh. Worshiping of herbages and the plant ancestry of mankind, which have often been seen among different tribes, are the core beliefs manifested in Shahnameh. Also, some of the characters in Shahnameh are goddess of herbage that their birth and death are the same as that of their mythical sample. In fact, these characters are the transformed models of mythical goddess of herbages.             

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In ancient Iran, mubeds were always among the most prominent authorities of the country and were highly influential in kings’ courts. This role is well depicted in Iran’s most famous national epic, and it is of such an importance that by examining their roles and positions in Shahnameh, one can find how religion and government were closely related in ancient Iran. In Shahnameh, the mubads’ responsibilities were not just limited to conducting religious ceremonies and rites. They enjoyed power and authority in country’s administration and were the most educated people of their age. They were responsible for the education and also narrated ancient stories. Observing the economic affairs and bearing the flag in battles were other responsibilities of the mubeds which are also well depicted in Shahnameh. It should be noted that “mubed” in Shahnameh is used as a generic term and it is not always used to mean a “clergy”. Rather, its meanings had expanded and the term was attributed to wise and erudite people. In this paper, the authors attempt to explain the functions and hierarchies of mubeds according to Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh.

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The flags of the Kings and Heroes in Shahnameh and other epic texts are of important symbolic and ritual significance. The Symbolic signs and their characteristics on flags are important in the analysis of their owners’ personal, public and psychological characteristics. This archetypal approach to signs reflects Ferdowsi’s intention in expressing the function of some epic instruments, such as weapons, flags, horses and tents. In Shahnameh the matching of these signs and their implied cultural significance reflect their semiotic an archetypical power. So each of these signs and images like sun, moon, stars and animals—dragon, lion, wolf, tiger, and eagle—and colors such as black and purple show the complex texture of anthropological feature. This research is both descriptive and analytical and the researchers have consulted different dictionaries of symbols and highlighted the function of each image in its epic space considering the change of its meaning in time

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One of the main events of the Sassanid's period is the battles of Piruz against the Hephthalites, which despite the great efforts of the Iranians in these wars, they ended with their defeat and a huge tribute to be given to the Hephthalites. To compensate for his failure, Piruz the tyrant king waged another war against the Hephthalites. However, not only he achieved nothing, but he also lost his life. After these defeats, the Hephthalites used to intervene in the Iranians’affairs for a long time, until they finally disappeared during the reign of Anushiravan. Nonetheless, the bitter memories of these defeats never left the Persians' minds. So after these events, the Iranians manipulated some facts to maintain their dignity. They made some stories about those events and one of the stories was about a hero named Sufra who fought against the Hephthalites and eventually defeated them and brought back all that the Iranians had lost to them. These narratives most likely were present in the many Khodaynameh(s) of the Sassanid's period to enter then the history of the Islamic era. This article first examines Shahnameh and other historical narratives for Piruz's and Sufra's battles against the Hephthalites, and then shows the main distortions which entered Khodaynameh(s) in the Sassanid's period.

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The Jungian evaluation theory has not been fully used as a standard in analyzing the subject of the seven adventures (or Haft Khan) in Shahnameh. The main purpose of this research is to evaluate the psychological theory in the seven adventures of Rostam and of Esfandiar. By using it, we have attempted to find out the hidden aspects of the evolution of the hero’s personality in his adventures and consequently know the nature of the Jungian archetypes in the Persian epic. Therefore, the article tries to find out the relationship between the supreme Persian subject matters and Jungian theory. Moreover, the research has analyzed each of the basic Jungian elements (i.e. archetype, shadow, anima and animus, persona, etc.) in the seven adventures of Rostam and of Esfandiar, and then each of the elementary concepts in the two adventures have been decoded on the basis of the Jungian theory. It is concluded that all of the elements of the theory can be fully seen in the seven adventures of Rostam, repeatedly in some cases. The hero meets all of the Jungian archetypes in his seven adventures, and after winning them, he finally reaches the stage of individuation. On the contrary, the pattern does not have a regular order in the adventures of Esfandiar and there is no a clear reference to the archetype “Animus” in this adventure. Therefore, the seven adventures of Rostam, in comparison to that of Esfandiar, reflects the entire archetypes of Jungian theory.

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Recounting or reading a story, a tale, or an anecdote in ceremonies has a long history in Iranian culture. A type of this tradition has been widespread in Ferdowsi’s era which emerged in the form of public reading of Shahnameh. Ferdowsi has acted masterfully in choosing words of special speech sounds being aware of his subject and audiences and thus has made listening to Shahnameh being read a delightful experience for the listeners. This research is both analytic and descriptive in method and shows that Ferdowsi has selected his diction with a special regard  for its sound effect. These words either had the very widespread semantic scope or Ferdowsi himself expanded their semantic scope and thus attracted the attention of the listeners and made them attentive to finding the source of the sounds’ production. The researcher admits that the method of choosing diction which has been discussed in this article is not the only method which results in waiting and listening to the reading of Shahnameh has many other artistic methods to encourage anticipation in this huge work. This article studies Ferdowsi’s skill and innovation in making his language pleasant and effective and the reading of Shahnameh such an exciting and hilarious experience for both readers and listeners.

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This study examines the narrative approach of Shahnameh by Ferdowsi based on Bakhtin’s dialogism. The logic of dialogue, a narrative that describes the relationship between different views through dialogue and interaction and considers dialogue as the only way of communication. Dialogism is supplemented by concepts such as "polyphony", "the other voice" and "Carnival". One of the necessary constituents of carnivalistic life is laughter. In Shahnameh there are three kinds of laughter, one of which is considered closer to Bakhtin’s laughter; it is a laughter that causes ridicule and humiliation. Other types of laughter are those of joy and an analogy of nature. In this article the carnivalistic laughter and laughter in Shahnameh are compared with each other to find out the correspondence between dialogism and Shahnameh. In this study, we attempt to study the word "laughter" and its derivatives in Shahnameh using descriptive-analytic method and evaluate it on the basis of Bakhtin's theory of dialogism, and also find out its similarities and differences with Bakhtin's carnivalistic laughter.

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Literary texts are the product of individual unconscious psyche and collective consciousness. In Iranian mythology, Fereydoun and Zahhak are symbols of good and evil. This research is an attempt to demonstrate aspects of growth and decay according to Erich Fromm’s theories. It aims at finding aspects of growth (love of life, love of humanity, freedom from the archetypal Mother) and contrasting them with the manifestations of decay (love of death, narcissism, return to mother’s womb) in respectively the characters of Fereydoun and Zahhak in Shahnameh.

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One of the popular stories in Shahnamehis Rustam’squestto Mazandaran in order to rescue Kavoos and his soldiers, which led him into killingDivSepid (the white demon), rescuingKavoos from captivity, and also entrusting Mazandaran to his children. This story, which is known as Haft-khan Rustam, has influenced a number of heroic poems, manuscripts of rhapsodies and oral/public narrativesof Shahnameh. The influence that these works have from the narratives of Rustam’s battle with the demons of Mazandaran can be classified into two categories: first, in many of these texts, are various narratives about or references to Rustam’sjourney to Mazandaran and his battle with DivSepid. Second, in some Iranian epic texts, be it poetry or prose, a number of demons or descendants ofDivSepid are present that each try to take revenge on Rustam or one of the members of his family. But, in all of these stories, they either have failed or were killed by the hero. Although these types of narratives have briefly been expressed in most of Iranian public prose literature, they have been expressed in more details in a number of texts including ShabrangNameh, ShahriyarNameh, and TheNew BorzoNameh. In this paper, first, these types of narratives in some heroic pieces of poetry are addressed. Then, common grounds or differences of these stories with the narrative of Shahnameh are analyzed.

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Non-verbal communications could be a part of visual signs that, because of their importance in interpersonal relationships and transition of meaning, are highly regarded by psychologists and sociologists. One of the major subdivisions of this topic is called "Body Language" that has existed in all human societies since ancient times. These non-verbal signs, some thousands of years old, have cultural and rhetorical functions, with common and sometimes conflicting aspects, in the cultures and social traditions of different tribes. The more ancient and comprehensive the literary context of a piece of research is, the more valuable that analysis in explaining the cultural, social, and even aesthetic aspects of texts will be. Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, as a representative of Iranian culture and thought in prehistoric age up until the Islamic era, can be the best representation of metalingual communicative performance in Iranian cultural history. Due to the prototypic nature of characters in Shahnameh, many of their non-verbal signs can also be considered the archetypal source of the behavioral interactions or body language of the Iranian people when in the context of epic their national and social identities as Iranians are formed. In this article, attempts has been made to decode these obscure and complex cultural concepts by exploring the "body language" in non-linguistic acts of main characters in Shahnameh. The results of this research demonstrate that the body language of characters in Shahnameh is not accidental but totally conscious. Indeed, the purpose has been to draw the attention of the readers to rethink the patterns of individual and social behavior of Iranian and non-Iranian ethnicities so to recognize the cultural identity mainly through irony and symbolism.

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Shahnameh of Ferdowsi has been continuously studied by numerous researchers and scholars from literary, mythological and cultural aspects. One of the rarely and less noticed issues in this regard is investigating the ideological role and function of language in this piece of literature based on a certain adopted theory and method. In other words, the writers of this article try to understand how Ferdowsi utilizes language to engender the ideology of Iranian superiority and revive Iranian identity by producing the relevant discourse. To achieve this goal, the current study has been constructed over the theoretical framework of critical discourse analysis introduced by the famous linguist Teun van Dijk. We also focus on the battle of Rostam and Chengesh in the story of “Rostam and Chinese Khaghan” (“Rostam and the king of China”) to restrict the research area. The results show that Ferdowsi employs some strategies such as ideological polarization, positive self-presentation, negative other-presentation, lexicalization, and actor description to make a discourse on the supremacy of the Iranians.

 

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Firdowsi's Shahnameh, the poetic mythological epic of Iran, is created on the base of opposite forces of the world, namely Iran and Aniran and the battles of their people, because the design of the mythological history of Iran is also basically created on the intercourse of opposites .One of the most comprehensive philosophical views on history is  Friedrich Hegel's attitude. In this view, the nature and purpose of history is the same as nature of the human, and the nature of the human is the attainment of consciousness and freedom. This freedom can only be realized gradually and dialectically; hence, in the Hegelian philosophy the war is a way to dialectical furtherance of history and the inception of the struggle between human beings, as gods and servants, has been introduced as the basis for achieving self-consciousness. The battle between human beings in Firdowsi's Shahnameh resembles the dialectical relation of "Gods and Servants" in Hegel's philosophy. In the mythological part of Shahnameh, the achievement of self-consciousness is only through the battle of the two sides of the opposition, as gods and servants in the battles between Jamshid and Zahak, Zahak and Kaveh (and then Fereydoun), the sons of Fereydoun, and the subsequent martyrdom of Iraj and his reprisal by Manuchehr. This essay, with an analytical-descriptive approach, will analyze the philosophy of the history of Firdowsi's Shahnameh, emphasizing  the relation between "gods and servants", and concludes that in this work all conflicts will achieve a resolution that can be identified as the moments of Hegelian dialectic, and in fact, the path to self-awareness and freedom, and this is the same as the possibility of reading  philosophy of mythical history of Iran in Firdowsi's Shahnameh based on Hegelian philosophy of history.
 

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The two ancient civilizations of Iran and India, due to their long-standing cultural, political and economic relations, have had a relative cognition of each other's identity, which has, over time, become more logical, complete, and at times symbolic. Undoubtedly, in order to understand the history of Iran and India in ancient times and how these two nations interacted, we must inevitably find the historical image of India in Iranian culture. The study of myth, epic literature and versifications helps us to reach historical realities. Shahnameh can represent Iranian and Indian history and culture. In this research, we seek to answer the main question by using descriptive-analytical method and library resources. To a large extent, Firdowsi has remained faithful to historical sources and Pahlavi texts in Shahnameh. The text shows that Firdowsi has followed the sources that have been used and there is no significant difference between them especially those of the Sassanid era, such as Karnameh Ardeshir Babakan, A Relic from Zariran and Kodaynamak and Shahnameh. 
 

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Heroism is one of the main themes in popular Persian prose stories. The hero in these stories has characteristics that generally belong to the mythical beliefs and traditions of pre-Islamic and post-Islamic Iran. Many historical and social factors are important in the transmission of these traditions and beliefs but one of the most important ones is Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. In many cases, the actions and characteristics of the hero in the Shahnameh can be considered to be the prototype of the hero in popular Persian prose stories.
In this study, by examining four heroic prose works of Persian folklore, each belonging to a specific era, we identify and compare the heroic, political, and social characteristics of the hero-pahlavan and his comparison with the Shahnameh. The results of this research are as follows: Despite the formation of these works in the historical centuries, the hero has retained many of the mythical and epic features of the Shahnameh. Some of these actions and features are perfectly in line with the mythical and epic examples of the Shahnameh, and the narrators and writers have attempted to match the Pahlavans of popular literature with the Shahnameh. In some cases, despite similarities, there are differences between these actions and characteristics. The differences have often been due to the heroic ethics and some of the heroic and social political and social practices that result from the intellectual and cultural situation of the era of popular literature and the changes and transformations of the Ayyari system. Most of similarities can be seen in terms of appearance, combat power, type of birth, upbringing, growth stages, and the ideal years of the heroic.
 

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Masterplot is a group of plots that are widely repeated among different ethnic groups and cultures. The purpose of this paper is to discover the structure of universal masterplot of “deal with the Devil” in two narratives of “Zahhak” in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh and Dr. Faust by Goethe. In the present study, we have tried to answer two questions by descriptive-analytical method: First, what is the repetitive structure that governs this masterplot; second, what are the similarities and differences between the narratives of Ferdowsi and Goethe in this masterplot in different sections such as the reasons for dealing with the Devil, the motives of the deal, the actions of the heroes, how the Devil appeared to the heroes and their fate. The results show that the structure of this masterplot has a repetitive pattern in this form: Devil’s deal with individuals having superior characteristics, selling one’s soul to the Devil, performing similar kinds of functions after dealing with the Devil, and a complete downfall or return to salvation after suffering the painful consequences of wrongdoing. The differences between these two narratives from a single story include the motives of making a deal, which in Faust is the full enjoyment of material and worldly pleasures, and in Zahhak’s story is power-seeking (domineering). Another difference is in the actions of the heroes after the deal which in Faust involves false testimony and acceptance of stolen property, but in Zahhak it includes murder and illegitimate sex, which are common in both narratives. How the devil appears to these two is also different. In Faust, the devil appears in the form of a dog, a hippopotamus, and a scholar seeker, and in Zahhak, he appears in the form of a well-wishing man, a cook, and a physician. The end of the deal in Faust, after enduring many difficulties, is salvation and in Zahhak leads to his imprisonment at the bottom of a cave. Based on this research, one can speculate the possibility that Goethe was influenced by Ferdowsi.


 

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Although many years have passed since its inception, the critical correction of Shahnameh, as one of the greatest literary and epic works of Iran and the world, has a long way to go. The vast volume of this great work and the wide variety of the issues presented in it, alongside its language antiquity, require that in order to reach as close as possible to the poet’s original creation, all the stories, verses and words of it be reviewed and reexamined and scholars with various specialties and approaches comment on its various aspects. From the grammatical pint of view, this article discusses some verses from different parts of Shahnameh. The commonality of these verses is in their optative verbs. In the first part, the pronoun-constructed verbs of Shahnameh are discussed. The second part introduces a rare verb construction in which the optative morpheme of the third person singular is ‘iyi’. The last part is about the optative form of bāyistan “have to, must” which requires an enclitic pronoun complement in some of its constructions. These parts were studied and analyzed by measuring the recordings of the manuscripts and by analyzing the previous readings. In the case of pronoun-constructed verbs, the form ending in ‘ti’ was suggested everywhere, and in the other two cases, based on the manuscript recordings and relying on grammatical points, the correctness of the readings presented before the publication by Khaleghi Motlagh, was emphasized.


 

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Dād (justice) is one of the abstract concepts that is not tangible in the world outside the mind and thinkers have dealt with it from various perspectives throughout history. Ferdowsi paid special attention to justice and mentioned it as one of the most important and required attributes of the kings. From the perspective of cognitive linguists, the human mind, using the metaphor mechanism, understands the abstract concepts through objective concepts. For an abstract concept, several different source domains may be used. Physical experiences, physical environment, social and cultural environment, and personal and social background are among the factors involved in the diversity of metaphors. The current research is an attempt to investigate Ferdowsi’s views about justice by studying conceptual metaphors used in six stories of Shahnameh and to identify the factors influencing the diversity of the source domains by analyzing the relationship between metaphor and types of context. The results of the research indicate that, in Shahnameh, justice, depicted as a priceless object and everlasting wealth, is spread by the king among the people and in the world. Justice leads the kingdom and state towards order and development, and it is a guardian that keeps the realm of government safe, and like water, the progress and renewal of the world and the happiness of the people depends on it.

 

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