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Reading Shaāhnaāmah in the context of Messianic expectation

Honarmand, Saeed

Abstract Details

2005, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures.

The Shāhnāmeh (the Book of Kings) is the most famous work in the Persian literature. It has been a bridge between the ancient and the post-Islamic culture in Iran. It has also had a great impact on the Persian culture and literature since the book was written. It furthermore, is the last major utterance in a series of attempts made by several authors to recreate the Iranian narrative under the new religion of Islam, which had become a dominant factor in the Iranian society. By the time Ferdowsi was writing the Shāhnāmeh, the culture had compromised upon several issues between Islam and ancient Iranian beliefs. The syncretism of two cultures happened in a discoursive narrative that strongly wanted to see the past as the model in order to shape the future. This discourse, which could be called the messianic expectation, had not only shaped several revolts and social movements prior to Ferdowsi’s time, but it has also formed the Persian literature and thought in its main basis. The Shāhnāmeh is created in this environment and because of its function among all groups of people; it is placed in the heart of a movement, which is politically and literarily called the “Sho'ubeih Movement.” This thesis brings to bear the Shāhnāmeh in this context. The first chapter comparatively deals with the discourse in its three major branches, which are ancient Zoroastrianism, the mainstream Islam sect, Sunni, and finally the syncritic Shi'ite. To show the influences of both Zoroastrianism and Shi'ism in the Shāhnāmeh, the effects of Zoroastrian basis on the concept of space, time and cause are examined in the next two chapters. In the following chapters, the syntax of the main stories, from the point of seasonal myth, has been examined. It is in this context that the main topoi and archetypes are being singled out.

Dick Davis, Dr. (Advisor)
Margaret Mills, Dr. (Committee Member)
199 p.

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Citations

  • Honarmand, S. (2005). Reading Shaāhnaāmah in the context of Messianic expectation [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1302798411

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Honarmand, Saeed. Reading Shaāhnaāmah in the context of Messianic expectation. 2005. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1302798411.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Honarmand, Saeed. "Reading Shaāhnaāmah in the context of Messianic expectation." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1302798411

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)