Epic of the Persian Kings: Heart of Iranian Identiy

NPR has a great story about the Shahnameh, or "Epic of the Persian Kings."  It  is a foundational Iranian myth and legend written all in verse over a thousand years ago.  A Persian poet, Abolqasem Ferdowsi, wrote the epic which is longer than the Iliad and the Odyssey. In an interview with NPR, Azar Nafisi, a contemporary Iranian writer, says that the Shahnameh is at the heart of makes her Iranian.

An Iranian film maker and graphic artist in New York, Hamid Rahmanian, translated and illustrated a new version of the Shahnameh.  NPR says "this Shahnameh edition is amazing, that its "like a monk's gilt-edged tome for the digital age, with linked dynastic stories of fabled kings, queens, knights and magical beings."

The NPR site allows you to listen to the audio story, read the story,  and see a slide show of some of the pages of the book.

Below is a picture of one of the gilt edged and illustrated pages.