Ferdowsi

Ferdowsi (c. 940–1020), also transliterated as Firdowsī, was a Persian poet whose epic work Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, is a foundational text of Persian literature. He was born in Tus, a city in the region of Khorasan (present-day Iran). Details of his life are scarce; his career is usually dated to the late 10th and early 11th centuries. According to tradition, he spent several decades composing the Shahnameh, a monumental history of Iran told in classical Persian, which he finished around 1010 CE. The work was likely supported at least in part by the Ghaznavid court.

The Shahnameh consists of about 50,000 couplets and narrates Iran's legendary and historical past—from the creation of the world and the heroic age of kings such as Rostam to the fall of the Sassanian Empire and the Arab conquest. It draws on older myths, folklore, and chronicles, preserving a large corpus of pre-Islamic Persian history and culture. Written in classical Persian, the Shahnameh helped standardize and elevate Persian as a literary language after centuries of Arab influence.

Legacy: Ferdowsi's epic profoundly influenced Persian literature, art, and national identity. It inspired later poets, sparked renewed interest in Iranian history, and contributed to the global appreciation of Persian culture. The Shahnameh has been translated into many languages and remains a central work in Persian literary education.