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www.simorq.org
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Ferdowsi’s poetic opus, the Shahnameh, is not only one of the most extraordinary works in Persian literature – it ranks among the master-
pieces of the world’s literary treasures. In sheer magnitude, with over fifty thousand verses, our national epic comprises more than twice
the number of verses of Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad and twenty times more than the German epic, Nibelungensage. The Shahnameh is
indeed unequalled as a literary work.
And if we look at other Persian poets who have explored the themes of love, despair, envy and zeal, we find that while Ferdowsi deals with
the same themes, he also unveils the science of Iranian epic history and legends and leads the reader deep into the spirit of his characters,
probing a vast array of human feeling. He carries the reader with him to the battlefields and the feasts. He paints these scenes masterfully,
giving the stories vibrant, tangible expression for his readers. The difficulty of using musical narration to portray Ferdowsi’s epic stories lies
herein.
Simorq, the story of the birth and growing up of Zaal and his love for Roodabeh, the daughter of King Mehrab of Kabal, is one of the most
beautiful and, in structural terms, complete facets of the Shahnameh.
In this story, Ferdowsi has interwoven human preoccupations with luck, fate and destiny, greed, fear and disgrace with the need and desire
for fame and love, under the canopy of the epic story. The story of Simorq, apart from its literary beauty, is also informed by an inner music.
A legendary supernatural bird in Persian literature