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1 See Shahbazi, A. Shapur, Ferdowsī: A Critical Biography (Costa Mesa, 1991), 23–30Google Scholar, for a comprehensive review of the evidence; despite all the calculations offered, he makes the surprising mistake of giving AD 939–40 as the equivalent of 329 AH, which actually covers 940–41. If the date in January 940 is correct, this should be 328 AH. See also Shahbazi, , “Ferdowsī i. Life,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 9, 514–515Google Scholar, and de Blois, François, Persian Literature. A Bio-bibliographical Survey, 5/1 Poetry to ca. A.D. 1100, ed. by Storey, C. A. (London, 1992), 112–117.Google Scholar
2 Samarqandi, Daulatshah, Tadhkirat al-shu‘ara, ed. by Browne, E. G. (Leiden and London, 1901), 54.Google Scholar
3 Baysunghur Shahnama, Gulistan Palace Museum, ms. 716: 22 (f. 12r); Shahbazi, Biography, 27–28, cites Ja‘far b. Muhammad, Tarikh-i Ja‘fari (i.e. Tarikh-i Kabir), of c. 1446, for the year 416/1025.
4 Firdausi, Shahnama, ed. by J. Mohl (Paris, 1878), 7: 502, lines 904–905; ed. by E. Bertels and A. Nushin (Moscow, 1971), 9: 382, lines 861–862; ed. by Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh (New York, 2008), 8: 488, lines 893–894.
5 Shahbazi, , “Ferdowsī iv. Millenary celebration,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 9: 528–530.Google Scholar
6 Giuzal'yan, L. T. and Dyakonov, M. M., Rukopisi Shah-name v leningradskih sobraniyah (Leningrad, 1934)Google Scholar; Iranskie miniatyury v rukopisyah Shah-nama leningradskih sobraniy (Leningrad, 1935)Google Scholar [in Russian].
7 Ferdowsi, 934–1934 (Leningrad, 1934)Google Scholar [in Russian]; the contents include A. A. Romaskewicz, “Survey of the History of the Study of the Shahnama”; A. Yu. Yakubovskiy, “Mahmud Ghaznavi. On the Origin and Character of the Ghaznavid State”; E. E. Bertels, “Firdousi and his Works”; K. I. Chaykin, “Asadi Senior and Asadi Junior”; A. N. Samoylovich, “Iranian Heroic Epic in the Turkic Literatures of the Peoples of Central Asia”; K. V. Trever, “Sasanian Iran in the Shahnama”; M. L. Lozinskiy, “Translations from the Shahnama” (introduction, praise of the intellect, Iblis and the art of gastronomy, Zahhak and Kava, Kay Kavus airborne, Afrasiyab's speech about Rustam, the battle of Rustam and Afrasiyab, Bahram Gur and the four sisters). I. A. Orbeli's contribution was published separately: Bahram Gur and Azada from the Shahnama by Firdousi (Leningrad, 1934)Google Scholar [in Russian].
8 See Binyon, Laurence, Wilkinson, J. V. S. and Gray, Basil, Persian Miniature Painting (London, 1933)Google Scholar, passim.
9 Kitab-shinasi-yi Firdausi (Tehran, 1347/1968).Google Scholar See also Shahbazi, Biography, 17, and “Ferdowsī,” 527.
10 In 1995, the background music was supplied by Mozart's requiem! (F.A.).
11 “Mogila Firdousi. Iz poezdki v Khorasan letom 1890 goda” (The Tomb of Ferdowsi. Travel Notes of a Journey to Khorasan in the Summer of 1890), ZVORAO, 6 (1892): 308–314.Google Scholar
12 Ferdowsi, A., “The Emblem of the Manifestation of the Iranian spirit: Hafiz and the Rise of the National Cult of Persian Poetry,” Iranian Studies, 41, no. 5 (2008): 667–691.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13 Bertels, E. E., “Bor'ba pridvornyh poetov Sultana Mahmūda protiv Firdousi” (Struggle of the Court Poets of Sultan Mahmud against Firdausi), in Istoriya Literatury i Kultury Irana. Izbrannye Trudy (Moscow, 1988), 202–207Google Scholar; for the well-known legend of his burial, see ‘Aruzi, Nizami, Chahar Maqala, ed. by Muhammad Qazvini, Mirza (Cairo, 1327 AH/1909)Google Scholar, 10th repr. with commentary by Muhammad Mu‘in (Tehran, 1376/1997), 85.
14 Martyrdom remains one of the most important elements of Iranian culture, the traces of which go back to the pre-Islamic times (A. Vööbus, “Acts of the Persian Martyrs,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, online at http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articlenavigation/index.isc).
15 Director, B. Kimyagarov; script G. Koltunov; composer A. Melikov.
16 Dated 2006; performed by the State Academic Symphonic Orchestra at Russia on 9 May 2009 (“Victory Day”).
17 Kungura-yi buzurgdasht-i Shahnama-yi Firdausi bih angiza-yi guzasht-i hazar sal az sarayish-i an; Kongreß 1000 Jahre persisches Nationalepos Ferdowsi‘s Schahnameh (Koln, 1990)Google Scholar [in Persian].
18 “Rostam Tales from the Shahnameh,” see www.Theshahnameh.com; the internet is full of such material. See for example, for an inventive re-writing of the story of Rustam and Suhrab, Saied Ghahari's “The Rebirth of Rostam” a Dreamor film, see www.dreamor.com
19 See for example, Nizami Ganjavi, Iskandarnama, in Kulliyat, ed. by Vahid Dastgirdi (Tehran, 1378/1999), 2: 980–982, for the exchange between Darius and Alexander.
20 See O. Vasilyeva, “The Gift of Khusrau Mirza to Count Simonich,” Vostochnaya kollektsiya (Summer 2003): 10–17 [in Russian]. Khurda Khanum's letter is now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
21 Grabar, Oleg and Blair, Sheila, Epic Images and Contemporary History (Chicago, 1980)Google Scholar; Soudavar, Abolala, “The Saga of Abu-Sa‘id Bahādor Khān. The Abu-Sa‘idnāmé,” in The Court of the Il-khans, 1290–1340. Oxford Studies in Islamic Art, XII, ed. by Raby, Julian and Fitzherbert, Teresa (Oxford, 1996), 98–215.Google Scholar
22 For a recent discussion of Sada, see F. Abdullaeva, “Pre-Islamic in Islamic. The Case of Jashn-i Sada,” to be published in the Proceedings of the conference The Rise of the Persian Renaissance, Oxford, July 2008 (in preparation).
23 Preface to the Baysunghur Shahnama: 22 (fol. 12r), printed in Sarchashmahayi Firdausi-shinasi, ed. by Amin Riyahi, Muhammad (Tehran, 1372/1993), 416–417.Google Scholar
24 Juvaini, Ata-Malik, Tarikh-i Jahan-gusha, ed. by Qazvini, Mirza Muhammad, 3 vols. (London, 1912–37), 2: 238Google Scholar, trans. by Boyle, J. A. as Genghis Khan: The History of the World-Conqueror (Manchester, 1958), 501.Google Scholar
25 For Hafiz-i Abru, see Bayani, Khanbaba, “Shahnama-yi Baysunghuri va Hafiz-i Abru, muvarrikh-i darbar-i Taimuri,” Bar-rasiha-yi tarikhi, 6, no. 3 (1971): 159–178Google Scholar; for ‘Ali Yazdi, see Riyahi, Sarchashmaha, 361–363.
26 Cf. Melville, C., “Abū Sa‘īd and the Revolt of the Amirs in 1319,” in L'Iran face à la domination mongole, ed. by Aigle, Denise (Tehran, 1997), 95.Google Scholar It remains debatable whether the restoration work was carried out in Ghazan's reign, as stated, or early in the reign of Abu Sa‘id, when Isen Qutlugh was posted to Khurasan.
27 C. Melville, “Firdausi's Shahnama and its Reception,” unpublished plenary lecture at the ISIS conference, Toronto, 2 August 2008.
28 See for example, Abdullaeva, F., “Kingly Flight: Nimrūd, Kay Kāvūs, Alexander, or Why the Angel has the Fish,” Persica, 23 (2009–10)Google Scholar, in press.
