The Shahnameh is so influential in Persian culture that its characters are used as archetypes in later poetry, said Dick Davis, chair of the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department at Ohio State University, at a conference held Saturday in celebration of the epic's 1,000th anniversary.
The Shahnameh was written by Ferdowsi in the seventh century and depicts the mythical and historical past of Iran. Shahnameh — whose title means "The Book of Kings" — is credited with preserving Persian language and culture, according to Lindsay Goss GS, one of the coordinators of the conference.
Davis, the keynote speaker and author of the most recent translation of the Shahnameh, was joined by Arash Afraz, a post-doctoral fellow at MIT in the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Elaheh Kheirandish, a well-known historian of science. The day ended with an adaptation of a story from the Shahnameh, performed by Iraj Anvar, a visiting lecturer in language studies.
The conference explored the Shahnameh from a multidisciplinary approach. Afraz spoke about the intersection of the mythological story and documented Persian history, Kheirandish focused on the science mentioned in the text and Davis spoke of the words themselves and their impact on Persian poetry.
The Shahnameh "is not actually my area of focus at all," said Goss, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Theater Arts and Performance Studies, which she said allowed her to plan a conference that was accessible to the general public.
The conference drew people from multiple disciplines. Golareh Agha GS said she attended the conference because she is Iranian-American, and though she had heard of the Shahnameh, she had never read it.
Goss planned the conference with another student from her Persian class, Eric Dahlbom '11.5. Dahlbom was awarded a scholarship to go to Tajikistan this past summer, and as part of his application, he promised to bring Davis to campus to speak.
The keynote speech discussed the elements that set the Shahnameh apart from Persian poetry that followed. The Shahnameh has forceful and direct language, Davis said. "Things are what they are" in the Shahnameh, he said, whereas later poetry is filled with allegory and complex symbolism.
The conference ended with Anvar's adaptation of an episode from the poem — the story of Rostam and his son Sohrab. The performance was "fantastic," said Goss, adding that it drew the biggest crowd. Anvar placed traditional Persian rugs on the floor and brought musicians from New York.
The conference was funded by the Graduate International Colloquium Fund, a grant given out by the Office of International Affairs. It was awarded to Goss and Dahlbom to fund a series of events about Persian literature, culture and arts. The next event will be a Nov. 29 film screening of "The House is Black."
