Book Description

Excerpt from World's Great Classics The work here submitted to the public, presents for the first time in the English language an abridgment of the heroic poem of the great poet of Persia. It is now about five-and-twenty years since I first contemplated an abstract of the Shah Nameh, in prose and verse; and it was in the course of reading for that purpose that the episode containing the story of Sohrab, which I published with the original text in Calcutta in 1814, struck me as peculiarly meriting, from its highly chivalrous spirit and pathetic denouement, a more full translation than could be given to the whole poem. But it was not till 1829 that the sea-voyage from India gave me an opportunity of making such progress in the present undertaking, as to enable me to bring it to a speedy conclusion, and prepare it for the press. The general reader will now have the means of forming his own estimate of a production so celebrated, and so often referred to under the flattering designation of the Iliad of the East. He will at any rate see through an unpretending but intelligible medium, of what materials it is composed. The Shah Nameh is indeed a history in rhyme. It comprises the annals and achievements of the ancient kings of Persia, from Kaiumers down to the invasion and conquest of that empire by the Saracens, in 636, an estimated period of more than 3,600 years! About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.