Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings  
is a new illustrated edition of the classic work written over one thousand years ago byi Abolqasem Ferdowsi, one of Persia’s greatest poets. This new prose translation of the national epic is illuminated with over 500 pages of illustrations.

Originally written to help protect the millennium-old mythological and epic traditions of Iran amid many turbulent cultural storms, Shahnameh is part myth, part history, beginning with the legend of the birth of the nation and following its tumultuous history through the generations. It contains superhuman heroes, magical birds, heart-wrenching love stories, and centuries-long battles. Over the years, Persianate people have lovingly copied and illustrated the Shahnameh, though the illustrated edition that is widely accepted as the last great masterpiece was commissioned in 1563. Now, four-and-a-half centuries later, Hamid Rahmanian aims to continue this long tradition with the creation of this exquisite edition of Shahnameh for a new generation of readers.

The lush and intricate illustrations in this edition have been created by award-winning graphic artist and filmmaker Hamid Rahmanian, incorporating elements from traditional Persian imagery from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries while the new translation and adaptation by Ahmad Sadri, retells the mythological and epic stories of the original poem in prose format. This Shahnameh is an extraordinary literary and artistic accomplishment.