1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910828252903321

Autore

Gazerani Saghi

Titolo

The Sistani cycle of epics and Iran's national history : on the margins of historiography / / by Saghi Gazerani

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Leiden, Netherlands ; ; Boston, [Massachusetts] : , : Brill, , 2016

©2016

ISBN

90-04-28296-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (250 p.)

Collana

Studies in Persian Cultural History, , 2210-3554 ; ; Volume 7

Disciplina

935.70072

Soggetti

Iran History To 640 Historiography

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- 1 The Historical Context -- 2 The Appropriation of an Avestan Hero and the Birth of the House of Rostam -- 3 The Zenith of Suren Power -- 4 The Downtrodden Sistani Heroes -- 5 The Polemics of Making Heroes and Anti-Heroes -- Epilogue -- Appendix A -- Appendix B -- Figures -- Bibliography -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

This work examines the entire corpus of the Sistani Cycle of Epics , both parts included in Ferdowsi’s Shāhnāmeh and those appearing in separate manuscripts. It argues that the so-called “epic literature” of Iran constitutes a kind of historiography, encapsulating reflections of watershed events of Iran’s antiquity. By examining the symbiotic relationship of the texts’ content and form, the underpinning discourse of the various stories is revealed to have been shaped by polemics of political legitimacy and religious conflict. This discourse, however, is not abstract. The stories narrate, within their generic constraint, some of the affairs of the Sistani kingdom and its relationship to the Parthian throne, mainly from the first century BCE to the end of the second century CE.