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The Shahnameh, (The Book of Kings)  is the national epic of Iran and the supreme expression of Iran’s cultural identity.   A literary masterpiece written between  977 and 1010 AD  by  Abol Ghassem Ferdowsi of Tūs  (940-1025),  it tells the mythical, legendary and historical story of Iran from the creation of the world until the reign of the last Sassanian King Yazdegerd III and the Arab conquest of Iran in the 7th-century.  Its approximately  60,000 verses make it one of the world's longest epic poems.  Copies of the Shahnameh were illustrated from about 1300  and depict dramas of courtly life, romance, and battle, with a cast of Kings, Princes, and Princesses, heroes,  lovers, villains, and the supernatural.   The first series of videos introduces the Divs ( demons) in the Shahnameh.  These include the seven labours of Rostam.



Zahra Faridany-Akhavan is a Persian & Mughal art historian.  She received her Master's and Ph.D. from Harvard University and BA from Wellesley College.