Histories Behind Verses. Shāhnāma-nivīsī in the Early Modern Persianate World
Final Report Abstract
From today's perspective, it seems quite natural for historiography to be written in “prose”. However, examples of historiography in verse can be found in many cultures and languages. In Iran, this form of historiography existed in parallel with prose historiography for at least a millennium: verse chronicles, also known as shāhnāmas – narrative poems (mas̱navīs) typically revolving around the deeds of a contemporary shah or ruler – are a core element of the Persian literary tradition and documented since the 11th century. Ever since, they have continued to be produced in different places all over the Persianate world, albeit in varying degrees. These chronicles have not yet been investigated satisfactorily, especially in comparison with the prose chronicles. This is where the Histories Behind Verses project comes in. The project traced the genre verse chronicle, focusing on its distribution, its characteristics, functions, and its development. What did a verse chronicle mean for the person who wrote it, for the person on whose behalf it was written – and who was a verse chronicle aimed at in the first place? The project explored these and other questions using the example of the Early Modern Period. The focus was on Iran, but individual chronicles from other parts of the Persianate world, namely the Ottoman Empire, India, and Central Asia, were also included for comparison. The project shows that verse chronicles were written throughout the Safavid reign. In fact, the Safavids commissioned the first verse chronicles even before they commissioned prose chronicles, which clearly speaks for the importance of this form of historiography for the court. The Safavid verse chronicles identified can be divided into histories of rulers, dynasties, events, and local histories, and thus have a similar horizon to the prose chronicles. These chronicles, not all of which have survived, were usually commissioned by the court. I suggest that this is one of the reasons why they – although they sought to catch up with Firdawsī in terms of presentation of form and content – never achieved the popularity of the original. Unlike prose chronicles, verse chronicles were intended to circulate more widely and thus to project the dynasty’s self-image to the outside world. Most writers of Safavid verse chronicles wrote along the lines of contemporary history, and thus their works (unlike many earlier chronicles) no longer have a prose model. In addition, analogous to prose chronicles, a partial ‘shiitization’ – and even ‘irfanization’ – of the chronicles can be observed during Safavid rule, which is particularly evident in the chronicles’ introductions. The numerous eventcentred chronicles from the second half of Safavid rule are remarkable: they contain detailed accounts of historical events that we do not find in the same abundance in prose historiography.
Publications
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Incomplete shāhnāmas from the early Safavid era: the literary consequences of age & anger, love & syphilis, 17. December 21, Institute of Iranian studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Kiyanrad, Sarah
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Böse Bärte und gute Hüte. Mit persische Verschroniken durch Raum und Zeit, LMU München, 14. June 2022.
Kiyanrad, Sarah
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Die ruck’lige Verwandtschaft des Versmeisters. Geschichte und Gedichte nach Firdausī, LMU München, 27 October 2022.
Kiyanrad, Sarah
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Gekommen um zu bleiben. Tausend und mehr Jahre Šāhnāma, University of Tübingen, 13. July 2022.
Kiyanrad, Sarah
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How to introduce a verse chronicle: What introductions reveal about the being and time of a shāhnāma, 20 July 2023, University of Munich
Kiyanrad, Sarah
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Introducing Safavid Shahnamas. On Historiography in Verse & Early Modern Epics of Rule, 26 September 2024, University of Berkeley
Kiyanrad, Sarah
