#firdausi

Manuchihr told of the romance between Zal and Rudaba

Folio from a dispersed copy of Firdausi’s Shahnameh (Book of Kings)

Place: Iran, Shiraz, 1341

Materials: Ink, coloured pigments, and gold on paper

This enthronement scene falls in the middle of a rare tale from the Shahnameh, an epic poem completed by Firdausi in 1010. Firdausi’s poem spans the reign of 50 monarchs, recounting the story of Iran from mythical times through to the arrival of the Muslim Arabs in the 7th century AD. The tale of youthful romance captured in this folio occurs during the reign of the legendary Iranian king Manuchihr. The two lovers are Zal, the brave and handsome scion of a noble clan from the region of Sistan in eastern Iran, and Rudaba, the beautiful daughter of Mihrab, king of the neighbouring tribute territory of Kabul and a descendant of the evil tyrant Zahhak who once held sway over Iran.

"Perhaps I would even write a novel about the Red-Haired Woman."

Cem Çelik, young naive lover of the Red-Haired Woman, did you know what you would do when your father left you the second time? Did you know about the converging myths of Sophocles and Firdausi and the intricacies of fate and guilt and revenge? Did you even know that your son would kill you and you would end up in that same well where you left your father-like Master to die? Did you know that the day you ran from Master Mahmut, who is sometimes like Jahan’s loving Master Sinan, is also the day you abandoned your yet-unborn Enver?

"He certainly seemed angry enough to be my son"

Abandonment, whether wilful or not, and frustration at absent fathers, and anger, and obstinacy, and escapism by poetry or by mythological paintings, and a desire to hide or kill as well as a craving for affection from the same father and the same son, they all travel across generations, thanks to “the mysterious, melancholy eyes and perfect lips" of the woman in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting as well as of Gülcihan who figures in the male societal conscience as "an ancient memory". Gülcihan’s rebellious position in the fiercely misogynistic society is presented in her relationship to the fathers and sons, as her perception is rarely discussed. Pamuk is not to be blamed, the patriarchal paradigm is.

Enver, with all his enthused religiosity and repressed libido, equates modernity and civilization with fatherlessness, as if the lack of a father as "someone to tell you no" makes way for that licentious liberty which modern values bring in their wake. He would perhaps not have been so willing to choose strict paternal authority over individualism had he not learned that Cem is his father. Öngören’s becoming like Istanbul not only fazes him but makes him actively hate all technological and societal advancement.

But the novel is so much more than a modern retake on poor Oedipus, Sohrab and Rostam. Pamuk presents the incidents as real accounts but the reader never completely knows the truth from archetypal myth and imagination. Memory, prejudice, guilt and shame colour reality and its perceptions by the characters as well as by the reader as they journey together through the novel. Pamuk’s lyrical language heightens the overarching sense of unease and wonder, and ultimately leaves one questioning and marvelling at the enigma of guilty sons and the beauty of the red-haired woman, and wondering:

"Elias and Khizr at the Fountain of Life” Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi, Abu'l Qasim Firdausi,  Iran, late 15th century

Met Museum New York

Provenance: bequeathed to MMA

9 x 3 9/16in. (22.9 x 9cm)

Alexander the Great figures prominently in Persian literature and histories, including in both the Shahnama and the Khamsa written by Nizami. This scene, which occurs in both texts, depicts Alexander and the Prophet Khizr’s search for the Fountain of Life. Although they begin the journey together, they are separated and only Khizr is successful. 

Here, he appears with the Prophet Elias at the Fountain, while Alexander continues his search in the background.

Firdausi

Eskandar Sees the Talking Trees, from a dispersed manuscript of the Book of Kings (Shahnameh) by Firdausi (d. 1020)

Uzbekistan, Bukhara, 16th century

Manuscript of the Book of Kings (Shahnameh) by Firdausi