Apr 10, 2025
Wilfred J. Jones (1888-1968), ''The Epic of Kings'' by Firdausi, 1926 A small selection of illustrations from the above book.
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Wilfred J. Jones (1888-1968), ''The Epic of Kings'' by Firdausi, 1926 A small selection of illustrations from the above book.
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About her silver shoulders two musky black tresses curl, encircling them with their ends as though they were links in a chain. Her mouth resembles a pomegranate blossom, her lips are cherries and her silver bosom curves out into breasts like pomegranates. Her eyes are like the narcissus in the garden and her lashes draw their blackness from the raven's wing. Her eyebrows are modelled on the bows of Teraz powdered with fine bark and elegantly musk tinted. If you seek a brilliant moon, it is her face; if you long for the perfume of musk, it lingers in her tresses From top to toe she is Paradise gilded; all radiance, harmony and delectation.
(Shahnama 1:21-3)
"Khusrau Parviz before his Father Hurmuzd (?)", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings)
Author Abu'l Qasim Firdausi Iranian ca. 1430–40
Court of Keyumars, Miniature by Sultan Muhammad from the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, 1568
Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper, 45 x 30 cm
Aga Khan Museum
When the sun reached the lamb constellation,9 when the world became glorious, When the sun shined from the lamb constellation to rejuvenate the living beings entirely, It was then when Gayumars became the King of the World. He first built his residence in the mountains. His prosperity and his palace rose from the mountains, and he and his people wore leopard pelts. Cultivation began from him, and the garments and food were ample and fresh.
for a video game I'm currently scoring: Shahnama: Book of Kings
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The cover image of my latest video shows a heavily-armoured Mongol with a peculiar "grated" visor. This depiction comes from the famous "Great Mongol Shahnama," produced in the Ilkhanate in the 1330s and depicting a variety of Mongol-era armours.
What I quite like from these depictions (and counter to most popular portrayals today) is that the Mongol equipment is usually quite vibrant and colourful. No scraggly bits of fur or leather straps here!
Now perhaps this is merely artistic choices by the 14th century painters, but accounts like John de Plano Carpini speak of Mongol armours being polished so much that a person could see their own reflection in it.
My new video on Mongol Heavy Cavalry:
In this new series, we look at what the historical sources say about Mongolian heavy cavalry; how they were equipped and how much of the Mon
Detail of the Court of Gayumars from the Shahnameh - the national epic of Iran and Afghanistan.
(Image from the Royal Ontario Museum)
The Arabic Script for Bengali
A kerfuffle issued over the West Pakistan government thinking out loud about substituting the Arabic script for the current one.
No doubt, the inspiration came from Kemal Ataturk, who latinised the writing, rendering access to the corpus of Arabic literature null.
This particular piece of social engineering is much admired by secularists, but the corresponding change in East Pakistan is regarded with horror.
But what would have been the tradeoffs? Our children’s children would have lost access to Tagore’s poetry - and gained ingress into the stupendous body of Arabic and Persian literature, from the poetry of Abul Ala al-Mari to that of Sheikh Saa’di.
True, these people never won the Nobel Prize, but they were no mean scribblers.
Besides, in a country where most of us couldn’t read a line in our own language and script, Arabisation would have affected a minuscule portion of the population, who, in all likelihood, would have taken up the cultivation of the prestigious English literature with greater gusto. A bilingual Becket perhaps?