Ritual Signs in the National Epic

Our awareness of past cultures and civilizations usually does not go beyond historical periods; therefore, it will not be surprising to find ideas and beliefs that seem advanced at the beginning of the life of some nations. This is not because of the superior intelligence of that nation, but we know of a period of their social life which coincides with the beginning of history, and it is during this period that they seem to have more advanced thoughts and distinct civilization and culture compared with their contemporaries. This is the life of Iranian people. In this paper, the author tries to support this hypothesis by extracting the signs of intellectual and moral schools (Totemism, Atheism, Mithraism and Dualism) in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh as the national epic.