Shahname and Bragging in the Battle Field

This article revisits 'brag' and 'bragging' in the battle field in Ferdowsi's Shahname. To this end, in the first section, the denotative and idiomatic meanings of brag and bragging are examined and their historical background in ancient Greek, Arab and Iranian as well as the literature of the fourth and fifth centuries are briefly illustrated. The second section aims at exploring Ferdowsi's artistry in dealing with the techniques of bragging in the battle field by Shahname's champions and presents an evaluation of functions and the rhetorical values of bragging as utilized in ferdowsi's story-telling discourse.