فهرست مطالب محمدنوید بازرگان

As exaggeration is one of the inevitable devices in describing the warfare scenes, unlike habits or supernatural habits are the integral pillars of epic poetry. Supernatural habits in this paper consist of heavenly forces, earthly forces, human factors and magical affairs studied in Shahnameh and in several religious epics such as Heydari attacks of Bazel Mashhadi, Heydari attacks of Raji Kermani, Khavarannameh and Alinameh. The themes of this epic device are more pronounced in Shahnameh which was composed under the influence of the ancient culture of Iran than its counterparts in religious epics and in reverse, the frequency of earthly forces, human factors and magical affairs in Shahnameh are more striking.

Incest is one of the controversial and popular issues undertaken by the researchers in the history of Persia prior to Islam and Zoroastrianism and there has been numerous studies in this regard. In this essay a collection of records which directly or indirectly points to this issue has been compiled from different texts. This study first deals with an etymologic discussion about the word “khovidoudah” followed respectively by the records of this sort of marriage among Gods, and myths in Transpotamia and the ancient Persia, Greek historians reference to incest in Iran in their works, records found in Middle Zoroastrian texts, and Islamic texts. Finally cases within Shahnameh which attest to this rite are introduced.

The present research, focusing on the ethics of a married life in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh</em> and the other works preceding it, tries to reveal, through excerpts and facts taken from Avesta</em>, medieval texts, Shahnameh</em>, and also famous quotes of experts, to what extent the marriage etiquette, such as compromise, frankness, love, good behavior, faithfulness, commitment, mutual respect, virtue, frankness, etc. are emphasized in them.

Fatalism is one of the characteristics of the traditional eastern societies according to which, the destiny of man is predetermined and all affairs take place based on this destiny hence there is no room for man’s free will. The origin of fatalism in Iran is studied in this article and its signs such as star worship, astrology, fortune, alms giving, belief in supernatural powers are discussed in Shahnameh and four other epic religious works including Alinameh,Haydari attack by Bazel Mashhadi and Raji Kermani and Tazian nameh, summary of Khavarannameh. It became clear that predictions made by the astronomers in Shahnameh are more frequent than in the epic religious works and on the contrary predictions made through divine and supernatural inspirations and revelations are more common in the religious works. Also, belief in fortune and chance is Shahnameh is more prominent than in the epic religious works. Among the religious epics under study, Khavaran nameh is closer to Shahnameh in terms of Mythology. Next comes, Haydari attack by Kermani and Bazel Mashhadi, and Ali nameh respectively.

Hoom or Haoma also known in Vedic culture as Saoma is a mysterious plant assuming its position alongside Gods and deities in the vast expanse of Indo-Iranian mythology. The footprints of this plant deity can be traced in the most ancient written texts such as Vedas and also in Avesta well continued up to the literature of the middle period and then in Shahnameh. At present the standpoint of this plant and its essential oil in the Zoroastrians religious ceremonies and rituals is a relic of its glorious past. This research investigates the cultural roots of this plant since the antiquity till present and shows how a transposition from the realm of myth to the epic underwent remarkable transformations.

The pictorial Shahnameh manuscript, in the name of second small Shahnameh, is an incomplete and scattered copy of Shahnameh. Based on the remaining pictorial pages of this Shahnameh and three other similar manuscripts in the 8th century Hijira which were thought to be written in Baghdad, this copy is regarded as the first pictorial Shahnameh manuscript till this day. Two hundred and eighty five pages of this manuscript are available in microfilms consisting of 51 pictorial pages and 234 non-pictorial pages. In accordance with the computer reconstruction which has been done on this manuscript, it seems that in principle, this manuscript was composed of two volumes in 602 pages equivalent to 301 or 302 pages and about 49700 couplets. About 280 pages are attributed to the first volume and 302 pages to the second volume. The computer reconstruction also suggests that this manuscript could be regarded as a complement to the Florence manuscript since the approximate rate of omission and surpluses of couplets is alike in both the second small Shahnameh and the incomplete manuscript of Shahnameh in the National Library of Florence (614 Hijira). Since this scattered copy of Shahnameh is unknown to the scientific circles in Iran, the purpose of this article is to introduce this manuscript.

In Masnavi studies, often explaining the verses and subject researches have been the main concern. Masnavi consists of six books, and so far the principal thoughts on which the books are based, are not usually discussed.
The author of the present article, based on his years of teaching experience in master level, and employing qualitative content analysis method, tries to demonstrate the themes that are proposed in the 2nd book of Masnavi. This isto show the principal thoughts this book is based on.

The fourth Book of Masnavi like other five Books in a series is filled to the brim with variety of themes. It is known that in each Book there are thousands of concepts hidden in phrases and Moulana’s stream of consciousness constantly vacillates from one concept to the other. The reader of this great voluminous book is usually lost in between its profound verses and in the labyrinths of Masnavi’s anecdotes and cannot follow Moulana’s fleeting mind and seldom finds time to cast a look from the above at Masnavi. The attempt has been made in this article to analyze the content and the themes of the fourth Book of Masnavi in terms of frequency using the holistic approach in order to present the most significant and dominant thoughts in this Book.

Literature audience has permanently searched for profound human moral values, values which require years of experience to be gained and appreciated. Concerning tragedy the fact is that although it arouses man's pity and grief, it leads to catharsis as well. The audience who has experienced throughout drama, leaves the theatre gladly. After the discussion of tragedy in dramatic literature, this paper will examine the epic tragedy of Siavash composed by the great Iranian poet Ferdowsi. This paper will also elaborate on the didactic quality of Ferdowsi as well.

Masnavi is a grand oeuvre filled with a variety of meanings and multiplicity of ideas that drowns and bewilders the reader in the perpetual turbulence of its waves. For this reason and for the repeated hesitation and reflection of the reader in every turn of the couplets of Masnavi, the main directions of thought and the general purpose of the book remains usually hidden and the reader is incapable of grasping the grand thoughts of this literary masterpiece.
In this article attempt is made to first specify the themes in the third book of Masnavi, using the frequency analysis approach, and second to present schematically anecdotes employed by the poet in the form of interconnected lyrics to induce one common theme and finally to analyze the results drawn from them.

Upon the victory of Constitutional Revolution, journalism came out of the monopoly of the court, and its adorned style soon fell out of favor. In this way at the same time that language as a means of power was set free from the influence of the court, freedom of speech began its short illuminating period. Dehkhoda who was regarded as one of the key literary figures of his time, in his political struggle, resorted to language and writing. He introduced in his prose variety of language genres that existed in that social climate and set it against the unique language of the Court. Taking advantage of the colloquial language, he removed the gap that existed for centuries between the written and spoken language and in this way paved the way for simplifying the Farsi writing style. This article is concerned with the study of Dehkhoda’s journalistic prose style and it demonstrates the different styles he has employed in his fight through the language.

The present article seeks to find an answer to the question whether or notMoulana in the roots of his pluralistic thoughts is essentially the propagator of the world peace and non-violence in modern terms.  Thus attempt is made to bring examples from Moulana’s encounter with the phenomenon of Tatar and overt violence seen in the 7th century AH, and to examine his main line of thought in comparison with the modes of thoughts of the propagators of non-violence such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Desmond Toto,… in order to draw a clear picture based on points of similarities and differences.

Till present, a considerable amount of research has been undertaken regarding Afrasiab’s character, the renowned Tourani commander whose evil character is among the most striking in the epic works of this land. This research is an attempt to find the mythological origin of this character by investigating ancient religious works, Middle Persian and Islamic texts according to their historical order of appearance. Moreover, in order to prove Benevenis’s claim that Afrasiab is most probably the consequence of Diva Famina (Epeousha), numerous evidence from the above texts are presented. In the course of this research attempt is also made to examine the origin of the myth of Arash , a character who is also associated with water and rain, to signify his role in persuading Afrasiab to withdraw .

Aristotle made exact generalizations regarding the art of poetry, its different kinds, and the expected objects of each. Despite the variety of views in this discipline, this subject is of permanent value as a mere intellectual achievement. One of the issues he has expouned on with great care and concentration is that of tragedy. In his view, tragedy occurs in an atmosphere filled with emotions of pity and fear leading to purgation of emotion or Catharsis. In this article, other features of tragedy with reference to the tragedy of Siavash in Shahnameh are discussed. Then the tripartite pattern repeated in many well known tragedies in the world is introduced, and finally the conclusion drawn from the common structure in the geometry of the tragedies is further discussed.

Azidahak (zahhak) has always been a strange myth among the other mythological characters in pre-Islamic Literature. Is it possible to figure out a specific historical period for his life? Or as Avesta's image shows, we should consider him as a semi-human, semi-monster notion with three ugly heads on his shoulder? This article tries to put this figure on the spotlight and illuminate his real face through a rigorous comparison between Domon of AZ and Azidahak. The research basically aimed to obvious similarities between them and shows that azidahak is a very suitable body which AZ (greed) can hide in it. Some of pre Islamix texts in pahlavi language, introduce some different kinds of Daeva (monsters) who can hide in human body and control his/her behaviors. In other words Zahhak (as Shahnameh and pre Islamic tales has revealed) is a very interesting symbol of AZ. This mythological king is a symbol of whom greed has occupied their soul and manipulate them for his own purposes.