The Transcendent and Secular Security Aspects of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh

The pre-Islamic ancient period of Iran is one of the most important eras affecting the understanding of the evolution of Iran’s security thought. However, few researches have been conducted in this area. Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh is one of the texts in which research may reveal a small deal of ancient Iranian security thought; this paper tries to investigate the security aspects of Shahnameh. The main question of the paper is what statements in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh refer to security? To answer this question, the inferential method is employed in the context of the seven components derived from schools and security theories in the bed of two paradigms of “transcendental security” and “secular security". The most important finding of the present paper is that in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, propositions can be found referring to each of the seven transcendental components and the concept of secular security: dimensions, reference, levels, insiders and outsiders, security-achieving methods and strategic security strategies.