Firdawsi was born to a family of landowners near Tus, where his tomb is now a national shrine. Beyond that, little is known about the author of the greatest epic of Persia. He won immortality through his Shahnamah, an epic of unique literary and historic importance in Iran. Composed of more than 50,000 couplets, it is a vast collection of Indo-European and Iranian legends and history strung together by the poet's skill. Rustum's exploits are central to this work, and Matthew Arnold based his poem Sohrab and Rustum on the tragic encounter between the warrior hero and his son.
The most complete edition of the Shahnamah in a Western language is the seven-volume critical French edition by Jules Mohl, Le Livre des Rois (1976).
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