Ferdowsi's epic poem Shahnameh is part myth, part history-it begins with the legend of the birth ofthe Persian nation and its tumultuous history. It contains magical birds, andsuperhuman heroes, and centuries-long battles. Written over 1,000 yearsago, it was meant to protect Persian collective memory amdist a turbulent seacultural storms. Originally written in couplets, the new translation andadaptation by Ahmad Sadri retells the mythological tales in prose format. The spectacular illustrations inthis edition were created from elements culled from thousands of illuminatedmanuscripts, lithographs, and miniatures dating from the thirteenth throughnineteenth centuries, each panel becomes a new work of art, an exquisitecollage of traditional forms.