(3rd Dey 308 Yazdigardi = 3rd January 940)*
By A. Sh. Shahbazi, Göttingen
No sound tradition regarding the date of Firdausi's birth has come
down to us. The Mushm custom of recording the date of demise alone on
tombstones seems to have deprived those early scholars who wrote on
Firdausi of the opportunity of obtaining his birthdate from what would
otherwise have been a most reliable source. Fortunately, however, the
Sähnämeh' itself provides several clues as to the poet's birthdate. These
references have been so carefully analysed and used by J. Mohl^ and
Th. Nöldeke' that since 1905, all studies on the life of Firdausi have
drawn upon the arguments and conclusions of those two outstanding
scholars without succeeding to present additional data. Any fresh
discussion of the subject must likewise begin with a statement of the
divergent views of those two pioneers.
1. Mohl's dating
Firdausi closes his epic with an epilogue which contains references to
his own life and work.* Mohl noted the following:^
This article developed out of an introductory note to the chapter "Firdausi and his Sähnämeh" m the present writer's forthcoming work Iranian historians and their works. 1 am deeply grateful to Professor Dr. W. Hinz for his valuable
help, and to the authorities of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for
having sponsored the study.
' All references are to the edition prepared by E. E. Bertbl's and his asso¬
ciates and published in nine volumes in Moscow (1960-71); volumes are cited by
Roman numbers, pages by Arabic figures, and verses by smaller raised Arabic
figures. For the sake of literal accuracy, translations are made by the present writer.
^ Le Livre des Rois. Publife, traduit et commentfe par J. Mohl. 1-VII. Paris 1838-1878.
' Das iranische Nationalepos. In: W. Geiger and E. Kuhn (ed.) : Grundriß der iranischen Philologie. Straßburg (1896-1904), II, 130-211, esp. 151-52.
* Sähnämeh, IX, 381""^':
° Öu säl andar ämad bi-haftäd-u yak
hami zer Si'r andar ämad falak.
Siy-u panj säl az saräy-i sipanj.
99 When the year reached seventy-one,
The universe was covered with poetry.
Five and thirty years in this transient abode,
Have I endeavoured to eam a treasure.
As they rendered my efforts vain, My five and thirty bore no fruit.
Now that the age has approached eighty,
My expectations have become futile.
The story of Yazdigard is now drawn to a close.
At this Ard [25th] day of Sipandärma5 [12th month],
From the Flight [of Muhammad] five times eighty have passed.
When I composed this magnificent history.
Taking the first verse literally, Mohl concluded that in 400/1010,
Firdausi was 71, that is, he must have been born in 329/939-40. The
other statement that the poet has "approached 80", was interpreted by
Mohl as a poetical exaggeration introduced to harmonise with the
verse containing "five times eighty". He supported this inference on the
follovring grounds. Firstly, in his prologue to the story of Yazdigard I,
Firdausi specifies that he is now sixty-three years old," and follows the remark by a warm praise for the "King of Kings",' by which he means
Sultan Mahmüd of Ghazna. Now, had Firdausi been born in (400 - 80 =)
320, his 63rd year would have corresponded to 383/1002, while
Mahmüd ascended the throne only in 387/1006.* Secondly, when relat¬
ing the wars of Kai Xosrow and Afrassiyäb, Firdausi states:'
hami ranj burdam bi-'ommed-i ganj;
6u bar bäd dädand ranj-i marä, na-bud hdsili siy-u panj-i marä.
Kunün 'omr nazdek-i haitäd Sud,
ömedam bi-yakbäreh bar bäd Sud.
« Sähnämeh, VH, 263 (see below n. 27).
' Ibid., VH, 263""^:
' See Mohammad Nä?im: Sulfän Mahmüd. Cambridge 1931, 38 ff.
' V, 237,"*^:
Bi-dan-gah ki bud säd panjäh-u haSt
javän büdam-u en javäni guzaSt;
xurüSi Sanidam zi giti buland, ki andeSeh Sud per-u man mustmand:
'Ki ay nämddrän-u gardankiSän!
ki just az Fredön-i Farrux niSän?
Fredön-i bidär-dil zindeh Sud,
zamin-u zamän peS-i ü bandih Sud;
bi-däd-u bi-baxSiS girift in jahän, saraS bar-tar ämad zi SähanSahän.
The Moscow edition considers the second and third verses as interpoUations, and transfers them to a footnote.
7*
100
At the time when the year was eight"* and fifty
— Young was I then, and this youthfulness is passed —
A voice resounding throughout the world I heard,
Which matured my thoughts and made me trouble-free;
"0 men of fame and fearless warriors!
Who was he who sought the glorious Fredün?
The sagacious Fredün has retumed to life,
The earth and Fate have hailed him as lord;
With justice and generosity he conquered this world, And has surpassed the king of kings".
It is clear that Firdausi composed these verses to commemorate the
accession of Sultän Mahmüd. Again, this proves that in 387/1006 the
poet was 58, from which is follows that he was bom in (387 - 58 =) 329/
939-40.
2. Nöldeke's dating
Two indications induced Nöldeke to abandon Mohl's dating in
favour of a lower one. Firstly, the epilogue to the Sähnämeh gives
several references to Firdausi's life: in one he is 71, in another "nearly 80", and yet a third verse has:"
When my age surpassed sixty-five.
It increased my fear of pain and hardship.
Nöldeke took the reference to 65 and "nearly 80" literally, but inter¬
preted them as indicating two different editions of the Sähnämeh. Since
Firdausi was approaching 80 when he finished the master copy of his
work on 25th Sipandarmaö (5 x 80 =) 400 (8th March" 1010), his birth
must have occurred shortly after (400 - 80 =) 320/931-2. Secondly, an
old copy of the Sähnämeh in the British Museum (OR 1403) and some
This is the usual reading; one manuscript (Cairo C40, dated 1394) of
normally reliable nature has here haftäd-upanj (seventy-five), but this is assur¬
edly unfounded; the oldest British Museum manuscript followed by the Moscow edition has panjah-u haft (fifty-seven), which makes no real difference in our
calculation, for 57 complete years and 58th year are two ways of sajang the
same thing.
" Sähnämeh, IX, 381«":
Öu bugzaSt säl az haram Sast-u panj fuzün kardam artdeSeh-i dard-u ranj.
This corresponds to 8th March 1010, and not, as Nöldeke reckoned, to
25th April 1010.
other manuscripts add a second epilogue to Firdausi's work starting with the following verses:"
When this great story finished
— All the words of mighty rulers —
It was one Tuesday, early in the evening,
Five times five days having passed from the month
Which the Arabs call Muljarram by name
To honour it as the month of abstinence;
If the count of year is also needed,
[It] is nine years and eighty upon three hundred.
Bringing the two indications together, Nöldeke concluded that there
were two editions of the Sähnämeh: a final version firhshed in 400/1010
and dedicated to Mahmüd, and an earher one finished in Firdausi's
sixty-fifth year and presented to a noble from Xän-lanjän (near
Isfahan), Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Abi Bakr by name, on Tuesday 25th
Muharram 389/ This meant: "war er Anfang 389 65 Jahre alt, so zählte
er Mitte 400 76 oder 77 Jahre; seine Geburt fiele dann ungefähr auf 323
oder 324 (935/36)".'*
3. Further studies
Nöldeke's deduction was supported by S. H. Taqizadeh, who
published it for the Persians," and this influenced the Iranian govern¬
ment to accept 324 as the official birthdate of Firdausi and engrave it
on the tombstone prepared for a newly built mausoleum in Tö§;'° in
" This epilogue contains 32 lines composed by a caligrapher with little understanding of epical poetry. It tells the story of the dedication by him of a
Sähnämeh manuscript to a noble from Xän-lanjän (near Isfahan) on Tuesday
25th Muharram 684, and ofthe reward he received including the tutorship ofthe paymaster's son; it finishes with an adventure experienced by the copyist: whUe residing at Xän-lanjän, he happened to fall into the Zäyandi Rüd, but his pupil
took hold of his hair and dragged him out. From this an elaborate chapter in
Firdausi's biography was reconstructed and long believed. First M. A. FuRTjyi recognised the impossibility of attributing this epilogue to Firdausi (see below, n. 17), because its style is "shabby" (band-i tunbäni} and its theme unethical at
times; besides, the date is 684 and not 384. Ch. Scheffer had added these 32
lines to his edition ofthe Sajar-nämeh by Nä^ir Xosrow. Paris 1881, 310, and
Taqizadeh re-published them in his article cited below, n. 15.
'* Nöldeke: GiPh. II, 151.
'* Käveh, II, 10 (3. Oct. 1921), pp. 9-14; 11 (2. Nov. 1921), 7-12 (now re¬
appeared in H. YAyMÄ'i's ed. of Firdausi va Sähnämeh-i ü. Tehran 1347/1968, 183ff".)
" For a description ofthe mausoleum see Hunar va Mardom (Art and People) 153/154 (1345/1975), pp. 152-66; on the tombstone and the epitaph ibid., 155.
102
1313/1934, Firdausi's millennium was celeberated in Iran and in many
other countries.
However, it soon became evident that the dedicator of a copy of the
Sähnämeh to a certain Xän-lanjäni noble was not Firdausi but merely a
caligrapher who copied a manuscript and finished it on Tuesday 25th
Muharram 689/1288 for a paymaster; the Arabic alphabet had caused a
curious error: the date written j —- I —- } ^ had appeared as
,:^t x_- I; :.b!^ } JU ^ (689) instead of c^l jJü i j JU ^ (389)."
At the same time, M. T. Bahär followed the path of Mohl, and adduced
reasons for placing the birth of Firdausi in 330-31/942; he published
his results in the very year that the poet's millennium was being celeb¬
rated and his mausoleum being constructed.'* Gradually, the date origi¬
nally inferred by Mohl appeared in literature as the most accepted
interpretation."
4. The exact date of Firdausi's birth
Indeed, Mohl's dating is the only defensible view because is corre¬
lates two dates of which one, the accession of Mahmüd in 387, is known,
so the other one, Firdausi's fifty-eighth year at Mahmüd's accession, is
easy to calculate with certainty. Also, the last indications of Firdausi's age in the Sähnämeh are 76 and "nearly 80";^" and since he died in 41 1
or 416,^' his birth could not be placed earher than 329.
" The first to discover this was M. A. FuRÜyi (in a lecture delivered in 1312/
early 1934, and now re-pubhshed in H. YAyMÄ'i (ed.) : Maqälät-iFurüyi. Tehran,
1351/1972, 27f., 139f). The point was later argued cogently again by M.
Minovi: Kitab-i 'Hazäreh-i Firdausi' va bufldn-i intisäb-i 'Yüsuf va Zuleixa' hi
Firdausi. In: Rüzigär-i Now V, 3 (1323/1944-45), 16-36; see also Z. §afä:
Hamäseh sarä'i dar Irän. 2nd ed. Tehran 1333/1954, 176, n. 1.
'« Firdausi. In: Bäxtar 1 (Isfahan 1312-13/1934), 781 IT.
'° See among others: Safä, op. cit., 172-3, and M. N. Osmaev: Muldhi^äti Sand räji' bi Sarhi-i häl-i Firdausi. In: Suxan 24 (1342/1973), 762ff.
Nöldeke, op. cit., for references.
Dawlat-8äh-i Samarqandi: Tadkirat al-Su'arä. Ed. E. G. Broum. Leiden
1900, 54: "Firdausi's demise occurred in the months of four hundred and eleven (1021) and his tomb is in Toss, by the grave of the Abbäsiyeh: and it is a well- known shrine and pilgrims visit it to ask for boons". Ja'far b. Mouammad b.
IJassan: Tärix-iJa'fari. In: Farhang-i Irän-zamin 6 (1337/1958), 149, gives the death date of Firdausi as 416. Other biographers follow the former or the latter tradition at random.
There is yet another, hitherto unnoticed, indication which proves
Mohl's view. When relating the early Sasanian history, Firdausi thrice
specifies that he is sixty-three years of age. Firstly, in the prologue to
the reign of Bahräm 11:^^
Bring forth. 0 Rüzbih,^^ the ruby-coloured wine!
Because the age of the composer has reached sixty-three.
Secondly, in the epilogue to the story of Säpür II, which comes some
800 verses after the former reference:^*
Because Adinah (Friday) falls on Hormazd (1st day) of Bahman (11th
month) ,
The feast of Farrux^^ will bless this work [composition of the Sähnämeh].
Bring forth, 0 Hääimite,^" the ruby-coloured wine,
From that jar which decrease may it never see!
As my age has reached sixty-three and my ears have become deaf.
What use for me to seek adornment and glory from greed!
2" Sähnämeh VII, 213:
Mey-i la'i pei ävar ay Rüzbih, kih Sud säl-i güyandi bar Sast-u sih.
" Apparently the name of a page or a wine-boy, whose title may have been the Hääimite (see below, n. 26); liad the manuscript read Mey-ila'lpeS ären rüz- i bih, then one could translate it "Bring forth the ruby-coloured wine on the birth¬
day occasion", for one meaning of rüz-i bih is birthday, as the following verse
from Süzani Samarqandi (11th century) clearly proves:
Dar bäy-i 'omr-i Süzani as ßodr-i rüz-i bih,
haftäd Sud Tamüz-u Xazän-u Dey-u Bahär.
"In Süzani's garden of life, seventy times have passed Summer, autumn, winter and spring".
But the verb "bring" requires an agent, and one caimot emend the text.
" Sähnämeh, VII, 256"""' :
Gu Adinah Hormazd-i Bahman buvad,
bar-in kär Farrux naiiman buvad.
Mey-i la'i peS avar ay HäSimi, zi xummi kih hargiz na-girad kami, iu Sast-u sih Svd säl-u Sud güS kar, zi biSi (urä jüyam ä'en-u far?
"Farrux" (Glorious) is another form of the term "Xurra Rüz" or "Xurram"
(also called Navad Rüz) , the name of a joyous and august feast celebrated on the first of Dey (90 days before the New Year's Day), see Birüni: The chronology of ancierU nations. Tr. E. Sachau. London 1879,211 f., and Gardezi: Zain al-axbär.
Ed. A. Habibi. Tehran 1347/1968, 239, 245.
^° Probably the surname of a page or wine-boy, whose given-name may have
been Rüzbih (cf. above, n. 23).
Thirdly, the reference (already cited by Mohl) before the reign of
Yazdigard I:^'
0 thou sixty-three year-old man!
How long are you discoursing on wine?
The closeness of these passages proves that they were composed
within a single year, and the second passage affords a remarkable indi¬
cation: Hormazd-i Bahman (= 1 st Bahman) , which was celebrated as an
august and joyful feast, co-incided with Aöinah (Friday) in the period
which we are seeking only in 371 Yazdigardi, corresponding to 14th
January 1003. Since this year co-incided with Firdausi's sixty-third
year, it follows that the poet was born in (371 — 63 =) 308 Yazdigardi (=
939/40), just as Mohl had inferred.
It is now possible to take a major step further and obtain the day of
Firdausi's birth. The first of the three passages referring to the poet's
sixty-third year gains especial importance when we note that it alludes
to Firdausi's birthday, although the date is omitted:
Bring forth, 0 Rüzbih, the ruby-coloured wine.
Because [kih) the age of the composer just reached (Sud) sixty-three.
Just before this reference to the arrival of his sixty-third year,
Firdausi tells himself to take a break from work and celebrate with
wine, and he gives the exact date of this moment as Sab-i (eve of)^*
Hormazd-i Dey (1st day of the 10th month) :^''
The eve of Hormazd-i Dey has come.
Lay aside composition, take up the wine.
This statement precedes the one referring to Firdausi's birthday by only
77 verses. Now, between the first of Dey and the first of Bahman,
Firdausi composed some 810 verses,'" which gives an average of 27
verses per day. Hence, it is fair to infer that the reference to the
" Ibid., VH, 263'^
Ayä Sast-u sih sälih mard-i kuhun, tu az hädih tä (and räni suxun?
^* By Sab-i a certain day, we Iranians mean the day which precedes it, exactly
as the Germans say Sonnabend and mean Saturday.
Ibid., vn, 206'*:
Sab-i Ormazd ämad-u mäh-i Dey,
zi guftan bi-yäsäy-u bardär mey.
'" Ibid., VH, 206"* till 256»".
105
birthday was composed 3 days after the eve of Hormazd-i Dey. Now, the
eve of Hormazd-i Dey was in faet 30th Äzar, which in this particular
year (371 Yazdigardi) corresponded to Tuesday 15th December 1002.
So, 3 days later, on 3rd of Dey (18th December), Firdausi celebrated
his sixty-third birthday. That he should so exactly recall it was natural
enough, for until recently, we Iranians used to record children's names
on the first or last page of an important family book (a Qur'än, a
Sähnämeh, a Häfiz, etc.), and opposite each name the date and day of
the bearer's birth were carefully inscribed, and this always served as a
reference document. It may be safely assumed that Firdausi's father,
who was a man of means and social status, did the same when he begot
our poet.
It must be remembered that Firdausi used the Yazdigardi months and
day-names. In this calendar, each year had 12 months of 30 days each
plus 5 "extra days" at the end of a certain month. So every year was
shorter by 6 hours than the solar year. It follows, therefore, that what
Firdausi reckoned as sixty-two complete years of 365 days each, was
in reality 16 days shorter than 62 solar years. This means that we must
place Firdausi's birth on 3rd Dey (371 — 63 =) 308 Yazdigardi corre¬
sponding to Friday 3rd January (= 18th December -1- 16) 940.
By Willem Floor, Bethseda, Md.
Notwithstanding the prevaihng idea that in Iran the guilds were iden¬
tical with or organized along the lines oi futuvvat associations we find
little or no evidence at all for such a behef in either Persian or European literature.'
The term futuvvat refers to a body of virtues and to an association
for upholding these virtues. It moreover "denotes various movements
and organisations in the urban communities of the Middle East, the
study of which is made difficult by the fact, that, in the course of history,
they have assumed very diverse forms and because the information
about these organizations and movements often appears to be irrecon¬
cilable.
The futuvvat is often represented as being linked with the guild organi¬
zations. In the later Middle Ages a certain kind of interpenetration
between the trade guilds in the Irano-Turkish territories and the
futuvvat is undeniable. Where futuvvat once existed, it continued in a
different form, by becoming linked with the crafts, and thus, in time, it
became the rule of the guilds. This process occurred in all countries of
the Islamic Orient.^
This description of futuvvat by Cahen and Taeschner has greatly
contributed to the generally held notion with regard to the situation in
Iran, which was prompted by analogical reasoning rather than by facts.
Studies on neighbouring countries (Ottoman Turkey, Turkestan) have
led several scholars to the conclusion that the guilds in those countries
were organized along the lines of futuvvat organisational structures as
described in so-called futuvvatnamas.^ According to Taeschner for
instance, "a similar development ofthe futuvvat into a guild organisa¬
tion must also have taken place in Iran during the late Middle Ages. At
' See for example A. K. S. Lambton: Islamic Society inPersia. London, 1954, p. 19.
^ Article 'Futuwwat' by C. Cahen and F. Taeschner in: EI^.
' Ibid.
