TEHRAN – “Women in the Shahnameh: Their History and Social Status within the Framework of Ancient and Medieval Sources” by Jalal Khaleqi-Motlaq has been published in Persian.

The Mahmud Afshar Foundation is the Publisher of the book and Maryam Rezai has translated it from the original edition “Die Frauen im Schahname” published in German.

It has been translated into English as “Women in the Shahnameh”.

Khaleqi-Motlaq, a Germany-based Iranian professor, wrote the book as his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Köln in 1971. The original text was published in 1971 by Klaus Schwarz Verlag, Freiburg as No. 12 in the series, Islamkundliche Untersuchungen. 

The book has been translated from German to English by Dr. Brigitte Neuenschwander, a UCLA graduate in German literature, and edited by Dr. Nahid Pirnazar, a UCLA graduate and current lecturer of Iranian studies at UCLA. 

Additional updates and commentaries contributed by Khaleqi in Persian have been translated and inserted by the editor. The Content of “Women in the Shahnameh” is divided into three main sections: an introduction, Part A, and Part B.

In the introduction, the author seeks to clarify the role of the female gender within the heavenly mythology of Iran in order to next determine if, and if so, to what extent it is represented within the Shahnameh. 

The introduction ends with the story of the creation of man and woman, which the author connects to the story of the first women in the Shahnameh.

Part A summarizes the stories of the most important women of the Shahnameh, comparing them to others from ancient to medieval sources insofar as they were known and accessible to the author at the time of writing. 

At the end of each paragraph, the author outlines the characteristic traits of each individual. 

Given the high number of female characters in the Shahnameh, Khaleqi considers all women from the mythical part, but only the most important ones from the historical part, which he then divides into women of the nobility and those belonging to the common people.

Part B examines the positions of the women in the Shahnameh, taking into consideration other ancient and medieval sources. 

Khaleqi outlines the role, importance and fate of each female character in the various periods of their lives, e.g. as a girl, wife and mother, both within the family framework and society as a whole. 

Since the Shahnameh is not a book on family law, Khaleqi has taken into account other sources in order to fill gaps that would otherwise have existed. 

Most of the sources used in this analysis, the classical ones as well as the Arabic and Iranian ones, are so well known that a more detailed description is unnecessary.

Photo: A poster for the Persian edition of Jalal Khaleqi-Motlaq’s book “Women in the Shahnameh”.

MMS/YAW