When the flames of the First World War more or less engulfed the whole world, several freedom-seeking Iranians, known as “nationalists”, gathered in Berlin, Germany, to encourage their countrymen to stand firm against the Russians and know the German military as Iran’s friends and rush to their help. At that time, the north and south of Iran were in the hands of the Russian and British armies, and the west and northwest of Iran had become a hotbed for the German and Ottoman troops.
That number of Iranians who were in Germany have become famous in the contemporary history of Iran as “Berlinians”; People like Hassan Taghizadeh, Kazemzadeh of Iranshahr, Ebrahim Pordavoud, Mohammad Qazvini, Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh, Esmail Amirkhizi, and several others. This group made many efforts to advance their ideals. One of these efforts was publication of an attractive looking magazine, with beautiful printing and passionate articles, called “Kaveh”, which was typeset in a printing house in berlin. “Kaveh” had two separate life spans. Its first period, which lasted until 1916, contained the news of the war and the victory of the Germans, the efforts of the Iranian nationalists, immense praise of Germany, and condemnation of the Russians and the British. Kaveh’s second period spanned from 1920 to 1922 AD (1298 to 1300 AD) and had a completely different system and style. Its articles were about ancient and modern Iranian literature and literary studies in the style of Orientalists.
It was in the second period of Kaveh that the first steps of modern Shahnameh studies were taken, based on examining manuscripts and evaluating sources and research in scientific studies. The traditional method of research in the shahnameh, which had no scientific basis, and was something like a full-of-error writings of the predecessors, was abundant.
In the second period of Kaveh magazine, Hasan Taghizadeh, under the signature “Mohasel,” published a series of writings about Ferdowsi’s life and composing the Shahnameh, which was full of freshness and novelty for that time. We can easily say that Taghizadeh’s reports about Shahnameh taught young Iranian writers and researchers a scientific view of this text. Some of those writings were later reprinted in 1313 with the help of Shadervan Habib Yaghmai. In 1390, Iraj Afshar published all of them in the multi-volume collection “Essays of Taghizadeh” (and a separate volume called Ferdowsi and his Shahnameh”). However, they have lost their freshness now, and it is known that they are not free of mistakes; as we have mentioned, they are the first scientific efforts in the field of Shahnameh research, and from this point of view, they are valuable and important.
Theodore Noldeke’s book and Ferdowsi Millennium Congress
One of the events that had an unusual impact on the knowledge of the Shahnameh was the publication of Theodore Neldeke’s book. The broad scope of the German Noldeke’s research (one the prominent orientalists in 1830-1836 AD) about the Shahnameh led to significant achievements. In his book, he tried to separate the life of Ferdowsi and the compilation of the shahnameh from the legends and fabricated stories of the predecessors and to know the content of the Shahnameh correctly and scientifically. This does not mean that everything Nöldeke has said is true and unmistakable, but it can be a reminder of the scientific value of his book in those early days of modern Shahnameh studeis. However, his book was translated into Farsi by Bozorg Alavi, a famous Iranian writer who knew German and taught at the University of Berlin under the title “Iran’s National Epic” and published in 1312. The translation of this book is known as one of the most significant events in Shahnameh’s studies in Iran.
The second significant event of Shahnamehology in Iran was the Ferdowsi Millennium Congress in 1313 AD in Tehran and Tos. In this congress, which was held on the 1000th anniversary of Ferdowsi’s birth, famous Shahnamehologists worldwide came to Iran. They tried to advance modern Shahnamehology by presenting their scientific essays. People like: Evgenii Eduardovich Bertels, Jan Rypka, Arthur Emanuel Christensen, Henri Massé, Vladimir Fyodorovich Minorsk, and others. Besides them, there were also Iranian professors; People like Saeed Nafisi, Jalaluddin Homayi, Badiul Zaman Forouzanfar, Mohammad Moeen, Gholamreza Rashidyasmi, Ali Dashti, and many others. This congress was another beginning in the scientific knowledge of Shahnameh.
“Shahnameh Foundation”; a new attempt to raise knowledge of the Shahnameh
In the summer of 1350, the plan to establish a research institute about the Shahnameh was approved, and this institute, named “Scientific and cultural foundation of ferdowsi’s shahnameh” started its work in the same. The Shahnameh Foundation aimed to publish an edited and scientific text of the Shahnameh, scientific research about the national epic of Iran, to provide photos of old manuscripts of the Shahnameh all over the world, to establish a comprehensive library for Shahnameh scholars and many other works. The Shahnameh Foundation also published a magazine called “Simorgh,” whose writings were entirely about the Shahnameh.
Members of the board of trustees of the Shahnameh Foundation were Mojtaba Minavi, Parviz Natal Khanleri, Yahya Mahdavi, Abbas Zaryab Khoei, Mohammad Amin Riahi, and Mehdi Forough. Mojtaba Minavi was the head of the foundation in the beginning, and after his death in February 1355, Dr. Mohammad Amin Riahi, an outstanding Shahnamehologist, succeeded him. But the Shahnameh Foundation did not last long, and its work ended with the emergence of political events. Despite the situation, the foundation succeeded to publish many scientific researches and made great artistic efforts. He also edited and published some Shahnameh stories (the stories of Rostam and Sohrab, Froud, Bijan, and Manijeh, and later the story of Siavash).
Characters of famous Shahnameh scholars
Several other events were influential in advancing modern Shahnameh studies; Events such as the editing of the Shahnameh with the help of Russian scholars and under the supervision of Bertels and Abdul Hossein Noushin (from 1960 to 1971), which has become famous as the “Moscow Shahnameh”; Publication of the magazine named “Page” with the efforts of “Ferdowsi Kheradsara” (in the 90s) and the “Shahnameh study” magazine in the same decade and with the efforts of Dr Mohammad Reza Mohasel (both published in Khorasan) are other essential steps in modern Shahnamehology. The efforts of Shahnameh scholars of the current generation should not be forgotten either; People like Saeed Hamidian, Mohammad Jaafar Yahaghi, Jalaluddin Kezazi, Gadhamali Sarami, Mostafa Jeyhouni, Sajjad Aydanlu, Abolfazl Khatibi, Arash Akbari Mofakher, Farzin Ghafouri, Hossein Shahidi Mazandarani, Bahare Mokhtarian, Mehri Behfar, and many others. The series of writings of “Pioneers of Shahnameh studies” will be a short reminder of the efforts of the previous generation of Shahnamehologists; Those who took the initial complex steps and paved the way for other researchers; People like Mojtaba Minavi, Malik Al-Shaarai Bahar, Mohammad Ali Eslami Nodoshan, Shahrukh Moskob, Mohammad Debirsiyaghi, Abolqasem Anjavi Shirazi, Mehrdad Bahar, Rahim Rezazadeh Malek and several other professors, all of whom were the founders of modern Shahnamehology in Iran.
