Dick Davis quotour preeminent translator from the Persianquot Washington Post has revised and expanded his highlypraised translation of Ferdowsis masterpiece including more than 100 pages of newly translated text Daviss elegant combination of prose and verse allows the poetry of the Shanameh to sing its own tales directly interspersed sparingly with clearlymarked explanations to ease along modern readers Among the greatest works of world literature this prodigious narrative composed by the poet Ferdowsi in the late tenth century tells the story of preIslamic Iran beginning in the mythic time of creation and continuing forward to the Arab invasion in the seventh century