New NaqqaliThe First Kings: Kioumars
Chapters
- A1.1 · The Greatness of Kioumars and the Envy of Ahriman30 couplets · 7 notes
- A1.2 · Siamak and the Black Div22 couplets · 6 notes
- A1.3 · Hushang and Kioumars Fight the Black Div21 couplets · 5 notes
About this commentary
This method and source record cover books A1, A2, A3.
The first kings and the arts of life
Six chapters, 160 English couplets and 41 commentary entries. All 320 English lines are preserved unchanged from the captured website text. The five-text comparison follows the Prologue’s presentation, with notes proportionate to narrative difficulty.
Read the comparison method and source limits
F&R is an English verse translation; Moscow, Mohl and Khaleghi are edited Persian texts; Ganjoor is a digital presentation. These are five comparison texts, not five independent manuscript witnesses. Agreement with a related digital presentation does not supply an additional independent vote.
English and Persian are aligned by sense. The reference is Ganjoor’s poem body, excluding modern prose summaries and reader comments. Printed alternatives and apparatus additions are labeled separately; this is not a newly established composite Persian text. A source-only row preserves an untranslated ritual comparison.
G q1 and q2 refer to Kioumars; G h1, h2 and h3 to Hushang; G t1 to Tahmuras. References retain the digital section and its local couplet number even when the English chapters divide or reorder the material differently.
Notes explain names, agency, sequence, imagery and the effects of poetic redistribution. They preserve strong English choices and distinguish textual support from interpretation. Grouped notes cover coherent actions rather than repeating an identical judgment for every couplet.
The relevant Mohl pages 15–24 survive in the consulted scan. The missing Prologue pages therefore do not affect this batch. Main-text passages, brackets, apparatus additions and explanatory commentary remain separate evidence types. Selected Khaleghi explanatory entries were consulted; no exhaustive manuscript collation or independent peer review is claimed.
Principal findings. Several apparent additions have printed support. The Sadeh narrative has different editorial status across editions. Soroush’s warning is the principal attribution reservation: the English names the Shah, while the context and Khaleghi’s explanation identify Siamak. The English is retained and the difference discussed.
Evidence behind the comparison
Bibliography and exact consulted editions
| Text | Edition and access |
|---|---|
| F&R English | Farzad and Rhonda Dibachi, Shahnameh, A1.1–A3.1, New Naqqali. Website capture for this batch; 160 couplets, 320 lines. |
| Moscow | Ferdowsi, Shahnameh: Critical Text, vol. I, under E. E. Bertels. Moscow: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1960. Consulted printed pp 28–38, including the apparatus. Image number = printed page + 1. |
| Mohl | Ferdowsi, Shahnameh, ed. Jules Mohl, vol. I, Tehran pocket reprint, Sherkat-e Sahami-ye Ketabha-ye Jibi with Franklin Publications; second printing 1354 SH. Consulted printed pp 15–24. In this span PDF page = printed page + 4. |
| Ganjoor | Ferdowsi, Shahnameh: qmars sh1–2; hushang sh1–3; tahmoores sh1. Poem-body text only. All 156 reference couplets are represented in the alignment; equal English and Persian counts in a chapter do not establish one-to-one distribution. |
| Khaleghi | Ferdowsi, Shahnameh, ed. Jalal Khaleghi-Motlagh, vol. I. Tehran: Centre for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia, sixth printing 1396 SH. Consulted printed pp 21–25, 29–31 and 35–37. PDF page = printed page + 16. |
| Khaleghi explanatory notes | Jalal Khaleghi-Motlagh, Yaddasht-ha-ye Shahnameh, part I. Tehran: Centre for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia, fourth printing 1396 SH. Selected entries, especially p 33 on Soroush’s recipient and pp 38–39 on the fire narrative. PDF page = printed page + 22. |
Alignment and coverage
The alignment accounts for all 160 English and all 156 Ganjoor reference couplets. The register records the main differences relevant to those correspondences; it is not an exhaustive transcription of every rejected manuscript line in the printed apparatuses.
| Chapter | Scope | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| A1.1 | 30 English / 29 Ganjoor | Opening questions are reordered; the material-culture passage expands. Draws on qmars sh1, 1–29. |
| A1.2 | 22 English / 22 Ganjoor | Qmars sh1, 30–51. The army encounter is absorbed, while mourning expands. Equal totals conceal those changes. |
| A1.3 | 21 English / 21 Ganjoor | Qmars sh2. Disclosure compresses and the completion of vengeance expands. |
| A2.1 | 15 English; cross-section reference | Hushang sh1, 1–8 and sh3, 1–5; additional Mohl fruit/leaf and fire-introduction material. One source-only ritual comparison. |
| A2.2 | 24 English; cross-section reference | Hushang sh2, 1–15 and sh3, 6–15. Ignition expands; two late source couplets combine around death. |
| A3.1 | 48 English / 46 Ganjoor | Accession and minister material compress; clothing and plea expand. Printed sources supply extra battle images and the final addresses. |
Textual findings and qualifications
| Passage | Finding | Record |
|---|---|---|
| A1.1.29–30 | Recipient difference | Siamak is favored by the father-reference, ensuing hearing and Khaleghi’s explicit explanation. The English names the Shah; the note records the difference without revising the poem. |
| A1.2.6, 13 | Mohl supports the English | Liver-region and wine-colored cheeks are readings in the inspected reprint, distinct from the displayed waist and badrang readings. |
| A2.1–A2.2 | Order and editorial status | Mohl supports the crafts-first sequence. Khaleghi prints the fire-and-feast narrative below the main text. Ganjoor’s division crosses the English chapter boundary. |
| A2.1 source-only row | Untranslated comparison | Mohl’s ritual comparison to an Arab stone mihrab has no separate English counterpart and is displayed explicitly. |
| A3.1.20 | Name variant | Shidasp has Mohl support; Shahrasp/Shahresp is printed in the other comparison texts. |
| A3.1.33, 35 | Apparatus support | Moscow p 37 note 13 records the dark air/eyes and opposed hosts. They are not silently promoted to main-text agreement. |
| A3.1.47–48 | Closing material supported | Mohl prints both; Khaleghi places the first in the main text and the second in the apparatus. Ganjoor ends before them. |
Attribution and reuse
The English is reproduced for its authors’ requested project. Persian reference text and variants are attributed locally. Modern editorial explanations are paraphrased; scan pages and complete modern apparatuses are linked rather than embedded. Access to a scan does not establish permission to redistribute every editorial or visual component of it. The publication-clearance limits recorded for the Prologue continue to apply.
This batch is a comparative commentary, with no claim of external peer-review certification.