New NaqqaliThe First Kings: Jamshid and the Rise of Zahhak
Chapters
- A4.1 · The Greatness and Fall of Jamshid76 couplets · 16 notes
- A4.2 · Zahhak and His Father58 couplets · 11 notes
- A4.3 · Zahhak Is Tempted by Iblis43 couplets · 11 notes
- A4.4 · Fortune Flies from Jamshid27 couplets · 8 notes
About this commentary
Life’s arts and their corruption
Four chapters, 204 English couplets and 46 commentary entries. All 408 English lines remain unchanged. The five-text presentation continues the earlier sections, with particular attention to narrative agency, sequence and differences in editorial inclusion.
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 among related presentations is not an independent manuscript vote.
English and Persian are aligned by sense. Ganjoor’s poem body is the reference; modern prose summaries and reader comments are excluded. Rows drawn from Mohl are labeled locally. These insertions reveal correspondence with the English and do not establish a new composite Persian edition. Persian spelling and spacing in locally transcribed quotations are lightly normalized.
G j1–j4 identify the four Ganjoor sections under Jamshid. A4.2 includes j3 1–5; A4.3 begins at j3 6. Local couplet numbers remain tied to that digital section. Grouped rows record expansions, combinations and reordering. Source counts alone cannot measure fidelity.
The relevant printed main texts and selected apparatus readings have been inspected. Main-text inclusion, square brackets and apparatus preservation are distinguished. The commentary is not an exhaustive transcription of the editions’ manuscript apparatuses or an independent critical edition. No separate explanatory-notes volume is cited for this batch.
Notes preserve the English while explaining strong choices, supported fuller passages and real local differences. They do not require every image or catalogue detail to receive a separate entry. Each English couplet is nevertheless covered by a note, and all 192 Ganjoor reference couplets are accounted for.
Principal findings. Mohl supports the fuller boast, twenty-three-year decline, expanded seduction and stronger plant-only diet. Khaleghi retains the jeweled dawn in the main text. The negative lamp statement differs from all four inspected main texts; the poem remains unchanged and the discrepancy is documented.
Evidence behind the comparison
Bibliography and exact consulted editions
| Text | Edition and access |
|---|---|
| F&R English | Farzad and Rhonda Dibachi, Shahnameh, A4.1–A4.4, New Naqqali. Website capture for this batch: 204 couplets, 408 lines. |
| Moscow | Ferdowsi, Shahnameh: Critical Text, vol. I, under E. E. Bertels. Moscow: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1960. Consulted printed pp 39–50, with selected apparatus readings. Ganjoor Museum 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 25–34. PDF page = printed page + 4 in this span. The reprint is the inspected presentation of Mohl’s text, not an original Paris impression. |
| Ganjoor | Ferdowsi, Shahnameh, Jamshid sh1–sh4. Poem-body text only; respectively 74, 45, 45 and 28 couplets. Every reference couplet is represented. |
| Khaleghi | Ferdowsi, Shahnameh, ed. Jalal Khaleghi-Motlagh, vol. I. Tehran: Centre for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia, sixth printing 1396 SH. Consulted printed pp 41–52 and selected apparatus readings. PDF page = printed page + 16. The scan is a Tehran printing, not the first New York impression. |
Alignment and coverage
Every one of the 204 English and 192 Ganjoor reference couplets is represented. Some Mohl passages overlap a shorter digital counterpart; those printed quotations supplement the reference rather than counting as independent witnesses.
| Chapter | Scope | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| A4.1 | 76 English / 74 Ganjoor | J1 in full, plus explicitly labeled Mohl material. Opening, armor, calendar and boast distribution vary; short combinations coexist with fuller passages. |
| A4.2 | 58 English / 50 Ganjoor | J2 in full and j3 1–5. Additional pre-oath persuasion and silence instruction have Mohl support. Reordered livestock couplets and expanded death are shown. |
| A4.3 | 43 English / 40 Ganjoor | J3 6–45. The stronger diet and intention follow Mohl; the dawn has printed support. Approach and reward compress; the final questions expand. |
| A4.4 | 27 English / 28 Ganjoor | J4 in full. Claimants and execution compress, the hidden century expands and the concealment couplet is recalled after execution. |
Textual findings and qualifications
| Passage | Finding | Record |
|---|---|---|
| A4.1.20–30 | Name traditions | Khaleghi’s Aturiyan differs from the displayed Katozians. Nasudi has Mohl support against Ganjoor’s Basudi. Names are annotated rather than casually normalized. |
| A4.1.69–71 | A fuller boast | Mohl prints four additional couplets; Khaleghi records them in the p 45 apparatus. Three English couplets preserve the escalation through medicine and life to the World-Creator claim. |
| A4.1.73–76 | Chronology and supplication | The twenty-three-year dissension and closing appeal are supported by Mohl, with corresponding apparatus preservation in Khaleghi. |
| A4.2.14–21, 36–37 | Persuasion and assistance | Fuller persuasion and the instruction to remain silent have printed support. Iblis performs the trap; Zahhak consents to its aim. |
| A4.2.40 | Local discrepancy retained | The English says no servant carried a lamp; all four inspected main texts say a servant did. No supporting negative reading is claimed. |
| A4.2.50–51 | Limit of inference | The mother-secret aside insinuates a parentage issue. It does not establish a mother’s conspiracy or a new father as narrative fact. |
| A4.3.5–7 | Stronger diet reading | Mohl’s plant-only account supports the English’s absolute form. The other three main-text presentations have a less absolute account of nourishment. |
| A4.3.15 | Jeweled dawn | Mohl and Khaleghi print the dawn in the main text; Moscow records it in the p 47 apparatus. Ganjoor omits it. |
| A4.4.17–18 | Retrospective sequence | English combines capture and execution, then looks back at concealment. The Persian reference places concealment first. |
| A4.4.19 | Contextual amber | The straw-attracting object is rendered by its function in the simile rather than mechanically repeating garnet from the earlier jewel list. |
| A4.4.27 | Differential editorial status | The closing prayer is in Mohl and Ganjoor main texts, bracketed in the Moscow main-text area and recorded in Khaleghi’s apparatus. |
Attribution and reuse
The English is reproduced for its authors’ requested project. Persian reference text and selected printed quotations are attributed locally. Modern editorial apparatuses and scan pages are linked rather than reproduced wholesale. Access to a scan alone does not establish permission to redistribute every editorial or visual component. The publication-clearance qualifications recorded in the Prologue remain applicable.
This is a comparative commentary, without a claim of external peer-review certification.