New NaqqaliWOMEN OF THE SHAHNAMEH / 03
Words that move the story.
A choice declared. A warning refused. A ruler’s promise. Hear the women speak—and the answers they receive.
One tile, one selected passage. Read across a woman’s row to see whom she addresses and who answers. Colors follow the ten books.
These are selected passages, not every conversation in the poem. An empty cell means no passage was chosen for that pair.
Loading the voices…
Select a tile for one passage, or a cell for its exchanges. Partner roles describe this relationship: the same person can be a spouse in one row and a child in another. Children and wards include stepchildren and foster children. Scroll sideways on a narrow screen.
FROM TILE TO VOICE
Listen to the words themselves.
Select a tile to hear its speaker and read the source couplets.
ABOUT THE SELECTION
Eighteen principal figures
Each principal figure has at least one passage of her own words in the full selection. The nurturing Simorgh is included as the mythic guardian. Named partners, unnamed roles and collective audiences remain distinct.
Words have direction
Filled tiles belong to the woman in that row; outlines mark words addressed to her. A passage between two principal women appears in both rows, with opposite direction marks, but counts once in the excerpt total.
Evidence before inference
Every tile opens its source couplets, from the New Naqqali translation as published on 22 October 2026. Narration is retained where needed to identify the speaker or listener. Disguise, tactical promises and false claims are explained in the passage notes. For a relayed message, direction follows its author and recipient; the carrier is named separately.
The 49 passages are a selection; they do not count every exchange, word, influence or relationship. Long speeches can be excerpted; tiles have equal size regardless of length. No missing voice is inferred from a filter or an empty cell. More women from the wider index will be added.
Download the conversation data ↗