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Zafarnamah (Mustawfi)

Zafarnamah () is an epic poem written by the Persian poet, historian, and geographer Hamdallah Mustawfi (d. 1334). The epic history, compiled in 75,000 couplets, explores Iranian history from the Arab conquest to the Mongols.

Epic History and National Identity in Mustawfi’s Zafarnāmah

Hamdallah Mustawfi, in his Zafarnāmah, tried to recount the history of Iran in the form of an epic poem, showing the continuity of Iranian identity from the Sasanian era to the time of the Mongol Ilkhanids.

According to Charles Melville in the Encyclopaedia Iranica, the Zafarnāmah can be regarded as “a national history of Iran in verse,” blending Ferdowsi’s Shāhnāmeh tradition with Islamic historiography.

Linda Komaroff, in her book Beyond the Legacy of Genghis Khan, interprets the work as a cultural effort to redefine the concept of Iranian identity during the Mongol period.

Sussan Babaie believes that through the use of epic poetry and a historical perspective, Mustawfi positioned Mongol rule as a continuation of the Iranian historical narrative, thus contributing to the reconstruction of Iran’s cultural identity in the post-Mongol era.

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