Ferdowsi was born on 3 January 940 CE in Tus. A Persian poet, Ferdowsi is the author of the Shahnameh, the Book of Kings, a monumental epic of some fifty thousand couplets that narrates the history and legends of Iran from creation to the Arab conquest. It took him about thirty years to complete, and he deliberately used a Persian language largely free of Arabic words, helping to preserve it as a literary tongue. According to tradition, he received a disappointing reward from Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. He is regarded as the national poet of Iran, and his tomb in Tus is a place of pilgrimage.
Before and after
- from 927 CE to 1707Kingdom of England
- from 929 CE to 1031Caliphate of Córdoba
- c. 930 CEEruption of Ceboruco
- 937 CEBattle of Brunanburh
- 3 January 940 CEBirth of Ferdowsi
- c. 944 CEOrigins of Algiers
- 946 CEConstruction of Monastery of Saint John of Rila
- from 960 CE to 1279Song dynasty
- from 2 February 962 CE to 6 August 1806Holy Roman Empire
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The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 10th century.