Firdausi (934-1020) was a Persian poet of the first rank in the long history of the Persian civilization. He wrote one of the greatest national epics in world literature.

Firdausi was born in the province of Tus, some 12 miles northeast of present-day Meshed. Firdausi was the pen name of the poet. His personal name and that of his father, according to al-Bundari, was Mansur ben Hasan. Firdausi's family was of old Iranian gentry stock and thus rich enough to be independent. He studied philosophy, astronomy, poetry, and astrology. He was happily married to an educated musician. They had a son, who died at the age of 37, and a daughter, who survived him.

Firdausi grew up in a world that had been controlled by the Islamic religion and the Arabs for about 300 years. This culture was foreign to the natural heritage of the Iranian peoples. It was thus with...