SOURCE: An introduction to In the Dragon's Claws: The Story of Rostram and Esfandiyar from the Persian “Book of Kings” by Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Mage Publishers, 1999, pp. 9-23.

In the following essay, Clinton follows his outline of the Shah-Nama's themes with an analysis of the story of Rostram and Esfandiyar as it reflects the recurring themes of the work as a whole—ambivalence toward the demands of heroism and a critical attitude toward monarchy.

The story of Rostam and Esfandiyār is taken from the Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, a long narrative poem in Persian that was given its present form by Abolqasem Ferdowsi (ad 932-1025). The many heroic tales that fill the Shahnameh (Book of kings) are drawn from the history and mythology of Iran, and some of them at least were recited at the courts of Cyrus and Darius in the sixth century bc. In...