Based on historians’ researches, 8 October 1934 is thousandth year of Ferdowsi’s birth, the famous Iranian epic poet. On this day a big congress was held in Tehran in which many Iranian and foreign scientists, authors and belletrists participated to assess and appreciate Ferdowsi’s works and his everlasting work “Shah-nameh” (Book of Kings). On the same day a street and a central square were named as “Ferdowsi” and his tomb was inaugurated in the township of Toos, near Mashhad, northeastern Iran.
As Ferdowsi has stated himself, he composed “Shah-nameh” for revival of Persian language that was dissipating after two hundred years of Arab domination on Iran. He said in one of his poems:
So much I suffered over thirty years
breathe life into Farsi by this Persian epic
Many of Ferdowsi’s epic poems are translated to other languages.
