Ferdowsi Millenary Celebration
Encyclopedia
Ferdowsi Millenary Celebration , was a series of celebrations and scholarly events in the year 1934 to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of Ferdowsi
's birth. the Ferdowsi Millenary was announced at the beginning of the year by the government of Iran
. The Millenary Congress convened for five days from 2nd to 6th of October 1934 in Tehran
, and more than eighty notable European and Iranian scholars attedned the congress. the Ferdowsi Millenary celebrations lasted for nearly a month.
Simultaneously various official ceremonies were held in a number of Europen countries including France
, Britain
, Germany
and the Soviet Union
, in universities, clubs, and embassies. Also, a number of other countries including United States
, Egypt
and Iraq
held festivities .
in general and for research on Ferdowsi
and the Shahnameh
in particular.
distinguished participants included: Henri Massé (France), Vladimir Minorsky (England), Sebastian Beck (Germany), Evgeniĭ Berthels (Soviet Union), Georges Contenau (France), Arthur Christensen (Denmark), Friedrich Sarre (Germany), Denison Ross (England), A. A. Bolotnikof (Soviet Union), Jan Rypka
(Czechoslovakia), Franklin Gunther (United States), Alexsandr Freiman (Soviet Union), Yuri N. Marr (Soviet Union), Aleksandr A. Romaskevich (Soviet Union), Iosef Orbeli (Soviet Union), Jamshedji Unvala (India), Bahramgor Anklesaria (India), Antonio Pagliaro (Italy), Ernst Kühnel (Germany), L. A. Mayer (Palestine), John Drinkwater (England).
The Persian delegation, with forty members, was led by Mohammad-Ali Foroughi (who delivered the inaugural speech) and included among others: Mohammad-Taqi Bahar, Ali-Asgar Hekmat, Ahmad Bahmanyar, Abbas Eqbal, Badiozzaman Forouzanfar
, Ahmad Kasravi
, Mojtaba Minovi
, Said Nafisi
, Hassan Pirnia
, and Ebrahim Pourdavoud.
The final event of the celebrations was the inauguration of the new building for the mausoleum of Ferdowsi in Tous
, by the congress participants, with the presence of Reza Shah Pahlavi.
Several participants of the congress, expressed the opinion that the greatest service that the scholarly world could render to the Persian-speaking people would be the publication of a critical and reliable edition of the Shahnameh. The Borūḵīm Publishing House in Tehran tried to address this issue and published the complete text of the Šāh-nāma, based on Vullers edition under the supervision of Mojtaba Minovi
, Abbas Eqbal, Solayman Haïm and Said Nafisi
.
Fritz Wolff, made a lasting contribution with the publication of his glossary of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh (Glossar zu Ferdosis Schahname), which was presented as a gift to the Persian people by the German
ambassador in the first day of the congress.
These contributions greatly advanced the Iranian scholarship, and led to the appearance of a number of monumental scholarly works on Ferdowsi
and Shahnameh
in the later decades.
Ferdowsi
Ferdowsi was a highly revered Persian poet. He was the author of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran and related societies.The Shahnameh was originally composed by Ferdowsi for the princes of the Samanid dynasty, who were responsible for a revival of Persian cultural traditions after the...
's birth. the Ferdowsi Millenary was announced at the beginning of the year by the government of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. The Millenary Congress convened for five days from 2nd to 6th of October 1934 in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
, and more than eighty notable European and Iranian scholars attedned the congress. the Ferdowsi Millenary celebrations lasted for nearly a month.
Simultaneously various official ceremonies were held in a number of Europen countries including France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, in universities, clubs, and embassies. Also, a number of other countries including United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
held festivities .
participants in the Millenary Congress
The gathering of some one hundred distinguished scholars as well as many dignitaries of various nationalities in Tehran and Mashad was a most beneficial event for Iranian studiesIranian Studies
Iranian studies , is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of history, literature, art and culture of the Iranian people. It is a part of the wider field of Oriental studies....
in general and for research on Ferdowsi
Ferdowsi
Ferdowsi was a highly revered Persian poet. He was the author of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran and related societies.The Shahnameh was originally composed by Ferdowsi for the princes of the Samanid dynasty, who were responsible for a revival of Persian cultural traditions after the...
and the Shahnameh
Shahnameh
The Shahnameh or Shah-nama is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c.977 and 1010 AD and is the national epic of Iran and related societies...
in particular.
distinguished participants included: Henri Massé (France), Vladimir Minorsky (England), Sebastian Beck (Germany), Evgeniĭ Berthels (Soviet Union), Georges Contenau (France), Arthur Christensen (Denmark), Friedrich Sarre (Germany), Denison Ross (England), A. A. Bolotnikof (Soviet Union), Jan Rypka
Jan Rypka
Jan Rypka was a prominent Czech orientalist, translator, professor of Iranology and Turkology at Charles University, Prague.Jan Rypka was a participant in Ferdowsi Millenary Celebration in Tehran in 1934....
(Czechoslovakia), Franklin Gunther (United States), Alexsandr Freiman (Soviet Union), Yuri N. Marr (Soviet Union), Aleksandr A. Romaskevich (Soviet Union), Iosef Orbeli (Soviet Union), Jamshedji Unvala (India), Bahramgor Anklesaria (India), Antonio Pagliaro (Italy), Ernst Kühnel (Germany), L. A. Mayer (Palestine), John Drinkwater (England).
The Persian delegation, with forty members, was led by Mohammad-Ali Foroughi (who delivered the inaugural speech) and included among others: Mohammad-Taqi Bahar, Ali-Asgar Hekmat, Ahmad Bahmanyar, Abbas Eqbal, Badiozzaman Forouzanfar
Badiozzaman Forouzanfar
Badi'ozzamān Foruzānfar was a scholar of Persian literature, Iranian linguistics and culture, and an expert on Molana Jalaleddin Balkhi and his works...
, Ahmad Kasravi
Ahmad Kasravi
Ahmad Kasravi , was a notable Iranian linguist, historian, and reformer.Born in Hokmabad , Tabriz, Iran, Kasravi was an Iranian Azeri Initially, Kasravi enrolled in a seminary. Later, he joined the Iranian Constitutional Revolution...
, Mojtaba Minovi
Mojtaba Minovi
Mojtaba Minovi , the well-known Iranian historian, literary scholar and professor of Tehran University. he was a participant in the Ferdowsi Millenary celebrations in 1934 in Tehran.-References:...
, Said Nafisi
Said Nafisi
Saeed Nafisi was an Iranian scholar, fiction writer and poet. He was a prolific writer in Persian....
, Hassan Pirnia
Hassan Pirnia
Hassan Pirnia was a prominent politician of twentieth century Iran. He held a total of twenty-four posts during his political career, serving four times as Prime Minister.His father was Mirza Nasrullah Khan, a Prime Minister during the Qajar era...
, and Ebrahim Pourdavoud.
The final event of the celebrations was the inauguration of the new building for the mausoleum of Ferdowsi in Tous
Tous
Tous may refer to:* Trotskyist Organization of the United States an American Trotskyite group* Berd, Armenia* Tous, Iran* Tous, Valencia, Spain* Tous Designer House Spanish Designer Jewelry...
, by the congress participants, with the presence of Reza Shah Pahlavi.
Scholarly publications related to the Millenary
An important outcome of the Ferdowsi millenary was the publication of a large number of scholarly works dedicated to the study of Ferdowsi and the Shahnameh, notably:- Mohammad Ramazani published the ShahnamehShahnamehThe Shahnameh or Shah-nama is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c.977 and 1010 AD and is the national epic of Iran and related societies...
(based on Macan’s edition) a year before the millenary (Tehran, in 5 volumes). - Sayf Azad edited and published the Shahnameh and illustrated it with pictures of ancient kings inspired by Achaemenid and Sasanian sculptures (4 vols., Berlin, 1934-35).
- Henri Massé’s Firdausi et l’épopée nationale (Paris, 1934),
- Mohammad-Taqi Bahar's collected articles on Ferdowsi’s life and works and the chronology of the Shahnameh, in a special issue of Bāḵtar monthly (Isfahan , 1934)
- A collection of papers presented by various Persian scholars to the congress in Ferdowsī-nāma-ye Mehr (Tehran, 1934)
- A collection by Armenian scholars in Yerevan under the title Firdusi Žolovacus (Ferdowsī celebration)
- A collection by Soviet scholars titled Ferdovsi (Moscow, 1934)
- Firdausi Celebration (New York, 1934), a collection of articles which included a very valuable catalogue of the principal manuscripts of the Shahnameh then known.
- The 1935 volume of the French periodical Journal AsiatiqueJournal asiatiqueThe Journal asiatique is a French academic journal founded in 1822 by the Société Asiatique with the aim of promoting Orientalism and Oriental studies. The Journal asiatique has been published without interruption since 1822. It is presently published twice a year by the French National Centre for...
, devoted to Ferdowsi, - A special commemorative issue of Īrān-e Bāstān (Berlin, 1936) by Sayf Āzād.
- A collection of 33 papers read by the participants in the congress, under the title Ketāb-e hazāra-ye Ferdowsī (Tehran, 1943).
Impact of the Ferdowsi Millenary on Iranian Studies
Mojtaba Minovi
Mojtaba Minovi , the well-known Iranian historian, literary scholar and professor of Tehran University. he was a participant in the Ferdowsi Millenary celebrations in 1934 in Tehran.-References:...
, Abbas Eqbal, Solayman Haïm and Said Nafisi
Said Nafisi
Saeed Nafisi was an Iranian scholar, fiction writer and poet. He was a prolific writer in Persian....
.
Fritz Wolff, made a lasting contribution with the publication of his glossary of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh (Glossar zu Ferdosis Schahname), which was presented as a gift to the Persian people by the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
ambassador in the first day of the congress.
These contributions greatly advanced the Iranian scholarship, and led to the appearance of a number of monumental scholarly works on Ferdowsi
Ferdowsi
Ferdowsi was a highly revered Persian poet. He was the author of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran and related societies.The Shahnameh was originally composed by Ferdowsi for the princes of the Samanid dynasty, who were responsible for a revival of Persian cultural traditions after the...
and Shahnameh
Shahnameh
The Shahnameh or Shah-nama is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c.977 and 1010 AD and is the national epic of Iran and related societies...
in the later decades.
sources
- Encyclopedia Iranica: FERDOWSI, ABU’L-QĀSEM iv. MILLENARY CELEBRATION
- Ketāb-e hazāra-ye Ferdowsī (in Persian), Tehran 1943