Earth and Ashes

A Note on the Text

Reference is made in Earth and Ashes to the great eleventh-century Persian epic, the Book of Kings (Shahnama in Persian) by Ferdusi. This famous poem interweaves Persian myths, legends and historical events to tell the history of Iran and its neighbours from the creation of the world to the Arab conquest in the seventh century. Even today, storytellers can recount large parts of the Book of Kings from memory. The characters mentioned in Earth and Ashes are:

ROSTAM, son of Zal, the great hero of the epic who, in a battle, kills his son, Sohrab, whose existence he did not know about.

SOHRAB, son of Rostam, born from Rostam’s secret union with Tahmina, daughter of the King of Samengan, who finds himself on the opposite side from his father in battle and is killed by him.

ZOHAK, the legendary tyrant of the epic, who ruled with serpents who fed off the brains of the young men in his kingdom.