The Study of the Effect of Ferdowsi's Metaphorical Narrative on the Iconography of Shahnameh

Ferdowsi's Shahnameh , the most significant mythical text in Iran, has been a source of interest to artists since the time it was composed. The rich language of Shahnameh, as well as the belief in the status and role of its discourse in establishing the national culture, give it a distinguished position among similar texts. This paper aims to analyze how the metaphorical narrative of Shahnameh affects its iconography. To achieve this goal, Paul Ricoeur's literary theory has been used. Accordingly, the polysemic nature of the metaphorical text yields to reader's interpretations. The scene of "Siavash passing across the fire", that has appealed to illustrators across various art schools, has been chosen in order to demonstrate the importance of Ferdowsi's metaphorical narrative on the interpretations of illustrators. First, the literary theory is explained and then, the text of Shahnameh and the aforementioned episode are evaluated. Next, a number of illustrations from various art schools are compared with the story; afterwards, the importance of the illustrator's interpretation as a reader is indicated. This articler uses an analytic-comparative method and all the data has been collected in the library. This research indicates that, due to the notable differences between illustrations of "Siavash passing across the fire," the question of reader's interpretation, which is itself the result of Ferdowsi's metaphorical approach to mythical and old stories, comes to the fore. Thus, illustrators, as readers of Shahnameh, independently interpret the text and present their own interpretations of Shahnameh through their illustrations.