Reason in Shahnameh and Pre-Islamic Iranian Texts Based on Text Linguistics

In Shahnameh, one of the basic concepts and motifs is rationality. Undoubtedly, Shahnameh is influenced by Zoroastrian and Avestan ideas through pre-Islamic resources, Abu-Mansuri's Shahnameh, Khodāy-Nāme-hā (Books of Kings) and Mobads’ (Zoroastrian clerics) oral reports. Also, one should not forget the role of contemporary social and intellectual trends in Ferdowsi’s time. In the present article, by using text linguistics, we try to compare Shahnameh and pre-Islamic Iranian texts based on the relationship of parts of a speech with one another in syntagmatic chains. The results show that the main parts of rationality discussed in Shahnameh are influenced by pre-Islamic Iranian texts but some parts are results of Ferdowsi’s genius. Also, there are some aspects of rationality that have not been expressed in Shahnameh but are in the center of attention of pre-Islamic Iranian texts.This case somehow shows the specialty of Ferdowsi's rationalism anddetermines that it isn’t imitated from a source or reference.