Ferdowsi's Thoughts and Theories of International Relations Realism or Idealism?

Ferdowsi's Shahnameh is a Persian literature masterpiece. While this book has generally been studied from literary and historical perspectives, little attention has been paid to its political aspects. The main question of the present research is that what International Relations theoretical approaches Ferdowsi’s vision is closer to? Can Ferdowsi be considered a political realist or an idealist? For this purpose, we attempt to assess Ferdowsi's thoughts taking advantage of the most important features of the two Realist and Idealist theories through a comparative method. The findings of the research show that while Ferdowsi is close to constructivist theory in terms of meta-theory, in his theoretical debates he must be considered a realist. This point is especially apparent in Ferdowsi's interpretations of human nature, war, power and security. It is worth Noting that his realism is not similar to Hobbes and Waltz, and is somewhat like "Idealist Realism".