The Position and Evil Role of the Wolf in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh

In analyzing epic texts, one encounters the special presence of some animals in the development of the epic genre, this presence is at times positive and totemic, and at others negative and evil. Like the wolf which in a number of world myths and epics has positive functions, but not so in others. In Shahname as well, the appearance of the wolf is mostly negative. Through the method of text analysis, this article aims to investigate the reasons for Ferdowsi’s negative view of the wolf. The results show that one important reason for presenting a negative and evil picture of the wolf in Shahname is the devilish presence of this animal in religious texts of ancient Iran, in which it was deemed a positive and rewarding action to kill this wolf. The other reason for this issue is that in Shahname, Ferdowsi equates Turanians with Turks. When he mentions Turanians, he likens them to wolves and uses the negative characteristics of these animals to describe them.