The Structural Analysis of Shahnameh's Heroes and Kings in Ferdowsinameh

Ferdowsinameh is a collection of popular folk tales about Ferdowsi and Shahnameh which was collected by Abolghasem Anjavi Shirazi. This collection is classified according to its characters into 3 parts. The first part is about Ferdowsi with 33 tales. The second part contains 205 tales about Shahnameh’s heroes, and the third part includes 135 tales about Shahnameh’s kings which were analyzed structurally in this research. The structure of the stories totally consists of eleven characters and twelve functions, the feature and frequency of deep and surface structure of which were analyzed one by one. The structure of the tales revealed the importance of the heroes’ role against kings. On one hand, the frequency of the functions showed the significance of victory and, on the other hand, it is the supporter of the effort of the narrators who tried to recount those stories by heart. It also clarified the value of those tales in saving Shahnameh and its functions.