Note on Citations of the Shahnama
The contributors refer to diffferent editions of the Shahnama, which are indicated here by an abbreviation (see above). Although Jules Mohl’s classic edition of the Persian text and facing French translation remains valuable, it is cited here with reference to one of the two main reprints of the Persian text alone. The frst, published in 4 vols. in Tehran (1345/1966), included a translation of Mohl’s preface by Jahangir Afkari. The other, with an introduction by Muhammad Amin Riyahi, was published in 3 vols. (2nd printing, Tehran, 1370/1991). Both have continuous pagination across the volumes, but the page numbering differs. None of the four standard editions cited give a cumulative line number for the whole work, which is divided into 50 discrete chapters. These chapters were assigned an alpha-numerical designation by Fritz Wolfff, Glossar zu Firdosis Schahname (Berlin, 1935, vi-vii), which was followed in the edition of Dabir-Siyaqi, and retained in Kumiko Yamamoto’s analysis of the text (The oral background of Persian epics: Storytelling and poetry, Leiden, 2003, xiv–xviii).
In general, where the discussion focuses on a single episode, reference is made to the edition and line number (verse, or bait) of that chapter (e.g. M, 1234, indicates Mohl’s edition, verse 1234). Reference may also be given to the chapter, in case of ambiguity, either by the Wolff alpha-numeric designation (12d, 13f, etc.) or by the chapter (reign) title (Siyavush, Davazdah rukh, etc.). Where the discussion ranges over the whole work, citation is made by edition, volume number, page number, line (verse) number (e.g. B, v, 86, vv. 10–11, indicates Bertel’s, vol. v, p. 86, lines 10–11).
It should be noted that a line of text in the manuscripts of the Shahnama generally contains two or sometimes three lines (verses, bait) of the poem, and that each verse consists of two half lines (misraʿ). The use of the term bait or verse (v., vs.) is intended to avoid uncertainty over the meaning of ‘line’ in any given instance.