The Ferdowsi millennial celebration ( fa, جشن هزاره فردوسی) was a series of celebrations and scholarly events in the year 1934 to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of

Ferdowsi , image = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus, Iran 3 (cropped).jpg , image_size = , caption = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus by Abolhassan Sadighi , birth_date = 940 , birth_place = Tus, Samanid Empire , death_date = 1019 or 1025 (87 years old) , d ...

's birth. The Ferdowsi millennial was held at the initiative of

Reza Shah Pahlavi , , spouse = Maryam Savadkoohi Tadj ol-Molouk Ayromlu (queen consort)Turan AmirsoleimaniEsmat Dowlatshahi , issue = Princess Hamdamsaltaneh Princess ShamsMohammad Reza Shah Princess Ashraf Prince Ali Reza Prince Gholam Reza Prin ...

and was announced at the beginning of the year by the government of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. The Millennial Congress convened for five days, from 2 to 6 October 1934, in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, and more than eighty notable European and Iranian scholars attended the congress. The celebrations lasted for nearly a month. Various official ceremonies were held simultaneously in a number of European countries including

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, in universities, clubs, and embassies. Also, a number of other countries, including the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, held festivities.

Participants in the Millennial Congress

The gathering in Tehran and

Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of Razavi Khorasan Province and has a po ...

of about a hundred distinguished scholars as well as many dignitaries of various nationalities was a most beneficial event for

Iranian studies Iranian studies ( fa, ايران‌شناسی '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It ...

in general and for research on

and the

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 5 ...

in particular. Distinguished participants included:

Henri Massé Henri Massé (2 March 1886 – 9 November 1969) was a 20th-century French orientalist. He was first professor of Arabic and Persian literatures at the faculté des lettres d'Alger, then professor of Persian language at the École nationale des ...

(France),

Vladimir Minorsky Vladimir Fyodorovich Minorsky (russian: Владимир Фёдорович Минорский; – March 25, 1966) was a Russian Orientalist best known for his contributions to the study of Persian, Lurish and Kurdish history, geography, ...

(England), Sebastian Beck (Germany), Evgeniĭ Berthels (Soviet Union), Georges Contenau (France),

Arthur Christensen Arthur Emanuel Christensen (9 January 1875 – 31 March 1945) was a Danish orientalist and scholar of Iranian philology and folklore. He is best known for his works on the Iranian history, mythology, religions Religion is usually define ...

(Denmark),

Friedrich Sarre Friedrich Paul Theodor Sarre (22 June 1865, in Berlin – 31 May 1945, in Neubabelsberg) was a German Orientalist, archaeologist and art historian who amassed a collection of Islamic art. In 1895-96, inspired by Carl Humann Carl Humann (first na ...

(Germany),

Denison Ross Sir Edward Denison Ross (6 June 1871 – 20 September 1940) was an orientalist and linguist, specializing in languages of the Middle East, Central and East Asia. He was the first director of the University of London's School of Oriental Studies ( ...

(England), A.A. Bolotnikof (Soviet Union),

Jan Rypka Jan Rypka, PhDr., Dr.Sc. (28 May 1886 in Kroměříž – 29 December 1968 in Prague) was a prominent Czech orientalist, translator, professor of Iranology and Turkology at Charles University, Prague. Jan Rypka was a participant in Ferdowsi ...

(Czechoslovakia), Franklin Gunther (United States), Alexsandr Freiman (Soviet Union), Yuri N. Marr (Soviet Union), Aleksandr A. Romaskevich (Soviet Union), Iosef Orbeli (Soviet Union), Jamshedji Unvala (India), Bahramgor Anklesaria (India), Antonio Pagliaro (Italy),

Ernst Kühnel Ernst Kühnel (1882−1964) was a German art historian who specialized in Islamic art. He was notable for his research on the connection between Islamic and Coptic art, particularly in textiles. Kühnel served as director of the Museum of Islamic ...

(Germany), L. A. Mayer (Israel), John Drinkwater (England), Syed Abdul Kareem Hussaini (Hyderabad–Deccan, India). The Persian delegation, with forty members, was led by

Mohammad-Ali Foroughi Mohammad Ali Foroughi ( fa, محمدعلی فروغی; early August 1877 – 26 or 27 November 1942), also known as Zoka-ol-Molk ( Persian: ذُکاءُالمُلک), was a writer, diplomat and politician who served three terms as Prime Mini ...

(who delivered the inaugural speech) and included, among others:

Mohammad-Taqi Bahar Mohammad-Taqi Bahar ( fa, محمدتقی بهار; also romanized as Mohammad-Taqī Bahār; 10 December 1886 in Mashhad – 22 April 1951 in Tehran), widely known as Malek osh-Sho'arā ( fa, ملک‌الشعراء) and Malek osh-Sho'arā Bahā ...

, Ali-Asgar Hekmat, Ahmad Bahmanyar, Abbas Eqbal, Badiozzaman Forouzanfar,

Ahmad Kasravi Ahmad Hokmabadi Tabrizi ( fa, سید احمد حکم‌آبادی تبریزی, Ahmad-e Hokmabadi-ye Tabrizi; 29 September 1890 – 11 March 1946), later known as Ahmad Kasravi ( fa, احمد کسروی, Ahmad-e Kasravi), was a pre-eminent Iran ...

Mojtaba Minovi Mojtaba Minovi ( fa, مجتبی مینوی; February 1903 Tehran – January 1977, Tehran), was an Iranian historian, literary scholar and professor of Tehran University. He was a participant in the Ferdowsi Millenary celebrations in 1934 in Tehr ...

Said Nafisi Saeed Nafisi (also Naficy) ( fa, سعید نفیسی; June 8, 1895 – November 13, 1966) was an Iranian scholar, fiction writer and poet. He was a prolific writer in Persian. Nafisi was born in Tehran, where he conducted numerous research proje ...

, Hassan Pirnia, and

Ebrahim Pourdavoud Ibrahim (also spelled Ibraheem) ( ar, إبراهيم, ) is the Arabic name of the prophet and patriarch Abraham and one of Allah's messengers in the Quran. It is a common first name and surname among Muslims and Arab Christians, a cognate of the ...

. The final event of the celebrations was the inauguration of the new building for the mausoleum of Ferdowsi in Toos, by the congress participants, with the presence of

Scholarly publications related to the millennial

An important outcome of the Ferdowsi millennial was the publication of a large number of scholarly works dedicated to the study of Ferdowsi and the Shahnameh, notably: * Mohammad Ramazani published the

(based on Macan's edition) a year before the millennial (Tehran, in five volumes). * Sayf Azad edited and published the Shahnameh and illustrated it with pictures of ancient kings inspired by Achaemenid and Sasanian sculptures (4 vols., Berlin, 1934–1935). * Henri Massé's ''Firdausi et l'épopée nationale'' (Paris, 1934) *

's collected articles on Ferdowsi's life and works and the chronology of the Shahnameh, in a special issue of Bāḵtar monthly (Isfahan, 1934) * A collection of papers presented by various Persian scholars to the congress in ''Ferdowsī-nāma-ye Mehr'' (Tehran, 1934) * A collection by Armenian scholars in Yerevan under the title ''Firdusi Žolovacus'' (Ferdowsī celebration) * A collection by Soviet scholars titled Ferdovsi (Moscow, 1934) * ''Firdausi Celebration'' (New York, 1934), a collection of articles that included a catalog of the principal manuscripts of the Shahnameh then known. * The 1935 volume of the French periodical ''

Journal Asiatique The ''Journal asiatique'' (full earlier title ''Journal Asiatique ou Recueil de Mémoires, d'Extraits et de Notices relatifs à l'Histoire, à la Philosophie, aux Langues et à la Littérature des Peuples Orientaux'') is a biannual peer-reviewed ac ...

'', devoted to Ferdowsi * A special commemorative issue of ''Īrān-e Bāstān'' (Berlin, 1936) by Sayf Āzād. * A collection of 33 papers read by the participants in the congress, under the title ''Ketāb-e hazāra-ye Ferdowsī'' (Tehran, 1943) BAKHTAZMAYI TICKET FERDOWSI TOMB 1924

Impact of the Ferdowsi millennial on Iranian Studies

Several participants of the congress expressed the opinion that the greatest service that the scholarly world could render to the Persian-speaking people would be the publication of a critical and reliable edition of the Shahnameh. The Borūḵīm Publishing House in Tehran tried to address this issue and published the complete text of the Šāh-nāma, based on the Vullers edition under the supervision of

, Abbas Eqbal,

Solayman Haïm Solayman Haïm (also Soleyman or Soleiman), who appears in dictionaries in English under the name Sulayman Hayyim ( fa, سلیمان حییم) ( in Tehran, Iran – February 14, 1970 in Tehran), was an Iranian lexicographer, translator, playw ...

and

. Fritz Wolff made a lasting contribution with the publication of his glossary of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh (''Glossar zu Ferdosis Schahname''), which was presented as a gift to the Persian people by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

ambassador on the first day of the congress. These contributions greatly advanced Iranian scholarship, and led to the appearance of a number of monumental scholarly works on

and the

in subsequent decades.

Sources

Encyclopedia Iranica: Abu’L-Qāsem Iv. Millenary Celebration, Ferdowsi
* ''Ketāb-e hazāra-ye Ferdowsī'' (in Persian), Tehran 1943 {{Ferdowsi 1930s in Iraq 1934 in Egypt 1934 in France 1934 in Iran 1934 in the Soviet Union 1934 in the United States Ferdowsi Iranian studies Shahnameh

Participants in the Millennial Congress

Scholarly publications related to the millennial

Impact of the Ferdowsi millennial on Iranian Studies

See also

Sources