The Grand Ayatollah

—Douglas Gilbert

Poetry by Douglas Gilbert

Ah, aku telah muak dengan keadaan ini.

Hidupku terlalu memukkan, bagaimana bila aku pergi.

Hingga pada malam ketiga aku berjalan tanpa arah, hampir tanpa melihat ke depan.

Seorang kakek tua menyuruhku duduk di atas karpetnya, sudah sangat tua..

“Duduk di sini, biarpun karpetku telah rapuh dan tua setua aku, dia bisa mengantarkanmu ketempat yang ramai dan menyenangkan untukmu”

“Siapa kamu?”

“Aku Aladin, Jasmineku telah mati. Aku tidak mau ke persia lagi, aku mau menunggu disini saja, menunggu Tuhan mengantarkanku ke tempat Jasmine”

Aku menurutinya…

Karpet ini membawa aku terbang, mmmmm dingin sekali, aku hanya merunduk dan menutup wajahku dengan kedua tanganku,

Sebenarnya aku agak takut..

Karpetnya mulai mendarat perlahan

Aku mulai mengintip dari sela-sela jariku

Ummmmmm, udaranya wangiiii sekali, harum musk, juga rosmary…

Karpet yang aku duduki berubah menjadi unta tinggi yang bercorak indah,

Waaaah, langit malamnya cerah bukan main.

Di depanku istana yang besarnya sebesar desaku, kubahnya terang benderang

Ratusan orang berjajar dikedua sisi karpet marun bercorak khas timur tengah,

memaikan musik timur tengah,

tari-tarian timur tengah mengiringi aku yang masih duduk diatas unta tinggiku,

“Selamat malam tuan putri, kami semua pelayan anda, apa mau anda katakan pada kami, kami akan melayani anda”

Semuanya indah, semuanya meriah, jin lampu ajaib itu tersenyum sambil menundukan tubuhnya kepadaku, dia bilang..

“Apa yang anda butuhkan baginda putri?”

“Mmmmm, aku lapar, aku mau makan-makanan enak, aku mau susu segar, aku mau sapi panggang, aku ayam goreng, aku mau roti yang besar!!!”

“Perintah anda adalah kehormatan bagi saya,”

Seketika semuanya tersedia di depan mataku..

“Ada lagi baginda putri?”

“Aku mau be the one ku kemari..”

I’ve pleased to have received the page proofs for two articles that will be included in an upcoming edited volume that should be published next year, in time for everyone to buy it at SBL Atlanta next November.

Christoph Levin and Ehud Ben Zvi (eds.)
Concept of Exile in Ancient Israel and its Contexts
(Berlin: Walter De Gruyter)

The volume is the result of fascinated pair of workshops held at the University of Alberta in Edmonton (in Spring 2008) and Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich (June 2009). If I understand correctly, the two institutions have some kind idea-sharing arrangement that Ehud and Christoph took advantage of to get a bunch of people together and sort through issue of the exile in biblical literature.

Here is the blurb for the workshops, reproduced from the U. of Alberta’s site.

This workshop brings together scholars from the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich (LMU) and the University of Alberta, along with colleagues from other European and Canadian universities. This workshop is part of a newly founded cooperation between LMU and the UofA and is conceived as the first of two workshops. The second is planned for Munich (2009).

The workshop is meant to explore, from multiple perspectives, the concept of “Exile” in ancient Israel, mainly but exclusively in prophetic literature, including the social and historical setting against which it evolved and in a way that is informed by comparative ancient materials.

The link above also has nice introduction to the biblical idea of “exile” as a product of historical deportations.

I’m not exactly sure if every paper from with two workshops will appear in the volume, but I suspect that all but a few will be.

2008

Hindy Najman (Toronto) Revelation in Exile

Martti Nissinen  (Helsinki) The Exiled Gods of Babylon in Neo-Assyrian Prophecy

Willi Braun  (Alberta) Imagining Exile: Early Christian Uses of a Familiar Concept

Christoph Levin  (LMU) The Empty Land in Kings

Hermann-Josef Stipp (LMU)  The Concept of the Empty Land in the Book of Jeremiah

Ehud Ben Zvi (Alberta) The Voice and Role of a Counterfactual Memory in the Construction of Exile and Return: Considering Jer 40:7-12

James R. Linville (Lethbridge) Myth of the Exilic Return: Myth Theory and the Exile as an Eternal Reality in the Prophets

Jan Christian Gertz (U. of Heidelberg) From a Military Threat to the Concept of Exile in the Book of Amos

Selina Stewart (Alberta) Sive deus, sive dea: Prophecy, ritual and exilic gods from Babylon to Rome

Reinhard Müller (LMU) Images of Exile in the Book of Judge

Francis Landy(Alberta)  Exile in the Book of Isaiah

2009

http://www.at1.evtheol.uni-muenchen.de/aktuelles/concept-o-exile/index.html

Ehud Ben Zv (Alberta) Exile in the Book of Chronicles

Eckart Otto (LMU) Deuteronomistic Redactions of the Book of Deuteronomy in the Exilic Period

Jan Christian Gertz (Heidelberg) Does the Primeval History Reflect on the Exile?

Jakob Wöhrle (WestfälischeWilhelms-Universität Münster) The Un-Empty Land. The Concept of Exile and Land in P

Hermann-Josef Stipp (LMU) The Original Function of the Concept of the Empty Land in the Book of Jeremiah

Paul G. Mosca (U. of British Columbia) Job and Second Isaiah: Two Faces of Exile

Juha Pakkala (Helsinki) The Concept of Exile and its Development in the Ezra Tradition

Reinhard Müller (LMU) Exile and the Empty Land in the Holiness Code (Lev. 26)

James Linville (Lethbridge) Playing with Maps of Exile: Displacement, Utopia, and Disjunction

Francis Landy (Edmonton) Reading, Writing, and Exile

Hindy Najman (Toronto) The First and Second Destruction in the Late Ancient Jewish Imagination

Kirsi Valkama (Helsinki) Judah in the Mid-Sixth Century BCE. Archaeological Remains

Christoph Levin (LMU) What do we really know about Jerusalem’s conquest and the exile?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The whole affair was a wonderful experience (both times) and I really enjoyed the time in Germany this summer. I saw a mess of alps, drank a lot of good beer, ate a lot of good food, and met some really good people. There were a lot of great papers and a wide variety of approaches, from source critical, archaeological and historical to Francis’ wonderful musings on poetry, exile and death in Isaiah. I think  mine sort of stood out like sort thumbs. I’m getting used to it…

My 2008 paper, “Myth of the Exilic Return: Myth Theory and the Exile as an Eternal Reality in the Prophets”  was a lot of fun to write. Doing a paper in Edmonton is always great for me since it is where I started my university career under Francis and Ehud. I sort of when back to my general Religious Studies roots and mused on the exile, creation, and competing mythologies of exile and restoration in the shadow of Eliade,  J. Z. Smith and Wendy Doniger. I drew some examples from Genesis, Isaiah, and Amos.

In 2009 I stuck to Isaiah 40-55 and got a little strange. “Playing with Maps of Exile: Displacement, Utopia and Disjunction” returns to J. Z. Smith and looks at Second Isaiah as exploring the disjunctions between attempts to assimilate Cyrus to traditional mythical concepts and the need to reaffirm a ‘locative’ cosmic map for which Cyrus cannot assume the role of founder. For that, Second Isaiah juxtaposes Cyrus with the “Servant”.  Informing this study is a comparison with various cargo-cult phenomena (again taking  a cue from Smith), and finding within in a deep resistance to Persia, even if its imperial ambitions have to be accounted for and assimilated.

Technorati Tags: Bible, exile, J., Z., Smith, Babylon, Persia, University+of+Alberta, Ludwig+Maxmilians+Universitat,

Nasrollah Nasehpoor

Masters reopen Music Museum of Iran

In ancient Asia, there was no religion, as the word is understood now.
The people living in China followed Confucianism.
 Those in India did not follow any individual philosopher. There were many thinkers among them, who have written theses in astronomy, science, medicine, morals and ethics, even sex (Vatsyana’s Kamasutra is still worth reading ) and of course, philosophy. Those who have read Vedantas, say, it is interesting. Our people never mentioned the word HINDU, which was coined by the Greek, who pronounce the letter S as H ! They meant Sindhus, people living in the river valley which was ruled by them for quite some time.
In Persia, they had Zoroastrianism. They are very similar to we, namboodiris of Keralam and wear janyu (poonunool in our language). They had no WEEK, instead, every day of the month was given a name !

Farther west, were the Jews who worshipped JEHOA and obesrved holiday from work on the seventh day, the seventh month and the seventh year. (Were they not bored ?)
All these people lived peacefully, never going to war, doing brisk trade among themselves and begetting children.
All this changed, when the Romans ruled the whole western world, with the help of a regular army and civil staff.
Chist revolted against the Romans and the Jews, who supported the Romans. When the Roman Emperor accepted Christianity, the latter became an oppressor, inviting revolt from the Asians agains the European rule.
When Mohammad started war and formed a new religion, the scenario changed, resulting in strife between Christians and Muslims in later years.
We all are now involved in eternal strife, not knowing how to end it.

I’m told it’s a Luristanian Bronze Age spearpoint, but after scanning through a few dozen other Luristanian bronzes of approximately the same age, I’m starting to think it *might* be a knife blade.  On the other hand, the person who told me was an expert, whereas I talk mostly out of my ass.  It’s probably a spearpoint.  The “tang” on the bottom where the spear would be fixed onto a pole just doesn’t look sturdy enough to me.  To my ignorant, but eagerly speculative eye, that would suggest it probably wasn’t intended for use in battle, perhaps it would have been more “ceremonial” or something, for show, kinda like the polearms the Swiss Guard would carry.  WTF do I know, though?  I just spew words and hope they sound smart.

It’s was made somewhere between 1700-1200BC, in the Luristan region of what is now Iran.  Persons with an interest in relatively current events might recognize Lorestan(same thing) as the home of Mahdi Kharroubi, one of the recent also-ran candidates for Fake President of Iran.  Most of the news focused on Moussavi and DinnerJacket, since they were the main candidates, but poor ol’ Mahdi got cheated too!  I’d totally let him borrow my shiv if he wants to get even in style.

1700-1200BC Bronze Age spear

In ~1500BC, Luristan occupied the northern/central part of Iran, the region near the border with Afghanistan.  They were known for their bronzework, but not much else.  They may have largely kept to themselves, although there are indications that they had at least some contact with their neighbors, the Mesopotamians. Unlike the Mesopotamians, however, the Luristanians apparently weren’t so good with the written records, thus the not knowing a whole lot about them, except that their style, much like my own, was unique in the region.  They don’t appear to have traded much in bronze with their neighbors, by virtue of Luristan bronze being pretty rare in excavations outside of the Luristan region, including neighboring Mesopotamia, but they did engage in at least some trade.

I tried to find other examples  to see how similar others from the same time period were to mine.  I couldn’t really find any that matched, some were closeish, but none had the same combination of features that might suggest a common origin(at least to my ignorant eye), or narrow down its age a bit.

Misteri hilangnya 50 ribu serdadu anggota pasukan Raja Cambyses II dari Persia pada 525 Sebelum Masehi diungkap oleh dua ilmuwan bersaudara asal Italia, Angelo dan Alfredo Castiglioni. Mereka menemukan ratusan tengkorak, tulang belulang, senjata perang, dan beberapa perhiasan di Gurun Sahara di wilayah barat Mesir dengan alat pendeteksi logam.

”Kami telah menemukan bukti arkeologi pertama dari laporan sejarah sejarawan Yunani Herodotus,” papar Dario Del Bufalo, anggota ekshibisi dari Universitas Lecce, Italia, kepada Discovery News seperti dikutip Daily Mail kemarin (10/11).

Keberhasilan tersebut diraih berkat kerja keras selama 13 tahun yang dibagi ke dalam lima periode. Penggalian pertama dilakukan pada 1996. Dua ilmuwan yang merupakan saudara kembar itu menemukan sumber mata air yang telah mengering serta sumber mata air buatan dari ratusan pot air. Arcaheology News melaporkan, perhiasan yang mereka temukan terdiri atas kalung perak dan anting-anting. Mereka juga menemukan senjata perunggu berupa pisau belati.

Menurut catatan sejarawan Herodotus, 50 ribu serdadu itu dikirim oleh Raja Cambyses II, putra Cyrus The Great. Mereka bertugas menyerang Oasis Siwa, sebuah oasis di dekat perbatasan Libya-Mesir, dan sekaligus menghancurkan Oracle (semacam pendeta agung) di Kuil Amun yang terletak di tempat tersebut.

Keputusan itu diambil karena para pendeta Kuil Amun menolak mengakui kekuasaan Persia. Alasan lain pengiriman pasukan dalam jumlah besar tersebut adalah karena sang raja khawatir terhadap ramalan Oracle mengenai kematiannya.

Rakyat Mesir kuno memercayai Oracle sebagai salah satu Tuhan yang mampu melihat masa depan. Mereka sering berkonsultasi kepada Oracle sebelum membuat keputusan besar. Pasukan sampai di Oasis setelah berjalan selama tujuh hari di gurun. Tempat tersebut dipercaya para ilmuwan sebagai El-Kharga. Namun, mereka tak terlihat lagi setelah itu.

Pasukan Raja Cambyses II tersebut diperkirakan menghadapi badai pasir raksasa sebelum mencapai tujuan pada 525 Sebelum Masehi. Sejak saat itu, mereka tak pernah kembali dan tak terlihat lagi.

”Angin muncul dari selatan, kuat dan mematikan, berputar menyelimuti pasukan hingga mengakibatkan mereka hilang (terkubur pasir),” bunyi salah satu bagian tulisan Herodotus.

Dua bersaudara penemu kota emas Mesir 20 tahun silam yang dikenal sebagai Berenike Panchrysos itu menggali sepanjang 35 meter dengan tinggi 1,8 meter dan kedalaman 3 meter. Dari situlah mereka menemukan sebuah tempat seperti batu beserta temuan lainnya.

Mereka menduga, tempat itu digunakan pasukan Raja Cambyses untuk berlindung dari badai pasir. ”Ukuran dan bentuk Kuil Amun membuatnya sempurna untuk berlindung dari badai pasir,” ungkap Alfredo Castiglioni kepada Discovery News.

Baru-baru ini, mereka membuat film yang mengisahkan penemuan mereka itu untuk festival film arkeologi Rovereto.

(Honestly, this is not a plot for another Brendan Fraser “Mummy” movie.)

The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have been finally located, solving one of archaeology’s biggest outstanding mysteries, according to Italian researchers.

Bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones found in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert have raised hopes of finally finding the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were said to be buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C.

Discovery has the full story here with a good photo slideshow and a nice short video.

Here is an excerpt from Aubry de Sélincourt’s translation of Herodotus:

The force which was sent against the Ammonians started from Thebes with guides, and can be traced as far as the town of Oasis… and is seven days’ journey across the sand from Thebes.  …General report has it that the army got as far as this, but of its subsequent fate there is no news whatever. It never reached the Ammonians and it never returned to Egypt. There is, however, a story told by the Ammonians themselves and by others who heard it from them, that when the men had left Oasis, and in their march across the desert had reached a point about mid-way between the town and the Ammonian border, a southerly wind of extreme violence drove the sand over them in heaps as they were taking their mid-day meal, so that they disappeared forever.

Update: Not everyone is accepting this as a legitimate find. Consider David Meadows’ take on this story.

The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have been finally located, solving one of archaeology’s biggest outstanding mysteries, according to Italian researchers. Bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones found in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert have raised hopes of finally finding the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were said to be buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C.

Read more

The darksome gods of yesterday aren’t as dead as we would like to think, their horns exposed from time to time by shifting sands and forgotten maps leading to the wrong destinations. They live in our minds and memories, in places sequestered and black but pulsating with sparks of life. As long as their names are known and spoken they shall be worshiped, for speech itself is a sort of devotion.

Amun still lives among the oases, an asp in a sun bleached skull, an endless field of bones strewn across the Sahara, in the same places his oracles danced and prayed in ammonia fed dreams that felt like waking life. He is hidden like the fifty thousand Persian corpses lost in the sand, is revealed through his power, like the searing desert wind that disinters their lost skeletons, is gleaming like the exposed gold they once wore. Stepping effortlessly over the bloated decay of three thousand years as if they were but Cambyses or Xerxes, history is a thorny spiral adorning his crown.

Stuffing - walnuts, pinenuts, almonds, sour cherry, barberries, figs and prunes

 And a few spices for the stuffing and the bird in general:

Cardamom, saffron and cinnamon

The dried fruits were soaked* then chopped into smaller pieces.

* we forgot to soak them ahead of time, so made do with soaking them in boiling water for about 20 minutes while we got on with other preparation.

While we were cooking we indulged in some snacks from Sonsa (no they aren’t quite Persian): 

Snacks: dolmades, hummus and katmer

The soaked fruit, nuts, tomato, cardamom and cinnamon were cooked up to make a pretty impressive stuffing.

Stuffing ready to be stuffed

The chicken was stuffed, covered in a mixture of butter and saffron and placed in the oven.

Now, I did take pictures of the chicken before and after it was finished, but to be honest, they aren’t that great. I think I will blame my failure on Donna Hay’s wisdom from Masterchef  - meat is “too brown” and hard to style!

It was delicious though!!

Details

The chicken can be served with vegetables and roast potatoes, or with rice.

Sally explains that you can play with components of the stuffing, but that the important thing is to retain a degree of sharpness in the ingredients you use.

100g barberries, soaked
50g prunes, soaked and pitted
50g dried apricots or peaches, soaked (note we used figs, due to my stone fruit issues)
50g walnuts
50g pistachios and almonds
50g sour or morello cherries
150g butter
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cardamom
1 tbs tomato pureee
Salt and pepper
A delicious chicken
1 tsp saffron threads covered in 1tsp boiling water
4-5 potatoes
Other vegies for roasting (we used carrot)

• Drain the fruit and pat it dry. Chop the walnuts, prunes, apricots.
• Melt 50g butter, fry fruit and nuts for 6-7 minutes.
• Add cinnamon, cardamom and tomato puree. Cook some more, then take it off the heat.
• Place the chook in a baking dish, season it and fill it with the stuffing. Fold the flap of skin over the stuffing.
• Melt the remaining butter, add saffron and pour all over the chicken.
• Place in a pre-heated oven 180 degrees, covered for 40 minutes.
• Cut spuds into chip shape, sauté in butter and oil until golden.
• Remove foil from chicken, baste it, arrange the potatoes around the chicken.
• Put chicken back in oven for 35 minutes on 190 degrees until potato cooked and chicken crisp.

The two most powerful regional powers: Turkey and Iran; (Nov. 10, 2009)

Turkey is the 16th ranked economy and Iran the 17th with the understanding that Turkey has no oil or gas production while Iran is the second exporter of oil and the second in world’s reserve.  Turkey has a population of 70 million while Iran is about 60 million.  Iran is much larger than Turkey in superficies but they are big enough to be considered self sufficient and independent nations.  Turkey is the turnpike for most of oil and gas pipelines originating in Russia, Iran, and central Asia and converging to Europe.  Russia has borders with both nations that dictated their foreign policies.  Both countries have over 7 States on their borders. Both nations share the Kurdish problem for self-autonomy: The Kurds are about over 20 millions and live in inaccessible mountain chains and high plateaus; they overflow to vast regions in East Turkey and West Iran. Turkey is mostly Moslem Sunnis and Iran Moslem Chiaa since the 18th century. Since antiquity, Turkey influence reached to the Euphrates River while Iran to the Tigers River; both large rivers take sources in Turkey and cross Iraq. The good news is that these two most powerful regional powers have many interests in common that dwarf any petty political divergences; they are the cornerstone for a new economic and strategic alliance in the Middle East.

Brief history:  Throughout antiquity till our modern days three main empires dominated the landscape of the Middle East. Turkey, Iran, and Egypt were vast economic and political empires the advent of Islam. Turkey and Iran managed to enjoy a semi-continuous existence of empires but Egypt had large vacuums of many centuries in between empires since the Pharaohs. Egypt enjoyed special status during the Greek, Roman, Arab, and Ottoman empires and was a world apart as wheat basket and the most advanced in civilization. Turkey and Iran could benefit from stable “national” entities but Egypt experienced foreign leaders as kings or sultans and relied on foreign officers to lead its armies, the latest dynasty was from Albania with Muhammad Ali.

The three empires are currently mostly Moslems and they were in general lenient with the minority religious sects.  The three empires have vast lands, rich in water, and have currently about the same number of population of about 70 millions and increasing at high rates. The Iranian empires relied on Afghanistan’s and the central Asian’s tribes for their armies.  As the frequent Mogul raids descended on Persia its armies went on the defensive. The Turkish and Ottoman empires relied on the Caucasus tribes from current Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia States, and also from Albania and Romania.

As Russia started to expand southward and occupied many of these regions then Turkey curtailed most of its vast military campaigns and went on the defensive.  The Caucasus triangle of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia is still a hot spot for domination among Russia, Turkey, and to a lesser extent Iran, especially with the oil and gas pipelines that pass through them.  My post “Cursed Cities: Cars” would shed detailed historical accounts on that tragic triangle.

Modern Status:

In around 1920’s two military dictators ruled over Iran and Turkey.  Rida “shah” in Iran and “Attaturk” in Turkey were attempting to modernize their infrastructure and civil administrations by emulating the European examples.  Attaturk went as far as changing the Turkish alphabet to Latin.  Both dictators confronted the religious clerics for establishing secular States with unequal long term successes.  Iran has reverted to religious oligarchy after Khomeini came to power.

While Iran was historically more lenient with its minorities it appears that Turkey is practically taking steps to outpacing Iran in that advantage; for example, Turkey is translating the Koran into the ethnic languages such as Kurdish.  Women in Turkey are prominent in businesses such as Goler Sabanji; 9% of women are represented in the Parliament.  In Iran, Shireen Abadi is Nobel laureate for defending women’s rights; Iranian women represent only 3% in the Parliament though they constitute 65% in universities.

In the 70’s, Iran was flush with oil revenue while Turkey was struggling to establish an industrial infrastructure. It appears that in the long term oil is definitely a curse for emerging nations because wealth is not invested on the human potentials and stable modern political structure.

In 2008, foreign investment in Turkey was 14 billions dollars and increasing while it amounted to just one billion in Iran.  Turkey has expanded its representation in Africa by opening 12 new Embassies and 20 new consulates.

Nisreen Ozaimy is from Iran by origin and fled to Turkey; when her family lived in Turkey it was impressed by the confidence that the Turks valued their various ethnic nationalities; they had this implicit feeling that Turkey is in fact a bridge between East and West.  The Turks managed to blend harmoniously the secular and religious inclinations.  Turkey is a member of NATO and has a chance to joining the European Union.  Turkey is out of its 60 years hibernation and is currently very active in Middle East Affairs.  Turkey is on excellent terms with Syria: they recently opened their borders to enter without visas and are conducting joint military maneuvers.  Turkey is about to reach a peace agreement with the Kurdish opposition movement.  Iran is struggling to be incorporated in the world community and the nuclear issue is poisoning its relations with the western nations.

Note:  this is a revised and updated version of my post “Turkey and Iran: Same and Different (April 25, 2009)”

Abul Kasim Mansur Hasan Ferdousi s-a născut în satul Baj, regiunea Tus, dintr-o familie de nobili rurali(dihkani). Înzestrat cu o educație aleasă, încă din tinerețe și-a dovedit talentul, versificând episoade eroice din istoria Iranului. În anul 980, aflând de asasinarea poetului Daghighi, își propune să ducă mai departe opera neterminată a acestuia, inspirându-se din Șah-Name (Cronica șahilor) în proză a lui Abul Mansur Gaznavi și o culegere de legende a prințului tamurid Bai Songhor. În 994, redactează prima versiune a epopeii Șah-Name, pe care o desăvârșește în 1010, dedicând-o sultanului Mahmud Gaznavi. Însă după o perioadă, cade în dizgrația sultanului, care îl condamnă la moarte, cuazele principale ale acestei hotărâri se pare că au fost deosebirea de rasă și deosebirile religioase. Totuși, reușește să fugă de la curtea sultanului din Gazna și-și caută refugiul în alte orașe. Scrie apoi celebra Satiră  împotriva sultanului Mahmud, care astăzi este pusă în fruntea tuturor edițiilor din Șah-Name.

Epopeea lui Ferdousi (100000 de stihuri) este una dintre cele mai fumoase din lume, e formată din trei părți: mitologică, eroică și istorică. Ea povestește lupta poporului din Iran împotriva celui din Turan: duel secular complicat de războaiele împotriva Bizanțului și a arabilor care propovăduiau Islamul.

Ferdousi a fost numit pe bună dreptate „Părintele poeziei persane” și „Homerul Iranului”, epopeea sa este o capodoperă, un model de epopee națională.

Cum a fost creată Cronica Șahilor

Datini vechi, din gură-n gură, povestite-au fost în șir

vrednic ce-i de-mpărtășire nu plăti uitării bir.

Povesti-voi din nou parte din ce s-a mai povestit.

Tot ce înșira-voi și-alții au mai spus, necontenit,

din grădina conștiinței roadele strângând cu sârg.

Eu? Nici nu voi atinge poala pomului cel greu de pârg,

fiindcă vlagă n-am destulă; totuși, chiar de va ședea

omul sub un pom puternic, ocroti-l-va umbra grea.

Poate că din chiparosul ce-și asvârle umbra-n zări,

voi atinge-o creangă joasă, și-astfel, peste depărtări,

prin această carte despre șahi cu mândre străluciri

voi lăsa o umbră-n lume, umbra unei amintiri…

Nu-s în cronica mea scrise nici minciuni și nici scorniri;

dar nu crede că pe lume toate merg pe-același crug.

Cei mintoși găsi-vor hrană în cuvinte, din belșug,

chiar de-or trebui să-mi cate-n ele semne-nțelepțești.

Fosta-a din vechimi un hronic c-o mulțime de povești.

Toți mubezii*-aveau o parte din aceste vechi scripturi,

și-orice minte luminată mai păstra ceva frânturi.

Fost-a, dintre căpetenii de hotar, un pahlevan

înțelept, vestit, puternic și din tată fiu dihkan**;

drag i-a fost să scoată fapte din bătrâni, și i-a fost drag

să adune laolaltă povestiri străvechi șireag.

El cheamă de pe meleaguri câte un mubed cărunt,

și din părți, ei închegară hronicul cu de-amănunt;

le ceru să-nșire-obârșii, șahi de șahi , și mari viteji,

cum îi întocmiră lumea la-nceput, și, val-vârtej,

dusu-s-au, lăsând-o-n starea vrednică de plâns, și cum

sub o stea ferice, zilnic, săvârșiră trebi duium,

Toți mai-marii povestiră dinainte-i, rând pe rând,

datini de la șahi și grele vremuri lumea preschimbând.

Ascultându-i, făurit-a hronicul vestit, și-astfel,

umbra-aducerii-aminte, fericit, lăsat-a el

printre oameni, și o lume pe de-a pururi laude-l!

* Mubed – înțelept, vizionar, prooroc în Persia medievală.

**Nobil vechi, proprietar de pământuri și sate, păstrător al tradițiilor istorice (aici e vorba de Danișver Dihkan).

Traducerea  George Dan

]]> http://kirjavakirjasto.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/sinun-kanssasi-maailma-on-kuin-kirjasto/ Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:05:38 +0000 Kirjava kirjasto http://kirjavakirjasto.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/sinun-kanssasi-maailma-on-kuin-kirjasto/ http://lilseby.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/prince-of-persia-official-movie-trailer/ Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:53:23 +0000 Lil Seby's Blog http://lilseby.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/prince-of-persia-official-movie-trailer/

Mi-au placut la nebunie jocurile Prince of Persia.Imi placea foarte mult cum merge pe pereti:).Cel mai tare mi sa parut Prince of Persia 3.Oricum, acum sa trecem la film.Din cate ne arata trailer-ul, mie cel putin nu mi se pare foarte spectaculos, adica filmul merge pe cursul jocurilor.Imi da impresia de filmele de pe ProTV gen: Hercule sau Xena(daca asa se scrie).Hai cred ca va amintiti si voi filmele.Sper ca va fii marfa filmu…