Excerpt of Shahnameh to be published in German

TEHRAN,March 7(MNA) -- A selection of the epic masterpiece of Persian literature, the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), will be published in German in the near future. Comprising about 20,000 verses of the Shahnameh, the selection had been rendered into German by Austrian translator Robert Adam Pollak during World War II, member of the Institute of Iranian Studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences Nosratollah Rastegar told on Monday. Compiled and edited by Rastegar, the selection will been published in Germany with the help of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Iranian Cultural Attaché’s Office in Vienna. Rastegar said that verses of the Shahnameh had previously been translated into German by Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866), however he lamented over the lack of a complete German translation of the book, which is composed of nearly 60,000 verses. He expressed his hope that future generations would endeavor to publish a complete German translation of the book. According some historical sources on Persian literature, Ferdowsi spent 30 years writing the Shahnameh. The Shahnameh is based mainly on the Khwatay-namak, a history of the kings of Persia in Pahlavi (Middle Persian) from mythical times down to the 7th century. For over 1000 years, the Shahnameh has remained one of the most popular works in the Persian-speaking world.