Ferdowsi Mausoleum in Tus
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Even in a country spoilt for choice when it comes to great poets (Rumi, Sa’adi, Hafez, Omar Khayyam et al), one man stands above all as the father of Iranian national identity. Ferdowsi, a 10th-century landowner’s son, devoted 35 years of his life to crafting the Shahnameh, the Epic of Kings, in which the legendary birth of Iran is recounted in poetic form, starting 7,000 years ago and told until the Arab conquest. A heroic tale of mythical kings and their heroic exploits, the Shahnameh is the epitome of the revival of Iranian culture after the 7th-century Arab conquest and remains popular to this day. In fact, it occupies a venerated place in Iranian consciousness, delineating Iranian national identity in the face of many conquerors. Ferdowsi died penniless at the age of 90 but his old home in Tus, 30km from the holy city of Mashad is a shrine to the great work as well as to the poet himself who is buried under a tombstone carved with scenes from the epic poem.
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