The ''Garshasp-nama'' () is an

epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...

Asadi Tusi Abu Nasr Ali ibn Ahmad Asadi Tusi (; – 1073) was a Persian poet, linguist and author. He was born at the beginning of the 11th century in Tus, Iran, in the province of Khorasan, and died in the late 1080s in Tabriz. Asadi Tusi is considered a ...

(died 1072/73). It has been described as one of the best epic poems in

Persian literature Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day ...

, comparable to ''

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

'', by

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

, and the most important work of Asadi Tusi. Asadi Tusi completed the poem in 1066 and dedicated it to a certain Abu Dulaf, the ruler of Nakhjavan (nothing is known about him). The poem has also been translated to other languages such as French and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. It seems that Asadi Tusi wrote this poem based on a written source. Like the ''Shahnameh'', it contains few Arabic loan-words and consists of some 9,000 verses. The main hero of this epic poem is Garshasp, the son of Etret, and grandson of

Sām Sām (), also transliterated Saam, is a mythical hero of ancient Persia, and an important character in the Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian p ...

. The poem begins with the story of

Jamshid Jamshid () (, ''Jamshēd''; Middle- and New Persian: جم, ''Jam''), also known as ''Yima'' (Avestan: 𐬫𐬌𐬨𐬀 ''Yima''; Persian/Pashto: یما ''Yama''), is the fourth Shah of the mythological Pishdadian dynasty of Iran according to ' ...

and

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. Jamshid is overthrown by Zahhak and flees to Zabolistan. In Zabolistan, Jamshid falls in love with an unnamed daughter of Kurang, the king of Zabolistan, and she bore a child for Jamshid, named Tur (not to be confused with Tur, the son of Freydun). Jamshid flees again to China. Garshasp is actually the grandson of Tur's grandson.

References

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Further reading