The Shahnama is the great Persian epic composed about 1000 CE by a poet called Ferdowsi.   It is made up of 50,000 rhyming couplets and begins with the creation of the world and ends with the Islamic conquest (ca. 600) weaving together legends and stories about the great kings and heros of Persia's past.  Ever since Ferdowsi first compiled this long epic poem, the Shahnama has often been copied and illustrated.

The version we will consider is referred to by many as the Tahmasp Shahnama.  It was patronized by the first Safavid king, Shah Isma'il (r. 1501-1524), for his eldest son and successor, Tahmasp (r. 1524-76), and is comprised of 742 large folios (or pages), 258 of which are illustrations.  The image on the right of "Zal Sighted by a Caravan" is from this manuscript.  This scene comes from Persia's legendary past, as do many of the scenes in the early part of the story.  Later scenes in the Shahnama deal with historical times.  Episodes involving many great past kings, such as Darius, the Achaemenid king, and Alexander the Great are included.