Hakim Abu al-Qasim Firdawsi Tusi (Firdawsi)
Shāhnāmah شاهنامه (The book of kings)
Persia: Qazvin or Shiraz, late sixteenth century?

The world’s longest poem, the Shāhnāmah‘s fifty thousand couplets tell a mix of myths, legends and factual accounts of the history of Iran from ancient times to the seventh century. This lavishly decorated manuscript is the earliest of eight copies held in the Library. Lines of Thought traces the way in which humans share their epic stories across the centuries, from Homer to Margaret Drabble via Beowulf and Dante.