“The Earth My Throne, The Heavens My Crown”: Siyāvash as Supranational Hero in Ferdowsi’s Shāh-nāma

Abstract

This article explores the Shāh-nāma’s recounting of the tragic myth of Prince Siyāvash and analyzes the implications of Siyāvash’s supranational ethical sense in an epic often closely associated with proto-nationalism and a concrete sense of Iranian identity. It proposes that Ferdowsi’s depiction of Siyāvash’s evolving sense of identity—one that contains elements of what we would associate today with supranationalism (or cosmopolitanism) and hybridity—creates a subtext that promotes ideals running counter to the proto-nationalist tendencies outwardly espoused by the epic. This subtext helped facilitate the long-held view of Siyāvash as a figure of great spiritual import whose plight has larger resonance than that merely of nation and homeland. The supranational aspects of the story likewise make it highly relevant for today, when exile, refugees, and the question of nationalism versus supranationalism abound in both literary and political discourse.