The Shahnameh, ("The Book/Epic of Kings"), is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Firdausi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. It is the world's longest poem written by a single poet. It tells mainly the mythical and to some extent the historical past of the Persian Empire from the creation of the world until the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century. The work is of central importance in Persian culture, regarded as a literary masterpiece. It is also important to the contemporary adherents of Zoroastrianism, in that it traces the historical links between the beginnings of the religion and the death of the last Sassanid ruler of Persia during the Muslim conquest which brought an end to the Zoroastrian influence in Iran.
