Anti-utopia and its types in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh

دانش و خرد حماسی

Article 3, Volume 1, Issue 1, May 2024, Pages 23-42   

Document Type: Original Article

DOI: 10.22067/jmels.2024.44751

Author

Yusef Bina^*

A graduate of the Ph.D course in Persian language and literature

Abstract

Examining the types of anti-utopias and criticizing them is one of the important topics in the political thought of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. In Shahnameh, the anti-utopia is formed when the Iranian utopia is not formed and there is no Iranian ideal prince to rule over the people. "Absolute corrupt monarchy of the foreign king", "pseudo-democracy" political system and "Mazdaki communal society" are the types of anti-utopia in Shahnameh and according to Ferdowsi, the formation of these systems will only result in the destruction of the country and the destruction of the people. Also, in some stories of Shahnameh, Ferdowsi has spoken about people who live in utopia but do not adhere to its principles and have anti-utopian ethics. Finally, by examining Ferdowsi's critiques of various anti-utopias in Shahnameh, we can identify some of the political crises of his time and draw aspects of his utopia and the best way of governing for Iran. At the same time, criticizing and denying anti-utopias can be a kind of critique of the well-known alternatives to the government crisis in Ferdowsi's time.

Keywords

Anti-utopia; Shahnameh; Ferdowsi; Political thought

References