For centuries the Shahnameh lived aloud. In the coffeehouses of Iran a naqqal, a master storyteller, would perform its battles and laments from memory, often before a great painted curtain of its scenes. That tradition is called naqqali, and UNESCO lists it as intangible heritage in need of urgent safeguarding.

New Naqqali carries the same idea into English and onto the screen: the full poem, told in verse that can be read aloud, set beside the pictures, maps and banners a naqqal’s curtain once provided.

The translation follows the poem section by section and couplet by couplet, in rhymed English couplets that keep Ferdowsi’s pace. Every couplet has an address, such as B5.2.22, so a line can be cited, shared, or improved.

Alongside the verse sit the working tools of the translation: notes for each section, three glossaries, genealogical plates for every royal and heroic house, and maps that follow the action as you read.