The Shahnameh (Persian: شاهنامه‎, romanized: Šāhnāme pronounced [ʃɒːhnɒːˈme]; lit. ' 'The Book of Kings'') is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 "distichs" or couplets (two-line verses), the Shahnameh is one of the world's longest epic poems. It tells mainly the mythical and to some extent the historical past of the Persian Empire from the creation of the world until the Muslim conquest in the seventh century. Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and the greater region influenced by Persian culture such as Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Dagestan celebrate this national epic. The work is of central importance in Persian culture and Persian language, regarded as a literary masterpiece, and definitive of the ethno-national cultural identity of Iran. 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 Sasanian emperor, which brought an end to the Zoroastrian influence in Iran. Indian, Mughal Mughal period About 1610 Object Place: Northern India MEDIUM/TECHNIQUE Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper DIMENSIONS Height x width: 21.4 × 12.2 cm (8 7/16 × 4 13/16 in.) CREDIT LINE Gift of John Goelet ACCESSION NUMBER 66.111 NOT ON VIEW COLLECTIONS Asia CLASSIFICATIONS Books and manuscripts PROVENANCE By 1966, John Goelet, Amblainville (Oise) France; 1966, gift of Goelet to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 9, 1966)