religion as one of the four things most important to him; Biography Daqiqi began his career at the court of the Muhtajid ruler Abu'l Muzaffar ibn Muhammad in Chaghaniyan, and was later invited to the Samanid court by the Samanid ruler (amir) Mansur I (). Under the Samanids, ancient Iranian legends and heroic traditions were taken in special interest, thus inspiring Daqiqi to write the Shahnameh ("The Book of Kings"), a long epic poem based on the history of the Iranians. He was, however reportedly murdered by his slave in 977. Only a small part of Shahnameh had been completed, which was about the conflict between Gushtasp and Arjasp. The rapid growth of interest in ancient Iranian history made Ferdowsi continue the work of Daqiqi, completing the Shahnameh in 994, only a few years before the fall of the Samanid Empire. He later completed a second version of the Shahnameh in 1010, which he presented to the Ghaznavid Sultan Mahmud (). However, his work was not as appreciated by the Ghaznavids as it was by the Samanids. Daqiqi's small part, which included around 1,000 verses, was maintained in the Shahnameh; his technique is more old-fashioned compared to that of Ferdowsi, and also "dry and devoid of the similes and images that are to be found in Ferdowsi's poetry" (Khaleghi-Motlagh). This was mentioned in the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi, who although admired him, also criticized his poetic style, and considered it inappropriate for the national epic of Iran. References Sources . 10th-century Persian-language poets 930s births 977 deaths Samanid-period poets People from Tus, Iran Dehqans Ancient Persian literature