Shahnameh (Book of Kings) Abu'l Qasim Firdausi (935–1020) The Shahnameh, also transliterated as Shahnama (Persian: شاهنامه‎‎ pronounced [ʃɒːhnɒːˈme], 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.