Dick Davis's Shahnameh

is the closest I'll ever get to the Persian of Ferdowsi's famous epic, a multi-volume poem condensed here into a version that leavens the inevitable tedium of the chronicle with a string of well-realized vignettes related in supple, vivid language. In Davis's translation, each of Ferdowsi's many kings and heroes miraculously stays distinct, and you get enough of each story—especially the famous Rostam's—to gain a feel for the aesthetic predilections of classical Persian ...