Evolution of an epic

: the medieval textual history of the Shāhnāma

Abstract

This thesis reconstructs the medieval textual history of the Shāhnāma through a new methodology combining cladistic phylogenetic analysis of the manuscript tradition with stylistic and source-critical study of its historical layers. The approach proceeds in several steps: building a cladogram of the pre-Timurid manuscripts to separate inherited readings from later interpolations; clarifying the pre-manuscript reception based on contemporary sources; characterising the linguistic and narrative profiles of distinct interpolation strata; and situating each stratum within its historical and social context of production.

Chapter 1 applies cladistics to the pre-Timurid corpus to demonstrate that, despite their diversity, all but one manuscript fall into two branches, formed gradually through regional reproduction and local editorial habits.

Chapter 2 re-examines the pre-manuscript period, arguing that storytellers, not court literati, were the Shāhnāma’s earliest transmitters, shaping its earliest layers of modification before scholarly and literary engagement.

Chapter 3 identifies two interpolation patterns tied to the two branches: Branch 1 interpolations rooted in a pre-Mongol storytelling tradition, and London cluster interpolations rooted in a written milieu. The chapter proposes a late-Ilkhanid phase of canonisation in which the two converged.

Chapter 4 examines specific types of Ilkhanid-period interpolation through close textual examples, arguing that mid-ranked scholars, working amid religious anxiety and mixed incentives, reworked the epic to appeal to Mongol patrons and reconcile it with Islamic preaching.

Chapter 5 identifies interpolations shared across all manuscripts, arguing from cumulative stylistic and narrative evidence that the Shāhnāma’s Shiite element originated with Shiite storytellers between 1100 and 1150, and tracing their continued role in the text's later transmission.

Together, these chapters replace the notion of a single authorial text with a model of gradual expansion, cumulative intervention, and uneven reception, establishing a reusable framework for recovering what the Shāhnāma once was and tracing how it became what it is.

Date of Award	2 Dec 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Andrew Peacock (Supervisor)