Epic Heroes in Ossian by Macpherson and Shahnameh by Firdausi

Abstract

Nationalist sentiments characterize the Scotish James Macpherson’s Ossianic tales and the Persian Abul-Ghasim Ferdausi’s Shahnameh. Macpherson is remembered for his role in the nationalist Gaelic revival against the cultural dominance of Great Britain and Ferdausi is credited for enlivening Persian language and culture at the time of Arab dominance. However, Macpherson’s dual position, both as a member of the aristocracy that seeks alliance with Great Britain and also as an individual with nationalistic sentiments, informs his work. On the one hand, his work quenches the thirst of common people for a national narrative and helps revive the Gaelic tradition. On the other, it abounds with the ideology of the Scottish metropolis, which seeks alliance with Great Britain and endeavors to keep at bay the threats of mounting nationalism in Scotland. Thus his work suffers a dilemma, while Ferdausi’s work is thoroughly given to nationalistic sentiments. In this article we intend to focus on the way heroes are portrayed in their relations with the Royal classes in the two works, to show the traces of two ideologically loaded concepts, namely nation and nation-state, in the formation of both works. The paper thus carries a typological comparative study of the heroes and concludes that Macpherson’s work is the product of nation-states and therefore legitimization of the status quo is an undistinguishable aspect of it. Ferdausi, on the other hand, shows consistency in his nationalistic feelings as depicted in his Pahlavans due to the fact that he lives in a time when nation is defined purely in ethnic and racial terms, allowing him to distance himself from the perspective of the status quo.