Correcting and Explaining Some Names of Places in Gershasab-Nameh

Parvan, Hamideh; Riahizamin, Zahra

doi:10.22034/nf.2025.366514.1219

Correcting and Explaining Some Names of Places in Gershasab-Nameh

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Hamideh Parvan ¹

Zahra Riahizamin ²

¹ PhD in Epic Literature, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

² Faculty member, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran, corresponding author

10.22034/nf.2025.366514.1219

Abstract

Gershasab-Nameh is an epic story that describes the travels of Gershasb and many places are mentioned in it. Some of these places are mentioned only in Gershasb-Nameh and they are unknown to us today. In this research which has been carried out in descriptive and analytical method, by searching available sources the geographical and historical location and in some cases the current location of some unknown cities in Garshasab-Nameh, which are not mentioned in other Persian epics, have been clarifid. Also different ways of writing some names and the correct form of a word have been specified.The geography of Gershasb-Nameh can be divided into three main parts: India, Rome and Africa, and Turan and China. The purpose of India in this epic is southern India and the current Indonesian archipelago; The location of most of the places in Gershasab-Nameh corresponds to the real geography; Only on the way of Garshasab's journey to Rome and Afriqiyah, a city named Qaqara (= Qaqele) is mentioned, whose location is not stated correctly. There are two possibilities in this regard; It is possible that there were several cities named Qaqera one of which was located near Laqeta (=Jarba), or that in this part of the story, the narratives related to Garshasb's travels to Rome and Africa are combined with the narratives related to his travels in India. In the section related to Garshasab's travels in Turan and China, Khamdan (Chang'an), the old capital of China, and its surrounding cities are mentioned.

Keywords

Geography

Gershasab-Nameh

India

Rome

Africa

Turan

China

Subjects

زبان و ادبیات فارسی

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