سید مرتضی هاشمی

Epics recount the first human experiences and knowledge in a narrative often in a symbolic way. Therefore, they are especially important from different literary, mythology, and anthropology aspects. Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh is the most important Iranian epic, and Niebelungenlied (Song of Nibelungen) is the best epic of the Germans. Shahnameh belongs to New Persian and Niebelungenlied dates back to the Middle German eras. It seems that among the famous epics of the world, these two epics are less compared with each other. Great epic works, due to their origin in various natural, geographical, historical, and cultural contexts, have their own unique narration and special characteristics, along with significant commonalities. This research first narrates a brief summary of the story of both works, although in the case of Shahnameh, due to its huge volume, it is limited to a brief outline. Then, it compares common motifs and themes, and then discusses topics and stories with closer and more similarities, which is caused by similarities in the structure of their narrations. The thematic classification of the most important topics in this research includes the amazing characteristics of the hero, heroic tests, climatic (geographical) setting of the story, hero and anti-hero, dream and dream interpretation, treasure hunting, invulnerability, battle with the dragon, the trinity of power in three lands, the tragic disclosure of secrets, death of a hero, vengeful woman, and the marriage of the hero in a foreign land. 

The relation between geographic knowledge (particularly geographic names) and Persian poetry is one of the important literary categories which is studied in this article. This category has been talked about less up to now and has been rarely under research and evaluation. There is no doubt that a noticeable part of the poetry themes and Persian poets' witticism is about the names which are mentioned. The familiar appendices which are regulated and published under the title of "list of places" on the final pages of most of the Persian poetry Diwans are briefly clear confirmation of this claim. In this article, there will be an endeavor to familiarize and introduce different forms of reflection of "geographic names" in Persian poetry including a various spectrum of poetic themes, figurative speech, inspiring symbolic and mystical meanings, melodious compounds, proverbial quotations, and wisdom, description, praise, expressing erudition, and developing geographic knowledge. Keywords: Persian poetry, geographical names, poetic theme, literary geography, collocation