epic

Epic heroes are noble individual of prodigious martial strength but they too mostly pass through several trials to prove their legitimate position. These endeavors include battles with evils while the heroes rarely overcome mental evils. The trials are challenging for heroes’ power to defeat the evil. The seven trials of Rostam and Isfandiyār as well as the twelve trials of Heracles fall in this category. Twelve thousand years of the Zoroastrian world includes an eternal battle between good and evil and the good will win this battle at last in the Armageddon. Zoroaster is the highest level of Ahura Mazda’s forces against Angra Mainyu. He too passed the seven trials in his childhood and adulthood  which is not though the pure history but mixed with the myths and epics. Therefore, he acts as a hero to prove his legitimacy  and triumph over dēws, Karaps and evil thoughts was his utmost aim and established Zoroastrianism through converting Goštāsp and his court. All of the trials he passed proved his legitimacy for being the prophet. 

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.