Panel discussion by Adeeb Khalid, Jane and Raphael Bernstein Professor of Asian Studies and History; Professor Yaron Klein, Assistant Professor of Arabic; and Dr. William N. Buffet, Class of 1955.  The Shahnameh is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c.977 and 1010 AD.  It tells the story of pre-Islamic Iran, beginning in the mythic time of Creation and continuing forward to the Arab invasion in the seventh century.