Shahnameh (شاهنامه), meaning "Book of Kings", is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi (فردوسی) about 1,000 years ago.

It contains around 60,000 lines of verse and took Ferdowsi approximately 30 years to complete.

Shahnameh is the longest epic poem composed by a single author.

Goethe and Hugo both praised the epic for its cultural and literary significance.

It tells the largely mythical, but partly historical, past of Iran from the creation of the world until the Muslim conquest in the seventh century.

The work holds central importance in Persian culture and the Persian language.