Editing Shahnameh (section)

=== On Turkic identity ===
Despite a belief held by some, the [[Turya (Avesta)|Turanian]] of ''Shahnameh'' (whose sources are based on [[Avesta]] and [[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi]] texts) have no relationship with [[Turkic peoples|Turks]].<ref name="Bosworth" /> The Turanians of the ''Shahnameh'' are an [[Iranian peoples|Iranian people]] representing Iranian nomads of the [[Eurasian Steppe]]s and have no relationship to the culture of the Turks.<ref name="Bosworth">Bosworth, C.E. "[http://www.medievalists.net/2009/01/04/barbarian-incursions-the-coming-of-the-turks-into-the-islamic-world/ Barbarian Incursions: The Coming of the Turks into the Islamic World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928162748/http://www.medievalists.net/2009/01/04/barbarian-incursions-the-coming-of-the-turks-into-the-islamic-world/ |date=2013-09-28 }}". In ''Islamic Civilization'', ed. D.S. Richards. Oxford, 1973. p. 2. "Firdawsi's Turan are, of course, really Indo-European nomads of Eurasian Steppes... Hence as Kowalski has pointed out, a Turkologist seeking for information in the Shahnama on the primitive culture of the Turks would definitely be disappointed. "</ref> Turan, which is the Persian name for the areas of Central Asia beyond the Oxus up to the 7th century (where the story of the ''Shahnameh'' ends), was generally an Iranian-speaking land.<ref>Bosworth, C.E. "The Appearance of the Arabs in Central Asia under the Umayyads and the Establishment of Islam". In ''History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. IV: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century, Part One: The Historical, Social and Economic Setting'', ed. M.S. Asimov and C.E. Bosworth. Multiple History Series. Paris: Motilal Banarsidass Publ./UNESCO Publishing, 1999. p. 23. "Central Asia in the early seventh century, was ethnically, still largely an Iranian land whose people used various Middle Iranian languages."</ref>

According to [[Richard Frye]], "The extent of influence of the Iranian epic is shown by the Turks who accepted it as their own ancient history as well as that of [[Iran]]...  The Turks were so much influenced by this cycle of stories that in the eleventh century AD we find the [[Qarakhanid]] dynasty in Central Asia calling itself the 'family of Afrasiyab' and so it is known in the Islamic history."<ref>{{cite book|last=Frye|first=Richard N.|title=The Heritage of Persia: The Pre-Islamic History of One of the World's Great Civilizations|year=1963|publisher=World Publishing Company|location=New York|pages=40–41}}</ref>

Turks, as an ethno-linguistic group, have been influenced by the ''Shahnameh'' since the advent of [[Seljuk dynasty|Seljuks]].<ref name="IranicaT">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Özgüdenli|first=Osman G.|title=Šāh-nāma Translations i. Into Turkish|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sah-nama-translations-i-into-turkish|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|date=15 November 2006|access-date=14 October 2011|archive-date=5 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005153245/https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sah-nama-translations-i-into-turkish|url-status=live}}</ref> The Seljuk sultan [[Toghrul III of Seljuq|Toghrul III]] is said to have recited the ''Shahnameh'' while swinging his mace in battle.<ref name="IranicaT" /> According to [[Ibn Bibi]], 1221{{clarify|date=May 2012}} the Seljuk sultan of [[Sultanate of Rum|Rum]] [[Kayqubad I|Ala' al-Din Kay-kubad]] decorated the walls of [[Konya]] and [[Sivas]] with verses from the ''Shahnameh''.<ref name="Blair">{{cite book|last=Blair|first=Sheila S.|title=The Monumental Inscriptions from Early Islamic Iran and Transoxiana|year=1992|publisher=E. J. Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=9004093672|page=11|quote=According to Ibn Bibi, in 618/1221 the Saljuq of Rum Ala' al-Din Kay-kubad decorated the walls of Konya and Sivas with verses from the Shah-nama}}</ref> The Turks themselves connected their origin not with Turkish tribal history but with the Turanians of ''Shahnameh''.<ref name="Schimmel">Schimmel, Annemarie. "Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact". In ''Islam and Cultural Change in the Middle Ages'', ed. Speros Vryonis, Jr. Undena Publications, 1975. pp. 107–26. "In fact as much as early rulers felt themselves to be Turks, they connected their Turkish origin not with Turkish tribal history but rather with the Turan of Shahnameh: in the second generation their children bear the name of Firdosi’s heroes, and their Turkish lineage is invariably traced back to Afrasiyab—whether we read Barani in the fourteenth century or the Urdu master poet Ghalib in the nineteenth century. The poets, and through them probably most of the educated class, felt themselves to be the last outpost tied to the civilized world by the thread of Iranianism. The imagery of poetry remained exclusively Persian. "</ref> Specifically in India, through the ''Shahnameh'', they felt themselves to be the last outpost tied to the civilized world by the thread of [[Iranianism]].<ref name="Schimmel" />