<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article possibly contains original research . Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations . Statements consisting only of original research should be removed . (December 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Shahnameh provides a poetic account of the prehistory and history of Iran, beginning with the creation of the world and the introduction of the arts of civilization (fire, cooking, metallurgy, law), and ending with the Islamic Conquest of Persia . The work is not precisely chronological, but there is a general movement through time . Some of the characters live for hundreds of years but most have normal life spans . There are many shāhs who come and go, as well as heroes and villains, who also come and go . The only lasting images are those of Greater Persia itself, and of a succession of sunrises and sunsets, no two ever exactly alike, yet illustrative of the passage of time . </P> <P> The work is divided into three successive parts: the "mythical", "heroic", and "historical" ages . </P> <P> Father Time, a Saturn - like image, is a reminder of the tragedy of death and loss, yet the next sunrise comes, bringing with it hope of a new day . In the first cycle of creation, evil is external (the devil). In the second cycle, we see the beginnings of family hatred, bad behavior, and evil permeating human nature . Shāh Fereydūn's two eldest sons feel greed and envy toward their innocent younger brother and, thinking their father favors him, they murder him . The murdered prince's son avenges the murder, and all are immersed in the cycle of murder and revenge, blood and more blood . In the third cycle, we encounter a series of flawed shahs . There is a Phaedra - like story of Shāh Kay Kāvus, his wife Sūdābeh, and her passion for and rejection by her stepson, Sīyāvash . </P>

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