The Epic of Kings, Hero Tales of Ancient Persia.

The Epic of Kings, Hero Tales of Ancient Persia (The Shahnameh) is an epic tale by the Persian poet Firdausi, written between 966 and 1010 AD. Telling the past of the Persian empire using a mix of the mythical and historical it is regarded as a literary masterpiece. Not only important to the Persian culture, it is also important to modern day followers of the Zoroastrianism religion. It is said that the poem was Firdausi's efforts to preserve the memory of Persia's golden days, following the fall of the Sassanid empire. The poem contains, among others, mentions of the romance of Zal and Rudāba, Alexander the Great, the wars with Afrāsīyāb, and the romance of Bijan and Manijeh.

This book has 86,048 words. This translation by Helen Zimmern was originally published in 1883.