Books by Olga M. Davidson

The Shahnama or Book of Kings glorifies the spectacular achievements of Iranian civilization from its mythologized beginnings to the time of the Arab Conquest. Ferdowsi's Shahnama: Millennial Perspectives takes a fresh look at the reception of Ferdowsi's poetry, especially in the twelfth through fifteenth centuries.

Olga M. Davidson's major reassessment of the classical Persian epic the Shahnama argues that its poet is actually a character in the work who coexists with the heroes and kings celebrated in the poem. Documenting the text's oral performance tradition, Davidson shows that the heroic style of the Shahnama stems from ancient Indo-European traditions.

Olga M. Davidson applies comparative literary approaches to classical Persian traditions of composing and performing poetry and song. She focuses on the eleventh-century ce epic Shahnama and its relationship to other genres embedded in it, including forms of verbal art originally composed without the aid of writing, such as women's laments.