A Comparative Study of Governmentality in the Ardeshir Testament and Ferdowsi's Shahnameh

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Political Sciences , Faculty of Law and political Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad; Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Ardeshir Testament and Ardeshir Ferdowsi's Shahnameh are among the Andarz that convey to us the political way of governing. Although these two texts have been compiled in two different contexts, they have consistencis and inconsistencies in the manner and methods of government. Therefore, this article seeks to answer the question of what is the difference between the Ardashir Testament and the Ardashir Ferdowsi Shahnameh in terms of governmentality? The result of this research is that the Ardashir Testament is issued by a king who is familiar with politics, governance, and technologies of power. The realism of this policy is in contrast to Ardeshir Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, who is a landowners (dehqan) who is not in politics and has much of wisdom and advice. Therefore, this paper intends to examine the consistencis and inconsistencies of the two texts with a "comparative approach" and with the help of Michel Foucault's theory of governmentality.

Keywords

Political Sociology of Iran
Volume 5, Issue 4
August 2022
Pages 216-233

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