Abul-Qāsem Mansur bin Hasan Tosi (940–1025), better known by his pen name Ferdowsi, was a Persian poet who is notable for being the author of the Shahnameh, which is one of the world's longest epic poems created by a single poet, and the greatest epic of the Persian-speaking countries. Ferdowsi is celebrated as one of the most influential figures of Persian literature and one of the greatest in the history of literature. January 8, 940 – 1020; died at about 79. Alive at the same time as Avicenna, Leif Erikson, Farabi, Sylvester II, and Vladimir the Great. Wiki link