# The Bowman, frontispiece from The Epic of Kings, Stories Retold from Firdusi

- By: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (written by Helen Zimmern (1846-1934); published by Thomas Fisher Unwin, London)
- Date: 1882
- Medium: Etching in black on cream wove paper
- Classification: Print
- Dimensions: Image: 18.7 × 13.7 cm (7 3/8 × 5 7/16 in.); Plate: 19.7 × 14.7 cm (7 13/16 × 5 13/16 in.); Sheet: 29.8 × 22.9 cm (11 3/4 × 9 1/16 in.)
- Culture: England
- Credit line: Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/117548)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/843b859e-675f-49ce-4805-07e5565364f6/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This etching is one of two prints that Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema made to illustrate Helen Zimmern’s 19th-century translation of the great Persian epic poem Shahnameh (The King’s Book) by Firdusi from around A.D. 1000. Consisting of some 60,000 verses, the Shahnameh recounts the mythical and historical past of greater Iran, beginning with the creation of the world and the introduction of arts and civilization. It concludes with the Arab conquest of Persia.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0