This new edition of Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings supersedes the second edition, published in 2006 by Mazda Press (Costa Mesa CA) as volume 12 of the Intellectual Traditions Series of Bibliotheca Iranica, edited by the late Hossein Ziai. I take this opportunity to record my gratitude to Professor Ziai for supporting my project of producing that second edition. The present third edition, like the second, incorporates not only corrections but also rewordings that occasionally affect the contents. The overall argumentation, however, carries over from the second edition and even from the first, which had been published in 1994 by Cornell University Press. I have indicated within braces the page numbers of the second edition. In addition to reiterating my gratitude to those whose names are listed on the Acknowledgements page of the 1994 edition, I take this opportunity to thank all those who helped me in the course of preparing the second as well as the third editions. I highlight the following names: Zohreh Afshar, Nicholas Allen, Mohsen Ashtiany, Christopher Dadian, Niloofar Fotouhi, Richard N. Frye, John McDonald, Leonard Muellner, Gregory Nagy, Joseph Nagy, Rahim Shayegan, Evan Siegel, Oktor Skjærvø.
