A Cambridge University project collating the illuminated manuscripts of a 50,000 verse Persian poem has been given a funding injection of £1.2 million by the Iranian-American philanthropist Bita Daryabari.

Daryabari fled Iran at 16 and was granted a visa to live with family in Missouri. She then obtained a degree in computer science and made a name for herself in Silicon Valley where she was the 12th person to be employed by Google.

The Shahnama project was founded in 1999 by Professor Charles Melville who is a fellow at Pembroke and a Persian studies expert. Its receipt of a five year grant by the Arts and Humanities Research Board of the British Academy allowed it to begin work on producing an electronic collection of manuscripts and to promote study of the poem.

Ultimately the project aims to generate an electronic, accessible compilation of illustrations of the Shahnama, with details of their manuscripts and their context. Thus bringing together the manuscripts that have been scattered worldwide over the millennium. This would open up limitless areas of study and provide a valuable resource for art historians. The project would make it possible to trace the development of Persian painting solely using examples from the Shahnama.

The Shahnama, or 'Book of Kings' is the longest poem ever written by a single author and was completed by the poet Firdausi in 1010 A.D in Iran (Persia). It narrates the history of Iran since the first king, Kayumar, down to the conquest of Iran by the Muslim Arab invasions in the early seventh century. It is a work of mythology, history, literature and propaganda that can give insights into Iranian history.

Professor Melville said: 'the main reason that the project is important is that it supports the study of Persian culture, which is currently very under studied in Europe. It also aims to show a different side of Iran and give some insight into the Iranian perspective, especially in a suspicious climate.'

The funding will be spent on updating the Shahnama project website which allows the public to view the manuscripts. More work will also be done to show the work's relevance to the modern world in the areas of Iranian politics and culture.

Ryan Frost, a 2nd year Spanish and Arabic student said of the issue: 'I think it's great that the university is still choosing to fund academic areas based purely on their artistic merit, especially when there is the temptation to focus on profitability.'