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88-416: In Persian , Turkic and Urdu poetry, the matla ' (from Arabic مطلع maṭlaʿ ; Persian : مطلع ; Azerbaijani : mətlə ; Turkish : matla ; Uzbek : matla ; Urdu : مطلع ) is the first bayt , or couplet, of a ghazal . In this sense, it is the opposite of the maqta' . It is possible, although extremely rare, for there to be more than one matla ' in a ghazal ; in this case

176-522: A New Age sage. There are also a number of more literary translations by scholars such as A. J. Arberry . The classical poets (Hafiz, Saadi, Khayyam, Rumi, Nizami and Ferdowsi ) are now widely known in English and can be read in various translations. Other works of Persian literature are untranslated and little known. Greater Khorasan The extent of the region referred to as Khorasan varied over time. In its stricter historical sense, it comprised

264-595: A fierce hatred for each other. During Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik 's reign, the Umayyad government appointed Mudaris as governors in Khorasan, except for Asad ibn Abdallah al-Qasri's tenure in 735–738. Nasr's appointment came four months after Asad's death. In the interim, the sources report variously that the province was run either by the Syrian general Ja'far ibn Hanzala al-Bahrani or by Asad's lieutenant Juday' al-Kirmani. At any rate,

352-535: A frontier region between Khorasan and Hindustan . By the late Middle Ages, the term lost its administrative significance, in the west only being loosely applied among the Turko-Persian dynasties of modern Iran to all its territories that lay east and north-east of the Dasht-e Kavir desert. It was therefore subjected to constant change, as the size of their empires changed. In the east, Khwarasan likewise became

440-471: A glorification of Selim I. After a period of several centuries, Ottoman Turkish (which was highly Persianised itself) had developed towards a fully accepted language of literature, which was even able to satisfy the demands of a scientific presentation. However, the number of Persian and Arabic loanwords contained in those works increased at times up to 88%. The Ottomans produced thousands of Persian literary works throughout their century long lifespan. With

528-410: A hypothetical Proto-Iranian form *miθrāsāna ; see Mithra , Bactrian μιυρο [mihr], for the relevant solar deity ). The province was often subdivided into four quarters, such that Nishapur (present-day Iran), Marv (present-day Turkmenistan ), Herat and Balkh (present-day Afghanistan) were the centers, respectively, of the westernmost, northernmost, central, and easternmost quarters. Khorasan

616-616: A literary language again of the Central Asian and West Asian lands. The rebirth of the language in its new form is often accredited to Ferdowsi , Unsuri , Daqiqi , Rudaki , and their generation, as they used pre-Islamic nationalism as a conduit to revive the language and customs of ancient Iran. So strong is the Persian inclination to versifying everyday expressions that one can encounter poetry in almost every classical work, whether from Persian literature, science, or metaphysics . In short,

704-525: A loaf of bread as fare, A joint of lamb, a jug of vintage rare, And you and I in wilderness encamped— No Sultan 's pleasure could with ours compare. The Persian poet and mystic Rumi (1207–1273) (known as Molana in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and as Mevlana in Turkey), has attracted a large following in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Popularizing translations by Coleman Barks have presented Rumi as

792-598: A number of different lands. The nucleus of the collection is formed by a Pahlavi Sassanid Persian book called Hazār Afsānah ( Persian : هزار افسان , Thousand Myths ), a collection of ancient Indian and Persian folk tales. During the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the 8th century, Baghdad had become an important cosmopolitan city. Merchants from Persia , China , India , Africa, and Europe were all found in Baghdad. During this time, many of

880-562: A reliable chronological source by many experts), as well as Ata-Malik Juvayni 's famous Tarikh-i Jahangushay-i Juvaini (which spans the Mongolid and Ilkhanid era of Iran ). Attar 's Tazkerat-ol-Owliya ("Biographies of the Saints") is also a detailed account of Sufi mystics, which is referenced by many subsequent authors and considered a significant work in mystical hagiography . The oldest surviving work of Persian literary criticism after

968-551: A single major city: Nishapur, Merv, Herat and Balkh. By the 10th century, Ibn Khordadbeh and the Hudud al-'Alam mentions what roughly encompasses the previous regions of Abarshahr , Tokharistan and Sogdia as Khwarasan proper. They further report the southern part of the Hindu Kush, i.e. the regions of Sistan , Rukhkhudh , Zabulistan and Kabul etc. to make up the Khorasan marches ,

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1056-697: A term associated with the great urban centers of Central Asia. It is mentioned in the Memoirs of Babur (from the 1580s) that: The people of Hindustān call every country beyond their own Khorasān, in the same manner as the Arabs term all except Arabia, Ajem . On the road between Hindustān and Khorasān, there are two great marts: the one Kābul, the other Kandahār . Caravans, from Ferghāna, Tūrkestān, Samarkand, Balkh, Bokhāra, Hissār, and Badakhshān , all resort to Kābul; while those from Khorasān repair to Kandahār . This country lies between Hindustān and Khorasān. In modern times,

1144-700: A vast and loosely defined region of Khorasan, which might even extend to the Indus Valley and the Pamir Mountains. The boundary between these two was the region surrounding the cities of Gurgan and Qumis . In particular, the Ghaznavids , Seljuqs and Timurids divided their empires into Iraqi and Khorasani regions. Khorasan is believed to have been bounded in the southwest by desert and the town of Tabas , known as "the Gate of Khorasan", from which it extended eastward to

1232-559: Is Siyasatnama , by Nizam al-Mulk , a famous Persian vizier . Kelileh va Demneh , translated from Indian folk tales, can also be mentioned in this category. It is seen as a collection of adages in Persian literary studies and thus does not convey folkloric notions. Among the major historical and biographical works in classical Persian, one can mention Abolfazl Beyhaghi 's famous Tarikh-i Beyhaqi , Lubab ul-Albab of Zahiriddin Nasr Muhammad Aufi (which has been regarded as

1320-634: Is esteemed more as a scientist than a poet in his native Persia, but in Fitzgerald's rendering, he became one of the most quoted poets in English. Khayyam's line, "A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou", is known to many who could not say who wrote it, or where: گر دست دهد ز مغز گندم نانی وز می دو منی ز گوسفندی رانی وانگه من و تو نشسته در ویرانی عیشی بود آن نه حد هر سلطانی gar(agar) dast dahad ze maghz-e gandom nāni va'z(va az) mey do mani ze gūsfandi rāni vāngah man-o tō neshaste dar vīrāni 'eyshi bovad ān na had-de har soltāni Ah, would there were

1408-550: Is possibly the forerunner of the Sasanian administrative division of Khurasan, occurring after their takeover of Hephthalite territories south of the Oxus. The transformation of the term and its identification with a larger region is thus a development of the late Sasanian and early Islamic periods. Early Islamic usage often regarded everywhere east of Jibal or what was subsequently termed Iraq Ajami (Persian Iraq) , as being included in

1496-547: Is renowned both as a poet and as the founder of a widespread Sufi order. Hafez , too, is hugely admired in both East and West, and he was inspired by Sufism if he was not actually a Sufi himself. The themes and styles of this kind of devotional poetry have been widely imitated by many Sufi and non-Sufi poets. See also the article on Sufi poetry . Many notable texts in Persian mystic literature are not poems, yet highly read and regarded. Among those are Kimiya-yi sa'ādat , Asrar al-Tawhid and Kashf ul Mahjoob . Beginning in

1584-597: Is the largest comprehensive Persian dictionary ever published, comprising 16 volumes (more than 27,000 pages). It is published by the Tehran University Press (UTP) under the supervision of the Dehkhoda Dictionary Institute and was first published in 1931. It traces the historical development of the Persian language, providing a comprehensive resource to scholars and academic researchers, as well as describing usage in its many variations throughout

1672-537: Is thus Persian literature from Iran, Mesopotamia , Azerbaijan , the wider Caucasus, Turkey, Pakistan , Bangladesh , India , Tajikistan and other parts of Central Asia, as well as the Balkans. Not all Persian literature is written in Persian , as some consider works written by ethnic Persians or Iranians in other languages, such as Greek and Arabic , to be included. At the same time, not all literature written in Persian

1760-422: Is written by ethnic Persians or Iranians, as Turkic, Caucasian, Indic and Slavic poets and writers have also used the Persian language in the environment of Persianate cultures. Described as one of the great literatures of humanity, including Goethe 's assessment of it as one of the four main bodies of world literature, Persian literature has its roots in surviving works of Middle Persian and Old Persian ,

1848-783: The Balkans where the Persian language has historically been either the native or official language. For example, Rumi , one of the best-loved Persian poets, born in Balkh (in modern-day Afghanistan) or Wakhsh (in modern-day Tajikistan), wrote in Persian and lived in Konya (in modern-day Turkey), at that time the capital of the Seljuks in Anatolia . The Ghaznavids conquered large territories in Central and South Asia and adopted Persian as their court language. There

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1936-681: The Battle of the Oxus River . The next year, Ibn Amir concluded a peace treaty with Kanadbak , an Iranian nobleman and the kanarang of Tus . The Sasanian rebel Burzin Shah , of the Karen family , revolted against Ibn Amir, though the latter crushed the rebels in the Battle of Nishapur . After the invasion of Persia under Rashidun was completed in five years and almost all of the Persian territories came under Arab control, it also inevitable created new problems for

2024-571: The Ghilji Pashtuns from Kandahar and became part of the Hotaki dynasty from 1722 to 1729. Nader Shah recaptured Khorasan in 1729 and chose Mashhad as the capital of Persia. Following his assassination in 1747, the eastern parts of Khorasan, including Herat were annexed with the Durrani Empire . Mashhad area was under control of Nader Shah's grandson Shahrukh Afshar until it was captured by

2112-513: The Mongol subjugation of Khorasan, carrying out the task "with a thoroughness from which that region has never recovered." Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century, the majority of Islamic archaeological efforts were focused on the medieval era, predominantly in areas near what is today Central Asia . Under Caliph Umar ( r.  634–644 ), the Rashidun Caliphate seized nearly

2200-532: The Pamir Mountains . Greater Khorasan is today sometimes used to distinguish the larger historical region from the former Khorasan Province of Iran (1906–2004), which roughly encompassed the western portion of the historical Greater Khorasan. The name Khorāsān is Persian (from Middle Persian Xwarāsān , sp. xwlʾsʾn' , meaning "where the sun arrives from" or "the Eastern Province"). The name

2288-819: The Qajar dynasty in 1796. In 1856, the Iranians, under the Qajar dynasty, briefly recaptured Herat; by the Treaty of Paris of 1857 , signed between Iran and the British Empire to end the Anglo-Persian War , the Iranian troops withdrew from Herat . Later, in 1881, Iran relinquished its claims to a part of the northern areas of Khorasan to the Russian Empire , principally comprising Merv , by

2376-459: The Seljuks , the Sultanate of Rum , took Persian language, art and letters to Anatolia. They adopted Persian language as the official language of the empire. The Ottomans , which can "roughly" be seen as their eventual successors, took this tradition over. Persian was the official court language of the empire, and for some time, the official language of the empire. The educated and noble class of

2464-494: The Sho'ubiyye as asserting that the pre-Islamic Iranians had books on eloquence, such as 'Karvand'. No trace remains of such books. There are some indications that some among the Persian elite were familiar with Greek rhetoric and literary criticism ( Zarrinkoub , 1947). While initially overshadowed by Arabic during the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates, New Persian soon became

2552-496: The Tahirids and Samanids being based in Khorasan. Persian poets such as Ferdowsi , Saadi , Hafiz , Attar , Nezami , Rumi and Omar Khayyam are also known in the West and have influenced the literature of many countries. Very few literary works of Achaemenid Iran have survived, partly due to the destruction of the library at Persepolis . Most of what remains consists of

2640-577: The Timurid era and produced the likes of Amir Khosrow Dehlavi , and Bhai Nand Lal Goya . The most significant prose writings of this era are Nizami Arudhi Samarqandi 's "Chahār Maqāleh" as well as Zahiriddin Nasr Muhammad Aufi 's anecdote compendium Jawami ul-Hikayat . Shams al-Mo'ali Abol-hasan Ghaboos ibn Wushmgir 's famous work, the Qabus nama ( A Mirror for Princes ), is a highly esteemed Belles-lettres work of Persian literature. Also highly regarded

2728-606: The Treaty of Akhal (also known as the Treaty of Akhal-Khorasan ). Khorasan has had a great cultural importance among other regions in Greater Iran . The literary New Persian language developed in Khorasan and Transoxiana and gradually supplanted the Parthian language . The New Persian literature arose and flourished in Khorasan and Transoxiana where the early Iranian dynasties such as Tahirids , Samanids , Saffirids and Ghaznavids (a Turco-Persian dynasty) were based. Until

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2816-494: The epic style of poetry, with Ferdowsi 's Shahnama at the apex. By glorifying the Iranian historical past in heroic and elevated verses, he and other notables such as Daqiqi and Asadi Tusi presented the " Ajam " with a source of pride and inspiration that has helped preserve a sense of identity for the Iranian people over the ages. Ferdowsi set a model to be followed by a host of other poets later on. The 13th century marks

2904-538: The matla ' is to define the qafiya and radif for the rest of the ghazal . Persian poetry Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures . It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day Iran , Iraq , Afghanistan , the Caucasus , and Turkey , regions of Central Asia (such as Tajikistan ), South Asia and

2992-598: The mountains of central Afghanistan . Sources from the 10th century onwards refer to areas in the south of the Hindu Kush as the Khorasan Marches, forming a frontier region between Khorasan and Hindustan . First established in the 6th century as one of four administrative (military) divisions by the Sasanian Empire , the scope of the region has varied considerably during its nearly 1,500-year history. Initially,

3080-454: The Šāh-nāma are quite popular, and the stories of Rostam and Sohrāb , or Bījan and Maniža became part of Georgian folklore. Farmanfarmaian in the Journal of Persianate Studies : Distinguished scholars of Persian such as Gvakharia and Todua are well aware that the inspiration derived from the Persian classics of the ninth to the twelfth centuries produced a ‘cultural synthesis’ which saw, in

3168-477: The Šāh-nāma that is no longer extant. ... The Šāh-nāma was translated, not only to satisfy the literary and aesthetic needs of readers and listeners, but also to inspire the young with the spirit of heroism and Georgian patriotism. Georgian ideology, customs, and worldview often informed these translations because they were oriented toward Georgian poetic culture. Conversely, Georgians consider these translations works of their native literature. Georgian versions of

3256-585: The 14th century, while it simultaneously grew in the Indian subcontinent and Ottoman Turkey, regions that were increasingly becoming Persianized. Only 4 dictionaries of Persian were compiled in Iran between the 10th and 19th centuries, while more than 66 were produced in India. Significant dictionaries from India include the Farhang-e Ghavvas, Sharafnama-ye Ebrahimi , Farhang-i Jahangiri , and Burhan-i Qati . Unlike

3344-512: The 1950s. Currently, English-Persian dictionaries of Manouchehr Aryanpour and Soleiman Haim are widely used in Iran. Also highly regarded in the contemporary Persian literature lexical corpus are the works of Dr. Mohammad Moin . The first volume of Moin Dictionary was published in 1963. Some of Persia's best-beloved medieval poets were Sufis , and their poetry was, and is, widely read by Sufis from Morocco to Indonesia . Rumi, in particular,

3432-453: The 20th century, for example, largely based their works on the detailed lexicography produced in India, using compilations such as Ghazi khan Badr Muhammad Dehlavi 's Adat al-Fudhala ( اداة الفضلا ), Ibrahim Ghavamuddin Farughi 's Farhang-i Ibrahimi ( فرهنگ ابراهیمی ), and particularly Muhammad Padshah's Farhang-i Anandraj ( فرهنگ آنندراج ). Persian learning was also widespread in

3520-793: The Abbasid and Samanid courts into every major Iranian dynasty . The Qasida was perhaps the most famous form of panegyric used, though quatrains such as those in Omar Khayyam 's Ruba'iyyat are also widely popular. Khorasani style , whose followers mostly were associated with Greater Khorasan , is characterized by its supercilious diction, dignified tone, and relatively literate language. The chief representatives of this lyricism are Asjadi , Farrukhi Sistani , Unsuri , and Manuchehri . Panegyric masters such as Rudaki were known for their love of nature, their verses abounding with evocative descriptions. Through these courts and system of patronage emerged

3608-580: The Balkans insofar as that it was a town where Persian was also widely spoken. However, the Persian of Vardar Yenicesi and throughout the rest of the Ottoman-held Balkans was different from formal Persian both in accent and vocabulary. The difference was apparent to such a degree that the Ottomans referred to it as "Rumelian Persian" ( Rumili Farsisi ). As learned people such as students, scholars and literati often frequented Vardar Yenicesi, it soon became

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3696-536: The Islamic conquest of Persia is Muqaddame-ye Shahname-ye Abu Mansuri , which was written during the Samanid period . The work deals with the myths and legends of Shahnameh and is considered the oldest surviving example of Persian prose. It also shows an attempt by the authors to evaluate literary works critically. One Thousand and One Nights ( Persian : هزار و یک شب ) is a medieval folk tale collection which tells

3784-543: The Khorasan division of the Sasanian Empire covered the northeastern military gains of the empire, at its height including cities such as Nishapur , Herat , Merv , Faryab , Taloqan , Balkh , Bukhara , Badghis , Abiward , Gharjistan , Tus and Sarakhs . With the rise of the Umayyad Caliphate , the designation was inherited and likewise stretched as far as their military gains in the east, starting off with

3872-565: The Ottoman Empire all spoke Persian, such as sultan Selim I , despite being Safavid Iran's archrival and a staunch opposer of Shia Islam . It was a major literary language in the empire. Some of the noted earlier Persian literature works during the Ottoman rule are Idris Bidlisi 's Hasht Bihisht , which begun in 1502 and covered the reign of the first eight Ottoman rulers, and the Salim-Namah ,

3960-521: The Ottoman-held Balkans ( Rumelia ), with a range of cities being famed for their long-standing traditions in the study of Persian and its classics, amongst them Saraybosna (modern Sarajevo , Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mostar (also in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Vardar Yenicesi (or Yenice-i Vardar, now Giannitsa , in the northern part of Greece). Vardar Yenicesi differed from other localities in

4048-550: The Persian dictionaries of India, most dictionaries from Ottoman Turkey are bilingual (Persian-Turkish). Some significant dictionaries of the era are Oqnum-e Ajam , Loghat-e Ne'matallah , and Lesan al-Ajam. In 1645, Christian Ravius completed a Persian- Latin dictionary, printed at Leiden. This was followed by John Richardson 's two-volume Oxford edition (1777) and Gladwin-Malda's (1770) Persian-English Dictionaries, Scharif and S. Peters' Persian-Russian Dictionary (1869), and 30 other Persian lexicographical translations through

4136-465: The ability to write in verse form was a pre-requisite for any scholar. For example, almost half of Avicenna 's medical writings are in verse. Works of the early era of Persian poetry are characterized by strong court patronage , an extravagance of panegyrics , and what is known as سبک فاخر "exalted in style". The tradition of royal patronage began perhaps under the Sassanid era and carried over through

4224-643: The ascendancy of lyric poetry with the consequent development of the ghazal into a major verse form, as well as the rise of mystical and Sufi poetry . This style is often called Araqi (Iraqi) style (Araq-e-Ajam) and is known by its emotional lyric qualities, rich meters, and the relative simplicity of its language. Emotional romantic poetry was not something new, however, as works such as Vis o Ramin by As'ad Gorgani , and Yusof o Zoleikha by Am'aq Bokharai exemplify. Poets such as Sana'i and Attar (who ostensibly inspired Rumi ), Khaqani Shirvani , Anvari , and Nizami , were highly respected ghazal writers. However,

4312-561: The caliphate. Pockets of tribal resistance continued for centuries in the Afghan territories. During the 7th century, Arab armies made their way into the region of Afghanistan from Khorasan. A second problem was as a corollary to the Muslim conquest of Persia, the Muslims became neighbors of the city states of Transoxiana . Although Transoxiana was included in the loosely defined "Turkestan" region, only

4400-662: The devastating Mongol invasion of the 13th century, Khorasan remained the cultural capital of Persia. It has produced scientists such as Avicenna , Al-Farabi , Al-Biruni , Omar Khayyam , Al-Khwarizmi , Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi (known as Albumasar or Albuxar in the west), Alfraganus , Abu Wafa , Nasir al-Din al-Tusi , Sharaf al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī , and many others who are widely well known for their significant contributions in various domains such as mathematics, astronomy , medicine, physics , geography , and geology. There have been many archaeological sites throughout Khorasan, however many of these expeditions were illegal or committed in

4488-569: The earliest stages of written secular literature in Georgia, the resumption of literary contacts with Iran, “much stronger than before” (Gvakharia, 2001, p. 481). Ferdowsi’s Shahnama was a never-ending source of inspiration, not only for high literature, but for folklore as well. “Almost every page of Georgian literary works and chronicles [...] contains names of Iranian heroes borrowed from the Shahnama ” (ibid). Ferdowsi, together with Nezāmi , may have left

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4576-693: The early 16th century, Persian traditions had a large impact on the Georgian ruling elites, which in turn resulted in Persian influence on Georgian art, architecture, and literature. This cultural influence lasted until the arrival of the Russians. Jamshid Sh. Giunashvili remarks on the connection of Georgian culture with that of the Persian literary work Shahnameh : The names of many Šāh-nāma heroes, such as Rostom-i , Thehmine, Sam-i , or Zaal-i , are found in 11th- and 12th-century Georgian literature . They are indirect evidence for an Old Georgian translation of

4664-472: The early days of the Muslim conquests , Arab armies were divided into regiments drawn from individual tribes or tribal confederations ( butun or ‘asha‘ir ). Despite the fact that many of these groupings were recent creations, created for reasons of military efficiency rather than any common ancestry, they soon developed a strong and distinct identity. By the beginning of the Umayyad period, this system progressed to

4752-477: The elite of this school are Rumi, Saadi , and Hafiz Shirazi . Regarding the tradition of Persian love poetry during the Safavid era, Persian historian Ehsan Yarshater notes, "As a rule, the beloved is not a woman, but a young man. In the early centuries of Islam, the raids into Central Asia produced many young slaves . Slaves were also bought or received as gifts. They were made to serve as pages at court or in

4840-463: The emergence of the Ghaznavids and their successors such as the Ghurids , Timurids and Mughal Empire , Persian culture and its literature gradually moved into South Asia too. In general, from its earliest days, Persian literature and language was imported into the subcontinent by culturally Persianised Turkic and Afghan dynasties. Persian became the language of the nobility, literary circles, and

4928-407: The entire Persia from the Sasanian Empire . However, the areas of Khorasan weren't conquered until c.  651 during the caliphate of Uthman ( r.  644–656 ). The Rashidun commanders Ahnaf ibn Qays and Abd Allah ibn Amir were assigned to lead the invasion of Khorasan. In late 651, the Rashidun army defeated the combined forces of the Sasanian and the First Turkic Khaganate in

5016-446: The eventual conquest. In July 738, at the age of 74, Nasr was appointed as governor of Khorasan. Despite his age, he was widely respected both for his military record, his knowledge of the affairs of Khorasan and his abilities as a statesman. Julius Wellhausen wrote of him that "His age did not affect the freshness of his mind, as is testified not only by his deeds, but also by the verses in which he gave expression to his feelings till

5104-449: The formation of ever-larger super-groupings, culminating in the two super-groups : the northern Arab Mudaris or Qaysis , and the south Arabs or "Yemenis" ( Yaman ), dominated by the Azd and Rabi'ah tribes. By the 8th century, this division had become firmly established across the Caliphate and was a source of constant internal instability, as the two groups formed in essence two rival political parties, jockeying for power and separated by

5192-426: The ghazal. " During the same Safavid era, many subjects of the Iranian Safavids were patrons of Persian poetry, such as Teimuraz I of Kakheti . In the didactic genre one can mention Sanai 's Hadiqat-ul-Haqiqah (Garden of Truth) as well as Nizami 's Makhzan-ul-Asrār (Treasury of Secrets). Some of Attar 's works also belong to this genre as do the major works of Rumi, although some tend to classify these in

5280-409: The households of the affluent, or as soldiers and bodyguards. Young men, slaves or not, also, served wine at banquets and receptions, and the more gifted among them could play music and maintain a cultivated conversation. It was love toward young pages, soldiers, or novices in trades and professions which was the subject of lyrical introductions to panegyrics from the beginning of Persian poetry, and of

5368-612: The latter of which dates back as far as 522 BCE, the date of the earliest surviving Achaemenid inscription, the Behistun Inscription . The bulk of surviving Persian literature, however, comes from the times following the Muslim conquest of Persia c. 650 CE. After the Abbasids came to power (750 CE), the Iranians became the scribes and bureaucrats of the Islamic Caliphate and, increasingly, also its writers and poets. The New Persian language literature arose and flourished in Khorasan and Transoxiana because of political reasons, early Iranian dynasties of post-Islamic Iran such as

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5456-428: The lyrical type due to their mystical and emotional qualities. In addition, some tend to group Naser Khosrow 's works in this style as well; however true gems of this genre are two books by Saadi, a heavyweight of Persian literature, the Bustan and the Gulistan . After the 15th century, the Indian style of Persian poetry (sometimes also called Isfahani or Safavi styles) took over. This style has its roots in

5544-419: The major portion of Khorasān, as two of the four main capitals of Khorasān (Herat and Balkh) are now located in Afghanistan. Ghobar uses the terms "Proper Khorasan" and " Improper Khorasan" in his book to distinguish between the usage of Khorasān in its strict sense and its usage in a loose sense. According to him, Proper Khorasan contained regions lying between Balkh in the east, Merv in the north, Sistan in

5632-452: The military installations at Nishapur and Merv , slowly expanding eastwards into Tokharistan and Sogdia . Under the Caliphs , Khorasan was the name of one of the three political zones under their dominion (the other two being Eraq-e Arab "Arabic Iraq" and Eraq-e Ajam "Non-Arabic Iraq or Persian Iraq"). Under the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, Khorasan was divided into four major sections or quarters ( rub′ ), each section based on

5720-404: The most enduring imprint on Georgian literature (...) Despite that Asia Minor (or Anatolia ) had been ruled various times prior to the Middle Ages by various Persian-speaking dynasties originating in Iran, the language lost its traditional foothold there with the demise of the Sassanian Empire . Centuries later however, the practise and usage in the region would be strongly revived. A branch of

5808-400: The most prominent men of the Marwanid period". Asad's arrival in Khorasan found the province in peril: his predecessor, Muslim ibn Sa'id al-Kilabi , had just attempted a campaign against Ferghana and suffered a major defeat, the so-called " Day of Thirst ", at the hands of the Turgesh Turks and the Soghdian principalities of Transoxiana that had risen up against Muslim rule. From

5896-457: The present territories of northeastern Iran , parts of Afghanistan and southern parts of Central Asia , extending as far as the Amu Darya (Oxus) river. However, the name has often been used in a loose sense to include a wider region that included most of Transoxiana (encompassing Bukhara and Samarqand in present-day Uzbekistan ), extended westward to the Caspian coast and to the Dasht-e Kavir southward to Sistan , and eastward to

5984-478: The royal Mughal courts for hundreds of years. In the early 19th century, Hindustani replaced it. Under the Mughal Empire during the 16th century, the official language of the Indian subcontinent became Persian. Only in 1832 did the British army force the South Asia to begin conducting business in English. (Clawson, p.  6) Persian poetry in fact flourished in these regions while post- Safavid Iranian literature stagnated. Dehkhoda and other scholars of

6072-793: The royal inscriptions of Achaemenid kings, particularly Darius I (522–486 BC) and his son Xerxes . Many Zoroastrian writings were destroyed in the Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century. The Parsis who fled to India , however, took with them some of the books of the Zoroastrian canon, including some of the Avesta and ancient commentaries ( Zend ) thereof. Some works of Sassanid geography and travel also survived, albeit in Arabic translations. No single text devoted to literary criticism has survived from pre-Islamic Iran . However, some essays in Pahlavi , such as "Ayin-e name nebeshtan" (Principles of Writing Book) and "Bab-e edteda’I-ye" ( Kalileh o Demneh ), have been considered as literary criticism (Zarrinkoub, 1959). Some researchers have quoted

6160-602: The ruling elite of Transoxiana was partially of Turkic origins whereas the local population was mostly a diverse mix of local Iranian populations. As the Arabs reached Transoxiana following the conquest of the Sassanid Persian Empire, local Iranian-Turkic and Arab armies clashed over the control of Transoxiana's Silk Road cities. In particular, the Turgesh under the leadership of Suluk, and Khazars under Barjik clashed with their Arab neighbours in order to control this economically important region. Two notable Umayyad generals, Qutayba ibn Muslim and Nasr ibn Sayyar , were instrumental in

6248-402: The second is referred to as matla'-e-sani , literally 'the second matla ' ' . It is important part because it establishes the overall form and mood of the entire ghazal . The defining feature of the matla ' is that both verses of the couplet rhyme, or expressed in technical terminology, both verses end with the qafiya and radif of the ghazal . In fact, the purpose of

6336-594: The site of a flourishing Persianate linguistic and literary culture. The 16th-century Ottoman Aşık Çelebi (died 1572), who hailed from Prizren in modern-day Kosovo , was galvanized by the abundant Persian-speaking and Persian-writing communities of Vardar Yenicesi, and he referred to the city as a "hotbed of Persian". Many Ottoman Persianists who established a career in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul ) pursued early Persian training in Saraybosna, amongst them Ahmed Sudi . Persian literature

6424-668: The sources agree that al-Kirmani stood at the time as the most prominent man in Khorasan and should have been the clear choice for governor. His Yemeni roots (he was the leader of the Azd in Khorasan), however, made him unpalatable to the Caliph. Khorasan became the headquarters of the Abbasid Revolution against the Umayyads . It was led by Abu Muslim , who himself belonged to Khorasan. This province

6512-485: The south, Nishapur in the west and Herat, known as the Pearl of Khorasan , in the center. Improper Khorasan's boundaries extended to as far as Hazarajat and Kabul in the east, Baluchistan in the south, Transoxiana and Khwarezm in the north, and Damghan and Gorgan in the west. During the Sasanian era, likely in the reign of Khusrow I , Persia was divided into four regions (known as kust Middle Persian), Khwārvarān in

6600-439: The stories that were originally folk stories are thought to have been collected orally over many years and later compiled into a single book. The compiler and 9th-century translator into Arabic is reputedly the storyteller Abu Abd-Allah Muhammad el-Gahshigar . The frame story of Shahrzad seems to have been added in the 14th century. The biggest Persian dictionary is Dehkhoda Dictionary (16 volumes) by Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda . It

6688-526: The story of Scheherazade ( Persian : شهرزاد Šahrzād ), a Sassanid queen who must relate a series of stories to her malevolent husband, King Shahryar ( Persian : شهریار Šahryār ), to delay her execution. The stories are told over a period of one thousand and one nights, and every night she ends the story with a suspenseful situation, forcing the King to keep her alive for another day. The individual stories were created over several centuries, by many people from

6776-554: The term has been source of great nostalgia and nationalism, especially amongst the Tajiks of Central Asia. Many Tajiks regard Khorasan as an integral part of their national identity, which has preserved an interest in the term, including its meaning and cultural significance, both in common discussion and academia, despite its falling out of political use in the region. According to Afghan historian Ghulam Mohammad Ghobar (1897–1978), Afghanistan's current Persian-speaking territories formed

6864-458: The throne to Khorasan following the Arab invasion in the western parts of the empire. After the assassination of the king, Khorasan was conquered by Arab Muslims in 647 AD. Like other provinces of Persia it became a province of the Umayyad Caliphate . The first movement against the Arab conquest was led by Abu Muslim Khorasani between 747 and 750. Originally from Isfahan , scholars believe Abu Muslim

6952-537: The very end of his life". However, in the climate of the times, his nomination owed more to his appropriate tribal affiliation than his personal qualities. In 724, immediately after the rise of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 724–743) to the throne, Asad's brother Khalid al-Qasri was appointed to the important post of governor of Iraq , with responsibility over the entire Islamic East, which he held until 738. Khalid in turn named Asad as governor of Khorasan. The two brothers thus became, according to Patricia Crone , "among

7040-441: The west, apāxtar in the north, nīmrūz in the south and Khorasan in the east. Since the Sasanian territories were more or less remained stable up to Islamic conquests, it can be concluded that Sasanian Khorasan was bordered to the south by Sistan and Kerman, to the west by the central deserts of modern Iran, and to the east by China and India. In the Sasanian era, Khorasan was further divided into four smaller regions, and each region

7128-518: The world. He names 200 Persian lexicographical works in his dictionary, the earliest, Farhang-i Oim ( فرهنگ اویم ) and Farhang-i Menakhtay ( فرهنگ مناختای ), from the late Sassanid era of the 3rd-7th century. The most widely used Persian lexicons in the Middle Ages were those of Abu Hafs Sughdi ( فرهنگ ابوحفص سغدی ) and Asadi Tusi ( فرهنگ لغت فرس ), written in 1092. The production of Persian dictionaries declined in Iran after

7216-460: Was first established as an administrative division in the 6th century (approximately after 520) by the Sasanians , during the reign of Kavad I ( r.  488–496, 498/9–531 ) or Khosrow I ( r.  531–579 ), and comprised the eastern and northeastern parts of the empire. The use of Bactrian Miirosan 'the east' as an administrative designation under Alkhan rulers in the same region

7304-478: Was first given to the eastern province of Persia (Ancient Iran) during the Sasanian Empire and was used from the late Middle Ages in distinction to neighbouring Transoxiana. The Sassanian name Xwarāsān has in turn been argued to be a calque of the Bactrian name of the region, Miirosan (Bactrian spelling: μιιροσανο, μιροσανο, earlier μιυροασανο), which had the same meaning 'sunrise, east' (corresponding to

7392-431: Was little known in the West before the 18-19th century. It became much better known following the publication of several translations from the works of late medieval Persian poets, and it inspired works by various Western poets and writers. Perhaps the most popular Persian poet of the 19th and early 20th centuries was Omar Khayyam (1048–1123), whose Rubaiyat was freely translated by Edward Fitzgerald in 1859. Khayyam

7480-621: Was more a matter of political and territorial gain. Tahir had helped the Caliph subdue other nationalistic movements in other parts of Persia such as Maziar 's movement in Tabaristan . Other major independent dynasties who ruled over Khorasan were the Saffarids from Zaranj (861–1003), Samanids from Bukhara (875–999), Ghaznavids from Ghazni (963–1167), Seljuqs (1037–1194), Khwarezmids (1077–1231), Ghurids (1149–1212), and Timurids (1370–1506). In 1221, Genghis Khan 's son Tolui oversaw

7568-562: Was part of the Iranian world that had been heavily colonised by Arab tribes following the Muslim conquest with the intent of replacing Umayyad dynasty which is proved to be successful under the sign of the Black Standard . Between the early 16th and early 18th centuries, parts of Khorasan were contested between the Safavids and the Uzbeks . A part of the Khorasan region was conquered in 1722 by

7656-515: Was probably Persian. It's possible he may have been born a slave. According to the ancient Persian historian Al-Shahrastani , he was a Kaysanite . This revolutionary Shi'a movement rejected the three Caliphs that had preceded Ali . Abu Muslim helped the Abbasids come to power but was later killed by Al-Mansur, an Abbasid Caliph. The first kingdom independent from Arab rule was established in Khorasan by Tahir Phoshanji in 821, but it seems that it

7744-513: Was ruled by a marzban . These four regions were Nishapur, Marv, Herat and Balkh. Khorasan in the east saw some conflict with the Hephthalites who became the new rulers in the area but the borders remained stable. Being the eastern parts of the Sassanids and further away from Arabia , Khorasan region was conquered after the remaining Persia. The last Sassanid king of Persia, Yazdgerd III , moved

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