Persian literature differs from the common definition of “literature” in that it is not

confined to lyrical compositions, to poetry or imaginative prose, because the central

elements of these appear, to greater or lesser degrees, in all the written works of the
Persians.

Histories or medical treatises, religious texts or philosophical commentary are

considered “literature” – in the artistic sense – as much as any poem or fictional tale.
Poetry was regarded as the highest form of artistic expression by the ancient and
medieval Persians and so informs any other medium.

The first evidence of Persian literature is usually dated to c. 522 BCE with the creation
of the Behistun Inscription of Darius I (the Great, r. 522-486 BCE) but, at the same time,
scholars generally agree that there is no “Persian literature” prior to the period of
the Sassanian Empire (224-651 CE) because earlier works (except for certain
inscriptions and administration records) were lost. Alexander the Great destroyed the
library at Persepolis c. 330 BCE and other works, not inscribed on baked clay tablets,
were lost in later times of upheaval and conquest. Persian literature is therefore
commonly dated from c. 750 CE, with the rise of the Abbasid Dynasty, through the
15th century CE and earlier works, for the most part, can therefore only be referred to as
“ancient” in that many medieval poets preserved stories and themes from pre-Islamic
Iran.

THE SHAHNAMEH EPITOMIZES THE SPIRIT OF

PERSIAN LITERATURE; IT PRESERVES THE
ANCIENT STORIES OF THE PAST WHILE
KEEPING THEM RELEVANT.
The literature of Persia is among the oldest in the world, spanning thousands of years,
and has influenced the literary works of many other cultures. The greatest and most
influential work is the Shahnameh – the Persian Book of Kings – written by the poet
Abolqasem Ferdowsi between 977-1010 CE. The Shahnameh epitomizes the spirit of
Persian literature, up through the present day, in that it preserves the ancient stories of
the past while keeping them relevant for every new generation who reads them. The
same spirit of preservation and novelty characterizing Ferdowsi's work is recognized in
the artistic efforts of modern-day Persian poets who also continue their predecessors'
emphasis on love as the most important aspect of the human condition.

Literary Development in Persian Empires

The Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE), founded by Cyrus II (the Great, r. c. 550-530
BCE), was the first large-scale Persian political entity in the world. Cyrus was
succeeded by his son Cambyses II (r. 530-522 BCE) who was afterwards succeeded
by Darius I. Darius I's ascension was challenged by a number of Persian governors
(satraps) who claimed he had usurped the throne in assassinating the legitimate
successor, Bardiya (r. 522 BCE briefly) but Darius I claimed that this man was an
imposter, a magi (priest) named Gaumata who had managed to impersonate Bardiya
and deceive the people.

Once Darius I had put down the revolts and established order, he had an inscription
carved high on the cliffs above a main thoroughfare telling this story – known today as
the Behistun Inscription – which is recognized as the first instance of Persian literature
because it can be regarded as history or fiction. The Behistun Inscription relates how
Darius I, with the approval and assistance of the god Ahura Mazda, overthrew the
usurper Gaumata – and then his supporters – to establish order in the land. Whether
this account is factually true cannot be determined, but many modern scholars (among
them the well-known A. T. Olmstead) claim that Darius I was the actual usurper and
Bardiya/Gaumata the legitimate king based on the records of the time which provide no
evidence of social unrest under Bardiya/Gaumata but widespread revolt when Darius I
took the throne.

The Behistun Inscription

dynamosquito (CC BY-SA)
If one accepts this interpretation of the inscription, then it stands as a Persian example
of a literary genre known as Mesopotamian Naru Literature in which a famous person
(usually a king) or a well-known event is presented in a narrative with fictional
elements in order to make a certain point, relay a moral lesson, or encourage a central
cultural value. In the case of the Behistun Inscription, the narrative served to legitimize
Darius I's reign, encourage belief in Ahura Mazda's divine plan and wisdom, and
assure the people that all that had happened was in accordance with the will of the
Divine.
Whatever else may have been written during the Achaemenid period was lost during
the campaigns of Alexander the Great, culminating in the tragic loss of the library at the
capital city of Persepolis when Alexander burned it in 330 BCE. The political and
cultural progress of Persia was interrupted afterwards by the establishment of
the Seleucid Empire (312-63 BCE) founded by one of Alexander's generals, Seleucus I
Nicator (r. 305-281 BCE). When the Seleucid Empire fell, it was succeeded by
the Parthian Empire (247 BCE - 224 CE) which adopted Aramaic as their language,
written in an Aramaic script which came to be known as Arsacid Pahlavi.
Commentaries on the Avesta, the Zoroastrian scriptures which had been passed down
orally since before the Achaemenid Empire, were written in this script but there is no
evidence of further literary developments.

It was not until the Sassanian Empire, therefore, that Persian literature started to
develop to any significant degree. The first king, Ardashir I (r. 224-240 CE), whose
father and grandfather had both been priests and who therefore came from an educated
family, encouraged literary development through his efforts to have
the Avesta committed to writing. Ardashir I's efforts, which would be fully embraced by
his son Shapur I (r. 240-270 CE), mark the beginning of written Persian literature.

Literary Development & Poetry

WHEN FACED WITH SOME EXISTENTIAL
QUESTION, THE PERSIANS RESPONDED BY
TELLING A STORY THAT EXPLAINED THE
PHENOMENON.
There are a number of modern-day scholars who claim that Ardashir I, and his
successors, were essentially “inventing” Persian literature because they could not have
had any significant knowledge of the literature of the Achaemenid Empire as it had
fallen some 500 years earlier and left few written records other than administrative
documents inscribed on clay tablets. This view is untenable as it ignores a central aspect
of Persian culture: the importance of the oral tradition of storytelling.

Persian religious texts – and any other type – rely on a diachronic method of relaying
information, best defined by the scholar Norman F. Cantor as “tell me a story” (17).
When faced with some existential question, the Persians – like many other ancient or
medieval cultures – responded by telling a story that explained the phenomenon. It did
not matter whether this story was, factually, “true” – it only mattered how well it
served to answer the question. By the time of the Sassanian Empire, there was a long
history of the diachronic tradition which took the form of folklore, legend, and religious
revelation. Ardashir I and his successors drew on this oral history to commit
the Avesta to written form and, from this effort, Persian literature developed and, most
prominently, in the form of poetry.

Middle Persian Literature & Conquest

This poetry – at least what has survived – did not take the form of recognizable poetic
works in set verse but informed the written religious works of the period. This literature
was written in Middle Persian, the prestige dialect of the ruling house of the Sassanian
Empire. Drawing on the script developed by the Parthians, the Sassanians developed
so-called Book Pahlavi script in composing commentaries on the Avesta as well as other
compositions on non-religious topics.

Yasna 28
Jozka (Public Domain)
The literature of this period, however, is largely focused on religious matters because
the Sassanians were in the process of committing the Avesta from an oral tradition to
written form. This inspired commentary on the written texts to clarify various passages
or entire sections of the work. In addition to such clarifications, works on religious
history and custom (such as the Denkard), mythological and cosmological works (like
the Bundahisn), and ecclesiastical works like the Vendidad were composed, all of which
relied on poetic imagery and meter to convey their matter. In the case of the Vendidad, to
cite only one example, there is this passage:
Before that winter, those fields would bear plenty of grass for cattle: now with floods that
stream, with snows that melt, it will seem a happy land in the world, the land wherein
footprints even of sheep may still be seen…
There thou shalt make waters flow in a bed [a mile] long; there thou shalt settle birds, by
the ever-green banks that bear never-failing food. There thou shalt establish dwelling
places, consisting of a house with a balcony, a courtyard, and a gallery. (Fargard II.24
and 26)

The extant texts of Middle Persian works come primarily from the 6th and 7th centuries
CE, inspired by great Sassanian rulers such as Kosrau I (r. 531-579 CE) and continued,
however unevenly, by his successors. The last monarch of the Sassanian
Empire, Yazdegerd III (r. 632-651 CE) was too preoccupied in trying to stave off the
invasion of his lands by the Muslim Arabs to devote any time to literary development
but it seems Sassanian scribes were still at work on manuscripts when the empire fell to
the Muslims in 651 CE.

In an effort to dominate the Persian culture, the conquerors destroyed libraries,

temples, and other centers of learning, resulting in the loss of countless manuscripts
which were not either hidden or carried out of the region. The Umayyad Dynasty (661-
750 CE) was especially oppressive in terms of Persian culture but the Abbasid
Caliphate (750-1258 CE) was far more lenient, eventually adopting and then
encouraging Persian customs at court and the revival of interest in a pre-Islamic Persian
past. The poetic nature of the oral Persian literary tradition inclined itself especially to
the more mystical concepts of Islamic theology and came to inform Muslim
compositions on these themes. So-called “Muslim literature”, therefore, frequently
draws on much earlier Persian concepts and modes of expression.
Earliest Abbasid Era Manuscript
Danieliness (GNU FDL)

The Samanid Dynasty, Poetry, & the Shahnameh

Written Persian literature from the medieval period is informed by the same ancient
oral tradition and found full expression during the Samanid Dynasty (819-999 CE), also
known as the Samanid Empire, a political entity which flourished under Abbasid rule.
Scholar Homa Katouzian comments:

It was under the Samanids that Persian literature and culture began to flourish, the
foundations of classical Persian literature were laid, and Persian science experienced a
period of glory. (84)

Katouzian notes that Samanid support and encouragement of Persian literature led later
historians and commentators to conclude that they were “modern Iranian nationalists”
trying to “shake off Arab rule and culture by promoting Persian language and
literature” but how this claim ignores the actual nature of the Samanid Dynasty as
Sunni Muslims, loyal to the Abbasid Caliphate, who encouraged Arabian Muslim
literature at the same time, and with the same enthusiasm (84). A clearer interpretation
of the Samanid support for Persian literature is simply that, by the time they were in
power, Persian culture and language had come to influence and then inform the
Abbasid court and this respectability encouraged interest and development of Persian
literature.

The greatest of the Persian poets under the Samanids – referred to as “the father of
Persian literature” and “the founder of classical Persian poetry” – was Rudaki (l. 859 - c.
940 CE) who is said to have been able to write in every literary form. Rudaki essentially
created written Persian literature by establishing poetic forms as well as the means of
transmission: the diwan (also given as divan), a collection of the shorter works of a given
author, which would later become standard.

Following Rudaki, Persian literature was developed by the great poets who came after
him and is exemplified in the literary masterpiece of the Shahnameh (the Persian Book of
Kings) by Abolqasem Ferdowsi (l. c. 940-1020 CE). The Shahnameh was Ferdowsi's life's
work, thought to have been composed between 977-1010 CE. It is a poem of some 50,000
rhymed couplets which tells the story of the mythological/legendary history of Iran and
the Persians from the creation of the world up through the time of the Muslim Arab
conquest. It is considered one of the greatest literary works in the world and remains
popular in the present day.
Persian Hero Rustum
Maksim (Public Domain)
The Shahnameh is thought to be based, in part, on an earlier work – now lost – known as
the Khodaynamag (also given as Khwaday-Namag “The Book of Lords”) from the
Sassanian Empire. The poet Daqiqi (l. c. 935-977 CE) began his own version of
the Shahnameh, allegedly working from the Khodaynamag, and had completed 1000
verses before he was murdered by his slave; Ferdowsi then took up the work and
completed it. Another great poet working during this same period was Unsuri (d. c.
1039 CE), known as “the king of poets”, whose best-known work, Vamiqu u'
Adhra (“The Lover and the Virgin”) is based on an earlier Greek novel (Metiochus and
Parthenope) in keeping with the practice of drawing on past materials and traditions and
making them new to create one's art; a tradition which would later be championed by
the American poets Ezra Pound (l. 1885-1972 CE) and T. S. Eliot (l. 1888-1965 CE),
especially during the 1920s CE in Paris, France.

Poetic phrasing was not restricted to the creation of imaginative verse, however, but
informed all kinds of written works. The Persian polymaths Avicenna (l. c. 980-1037 CE)
and Averroes (l. 1126-1198 CE) both wrote their scientific, medical, mathematical, and
other works in verse.

Poets & the Message of Love

As noted, poetry also informs Persian prose histories, religious commentary, criticism,
and biographies, as well as translations of works from other languages. The poetic form,
however – what one would understand as “poetry” – was always considered the
highest form of expression and reached its height in the 12th-15th centuries CE through
the works of Persian poets drawing on the traditions and symbols of Sufism (the
mystical approach to the practice of Islam) and the power of Divine and human love to
give meaning to one's life.

These poets are among the best-known in the West and include Sanai (l. 1080-c.1131)
who would influence - among many others - the poets Attar of Nishapur (l. c. 1145-
c.1220 CE) and the great Rumi (l. 1207-1273 CE) whose popularity in the present day
attests to the enduring human truths he so eloquently expressed. Other poets who
continue to be highly regarded are Saadi (l. 1210 - c. 1291 CE), best known for his
book Bustan (“The Orchard”) and Nizami (l. c. 1141-1209 CE) whose Khamsa (“Quintet”)
was equally popular and influential. Among the best-known Persian poets in the West –
and easily the most popular throughout the 20th century CE – is Omar Khayyam (l.
1048-1131 CE) whose Rubaiyat – in the English version by the poet Edward Fitzgerald –
remains among the most oft-quoted works in world literature even though, in Persian
tradition, Khayyam is regarded as a great scientist and mathematician and only a minor
poet.
The greatest artist of the Persian poetic tradition is considered Hafez Shiraz (also given
as Hafez and Hafiz Shiraz, l. 1315-1390 CE) who combined the literary developments of
the past with his own insight to produce some of the most memorable and evocative
works not only in Persian but in world literature. Although many of Hafez's symbols
and literary conceits were once considered original (as is also the case with Rumi), they
were used earlier by Rudaki and those who came after him. Hafez's poem Now is the
Time, for example, begins with the lines:

Now is the time to know

That all that you do is sacred.
Now, why not consider
A lasting truce with yourself and God?
Now is the time to understand
That all your ideas of right and wrong
Were just a child's training wheels
To be laid aside
When you can finally live
With veracity and love. (Abhay K., 1)

The poet here encourages an honest assessment of one's self, not bound by religious,
cultural, or familial traditions, in recognizing the Divine, characterized as Love. Similar
themes were addressed by Rudaki who emphasizes the importance of love over ritual
in the lines:

What God accepts from you are love's transports

But prayers said by rote He won't admit. (Lewisohn, 77)

Rumi also explores the theme of transcendent love in depth in many of his poems,
emphasizing the necessity of moving beyond the known and accepted world –
including religious strictures – to experience the ultimate reality of love. His poem, The
Gift of Water, concludes with the lines:

You knock at the door of reality,

Shake your thought-wings, loosen
Your shoulders,
And open. (Barks, 200)
Being open to love, in all its forms, is a central message of Persian literature no matter
what form of expression it takes. In Hafez's works, this theme is thought by many
scholars to be developed most eloquently with the highest degree of artistry, giving him
the honor of being named the greatest Persian poet. Hafez himself, however, would no
doubt credit those who came before him who responded to questions about the world
by answering in verse. In doing so, they developed a body of literature which, in
keeping with the great literary traditions of cultures around the world, assures readers
that they are not alone in either their hopes or fears and that the final answer to life's
questions is love.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is a lyric poem in quatrains (four-line stanzas). Rather than
telling a story with characters, a lyric poem presents the deep feelings and emotions of the poet
on subjects such as life, death, love, and religion. The Rubáiyát was published in March 1859
but received little attention. Theme—a theme that encourages people to enjoy the present
moment and make good use of the little time available in life.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam [excerpt]

Edward Fitzgerald

Wake! For the Sun, who scattered into flight

The Stars before him from the Field of Night,
Drives Night along with them from Heav'n and strikes
The Sultán's Turret with a Shaft of Light.

Before the phantom of False morning died,

Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried,
"When all the Temple is prepared within,
Why nods the drowsy Worshiper outside?"

And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before

The Tavern shouted--"Open, then, the Door!
You know how little while we have to stay,
And, once departed, may return no more."
 12

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,

A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread--and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

13

Some for the Glories of This World; and some

Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come;
Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go,
Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum!

14

Look to the blowing Rose about us--"Lo,

Laughing," she says, "into the world I blow,
At once the silken tassel of my Purse
Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw."

15

And those who husbanded the Golden Grain,

And those who flung it to the winds like Rain,
Alike to no such aureate Earth are turned
As, buried once, Men want dug up again.

19

I sometimes think that never blows so red

The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled;
That every Hyacinth the Garden wears
Dropped in her Lap from some once lovely Head.

20
And this reviving Herb whose tender Green
Fledges the River-Lip on which we lean--
Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows
From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen!

21

Ah, my Belovéd, fill the Cup that clears

Today of past Regrets and future Fears:
 Tomorrow!--Why, Tomorrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n thousand Years.

22

For some we loved, the loveliest and the best

That from his Vintage rolling Time hath pressed,
Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to rest.

23

And we, that now make merry in the Room

They left, and Summer dresses in new bloom,
Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth
Descend--ourselves to make a Couch--for whom?

24

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,

Before we too into the Dust descend;
Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie,
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and--sans End!

71

The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,

Moves on; nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

72

And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky,

Whereunder crawling cooped we live and die,
Lift not your hands to It for help--for It
As impotently moves as you or I.