''Haft Peykar'' ( fa, هفت پیکر ''Haft Peykar'') also known as Bahramnameh (, ''The Book of Bahram'', referring to the

Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

king

Bahram Gur Bahram V (also spelled Wahram V or Warahran V; pal, 𐭥𐭫𐭧𐭫𐭠𐭭), also known as Bahram Gor (New Persian: , "Bahram the onager") was the Sasanian King of Kings (''shahanshah'') from 420 to 438. The son of the incumbent Sasanian shah ...

) is a romantic epic by Persian poet

Nizami Ganjavi Nizami Ganjavi ( fa, نظامی گنجوی, lit=Niẓāmī of Ganja, translit=Niẓāmī Ganjavī; c. 1141–1209), Nizami Ganje'i, Nizami, or Nezāmi, whose formal name was ''Jamal ad-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Ilyās ibn-Yūsuf ibn-Zakkī'',Mo'in, ...

written in 1197. This poem forms one part of his ''Khamsa''. The original title in Persian ''Haft Peykar'' can be translated literally as "seven portraits" with the figurative meaning of "seven beauties". Both translations are meaningful and the poet doubtless exploited intentionally the ambiguity of the words. The poem was dedicated to the Ahmadili ruler of

Maragha Maragheh ( fa, مراغه, Marāgheh or ''Marāgha''; az, ماراغا ) is a city and capital of Maragheh County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. Maragheh is on the bank of the river Sufi Chay. The population consists mostly of Iranian Azerb ...

, Ala-al-Din Korpe Arslan bin Aq-Sonqor. The poem is a masterpiece of

erotic literature Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros (passionate, romantic or sexual relationships) intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica, which focuses more specifically on sexual feelin ...

, but it is also a profoundly moralistic work.François de Blois
Haft Peykar
//

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encycl ...

. — 15 December 2002. — V. XI. — pp. 522–524.

Story

The Haft Peykar consists of seven tales. Bahram sends for seven princesses as his brides, and builds a palace containing seven domes for his brides, each dedicated to one day of the week, governed by the day's planet and bearing its emblematic color. Bahram visits each dome in turn, where he feasts, drinks, enjoys the favors of his brides, and listens to a tale told by each.

Editions and translations

A critical edition of the Haft Peykar was produced by

Helmut Ritter Hellmut Ritter (27 February 1892 – 19 May 1971) was a leading German Orientalist specializing in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, and an authority on Sufi ritual and mystical beliefs. Biography The son of a Protestant minister, his brothers were ...

and

Jan Rypka Jan Rypka, PhDr., Dr.Sc. (28 May 1886 in Kroměříž – 29 December 1968 in Prague) was a prominent Czech orientalist, translator, professor of Iranology and Turkology at Charles University, Prague. Jan Rypka was a participant in Ferdowsi ...

(

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, printed

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, 1934) on the basis of fifteen manuscripts of Khamsa and the

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

lithograph. There is also an uncritical edition by Wahid Dastgerdi (

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, 1936 and reprints) and an edition by Barat Zanjani (Tehran, 1994). More recently, the poem was re-edited by the

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

i scholar T. A. Maharramov (

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, 1987). A poetic German translation of a passage from the poem named ''Bahram Gur and Russian princess'' by orientalist was published in 1832 in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

. There are three complete translations in western European languages from original Persian language. First, in 1924 Charles Edward Wilson translated the poem to English in two volumes with extensive notes. Second, Alessandro Bausani in 1967 translated it to Italian. Finally, there is an English version by Julie Scott Meisami published in 1967. There is also an English metatranslation by E. Mattin and G. Hill (

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, 1976). A partial translation was also made by

Rudolf Gelpke Rudolf Gelpke (1928–1972) was a Swiss Islamic scholar. He studied at the University of Basel, where he received his doctorate in Islamic Studies in 1957. Later Gelpke moved to Iran, where he taught at the University of Tehran and afterwards at ...

in German prose ( Zurich, 1959). There is a complete poetic translation in Azerbaijani by (

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, 1946). There are three complete translations in Russian: a poetic translation by

Ryurik Ivnev Rurik Ivnev (russian: Рю́рик И́внев), born Mikhail Alexandrovich Kovalyov (russian: Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович Ковалёв) ( – 19 February 1981), was a Russian literature, Russian poet, novelist and translator ...

(Baku, 1947), a poetic translation by (Moscow, 1959), and a prose translation by Rustam Aliyev (Baku, 1983).

Cultural influence

In the early 1940s, to mark the 800th anniversary of Nizami Ganjavi, Azerbaijani composer

Uzeyir Hajibeyov Uzeyir bey Abdulhuseyn oghlu Hajibeyov ( az, Üzeyir bəy Əbdülhüseyn oğlu Hacıbəyov; russian: Узеир Абдул-Гусейн оглы Гаджибеков, translit=Uzeir Abdul-Guseyn ogly Gadzhibekov; September 18, 1885November 23, 19 ...

planned to write seven songs for the seven beauties of the poem. However, he only wrote two songs: "Sensiz" ("Without You", 1941) and "Sevgili Janan" ("Beloved", 1943).Сафарова З. Узеир Гаджибеков. — Баку: Язычы, 1985. — P. 61. In 1952 Azerbaijani composer

Gara Garayev Gara Abulfaz oghlu Garayev ( az, Qara Əbülfəz oğlu Qarayev, russian: Кара́ Абульфа́зович Кара́ев (Kara Abulfazovich Karayev), February 5, 1918 – May 13, 1982), also spelled as Qara Qarayev or Kara Karayev, was a pr ...

composed the ballet ''

Seven Beauties ''Seven Beauties'' ( it, Pasqualino Settebellezze, "Pasqualino Sevenbeauties") is a 1975 Italian language film written and directed by Lina Wertmüller and starring Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, and Shirley Stoler. Written by Wertmüller, the ...

'' based on motifs of Nizami Ganjavi's ''Seven beauties''. In 1959 a fountain with a bronze sculpture "Bahram Gur" depicting the hero of the poem killing serpentine dragon at his feet was erected in Baku. In 1979 the Nizami Gəncəvi subway station in Baku was decorated by Azerbaijani painter

Mikayil Abdullayev Mikayil Huseyn oglu Abdullayev (19 December 1921, Baku - 22 August 2002, Baku) was an Azerbaijani painter, a People's Artist of the former USSR since 1963, and creator of a series of paintings entitled ''Through India''. Abdullayev was an alumn ...

with mosaic murals based on the works of Nizami. Three of these murals depict heroes of the ''Seven Beauties'' poem. The opera ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is "Nessun dorma", whi ...

'' by

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...

is based on the story of Tuesday, being told to King Bahram by his companion of the red dome, associated with Mars.

Gallery

File:Brooklyn Museum - Bahram Gur Visits the Dome of Piruza on Wednesday Page from the Haft paykar from a manuscript of the Khamsa of Nizami.jpg, ''Bahram Gur Visits the Dome of Piruza on Wednesday''. Page from the ''Haft Paykar'' from a manuscript of Nizami.

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

References

{{reflist

Sources

* François de Blois
Haft Peykar
//