Shiraz
Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 p ...
in the
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm ...
, now in Iran) was a
Persian Jewish
Persian Jews or Iranian Jews ( fa, یهودیان ایرانی, ''yahudiān-e-Irāni''; he, יהודים פרסים ''Yəhūdīm Parsīm'') are the descendants of Jews who were historically associated with the Persian Empire, whose successor s ...
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
in the 14th century.
Biography
The details surrounding his biography are not clear. It is known that he worked during the reign of Ilkhan
Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan
Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan (June 2, 1305 – December 1, 1335) (Persian, Arabic: ), also spelt Abusaid Bahador Khan, Abu Sa'id Behauder ( mn, , ''Busayid Baghatur Khan'', ''Бусайд баатар хаан'' / ''Busaid baatar khaan'', in moder ...
(1316-1335), and that he was also a contemporary of the Persian poet
Hafez
Khwāje Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī ( fa, خواجه شمسالدین محمّد حافظ شیرازی), known by his pen name Hafez (, ''Ḥāfeẓ'', 'the memorizer; the (safe) keeper'; 1325–1390) and as "Hafiz", ...
(d. 1390), who was also from Shiraz. It is unclear whether '"Shahin" is the poet's first name or his pen name. It is possible that he was from
Kashan
Kashan ( fa, ; Qashan; Cassan; also romanized as Kāshān) is a city in the northern part of Isfahan province, Iran. At the 2017 census, its population was 396,987 in 90,828 families.
Some etymologists argue that the city name comes from ...
and that he was buried in Shiraz.
Works
His works include epic cycles (poetic epics) from the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
and from later parts of the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" '' The ''Musā-nāmah'' was composed in 1327, and includes narratives from the books of Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...
couplets
A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...
. His versification of the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...
, the ''Bereshit-nāmah'', was composed around 1358 and contains close to 8700
couplets
A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...
.
His epic poem on the tale of
Esther
Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chosen ...
, ''Ardashir-nāmah'', includes multiple stories in addition to the well-known biblical narrative. For example, Shāhin also expounds on the adventures of Shiru, the son of
Ardashir Ardeshir or Ardashir ( Persian: اردشیر; also spelled as Ardasher) is a Persian name popular in Iran and other Persian-speaking countries. Ardashir is the New Persian form of the Middle Persian name , which is ultimately from Old Iranian ''*Ar ...
(Ahaseurus) and Queen
Vashti
Vashti ( he, , translit=Vaštī; ; ) was a queen of Persia and the first wife of Persian king Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther, a book included within the Tanakh and the Old Testament which is read on the Jewish holiday of Purim. She was either e ...
List of Persian-language poets and authors
The list is not comprehensive, but is continuously being expanded and includes Persian writers and poets from Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. This list is alphabetized by chronological o ...
*
Persian literature
Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) 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 h ...
*
Persian Jews
Persian Jews or Iranian Jews ( fa, یهودیان ایرانی, ''yahudiān-e-Irāni''; he, יהודים פרסים ''Yəhūdīm Parsīm'') are the descendants of Jews who were historically associated with the Persian Empire, whose successor ...
*
Judeo-Persian
Judeo-Persian refers to both a group of Jewish dialects spoken by the Jews living in Iran and Judeo-Persian texts (written in Hebrew alphabet). As a collective term, Judeo-Persian refers to a number of Judeo-Iranian languages spoken by Jewish com ...
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
)
Further reading
* Amnon Netzer: "Literature of the Jews of Iran, A short survey." Padyavand Vol 1. Los Angeles 1996, pp 5–17.
* David Gilinsky, "An original critical edition with English translation of Chapter 26 of Ardashir Nameh", BA Finals Dissertation, Cambridge University, April 1992, available from Cambridge University Library and on SCRIBD.
* E.G. Browne. ''Literary History of Persia''. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998.
* Jan Rypka, ''History of Iranian Literature''. Reidel Publishing Company.
* Vera Basch Moreen (tr. and ed.), ''In Queen Esther's Garden: An Anthology of Judeo-Persian Literature'' (Yale Judaica): Yale 2000,
*