n 



I'KKSIA 



I'KUSIAN GULF 



A further step was taken when the 

 IVraiaiu. under uptart native dynastie*, returned 

 ako to the ancient language of their father* during 

 the Dnt centuries of Mohammedanism. The re- 

 vived national fcding. which must have been stir- 

 ring fora long time pMfioMiy among the manse*, 

 then suddenly burnt Imtli in prose i.ncl in verse, 

 from llic lips Hi a thousand -in_'-j- ami writers. 

 The literary life of Persia, tin* commencement nf 

 hirh is thus t<> l- placed in the Hili century A.H., 

 continued to Iliiun-li with unabated healthy vigour 

 for live cciiturien, ami products! a host of writei- in 

 every branch of science and lielle* lettrcs, of whom 

 we can only here give the mot rapid of urvc\s, 

 referring for the moat im|s>rtant names to special 

 article*. 



AU.iit 952 Ahul Hasan Rudegi, the liliml, 

 race liy the kin];'* favour to such an eminence that 

 he had two hundred (laves to wait II|H>II him ; 

 lull little has lemaincd of his 1 .:IIKI.IKKI ,ii-ti,-h-, 

 and of hU metrical translation of Bidpai's Fables. 

 About 1(100 we hear of Kabus, the Dilcmitf prince. 

 an the author of The Perfection of It/ulnnc, and 

 INK-IUH. In the time of the Cha/ncvids, chiefly 

 under Mahinuil. who surrounded himself with no 

 taw than four hiimlied nmrt-uoeU, we find those 

 tan of Persian wing. Ansari (1039), author of 

 II tmik and Aim ; Kerruchi, who, besides his own 

 uoeins. wrote the Mint work on the laws of the 

 Fenian metriral art; Ksedi, from Tun ; and, ahove 

 all, Firdausi (q.v.), the author of the Shalt-Xutneh. 

 I ndrr the Atahek dynasty wan the panegyrist 

 Aohad-ed-Din Anwari, who, with Inn praise, well 

 knew bow to handle satire. Nizami (about 1200) 

 ninler of the romantic epos. Conspicuous in 

 I'eniia in the mystic (Sulistic) |x>etry, which, under 

 Anacreontic allegories, in glowing songs of wine 

 anil love, represented the my-tery of divine love 

 and of the union of the soul with Cod (-<> Si KISM). 

 In this province we tin. I the famous Omar Khay- 

 yam (q.v. : died 1123), and Farid od Din Attar 

 (horn 1216), the renowned author of Pend-Nameh 

 ('Book of Counsel'), a work containing the bio- 

 graphies of naini- up to hi-, own time ; such is the 

 depth and hidden meaning of his mystic JHM-IIIS 

 that for centime* after him the whole Moslem 

 world ha Irasird it*df with commentaries on the 

 Maning of Inn Micred poetry. He died ahont 

 I33U. more than a hundnil yean old, us a martyr. 

 (ireater "till in this li.-ld is .lehtl-<-|.|)in Ku'iiii 

 (died 1273). whom- |HN-III on ContrmiJiitirr Life 

 lian made him the oracle of oriental mysticism 

 up 10 thin day ; he wrote also a great mlmlx-i of 

 lyrical poem*. The 13th centurv cannot lietter 

 im*d than with SAdi d|.v.|, the fint and un 

 rivnlhsl I'enian didactic (Hx-t. Hut far iiUive all 

 "hi"' -| . v. ), who sang of wine and love, 



and nightingale* nll .l tlowei>. Atler him the full 



glory of Penian |N-try hfginit to wane. A ng 



UMM that came after him .(ami (1418-92) sunids 

 higlimt. a poet of most varied genius, aecond 

 wily in every one of the manifold branches U> ibi 

 tUnf niantrr in lyric ami in didactic to Saili, in 

 romance to Ni/ami, in iiivsticiin to .lelal mi-Din ; 

 bat mol brilliant a* a romantic IMH-I. Of prow 

 work* we have by him a history of the Siifin, ami an 

 Kceedlngly valiiahh- coll,-<-!i.,i, of epitohuy models. 

 TV dramatic poelry of the Persians is not without 

 Merit, bat U of omall extent. 



,umroii. t A |, torii, novela, aneolotes, 

 anllnil'igm. and all the iiiincellaneons ni.'M.nnni^ 

 litoratare in which Peiia alMiunds form a lit Iran- 

 ition fnmi i-ir> N, |,t,^.- Al.le rivals of the 

 (rraat Arabic ki>toHofrraphrn< sprang up at an early 

 pcriul. For the niMhicnl times Kirdaimf'* gigantic 

 MM ramaios the only nouroe. Kwhid <l Din the 

 *Uer of Khazan (lni 1247; executed in 1320). 

 wrote a *arainary of Uie hutory of all Moham- 



medan countries and times, containing lieside* a 

 complete lii-tory of HecU. Hi- coiitcmp<n:ii\ 

 Watutaf 18 the mil>-l of the grand rhetorical style. 

 Ili- imt successful imitaUir in the 15th century 

 is Sherif cd Din, who wrote the history of Tamci- 

 lane. l"p to that |teri<Kl |>om|>osity of'diction \\.i- 

 r..h-i.ii-ii-d the principal beauty, if not the chief 

 merit, of a clawical Persian history. From the 

 1.5th century downwards a healthy reaction set in. 

 and simplicity and a striving after the real repre- 

 sentation of facts became the predominant fashion. 

 Fori-moM among the modern historians is Mirkliond. 

 whose I'nhersal History comprises the period 

 from creation to the reign of Sultan Hasan Bcik.ua. 

 His ROM Khoiidemir also wrote history. Among 

 Indian historians who wrote in Persian we have 

 Mohammed Kasim Ferishtali ( 1640), who wrote iln- 

 ancient history of India up to the Kuropcan ion 

 quest, Mohammed Hn-him, Ahul Fadel Moharrck. 

 and others. The Measiri Sultaniye, which contain- 

 the history of the present dynasty of Persia, and 

 was published at Teheran in 1825, wa- tiaiisl.' 

 h\ Miidges I Loud. 1833). 



Biographies, legends, histories of martyrs, and 

 the like are legion. Most of the biographies of 

 the Prophet, however, are taken from the Arabic. 

 Works on geography generally treated together 

 with history are those of Mestafi, Ahinin Ahmed 

 Itasi, Heidshendi, &c. In theology little Ix-yond 

 translations of the Koran, coiuinciUarics, and some 

 portions of the Traditions has been produced. 

 Jurisprudence has likewise to show little that i- 

 oiigimil. ami not mere translation, partial com- 

 mentary, or adaptation in Persian. The llfilml- 

 n/iii/i, the Inttdshah, the Futatoa A lent girt are tlie 

 most important legal works. Much has been 

 written on medicine, surgery, pharmacy, and 

 physical sciences by Persians, liut nearly all their 

 chief works are in Arabic. Mathematics, astro- 

 nomy, ami philo-ophy have not been neglected ; 

 rhetoric, works on letter- writ ing, and on metrical 

 and poetical arts are numerous, dammar and 

 lexicography found their principal cultivators in 

 India. Translations from Creek, Indian, Arabic, 

 Turkish, and other languages into Persian e.\i-i 

 in abundance. 



There ia no good hintory of Persian literature; but 

 then.- i- much information in the great catalogues of 

 Stewart ( 1809 ), Ouaeley ( 1831 ), Horley ( 1854 ), Sprenger 

 (Calcutta, 1854), Rieu (Lond. 1879), and others. See 

 the article! in thi work on FlRDAUsf, HXm, OlfAR 

 K MAwXx. SIIFIHH, &c. Dictionaries, besides the native 

 ones, are those of .Johnson and Kichardson, Vullen (1867), 

 Palmer ( 1876-84 ), Steingan ( 1884-92 ), Wollaston (1889). 



Persian lilllf. an arm of the Indian Ocean 

 which |H-net rates between Arabia and Persia to 

 the extent of l>.1<> Knglish miles in a general north- 

 westerly direction. Its breadth varies Ir .V> 



miles at the mouth to 250 miles, ami the area is 

 estimated at 77,4"><i M|. in., not including the islands, 

 which are scattered over the wi-stern half, or lie close 

 inshore along the eastern side. The chief of these 

 islands are Ormiiz, at the mouth ; Kishm, 810 sq. 

 in. in extent ; and the Itahreiti Islands. The Creat 

 Peail liank stretches along I he western side from 

 Itas Hassan to nearly hall way up the gulf. The 

 i- mostly formed of calcareous rocks. On 

 the Arabian side it is low and sandy, occasionally 

 broken by mountains anil dill's; \\liilc on the 

 Pei-iaii side it is higher and abrupt, with deep 

 water dose inshore, owing to the mountain langc- 

 of Kars and Laiistan running close to the wai- 



The islands arc partly of liinet<me and 

 partly of ironstone, and arc generally destitute ..: 

 springs, barren, desolate, and presenting numerous 

 traces of volcanic eruptions. Kxcept. the Shat-el- 

 Arab (nee KUPIIRATES), the Persian Culf receive* 

 only iiisignilicout stream*. Its ea-i.-, i, -i.le presents 



