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by Richard A. Lockshin (Editor), Parviz Nezami Amuist (Author)
A fascinating historical panorama of 12 centuries of Persian poets, their poetry, and the narrative of the life stories of approximately 150 poets and scholars who wrote in Farsi over this extended period. The book is a source of learning and inspiration for Iranian immigrants to English-speaking lands and especially for their children and grandchildren who have missed immersion in the wonderful culture of Iran. Those who are intrigued by the poetry, history, and the unique literary writings will also find enjoyment and enlightenment concerning the Persian classical and modern poets, scholars, scientists, and philosophers who appeared on the Persian poetic landscape of Persia following the Persian Renaissance movement that started in the eighth-century C.E., almost two hundred years after the Arab invasion of Iran; the so-called "Two hundred years of silence". The movement was started by the appearance of great early poets and scholars such as Rudaki (The father of Persian poetry ), Bayazid Bastami, Ferdowsi, who wrote the Shahnameh, Avicenna, Razi, Farabi, and Khayyam, Khaghani, Nezami Ghanjavi, Baba Tahir, Saadi, Rumi, Fakhre-Din Eraghi, Obeyd Zakani, Hafez, and Jami, followed a few centuries later, shortly after the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1905 A.D., by the appearance of contemporary Persian poets of "modern times" on the scene of Persian literature in the twentieth century. Some of the more famous poets are Malek-Ol Shoara Bahar, Iraj Mirza, Parvin Etesami, Dehkhoda, Shahriyar, Rahi Moayeri, Nima Ushij (The father of the New Style of Persian poetry), Nader Naderpour, Sohrab Sepehri, Fereydoon Moshiri, Ahmad Shamloo, Forough Farokhzad, Simin Behbahani, and many others.
The ancient history of Persia was written mainly by the Greek historian Herodotus. According to him, the Medean and Achaemenian Persian kings started around 750 B.C. The Medes were the descendants of a branch of Indo-Europeans called the Aryan tribes who had moved and settled in areas to the north and north-eastern parts of the Iranian plateau bordering the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea areas, sometime around five to six thousand years ago. The Medean dynasty was established by a Medean judge named Dioecies around the year 700. They were defeated by Cyrus the Great who established the Achaemenian Persian Empire in 550 B.C. Alexander the Macedonian with the help of Greeks invaded Persia in 330 B.C, but in 220 B.C. The Parthians, another tribe of Aryans, drove them out of Persia and established the Ashkanian dynasty, which ruled Iran for almost four hundred years before being displaced by The Sassanians who, eventually around the year 630 A.D, were conquered by Arabs. From then up to the 20th century, Persia was devastated time and time again by its savage neighbors; the Mongols, Turkmans, and Afghans. The barbarians murdered thousands and thousands of innocent people indiscriminately--men, women, children; and they burnt to the ground cities, towns and villages, libraries, places of worship, and farms, turning the entire country into a wasteland. In spite of all these horrendous and devastating times Persian scholars continued with creating and maintaining great treasures of knowledge in all the fields of human intellect; science, art, mathematics, astronomy, and literature. Cities were rebuilt, libraries were maintained, schools were reopened, magnificent buildings and places of worship were erected and the flame of knowledge was kept burning brighter than ever before, leaving us today after hundreds of years the magnificent Persian cultural heritage to benefit from, enjoy, and hopefully preserve for the future generation. All this is encompassed by the saga depicted in this book. It should serve as a resource for scholars, students, and those enamored of Persia.
