Nezami Ganjavi
The great Persian narrative poet (1141–1209) from Ganja, author of the Khamsa (Quintet), the summit of Persian romantic-epic poetry.
Read in context →At a glance
- Field
- Narrative poetry (mathnavi, romantic epic)
- Era
- Late Seljuk / Atabeg era
- Key work
- The Khamsa: Khosrow o Shirin, Layla o Majnun, …
- Birthplace
- Ganja (Arran, Caucasus)
Biography
Jamal al-Din Abu Muhammad Ilyas ibn Yusuf, known as Nezami Ganjavi (c. 1141–1209 CE), was one of the greatest narrative poets of the Persian language, living in the city of Ganja (in Caucasian Arran, in present-day Azerbaijan). His masterpiece is the Khamsa, or 'Five Treasures,' a set of five long poems: Makhzan al-Asrar (mystical-didactic), Khosrow o Shirin and Layla o Majnun (two celebrated romances), Haft Paykar (the tale of Bahram Gur), and the Eskandarnameh (on Alexander). With ornate language, rich imagery, psychological depth of character, and a fusion of love with wisdom, Nezami set the model for narrative lyric poetry for centuries and inspired hundreds of imitations and miniature paintings. He lived much of his life away from courts and relatively reclusively, dedicating his works to various regional rulers. A contested point is his national-ethnic identity: he wrote in Persian and belongs to the Persian literary tradition, but because of his Caucasian birthplace there has been a political effort, in the Soviet period and later in Azerbaijan, to recast him as an 'Azerbaijani national poet' — a reframing most independent scholars regard as anachronistic and politicized.
Quotes & narrations
«All the world is a body, and Iran the heart; the speaker is not ashamed of this comparison.»
Related entities
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Neẓāmī Ganjavī"
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Nezāmī"
- Peter J. Chelkowski, Mirror of the Invisible World: Tales from the Khamseh of Nizami (1975)