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1. Entrance to the Palace of Zelim Sultan, Teheran. 2. Lurs of Luristan. 3. Tomb and graveyard at Kazim. 4. Persian lady in indoor costume. (Photo by N. P. Edwards.) 5. Bazaar at Resht. 6. The Marble Throne, Teheran. 7. Carpet weavers, Kurdistan. 8. Palace of the Sun, Teheran.

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the Median monarch overcame them by destroying their chiefs through treachery. Cyaxares was probably the leader of the Medes who aided the Babylonians in the overthrow of Assyria and the destruction of Nineveh (B.C. 607). He conquered Armenia and Cappadocia, and his five years' war with Lydia was ended by a treaty caused by the solar eclipse of May 28, 585 B.C.

Cyrus the Great, king of Persia (or, as he tells us himself, of Ansan, which probably included Susiana), revolted against his suzerain Astyages (Istuvigu), the successor of Cyaxares, and captured Ecbatana in 550 B.C.

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B.C.) for a time delivered Greece from Oriental conquest. Darius made a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea.

The reign of Darius' son and successor, Xerxes 1. (485-464), who subdued the Egyptian rebels in 484, was chiefly occupied in his disastrous conflict with Greece, memorable for the overthrow of the Persians at Salamis (Septemter, 480) and Platæa (479). The reigns of Artaxerxes I. (464424), Xerxes II., and Darius II. 423-405) witnessed the rapid decline of the Persian monarchy. The celebrated expedition of Cyrus the Younger (401) against his brother Artaxerxes II., ending

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He was a descendant of Teispes, and by his conquest of Media united the whole Persian empire under his own banner. Croesus of Lydia was overthrown and his capital Sardis captured in 547, and the majority of the Greek cities in Asia Minor became tributary to the conqueror. Nabonahid of Babylon surrendered in 538. Phoenicia and Palestine were soon conquered. His successor, Cambyses, conquered Egypt in B.C. 525. When he died by his own hand (B.C. 521), Darius, a member of the same great Achæmenian family, succeeding to the throne, had to put down rebellions in every part of his vast empire. He invaded the Punjab, and led an army against the Scythians (B.C. 515). The Battle of Marathon (490 Vol. IX.-Mar. '12

in Cyrus' victory and death at Cunaxa, showed the Greeks how open to attack was their formerly dreaded foe, and thus at a later period encouraged Alexander the Great to invade the dominions of Darius III.

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contact with India through treaties between Seleucus and Chandragupta, and between Antiochus II. (Theos-261-246) and Asoka. Bactria revolted from Antiochus II., as did Parthia under Arsaces (250 B.C.), who founded the dynasty of the Arsacides. The Parthian kingdom was extended by Tiridates (248211 B.C.), who conquered Hyrcania and formed an alliance with Diodotus II. of Bactria. In imitation of the Achæmenians he assumed the title of 'Great King." His son, Arsaces II., was defeated and reduced to vassalage by Antiochus III. of Syria in 209. About this time Persia became independent of the Seleucids.

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Crossing the Hellespont in 334, Alexander defeated the Persians at Issus (333) and at Gaugamela (Oct. 1, 331), thus overthrowing forever the empire of the Achæmenians. Persia then became part of the Macedonian empire; and after the troubles that followed Alexander's death in 323 B.C., eventually fell to Seleucus Nicator (312-280), who built Seleucia, but ultimately transferred his capital to Antioch in Syria. In this and in the two succeeding reigns Persia was brought into

Mithridates I. (171-c. 138) defeated Eucratides of Bactria, taking two of his provinces. He conquered Media (147 B.C.), and after a varying struggle overcame and captured Demetrius (139 B.C.), and reduced Elam to the position of a vassal state, thus gaining for himself an empire almost as extensive as that of the Achæmenian kings. His son, Phraates II., added Margiana to his dominions, but for a time lost almost everything in a war with Antiochus VII. of Syria. The latter, however, was defeated and slain (B.C. 129), and the victor also fell in the same year in battle with the Scythians, who for a time ravaged the country and settled in Seistan (Sacastane).

Mithridates II., the Great, restored the Parthian power, and placed Tigranes II., a creature of his own, on the throne of Armenia (B.C. 94). He overthrew and captured Demetrius III. of Damascus. Sinatruces (77-70 B.C.) was defeated in a great war with Tigranes the Great of Armenia, who assumed the title of King of Kings,' and took possession of Atropatene, Adiabene, and Mesopotamia. But the latter, allying himself with Mithridates of Pontus against Rome, enabled Phraates III. of Parthia, in alliance with Pompey, to recover his lost territory (66 B.C.).

When Tigranes submitted to the Romans, the latter, by laying claim to Armenia, began a long struggle with the Parthians. When Phraates was murdered (c. 57 B.C.), civil war between his two sons, Orodes 1. and Mithridates III., for a time gave the Romans an opportunity; but the death of Mithridates in 54 enabled Orodes to marshal the whole power of his kingdom against Crassus, whose defeat and death at Carrhæ (53 B.C.) laid Syria open to the Parthians. After a long struggle they were

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finally repulsed (38 B.C.).

Antony invaded Atropatene in 36 B.C., but was defeated and obliged to take refuge with King Artavasdes of Armenia, with the loss of almost his whole army. His conqueror, Phraates IV. (B.C. 37-33), recovered Atropatene and Armenia; but in A.D. 1 Phraates v. made peace with Augustus, and surrendered the latter country for a time.

Civil wars for a long time troubled Parthia; but though Trajan took advantage of his enemies' weakness to turn Armenia (in 114 A.D.) and Mesopotamia (115 A.D.) into Roman provinces, yet on his death (117 A.D.) Hadrian surrendered them to the Parthians. Nevertheless, Rome again endeavored at a later period to claim Armenia, and Verus recovered it from Volagases III. in 164 A.D. Cassius expelled Volagases from Syria, captured Edessa, and burnt Seleucia, while Verus was successful in Artopatene. Mesopotamia was given up to Rome by the treaty which ended the war in 166 A.D.; but Macrinus had to surrender that province after sustaining two terrible defeats at the hands of Artabanus in 218 A.D., and to purchase peace by the payment of 50,000,000 denarii.

The province of Persis or Fars, during the greater part of the Arsacide dominion, had been governed by her own kings, who were generally tributary to the Parthian court, as they had been to the Seleucides. Papak, son of Sasan (chief priest of the great temple of Anahita at Istakhr, by his harriage with a princess of the royal family of Fars), founded the Sasanian dynasty (see SASANIDS) in that country, and was succeeded by his son Ardashir. In the latter the history of Cyrus the Great repeated itself. Taking advantage of the civil war (213-222 A.D.) between Volagases v. and his brother Artabanus, Ardashir declared himself independent. Defeating the army sent against him by Artabanus, Ardashir took Ispahan and advanced to Hormizjan, where (April 28, 227 A.D.) he overthrew the Parthian monarch in a great battle in which Artabanus fell, and with him the Parthian empire.

Istakhr (Persepolis) now became once more the capital of the Persian empire, of which Ardashir soon made himself sovereign. He subdued Khusrav of Armenia, though aided by Alexander Severus and all the might of Rome, and made Zoroastrianism, in the form which it had then assumed, the only religion Vol. IX.-Mar. '12

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tolerated in his dominions.

This led to a fierce persecution of the Christians, who were particularly numerous in Armenia.

Ardashir was succeeded in 240 A.D. by his son Sapor or Shapur I., one of the greatest of the Persian monarchs. His war with the Emperor Gordian (241–244) was indecisive, and was concluded by a peace which lasted until 258. Meanwhile Sapor was engaged in a contest with the Turks, and lost the province of Bactria, which became independent. When war again broke out with Rome, Sapor captured Edessa and Nisibis, and finally compelled Valerian and his army to surrender unconditionally. The emperor died in captivity. The Persians overran Asia Minor, meeting with no effective resistance. It was in this reign that Manes (in Persian Mani) arose in Persia.

Sapor died in 271 A.D., and transmitted his crown to his son Hormazd or Hormisdas 1. Until the reign of Sapor II. (309-380 A.D.) the country seems to have been troubled by civil dissensions, but it was restored to unity and power by this monarch. His reign is chiefly memorable for a fierce persecution of the Christians, and a war with the Romans (337 - 364), caused by the attempt of Constantine the Great to come to their relief. The events of this war, in which the Emperor Julian the Apostate was defeated and slain at Samara (July, 363), and his successor Jovian forced to purchase peace, are well known.

Varahran v. (Bahram Gur) ascended the throne in 420 A.D., and continued thé persecution of the Christians. This led to a war with the Emperor Theodosius, which ended in 422, without any decided success on either side. Varahran deposed Ardashir of Armenia, and for a time that country became a province of his empire. During his reign the White Huns, or Ephthalites, for a time harassed Persia; but their army was surprised and utterly routed by Varahran, near Merv. Soon after, Firuz, or Peroz, Varahran's successor, was defeated and slain in battle with the same tribe, and his brother Balas was compelled to pay them tribute. But this monarch conciliated the Armenians by granting them and all other Christians in his dominions full religious liberty.

The reign of Kai Kubad, or Kavadh (Balas' nephew), was distinguished for his victory over the Khazars, and by the rise of the religious impostor Mazdak, whose doctrines were accepted

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by the king. This led to a Magian revolt, headed by his brother Jamasp, who threw Kubad into prison. Escaping, and aided by the Ephithalites, Kubad regained his throne, which he held for thirty years longer. But during this period he was engaged in a war with Anastasius of Constantinople. in which the advantage was with the Persians, and had to deal with the incursions of the Ephthalites, and with a plot formed by the followers of Mazdak for his overthrow. Kubad by a stratagem massacred these sectaries. He then conquered Syria, and engaged in a second wa. with the Byzantine empire. The Byzantine general Belisarius was defeated at Nisibis in 529 A.D.; but he gained a victory at Daras the next year, only to sustain another defeat at Callinicus (531 A.D.).

Kubad was succeeded by his younger son Khusrav Anushiravan (Chosroes 1.), who executed Mazdak and finally suppressed that sect. Khusrav raised the empire to a condition of prosperity, and compelled Jus-. tinian to pay him tribute, disguised under the title of a contribution in aid of the war against the Ephthalites (557 A.D.), who were defeated with great loss. Khusrav also ex pelled the Abyssinians from Yemen, and established the Persian supremacy in that and in other parts of Arabia. But these and other long-continued wars had begun to exhaust the strength of the country, and from Khusrav's death we may date the gradual decline of the Persian power.

Khusrav's son and successor, Hormazd IV., was deposed and slain after a short reign by a rebellion which placed his son Chosroes II. (Khusrav Parviz) upon the throne (590 A.D.). The civil war which followed ended in the favor of Khusrav, largely through the assistance he obtained from the Emperor Maurice. When the latter was murdered (602) by the usurper Phocas, the Persian monarch, to avenge him, declared war against the Byzantine empire. After gaining several decided victories on the frontier, Khusrav in 609 A.D. invaded Syria. Damascus and Jerusalem fell in 614, and Alexandria in 616. Asia Minor was then overrun by the Persian armies, which captured Chalcedon in 617. But the Emperor Heraclius gained a great victory at Issus in 622, and in the following year, in alliance with the Khazars, entered Persia from the north, and routed the small force brought against him.

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For several years Heraclius continued his victorious career. In 627 he sacked the Persian capital Dastagird, near Ctesiphon. Next year Khusrav was dethroned and slain by conspirators led by his son Shiruyah (Siroes), who assumed the title of Kubad II. and made peace with Heraclius. A terrible pestilence carried off great numbers of the population in this reign, which lasted only two years. A period of civil war followed, ended by the accession of Yazdigird III. (634 A.D.).

But the fall of the Sasanian empire was at hand. The Arabs were advancing to the conquest of Persia. In the fiercely contested battle of Qadissiyyah, or Kadisiya, in November, 635 A.D., the Persian army under Rustam was routed, and its general slain. A few years later the Arabs had overrun the whole country, and the last of the Sasanian monarchs ended his days as a fugitive (651).

For nearly two hundred years after the Arab conquest Persia formed part of the dominions of the caliphs, and suffered her full share of the almost incessant massacres and civil wars which ensued. In 813, however, Tahir, a distinguished general, was appointed viceroy of Khorassan, and his family retained supreme authority in that province until Ya'qub (Yakub) as-Saffar overthrew them and established the Saffarite dynasty over the greater part of Persia in 872.

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brother Amr, who succeeded him, was overthrown by the Samani family in 902, from beyond the Oxus, who ruled Khorassan and Transoxiana until 999. The rest of Persia was subject to the caliphs until the rise of the Buyide dynasty (933-1055), which became supreme in Bagdad under Mu'izzu'ddin in 946. This dynasty was overthrown by the Seljuk Turks under Toghrul Beg in 1055. The history of Eastern Persia at this period centres in Ghazni and Ghor.

Between 1218 and 1224 Persia, then ruled by Mohammed Shah of Khvarizm, was overrun and almost desolated by Jenghiz Khan, who extended his conquests to the Indus. Hulagu, a grandson of Jenghiz, completed the conquest of Persia in 1258, and his descendants ruled for several generations. The country was also the scene of the conquests of Timur-i-Lang (Tamerlane, 1380 1393), one of whose descendants, the famous Baber, established himself at Kabul in 1504; repeatedly invaded India between 1519 and 1525, and established the Mogul Vol. IX.-Mar. '12

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dynasty there. But in Persia itself the Safavi dynasty was established by Ismail Shah (14991524). One of the greatest of his successors was Shah 'Abbas (1586-1628). His descendant Husain was dethroned by the Afghan conqueror Mahmud, who took Ispahan, the capital, in 1722. On his death, in 1725, Mahmud was succeeded by his cousin Ashraf; but the Safavi dynasty was in 1727 restored by Nadir Quli (Kuli) Khan, who placed Tahmasp II., Husain's son, upon the throne. Nadir, however, dethroned this feeble monarch in 1732, and proclaimed himself king, with the title of Nadir Shah, in 1735. Nadir conquered Afghanistan, and carried his arms as far as Delhi, which he captured and plundered, permitting the massacre of some 100,000 of the inhabitants. He ultimately became a bloodthirsty tyrant, and his murder, in 1747, was a great relief to his country. Civil wars succeeded until the reign of Karim Khan, who made Shiraz his capital.

The present, or Qajar (Kajar), dynasty is of Tartar origin, and was founded by Aqa (Agha) Mohammed Khan in 1794. This monster of cruelty re-established the Shiite or Shiah form of Islam as the religion of the country (1796). Fath 'Ali Shah, who succeeded on the murder of Aqa Mohammed, engaged in a war with Russia, and lost the Circassian provinces. Mohammed Shah, his grandson, took Herat from the Afghans.

Mohammed Shah left the throne, in 1848, to his son Nasiru'ddin Shah, who was murdered in 1896, and was succeeded by one of his younger sons, Muzaffaru'ddin Shah. Under his autocracy, the central and provincial governments were incapable and brutal, robbery was common, and the treasury empty in spite of increased taxation.

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In October, 1906, under pressure, the Shah convoked National Assembly (Mejliss) to frame a constitution. He died in January, 1907, and his son, Mohammed Ali, delayed taking oath to the constitution till Nov. 12, 1907, and then did not keep his promises. In 1907 Russia and Great Britain each assumed a sphere of influence in Persia-in the northern and southern parts respectively.

Throughout the year 1908 the Shah continued to rule in violation of the constitution, supported by Cossack soldiers. The Nationalists resisted, and the trouble continued until the Shah conceded a reorganization by constitutional means, and pro

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claimed that the constitution would again go into force. On July 13, 1909, the Nationalists entered the capital; established the National Assembly, which deposed the Shah; chose as his successor his son, Ahmed Mirza, eleven years old, and appointed a liberal as regent. The former Shah was to receive a pension, but was not to remain in Persia.

A new Mejliss (opened Nov. 15, 1909) voted to borrow money, and a new cabinet announced (July, 1910) a programme comprising employment of foreign advisers, improvement of provincial administration, and many other reforms. In October, 1910, the British government, with Russia's approval, demanded that the Persian government restore order on the southern routes within three months, or Great Britain would organize a special police and pay them out of the customs on the Persian Gulf.

About this time, at the request of the Persian government, President Taft designated W. Morgan Shuster as a fit person to manage the finances of that country. Shuster arrived in Teheran in (May, 1910), and was invested by the Persian Mejliss with plenary powers in fiscal affairs. He organized a body of guards to protect the treasury and collect taxes. The Russian representatives in Persia interfered with the collection of taxes from rich Persians, who claimed Russian protection; but in spite of obstacles, in six months the treasury deficit was converted into a surplus, besides furnishing funds for the suppression of a rebellion. In July, 1911, the deposed Shah, helped by the Cossacks, came from a Russian port on a Russian vessel to overthrow the constitutional government. After the invasion, the government ordered the confiscation of the estates of the brother of the exShah, and treasury guards took possession, and refused to surrender to Russian consular officers. The Russian government claimed that the guards pointed guns at these officers, and demanded an apology. The Persian government offered to investigate; but Russia, not satisfied with this, demanded (Dec. 5, 1911) that Shuster and his associates be dismissed; that in future the Persian government submit for Russian approval the names of all foreigners employed, or to be employed; that Persia's future relations with Russia and Great Britain be regulated in conformity with the

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In January, 1912, the Mejliss was dissolved. The government fears to call for new elections, lest the new parliament be more anti-Russian than the former. Apparently the British government has no intention of interfering with Russia in the northern half of Persia; while recent events lead to the belief that Great Britain may ultimately absorb what was designated by the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 as neutral territory.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. -HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES: Rawlinson's Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia (5 vols.); Vaillant's Arsacidarum Imperium; Rawlinson's Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World (6 vols.); Nöldeke's Geschichte der Perser; Duncker's History of Antiquity; Kersharp's Studies in Ancient Persian History (1905); Durand's Nadir Shah (1909); Hirschy's Artaxerxes III. (1909); Morgan's Mission Scientifique En Perse (5 vols., 1894-1904); Jackson's Persia Past and Present (1907); Weissbach's Die Keilinschriften der Achämeniden (1911); Fraser's Persia and Turkey in Revolt (1910); Ranking's History of the Minor Dynasties of Persia (1910); Browne's Persian Revolution of 1905-1909 (1910); Sarre and Herzfeld's Iranische Felzreliefs (2 vols., 1910); Bérard's Révolutions de la Perse (1910).

GENERAL: Wills' Land of the Lion and the Sun; Benjamin's Persia and the Persians; Curzon's Persia and the Persian Question (2 vols.); Bishop [Bird], Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan (2 vols.); Sykes' Ten Thousand Miles in Persia; Williams' Across Persia (1908); Cresson's Persia (1908); Wishard's Twenty Years in Persia (1908); Jewett's Reminiscences of My Life in Persia (1909); Birt's Through Persia (1909); Hume-Griffith's Behind the Veil in Persia and Turkish Arabia (1909); Sykes' Persia and Its People (1910); Hedin's Overland to India (1910); Nweeya's Persia (1910); BradleyBirt's Persia (1910); Stewart's Through Persia in Disguise Vol. IX.-Mar. '12

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(1911); Jackson's From Constantinople to the Home of Omar Khayyam (1911).

Persia, Language and Literature. The Persian language is a branch of the great Aryan or Indo-European family of languages, and not a few of its nouns (such as madar, 'mother'; birâdar, 'brother'; pidar, 'father'), pronouns (e.g., kih, 'who'-cf. qui, quis, ris; tô, thou), numerals (e.g., dô, 'two'; chahâr, 'fourcf. quattuor, TÉTTаpes), prepositions (e.g., bar, 'upon' - ci. ύπερ, super), and verbal roots (e.g., danistan, to know'-cf. Sans. root jân, gnosco, yуvσк) still show this relationship to other languages of the same stock. The earliest form of the language which has been preserved is found in the inscriptions of the Achemenian kings. Another ancient dialect is represented in the Gathas, the earliest portion of the Avestâ, or sacred books of the Zoroastrians. The resemblance in grammar and vocabulary between these and the Sanscrit of the Rig Veda is very great. The rest of the Avesta is evidently of later date, and represents a somewhat different dialect. A later form of the language is found in the Pahlavi books. Then came the oldest form of modern Persian, represented by the language of the Shâhnâmah. This was followed by what is known as the classical Persian of the great writers of later times.

The language at present spoken in Persia contains a somewhat larger proportion of Arabic words, though a considerable number of Turkish words may also be met with. A small number of words has also been introduced from Russian and French. With but slight alteration, the grammar of the tongue now spoken is that of the classical writers. Persian had originally eight cases and three numbers, and its verbal system was very similar to that of Sanscrit. But all this is now changed. Cases, declensions, and genders are lost, even more so than in English, and the result is a very beautiful and easy language, the one drawback to the extensive study of which lies in the fact that it is written in the Arabic character.

The date of the composition of the Gâthâs has been supposed to be about the 14th century B.C., while the rest of the Avesta was composed probably between the fifth and the first century before our era. It is said to have been redacted, possibly first reduced to writing, under Ardashir, in the third century after Christ. The earliest Pahlavi writings are

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much later, and consist of versions of parts of the Avestâ, and of such books as the Artâ-Vîrâf Nâmah, the Bûndahishnih, and other works of the Zoroastrian priests. These may be taken to represent different stages in the corruption of the language once spoken by the Medes.

The Mohammedan conquest for a time put an end to all literary life in Persia, but the nation ultimately developed a new literary language. The earliest prose work in what is now known as Persian is Bal'ami's version of Tabari's Universal History (A.D. 963). Among the earliest poets are Khusravani and Rudaki (lyric and didactic). About the same time (under Mahmud of Ghazni) lived the celebrated philosopher Avicenna (Ibn Sina, 980-1037), who wrote mostly in Arabic; but one work of his in Persian the Dânish-nâmah-yi 'Alâî-is well known.

The greatest epic poet of Persia is Firdausi (940-1020), who published his Shahnâmah, or 'History of the Kings of Persia,' after thirty-five years' toil, in 1011. (It is based on the Khudai-námah, which is said to have been translated from the Pahlavi). This work is of no historical value, but it is still very popular in Persia, and has given rise to numerous works of the same class, such as the Bahmân-námah and Nizami's Iskandar-námah, about 1202. Firdausi is also the author of one of the numerous works which bear the name of Yûsuf va Zulaikha. Perhaps the best known of his contemporaries is the poet 'Unsuri. A later epic poet of eminence is Hatifi (d. 1521). whose Taimûr-nâmah is of some interest.

The greatest Persian writer of odes (qasáid) is Anvari, who died between 1191 and 1196. One of the earliest Sufi poets is Hakim Sanai (1130), who wrote a work entitled Hadiqatu'l Haqi - qah; but the most renowned of the philosophical poets of Persia is Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-73), whose Masnavi contains many beautiful thoughts and striking passages, though its pantheism is but thinly disguised under an affected respect for Islam. Sa'di (died in 1292) is celebrated for his Gulistan and Bustân, and still more in Persia for his odes. With these may be coupled the Gulshan i Râz of Mahmud i Shabistari (died 1320), the Nigâristan of Juvaini (died 1335), and the Baháristán of Jami' (1487). These writers, mingling poetry and prose in some of their works, are didactic, using tales and parables to convey moral precepts.

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