Hakim Iranshah ibn Abi al-Khayr (), commonly known as Iranshah or Iranshan (ایرانشان), was a

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 ...

poet who lived in the

Seljuk Empire The Seljuk Empire, or the Great Seljuk Empire, was a High Middle Ages, high medieval, culturally Turco-Persian tradition, Turco-Persian, Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, established and ruled by the Qiniq (tribe), Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. ...

in the 11th and 12th centuries. Iranshah is the author of two

epic poems Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

, '' Kush-nama'' and '' Bahman-nama'', both written in the same style as the '' Shahnama'' of

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

(died 1019/25). Although no mention of its author is made in either of the works, the '' Mujmal al-tavarikh va al-qisas'' (written in 1126) credits Iranshah with its composition. Iranshah most likely wrote the ''Bahman-nama'' between 1092 and 1108, as indicated by mentions of historical events, and reverence of the sultans

Mahmud I Mahmud I (, ; 2 August 1696 13 December 1754), known as Mahmud the Hunchback, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1730 to 1754. He took over the throne after the quelling of the Patrona Halil rebellion. His reign was marked by wars in P ...

() and

Muhammad I Tapar Muhammad I Tapar (, ; 20 January 1082 – 18 April 1118), was the sultan of the Seljuk Empire from 1105 to 1118. He was a son of Malik-Shah I () and Taj al-Din Khatun Safariya. Reign Muhammad was born in 20 January 1082. He succeeded his nephew, ...

(). Set in the mythological Iranian world, the work tells the adventures of

Kay Bahman Kay Bahman or Wahman (from Middle Persian: ''Wahman'' "good mind"; Persian: کی‌بهمن) is a mythological figure of Greater Iranian legend and lore. The stock epithet ''Kai'' identifies Bahman as one of the Kayanian kings of Iranian oral tra ...

, the son of Isfandiyar. Iranshah states that the ''Bahman-nama'' was inspired by the ceaseless battles and wars of his patron, Muhammad I Tapar, which reminded him of the ceaseless battles between Bahman and

Rostam use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kabulistan , death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a we ...

's family. This implies that the work was also written to serve as advice for solving the socio-political issues of the time. The ''Kush-nama'' was written between 1108 and 1111, and is referred to as ''Qessa-ye Kush-e Pil-Dandan'' ("the tale of Kush the Tusked") and ''Akhbar-e Kush-e Pil-Dandan'' ("accounts of Kush the Tusked") in the ''Mujmal al-tavarikh''. Also mythological in nature, it tells the story of Kush the Tusked (or Pil-gush, "The Elephant-eared"), the son of Kush (brother of the evil king

Zahhak use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...

). The modern Iranian historian Jalal Matini ranks Iranshah as the third best writer of epic poetry among his contemporaries, behind Ferdowsi's ''Shahnama'' and

Asadi Tusi Abu Nasr Ali ibn Ahmad Asadi Tusi (; – 1073) was a Persian poet, linguist and author. He was born at the beginning of the 11th century in Tus, Iran, in the province of Khorasan, and died in the late 1080s in Tabriz. Asadi Tusi is considered a ...

's ''

Garshasp-nama The ''Garshasp-nama'' () is an epic poem by Asadi Tusi (died 1072/73). It has been described as one of the best epic poems in Persian literature, comparable to ''Shahnameh'', by Ferdowsi, and the most important work of Asadi Tusi. Asadi Tusi comp ...

''. The correct spelling of Iranshah's name is uncertain. He is called "Iranshan" in two out of four books of the ''Mujmal al-tavarikh'', while in the other two he is called "Iranshah" and "Inshah." Modern historians refer to him as either Iranshah or Iranshan. He was a Muslim, albeit it is unknown if he was either

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Shi'i Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood to ...

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iranshah 11th-century Persian-language poets Poets from the Seljuk Empire 11th-century Iranian writers 12th-century Iranian writers