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Introduction: What Is Persian Literature?
0:11The ancient civilization of Persia known
0:14today as Iran is regarded as one of the
0:17oldest and most influential cultural
0:19traditions in the world. From the
0:21Akimeit Empire to the Islamic Golden
0:24Age, Persian culture has produced a rich
0:27and enduring literary heritage. Even
0:29today, more than a thousand years after
0:32many of its most famous works were
0:34composed, people around the world
0:36continue to read and admire Persian
0:38literature. In this video, we will look
0:41at ancient epic poetry like the
0:43>> Shaame,
0:44>> mystical and philosophical works by
0:46poets such as Roomie and Hesh and at the
0:49Persian influence on the creation of the
0:52famous Arabic story Arabian Knights.
1:04Hi everyone, welcome back to the Lit
1:07Center channel. In this video, we are
1:09looking at Persian literature. Persian,
1:11also known as Farsy, is an Indo-Uropean
1:13language with a history stretching back
1:15over 2 and a half millennia. It belongs
1:18to the Iranian branch of the
1:19Indo-Uropean language family, making it
1:22distinctly related to languages such as
1:24English, Greek, and Sanskrit. Before we
1:27dive in, though, we need to set the
1:29stage. Literature is always a product of
1:32its time and its people, and the Persian
1:34speaking world has changed dramatically
1:36over the centuries. To fully appreciate
1:39Persian texts, we must first understand
1:41the cultural, historical, and social
1:44environments in which they were created.
Old Persian and the Achaemenid Empire
1:46The earliest Persianspeaking societies
1:49emerged on the Iranian plateau, a vast
1:52region stretching from modern-day Iran
1:54into central Asia. These societies were
1:57organized into kingdoms and tribal
1:59confederations, and over time they gave
2:02rise to one of the most powerful empires
2:04of the ancient world, the Akeminit
2:06Empire. Founded in the 6th century BC by
2:09Cyrus the Great, the Akminit Empire at
2:12its height stretched from the eastern
2:14Mediterranean to the Hindus Valley.
2:16Kings such as Cyrus, Darius I, and
2:19Xerxes ruled over a multithnic empire
2:22that included Egyptians, Babylonians,
2:24Greeks, and many other peoples. Persian
2:27rulers governed not by imposing a single
2:30culture, but by allowing local
2:32traditions to continue as long as
2:34loyalty and tribute were maintained. The
2:36earliest Persian texts from this era are
2:38written in old Persian and survive
2:40mainly as royal inscriptions carved into
2:43rock. One of the most important examples
2:45is the Behostin inscription commissioned
2:48by King Darius I around 520 BC. This
2:52monumental texts records Darius's rise
2:55to power and presents him as a
2:57legitimate ruler chosen by divine will.
3:00Although these inscriptions are not
3:02literary works in the modern sense, they
3:04still remain one of the few surviving
3:06examples of old Persian and provide
3:08crucial evidence of the language's
3:10earliest form. At the heart of ancient
Zoroastrianism and the Avesta
3:13Persian culture was Zoroastronism.
3:16One of the world's oldest known
3:17monotheistic or dualistic religions. It
3:21was founded by the prophet Zoroaster,
3:23also known by his Greek name Zaratustra,
3:26who likely lived sometime between 1,500
3:30and 1,000 BC. Although scholars still
3:32debate the exact dates, Zoroaster taught
3:35that the universe is shaped by a cosmic
3:37struggle between truth and falsehood.
3:40The supreme god Ahura Mazda represents
3:43wisdom, truth, and order, while
3:45destructive forces embody chaos, deceit,
3:48and moral corruption. The central
3:51ethical principle of zoroastrinism is
3:53often summarized as follows. Individuals
3:56are expected to live morally upright
3:58lives contributing to the triumph of
4:01truth over falsehood. This emphasis on
4:03moral responsibility, free will, and
4:05ethical action would deeply influence
4:07later Persian ideas about kingship.
4:10Zoroastrian sacred texts are preserved
4:13in Avesta, a collection of hymns,
4:15prayers, and ritual instructions. Some
4:17of the oldest parts of the Avesta known
4:20as the gatas are traditionally
4:22attributed to Zoroastaster himself.
4:24These hymns are philosophical and
4:26reflective focusing on moral choice,
4:29divine order, and the relationship
4:31between humanity and the sacred beings.
4:34Zoroastronism also introduced ideas that
4:37would later appear in other religious
4:39traditions, including concepts of heaven
4:42and hell, judgment after death, angels,
4:45demons, and an eventual renewal of the
4:47world. Because Persia ruled over large
4:50populations in the ancient near east,
4:52these ideas spread widely and likely
4:54influenced Jewish, Christian, and
4:56Islamic thought. The Akeminit world came
4:59to a dramatic end with the arrival of
5:01Alexander the Great in the late 4th
5:04century BC. Alexander a Macedonian king
5:07launched a campaign against Persia and
5:10defeated the last Akeminit ruler Darius
5:13III in 330 BC. He captured and burned
5:16Perceles, the ceremonial capital of the
5:19Persian kings, making an end to the long
5:22tradition of ancient culture. For Greeks
5:25and Western historians, Alexander the
5:27Great was usually celebrated as a heroic
5:30conqueror. But in Persian cultural
5:32memory, however, his invasion
5:34represented destruction, loss, and the
5:36collapse of an ancient political and
5:38religious order. Many administrative
5:40centers were destroyed and written
5:43traditions suffered as a result. This
5:45helps explain why so little early
5:47Persian literature survives compared to
5:50Greek texts from the same era. Following
The Arab Conquest and the Rise of New Persian
5:52the Arab conquest of Central Asia in the
5:557th century AD, Arabic became the
5:57dominant language of administration and
6:00scholarship. But Persian did not
6:02disappear. Rather, it gradually
6:04re-emerged in a new form known as New
6:07Persian, written in the Arabic script
6:09and enriched with Arabic vocabulary.
6:12Most of what we now call Persian
6:14literature comes from this period after
6:16the Arab conquest largely because much
6:18of the earlier material simply did not
6:20survive. Early Islamic authorities did
6:23not make preserving pre-Islamic Persian
6:26culture a priority and in some cases
6:28actively discouraged it because it was
6:30associated with a non-Islamic religion
6:33and therefore threatening to the
6:35established order. As a result, Persian
6:38literary culture had to be rebuilt
6:40within an Islamic framework. When
6:42Persian re-emerged as a literary
6:44language in the ninth and 10th
6:46centuries, it did so in a new
6:48Islamicized form, explaining why most
6:51surviving Persian literature dates from
6:54after the Islamic conquest. To
6:56understand the emergence of Persian
6:58literature, we must look at the
6:59political and cultural conditions of the
7:02early Islamic period. By the 9th
Ferdowsi and the Shāhnāmeh
7:04century, the Abbisid caliphate ruled
7:07much of the Islamic world. But real
7:09political power was increasingly
7:11fragmented. Regional dynasties such as
7:13the Salmonits in Central Asia began to
7:16promote Persian culture as a way of
7:18asserting local identity while remaining
7:21within the broader Islamic world. One of
7:24the most important works of this early
7:26Islamic era is the
7:28>> Shaame or book of kings written by the
7:31poet Ferdsi around the year 1000 AD. The
7:35>> Shaame
7:36>> is one of the longest epic poems in
7:38world history as it spans more than
7:4050,000 couplets. It recounts the
7:43mythological and historical past of
7:45Persia, beginning with the creation of
7:47the world and the reign of the first
7:49mythic kings and ending with the Arab
7:51conquest of Persia and the fall of the
7:54Cisanian Empire in the 7th century. The
7:57Shaame preserves stories that were
7:59passed down orally for centuries and
8:01recorded in older middle Persian royal
8:04chronicles, many of which no longer
8:06survive. It tells the deeds of kings and
8:09heroes, most famously Rostam, whose
8:12extraordinary strengths, skill in
8:13battle, and unwavering loyalty make him
8:16the model of the ideal Persian warrior.
8:19One of the poems most famous episodes is
8:21Rostam and Shorap, in which Rostam
8:24unknowingly kills his own son in battle.
8:27The Shaame was written almost entirely
8:30in new Persian with very few Arabic
8:33words. Mind you, Ferdousi lived at a
8:36time when Arabic dominated
8:38administration, religion and
8:40scholarship. So by doing this, Ferdosi
8:43showed that Persian could also serve as
8:45a literary language capable of history,
8:48epic narrative, and cultural memory. In
8:50that sense, the epic helped establish
8:52Persian as a prestigious literary
8:54language and a vehicle for national and
8:57cultural identity. The epic had
The Ghazal: Rumi, Hafez, and Saadi
9:00established Persian as a fully
9:02legitimate literary language and writers
9:04no longer needed to justify its use.
9:07Instead, they focused on refining style,
9:10form, and subject matter. One major
9:13development was the rise of lyric
9:15poetry, especially the gazle. A Persian
9:18Gazle is made up of a series of rhyming
9:20couplets. This made guzzles easy to
9:23memorize, quote, and recite, which
9:25helped them circulate widely in a world
9:27where poetry was primarily experienced
9:30through performance rather than silent
9:33reading. The content of the Gazle
9:35usually centers on a speaker addressing
9:37a beloved who is distant, indifferent,
9:40or unreachable. The speaker complains of
9:43separation, waits for signs of favor, or
9:46reflects on the instability of fortune.
9:48Rather than describing battles or kings,
9:51gazels describe moments of tension,
9:53waiting, and emotional uncertainty.
9:55Important writers of the genre include
9:58>> sadi
9:59>> and
10:00>> whose gazels were widely memorized and
10:02quoted. At the same time, Persian pros
10:05developed into a mature literary form.
10:08Writers such as Behaki used Persian to
10:11write detailed historical chronicles
10:13based on firsthand experience at court.
10:16These works describe political intrigue,
10:19administrative procedures, and the daily
10:21realities of governance, marking a shift
10:24from mythic history to documented
Mongol Invasions and Historical Writing
10:26events. By the 13th century, Persian
10:29literature entered what is usually
10:31called its medieval period. This era was
10:34shaped by one major historical shock,
10:36the Mongol invasions. Beginning in the
10:39early 1200s, Mongol armies destroyed big
10:42cities such as Nishapur, Bugar, and
10:44Baghdad, killing large populations and
10:47ending long-standing political
10:49structures. Many centers of learning
10:51disappeared almost overnight. Despite
10:54this destruction, Persian literary
10:56culture survived. In fact, under later
10:58Mongol rulers, especially the
11:01>> Ilhanit,
11:01>> Persian became the main language of
11:03administration and historical writing.
11:05Mongol elites relied on Persian
11:08bureaucrats and historians which led to
11:10renewed patronage of Persian culture.
11:13One clear result was a growth of
11:15historical pros. Writers such as
11:17>> Rashid
11:19>> compiled detailed chronicles like the
11:21>> Jam Alawarak
11:22>> which records the history of the
11:24Mongols, Iran and the wider world.
11:27Unlike earlier myth-based histories,
11:29these works were based on documents,
11:31eyewitnesses accounts and state
11:34archives.
Persian Roots of One Thousand and One Nights
11:361,01 nights or in Persian
11:40is a medieval folktale collection which
11:42tells the story of Shaher Razad, a
11:45assassinate queen who must relate a
11:47series of stories to her malevolent
11:49husband, King Shahar, to delay her
11:52execution. The stories are told over a
11:54period of 1,01 nights, and every night
11:58she ends the story with a suspenseful
12:00situation, forcing the king to keep her
12:03alive for another day. The individual
12:05stories were created over several
12:07centuries by many people from a number
12:09of different lands, but they were
12:11eventually all gathered into one story.
12:14Although Arabian Knights today is best
12:16known as an Arabic work, many of its
12:18core elements come from earlier Persian
12:21storytelling traditions. After the fall
Modern Persian Literature and National Identity
12:23of the Saffit Empire in 1722, Persian
12:27literary culture faced major changes.
12:30The collapse of centralized courts meant
12:32poets and writers could no longer rely
12:34on royal patronage and literary
12:37production became more fragmented.
12:39Writers turned to new audiences,
12:41merchants, urban elites, religious
12:44institutions, and later a growing public
12:46reading population. During the 19th
12:49century, exposure to Europe reshaped
12:52Persian literature. Translations of
12:54European novels, histories, and
12:56political texts introduced a new form of
12:59pros writing, such as essays,
13:02journalism, and historical narratives.
13:04Newspapers and printed pamphlets created
13:07the first literary market outside the
13:09courts. The 20th century was a period of
13:13rapid change for Iran. The country faced
13:16foreign influence, political upheaval,
13:18and social reform. From the
13:20constitutional revolution of 1905 to
13:221911 to the rise of modern nationalism,
13:26industrialization, urbanization, and
13:29expanding education reshaped daily life.
13:32While debates over democracy, monarchy,
13:34and social justice dominated public
13:36discourse. Persian literature responded
13:39to these shifts. Poetry and pros
13:41increasingly reflected the concerns of
13:43ordinary people, addressing political
13:45change, social inequality, and national
13:48identity. Writers experimented with new
13:51forms and themes, bridging Iran's rich
13:54literary heritage with the realities of
13:56a modernizing society. In this way,
13:59literature became both a mirror of
14:01historical transformation and a medium
14:03for public debate.