The *Kitāb al-tāj* recounts that during a long siege to his capital, the King of Rūm (the Byzantine emperor) had proposed an accord between him and Shahr-barāz, but the latter had refused; Shahr-barāz is indeed depicted as a loyal and valiant general, who gained many victories and successes for Khusraw. The King of Rūm had then prepared himself for naval war, charging his ships with immense treasure and riches. A storm had sunk the king's ships, and Shahr-barāz had recovered the treasure and had sent it to Khusraw, who of course was delighted with it. However, one of Khusraw's slaves (*ghulām*) called Rustah, who was an enemy of Shahr-barāz (no reason for this is given), succeeded in changing Khusraw's heart towards his general. At this point a different and possibly more ancient version of the anecdote of the exchange of letters between Khusraw and Shahrbarāz is given, which is reported in order to illustrate Khusraw's skillfulness in deceiving his faithful general.

In this narrative, the character of the faithful Shahr-barāz deceived by Khusraw may well recall the loyal Farhād deceived by Khusraw with the false news of Shīrīn's death. This narrative, though probably being of ancient pre-Islamic origins, confirms the existence of a tradition favourable to Shahr-barāz, different from the anti-Shahr-barāz tradition offered by other Persian texts such as the *Shāhnāma* (see above).

Very soon the historical figure of Farrahān Shahr-barāz fell into oblivion; of his real biography only some features survived, transformed into legend. His connection with Rūm, the territories of the Byzantine empire under his control, was transformed into his being the king of a far-away country: Yemen, Maghreb or – in the poetic narrative tradition – Syria.

Indeed, in the poems of love and adventure, which represent a stream parallel to that inaugurated by Niẓāmī's *Khusraw va Shīrīn*,

145 Maçoudi, *Les prairies d'or*, 2 : 226-7. A still slightly different version of the story of the Treasure carried by the wind (without mention of Shahr-barāz), is given by Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī, *Shirin va Khosrow*, 86-89, ll. 969-1005.

146 Pseudo-Jāḥiẓ, *Kitāb al-tāj fī akhlāq al-mulūk*, 180-5 (French transl., 196-202).

there is a character, called 'The King of Syria', which corresponds to Farhād in Niẓāmī's poem: he is the rival of the hero, as is Farhād with reference to Khusraw in Niẓāmī's *Khusraw va Shīrīn*. In fact, the King of Syria (in Khwājū Kirmānī's *Gul va Nawrūz*, composed in 742/1341), or the son of the King of Syria (in Salmān Sāvajī's *Jamshīd va Khwarshīd*, composed in 763/1372), is the rival of the hero in his love for the beautiful female protagonist.

In the first poem, Khwājū Kirmānī's *Gul va Nawrūz*, Nawrūz falls in love with Gul, the daughter of the Qayṣar (the emperor of Byzantium), having heard a description of her from a traveling merchant. Ignoring his father's opposition, he sets out for Rūm. On the way there he meets with various adventures, including an encounter with a handsome young man suffering the pains of love: this is Farrukh-rūz, King of Syria, who with his army had unsuccessfully sought to overcome the Qayṣar's resistance and obtain the hand of his daughter, Gul. The character of Farrukh-rūz, King of Syria, who at the head of his army endeavours to beat down the resistance of the Qayṣar, the Byzantine emperor, recalls the figure of General Shahr-barāz leading his army in a number of military expeditions in Byzantine territory. The name 'Farrukh-rūz' seems even to echo the title 'Farrukhān' under which the general was known in some sources, or, possibly, the name of Farrukh Hurmuz, the personage which was replaced by Shahr-barāz in his role of rejected suitor to the queen's hand, in the just analyzed legend.

Also in the second poem, Salmān Sāvajī's *Jamshīd va Khwarshīd*, Jamshīd, son of Shāpūr, king of China, falls in love with a beautiful girl glimpsed one night in a dream. After much fruitless search, he realizes from the description of a merchant that this beauty is Khwarshīd (Sun), daughter of the Qayṣar of Rūm. Jamshīd sets out and, after a series of adventures, meets Khwarshīd, who immediately returns his love. Only after defeating Shādī, son of the King of Syria, who is also a suitor to Khwarshīd, Jamshīd is able to marry the daughter of the Qayṣar. He returns to China and ascends his father's throne.

The character of the King of Syria (or of the son of the King of Syria) cannot be explained other than as a romantic re-elaboration of the figure of General Farrahān, rival of Khusraw Parvīz – though not, of course, for love of a woman. The surprising war exploits and territorial conquests made by Shahr-barāz under Khusraw's orders, coupled with a remote memory of his mutiny and his prolonged stay in the occupied territories, made of him the king of a far-away country. His true or supposed agreement with Heraclius, the emperor of Byzantium, was transformed into his being a suitor to the hand of the latter's daughter.147 It is as if a distant memory of ancient events had later offered the backdrop for a narrative transposed into a romantic plan, with the protagonists of war events transformed into two rivals for love of a woman, the latter being the daughter of the Byzantine emperor, in the tradition of the poems of love and adventure; Shīrīn, in Niẓāmī's poem *Khusraw va Shīrīn* and in the poems composed in response to it.

From a functional point of view, then, the King of Syria corresponds to Farhād, the rival of Khusraw. At the same time, this character also preserves some features of the historical Shahr-barāz as, in actual fact, the latter had conquered Syria, and had continued to keep it as his own kingdom for a period. From a merely literary point of view the King of Syria recalls Shahr-barāz's legendary role of unrequited wooer of queen Būrān.

#### 7 Conclusions

In the romantic narrative tradition the character of Farhād has a double origin: he is, mainly and first of all, the Master of Mount Bīsutūn, of which Abū Dulaf preserves early evidence (mid-tenth century). This character, connected with the region of Mount Bīsutūn, is probably of popular origin, though having an early prototype – according to Wilhelm Eilers – in the character of Onnes, Semiramis's first husband, King Ninos's general. Very soon, however, Farhād the Master merged into the figure of another 'Farhād', Khusraw Parvīz's general, his rival for the throne of Persia and – in the romantic narrative tradition – his rival tout court.

The merging of 'the two Farhāds' is attested by a lost text, the *Pīrūz-nāma*, of which some passages are quoted in the anonymous *Mujmal al-tavārīkh* (first half of the twelfth century). Ghazanfar Aliev was right in supposing that the 'General Farhād' of the *Mujmal* had to be understood in reference to Khusraw Parvīz's famous general, Farrahān. However, in the *Mujmal* the identity between Farhād and Farrahān is not just an error in the reading, as Aliev had supposed. It is a clue bringing to light the overlap of two characters, a popular and fictional one, and another endowed with an ancient historical origin.

A series of legends analyzed in the second chapter of this study shows that Khusraw Parvīz's famous general, mainly known by the title of Shahr-barāz, was gradually transformed into the type of the unrequited suitor aspiring to the hand of the queen of Persia (Būrān,

147 In actual fact, marriage bonds between the families of Heraclius and Shahr-barāz are mentioned in the Syriac history by Nicetas (see Mango, "Héraclius, Šahrvaraz et la vraie croix", 105).

or her sister Āzarmīdukht); as he was not of royal ascent, he was unfit for such a marriage. The texts analyzed for this research let us suppose that only afterwards was the woman loved by the general gradually identified with Shīrīn: this triggered the transformation of Khusraw Parvīz's general into his rival for love. Despite the evident differences between the legend of Shahr-barāz and that of Farhād, this study suggests that the character of Farrahān Shahrbarāz may have merged with the character of Farhād, the Master of Mount Bīsutūn, to contribute to the 'romantic' development of the latter's figure.

**Part ΙΙ The Origins of Turandot: the Development of a Character from Shīrīn to Būrān-dukht**

**61**

# 1 The Turandot Tale

**Summary** 1 Introduction: the Misogamist Woman and Her Riddles. – 2 The Eastern Prose Turandot Tales. – 3. Niẓāmī's Tuesday Tale.

#### 1 Introduction: the Misogamist Woman and Her Riddles

The present study aims to trace the historical-legendary origins and early development of a female character, that of Būrān-dukht, that is supposed to have lent her name and some of her features to the character of Turandot. Turandot is the heroine of the tale – well-known in Europe from Puccini's opera (1926) – of the beautiful, learned and cruel princess who sets riddles to her suitors to be answered, on pain of death, as a necessary condition for her consent to marry: she will only marry the man who proves to be superior to her in intelligence and learning by answering her questions or riddles and who, in his turn, is able to set questions that she cannot answer.1 In Europe, the tale of Turandot, as well as the name 'Turandot' for the female protagonist, are attested for the first time in François Pétis de la Croix's tale collection *Les Mille et un Jour(s)* (Paris, 1710-12, 5 vols.; see below, ch. 6, § 1).

Two historical personages, both called Būrān or Būrān-dukht, did lend some of their, mostly legendary, features and their name to the character here studied: they are Būrān(-dukht), daughter of Khusraw II Parvīz and queen of Iran for a brief period (630-631 CE; see ch. 3) and, more prominently, Būrān(-dukht), the daughter of Ḥasan b. Sahl, wife of Caliph al-Maʾmūn (813-833 CE), as her historical figure and the account of her wedding to the caliph are re-elaborated in later sources (ch. 4). Other historical and legendary characters (in particular Shīrīn; ch. 2) have also been considered relevant in this research. What

1 These are tale-types AT 851 ("The Princess who Cannot Solve the Riddle") and 851A ("Turandot") in the Aarne and Thompson catalogue (*The Types of the Folktale*, 286). See also Goldberg, "Rätzelprinzessin".

is common to the two Būrāns is their name, and a narrative motif that springs from their – mostly legendary – biography: the motif of the learned, clever, or warrior woman, who delays the wedding or the union even, in the case of the first Būrān, by fighting or killing her suitor. Only for the second Būrān is also the narrative element of the riddles or enigmatic expressions, as a means of avoiding or delaying the union with the caliph, also attested. This makes the wife of caliph al-Maʾmūn the most suitable candidate to be the prototype of the Turandot of European tales.

In this study, dedicated to the development of a character, and not to a tale-type, the typological differences between the analyzed stories, taken from texts pertaining to different genres (historical chronicles, narrative poems, works of *adab*), are considered irrelevant, as is considered irrelevant the type of riddles, or tests (of cleverness, courage, etc.), or simple questions, asked; the person who poses the riddles, the heroine (a princess or a handmaiden), the hero (mostly a prince), or both;2 and the ability of the hero or heroine to answer them. Likewise, the issue of possible influences of riddle tales from literature in other languages on the development of the tale of the princess and the riddles for consenting to a marriage will not be dealt with.

#### 2 The Eastern Prose Turandot Tales

In the literature of the Islamic world some prose texts in Persian and Turkish exist, that represent the source of the Turandot tale of European literature. These texts have been the object of research starting from the publication of the groundbreaking article by Fritz Meier in 1941.3 Though in the Eastern variants of the tale known so far the princess has no name, being indifferently referred to as "the daughter of the Qayṣar of Rūm [the King of Rūm, i.e. Greece, Byzantium]" or as "the daughter of the Faghfūr [Emperor] of China", the label 'Turandot tale' is generally also used in reference to pre-European attestations of the tale.4 As Ettore Rossi explains, "… the tale of the princess and her questions, and then of Prince Khalaf and the

2 Other personages too – most typically the bride's father – may pose riddles or submit the suitor to different tests of skill, courage and cleverness before giving consent to a marriage. See for example the story of Sarv, king of Yemen, and the three sons of Firīdūn in Firdawsī, *Shāhnāma*, 8: 98-103 (*Firīdūn*, ll. 143-220).

3 On pre-European attestations of the tale see Meier, "Turandot in Persien"; Rossi, "La leggenda di Turandot"; Mogtader, Schoeler, *Turandot. Die persische Märchenerzälung*, especially 17-34.

4 In German the term 'Rätzelprinzessin' is often used in reference to this character and the type of tale in question.

Princess of China, became the tale of Turandot. The tale came to be conventionally named thus, even for earlier stages of it".5 Following this tradition, we will continue to speak of 'Turandot tale' also for pre-European attestations of it.

At present, the first known instance of the Turandot tale in Islamic literatures is the one in Muḥammad ʿAwfī's Persian collection of anecdotes entitled *Javāmiʿ al‑ḥikāyāt va lāvāmiʿ al‑rivāyāt* (dedicated in 665/1228).6 Despite being shorter than the later variants, ʿAwfī's tale is considered as the prototype of the later redactions of the story: it contains all the characteristic features of the Turandot tale as they are attested in later texts.7

Recently, an apparently unique Persian manuscript has been drawn to the attention of researchers in connection with the study of Persian folk-literature and the Turandot tale: it is MS Or. 9317 of the British Library, containing a work entitled *Muʾnis-nāma* by an otherwise unknown author named Abū Bakr Ibn Khusraw al-Ustād.8 The work is dedicated to the Atabek of Azerbayjan Nuṣrat al-Dīn Abū Bakr Ibn Muḥammad of the Ildegozid dynasty; therefore – though the manuscript bearing it is later – the *Muʾnis-nāma* must have been composed between 591/1194 and 607/1210.9 The manuscript contains, apart from other works by Ibn Khusraw, a collection of tales (ff. 61*r*-365*r*) which includes an early Persian redaction of the Turandot tale. This shows that attestations of the tale earlier than the one given in ʿAwfī's collection did certainly exist.10 Unluckily, the text of this very tale has been lost due to a gap in the manuscript; but its inclusion in the collection is attested by the manuscript's table of contents, where the tale is entitled "Prince Khalaf and the daughter of the Faghfūr of China"; a title which would seemingly provide an early attestation of the name of the hero, though giving no name for the princess. Therefore, at present ʿAwfī's tale remains the most ancient preserved version of the Turandot tale. Incidentally, it is inter-

5 "la fiaba che fino allora era stata quella della principessa e dei suoi quesiti, poi del Principe Khalaf e della Principessa della Cina, diventa la fiaba di Turandot e con tal nome viene designata convenzionalmente anche per il periodo anteriore" (Rossi, "La leggenda di Turandot", 471).

6 See below, ft. 13.

7 Cf. Meier, "Turandot in Persien", 7; Mogtader, Schoeler, *Turandot*, 19-21. In both studies ʿAwfī's tale is termed the 'Ur-Roman'.

8 See Marzolph, *Relief After Hardship*, 47-8, who refers to the article by Meredith-Owens, "An Early Persian Miscellany".

9 Meretith-Owens, "An Early Persian Miscellany", 435. On the Ildegozid dynasty see Luther, s.v. "Atābakān-e Ādarbāyjān", who gives as the dates of Nuṣrat al-Dīn Abū Bakr's rule 587/1191 to 607/1210.

10 For an appraisal of the tale collection contained in the *Muʾnis-nāma* for the studies on the 'Turandot tale' see Mogtader, Schoeler, *Turandot*, 128-9.

esting to note that the dedicatee of Ibn Khusraw's collection of tales is the son of one of the dedicatees of Niẓāmī's poems, Muḥammad Jahān-pahlavān;11 and that the collection of tales in the *Muʾnis-nāma* is more or less coeval with the composition of Niẓāmī's *Haft paykar*  (593/1197; see below § 3).

A comprehensive review, analysis and edition of the Eastern prose redactions of the Turandot tale is still lacking.12 Recently Youssef Mogtader and Gregor Schoeler have published, with a German translation, not only ʿAwfī's Turandot tale,13 but also a longer Persian prose redaction of the tale from MS Ouseley 58 in the Bodleyan Library, Oxford.14 This is the text that Meier had already summarized from the Bodleian manuscript, also supposing that, despite the fact that the manuscript is quite recent, it represents an earlier stage, or even the source, of Pétis de la Croix's tale.15 (For a summary of the Turandot tale in ʿAwfī and in the longer Persian prose redaction of the tale, see Appendix below).

14 See Sachau, Ethé, *Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstȃnî, and Pushtû Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library*, 1: cols. 447-8, no. 488 (ff. 1*v*-30*v* of the MS). This text has been edited by Mogtader, Schoeler, *Turandot*, 21-57 (Persian text), 69-118 (translation).

15 Meier, "Turandot in Persien", 9-10.

11 On the dedicatees of Niẓāmī's poems and the poems' chronology see François de Blois, *Persian Literature*, V, pt. 2, 439-46; and V, pt. 3, 585-91.

12 Some of the Persian and Turkish manuscript redactions of the tale have been cited and – some of them – summarized in the studies quoted in fn. 3 above. Manuscript copies of the Persian 'long tale' are pointed out by Mogtader, Schoeler, *Turandot*, 124. Ulrich Marzolph gives detailed summaries, bibliographical references and a thorough commentary of the 42 tales of a Turkish tale collection known by the title of *Ferec ba*ʿ*d eş-şidde*; the Turandot tale is no. 25, referred to as "Khalaf" (see Marzolph, *Relief After Hardship*, 87-9). Marzolph also gives a review of some Persian manuscript tale collections (*Relief After Hardship*, 19-23); for manuscripts bearing the Turandot tale see in particular table 2, no. 25.

13 Mogtader, Schoeler, *Turandot*, 7-20 (Persian text), 55-67 (translation). ʿAwfī's tale is no. 25 in part I, ch. 25, "On the Anecdotes of Sagacious and Acute Persons", of his *Javāmi*ʿ. Actually ʿAwfī's tale was not still unpublished as supposed by the authors. I have an indirect notice of at least one edition: ʿAwfī, *Javāmi*ʿ *al-ḥikāyāt va lavāmi*ʿ *al-rivāyāt*, qism I, juzv II, ed. Amīr-Bānū Muṣaffā 'Karīmī' (Tehran, 1378/1999), where the anecdote of the daughter of the king of Rūm and her ten questions to her suitors is on pp. 379-90. However, Mogtader and Shoeler's edition of ʿAwfī's tale is highly welcome, as the edition just referred to, and other possible editions of this section of ʿAwfī's *Javāmi*ʿ are extremely difficult find outside Iran (I was unable to find any of them, and wish to thank Amīr-Bānū Karīmī for having provided me with the reference to the edition published by her). On ʿAwfī and his collection of tales see now Pellò, "Introduction to Sadīd al-Dīn Muḥammad ʻAwfī", in particular LVI-LIX on the editions of the *Javāmi*ʿ *al-ḥikāyāt*.

#### 3 Niẓāmī's Tuesday Tale

In past studies Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale in the poem *Haft paykar* ('Seven Beauties/Idols', or 'Seven Portraits', or 'The Seven Celestial Bodies/Skies', composed in 593/1197) has often been considered as the first instance of the Turandot tale in Persian literature. Fritz Meier indeed writes: "Die früheste persische Turandotgeschichte findet sich bei Niẓâmî".16 In actual fact, Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale may represent an early instance, in Persian literature, of the tale based on the motif of the princess and her riddles to her suitors; but it shows a number of differences with the Turandot tale proper.

The Tuesday tale is recounted to the hero of the poem, king Bahrām Gūr, by the princess of Slavonia (*Siqlab*, the country of the Slavs), in the red domed pavilion. The story is as follows.17 A beautiful and learned princess (no name is given; she is the daughter of a king in Russia) loves studying and knowledge and is not inclined towards marriage. She leaves her father's castle and locks herself in an impregnable fortress guarded by talismans. She then paints her portrait and orders it be hung at the city gate, challenging those who would win her hand to overcome all the tests she has set: her suitor must be noble and valorous, must break the spell of the castle talismans, must be able to find the invisible door into the castle, and has to solve the riddles she sets him. Many young men make the attempt but are killed by the power of the talismans. Their heads are hung at the city gates as a warning not to attempt the trial lightly. In the end a young prince, following the advice of a wise man, manages to neutralize the talismans, find the invisible door and enter the castle. The final test consists of answering some non-verbal riddles the princess poses. A mute, fascinating exchange begins, at the end of which the princess announces to her father that she intends to marry the young man (for an analysis of the riddles in this tale see below, ch. 5, § 1).

Recent studies have highlighted the differences between Niẓāmī's tale and the Turandot tale properly said, as it is attested in the known Persian and Turkish prose texts and its European re-elaborations. Albert Wesselski, writing as far back as 1934, had already emphasized some differences, mainly lying in the different kind of enigmas posed by the princess: verbal riddles in Pétis de la Croix's tale, nonverbal in Niẓāmī's.18 In more recent times, Christine Goldberg – following a different methodological approach – has stressed the dissimilarity between Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale and both types AT 851 ("The

16 Meier, "Turandot in Persien", 2.

17 Niẓāmī, *Haft paykar*, ch. 35.

18 Wesselski, "Quellen und Nachwirkungen der Haft Paikar", 114-15. See also Mogtader, Schoeler, *Turandot*, 18.

Princess who Cannot Solve the Riddle") and 851A ("Turandot") in the Aarne and Thompson catalogue.19 Indeed, in the Turandot tale, as it is attested for the first time in ʿAwfī's collection, the princess must, in her turn, answer the questions the suitor asks her. Moreover, the question-and-answer disputation (termed *munāẓara* in the Persian texts) between the youth and the princess includes the episode of the nocturnal visit of the princess to the young man, accompanied by one or two of her handmaidens,20 and is preceded by the young man's long series of adventures: all episodes lacking from Niẓāmī's tale. Therefore, despite a long-standing tradition, it is preferable to keep Niẓāmī's tale – the creation of a poet – distinct from the Turandot tale proper. However, the existence of the tale entitled "Prince Khalaf and the daughter of the Faghfūr of China" in Ibn Khusraw's collection (see § 2 above) suggests that Niẓāmī may have been acquainted with an early variant of the Turandot tale, which may have been one of the sources for his own tale.

If Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale and the type of tale first attested in ʿAwfī's *Javāmiʿ al‑ḥikāyāt* show many points of divergence, they share the presence of one and the same female character. Two main features seem to be relevant for the identification of this character both in Niẓāmī's tale and in the Turandot tale proper: that of being a 'misogamist woman' – as this character is called by Ettore Rossi21 – i.e. a woman who flees from, or delays, her wedding; and, secondly, the fact of subjecting her suitor(s) to tests of courage, skill and wit before being willing to consent to marry. It is the origin of this character that concerns us here. From the different tales and plots analyzed it will possible to follow the development of this character up to the anonymous princess in Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale in the poem *Haft paykar*, and to ʿAwfī's tale collection. Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale, which in past studies has been the starting point of researches focusing on the story of Turandot, is instead the end point of the present research, which also aims to discover a possible source for Nizami's.

19 See Goldberg, "Rätzelprinzessin", col. 286; and *Turandot's sisters*, in particular 27, with further bibliography on the question.

20 In Pétis de la Croix's tale it is only Adelmulc, a slave princess in the service of Turandot (Liù in Puccini's opera), who visits the prince by night.

21 Rossi, "La leggenda di Turandot", 457. Bürgel ("Turandot – Von Niẓāmī bis Puccini") speaks of "Misandry" (*Männerfeindschaft*) as opposed to "Misogyny".

**Materials for a History of the Persian Narrative Tradition** Two Characters: Farhād and Turandot Paola Orsatti

# 2 Shīrīn and Other Figures of the Misogamist Woman in Persian Literature

**Summary** 1 Shīrīn, the Lady of the Castle. – 2 Shīrīn's Aunt Mihīn Bānū. – 3 Shīrīn and the Misogamist Handmaiden. – 4 Shīrīn and the Interdiction Against Sexual Intercourse Due to a Prediction.

#### 1 Shīrīn, the Lady of the Castle

One of the components in the formation of the Turandot character can be traced back to the development of the literary figure of Shīrīn. A number of studies have shown that the character of Shīrīn, the heroine of Niẓāmī's poem *Khusraw va Shīrīn* (composed between 571/1176 and 576/1181, with later additions), has a historical origin: she was the famous Christian wife of Khusraw II Parvīz (r. 580-628 CE).22 Beyond historical traits, a number of legendary features were soon added to historical Shīrīn to create her literary figure.23 One of them is the superimposition of her character on that of the legendary queen Semiramis, a queen as strong and wise as a man, whose historical kernel can be traced back to Sammuramat, an Assyrian queen (r. 809-806 BCE ca) bearing, on an inscription repeated on several statues of Nebo, the title of 'Lady of the Palace'.24

22 See above, part I, ch. 1, § 2 fn. 3.

23 The most complete survey of the sources on Shīrīn's legendary figure is still that given by Aliev, *Legenda o Khosrove i Širin*, 21-36 (Byzantine, Armenian, and Syriac sources) and 36-57 (Muslim sources).

24 Eilers, "Semiramis". On Sammuramat and the historical data referring to this queen see in particular 33-46. On the legend of Semiramis see more recently Bernbeck, "Sex/Gender/Power and Šammuramat", with interesting methodological remarks on the relationship between history and legend.

Sammuramat is connected with the regions of western Iran and Armenia, as is Niẓāmī's heroine. In Niẓāmī's poem, Shīrīn spends a relevant part of the narrative time alone, closed in her castle, the famous Qaṣr-i Shīrīn, a castle that Khusraw's handmaidens had arranged to be built in a noxious place, out of envy for her beauty.25 She is a *bānū-yi ḥiṣārī* (Lady of the Castle) like Sammuramat, and like the princess in the Tuesday tale in Niẓāmī's *Haft paykar*. 26 That of being a 'Lady of the Palace/Castle' may have been one of the literary motifs connecting Sammuramat, through Shīrīn, to the anonymous princess in Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale.

#### 2 Shīrīn's Aunt Mihīn Bānū

Beyond the Lady of the Castle motif, in the literary development of Shīrīn's character other features are relevant in order to bring to light early stages of the character of Turandot. Some of them also pertain to Shīrīn's aunt Mihīn Bānū (The Grand Lady),27 whose proper name according to Niẓāmī (Shamīrā, rather than the Arabized form Shumayrā28), in itself connects her with the legendary queen Semiramis.29 Mihīn Bānū's location in Bardaʿ, where she winters,30 is particularly meaningful: in the first part of his *Romance of Alexander*, the *Sharaf-nāma* (Book of Honor31), Niẓāmī places another female character in Bardaʿ: queen Nūshāba.

As is well known, in the Nūshāba episode Niẓāmī reworks a particular episode of the Greek Pseudo-Callisthenes Alexander romance: Alexander's visit, in disguise, to queen Kandake.32 But when Niẓāmī

25 Niẓāmī, *Khusraw va Shīrīn*, ch. 26, 9-39. The ruins of Shīrīn's Castle (Qaṣr-i Shīrīn) are traditionally identified in the remains of Sasanid palaces near the city of this name in Jibal or Persian Iraq; see Streck, s.v. "Ḳasr-i Shīrīn"; and Le Strange, *The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate*, 63.

26 In Persian the princess of Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale is usually referred to as *bānū-yi ḥiṣārī*. See Bürgel, "Turandot – Von Niẓāmī bis Puccini", 350 fn. 3. In Persian this expression also implies a meaning of confinement or (self-)imprisonment.

27 On Mihīn Bānū, see Niẓāmī, *Khusraw va Shīrīn*, ch. 17, 13-29. On this character and its origins cf. Orsatti, "Le donne e le città", 140-4.

28 Niẓāmī, *Khusraw va Shīrīn*, ch. 17, 20.

29 Eilers, "Semiramis," 56-8 and fn. 100. Already in the Pseudo-Callisthenes Romance (Book III, 18), Kandakes's kingdom was identified with that of Semiramis.

30 Niẓāmī, *Khusraw va Shīrīn*, ch. 17, 26.

31 On the complex question of the date of the first part of Niẓāmī's *Iskandar-nāma* see de Blois, *Persian Literature*, V, pt. 2, 442-6; and V, pt. 3, Appendix II: *Some Afterthoughts on the Chronology of Niẓāmī's Works and that of the Sharwān-shāhs*, 585-91.

32 On the figure of Kandake (Qaydāfa/Nūshāba) in Persian sources, see Rubanovich, s.v. "Qaydāfa"; and "Re-Writing the Episode of Alexander and Candace in Medieval Persian Literature", 123-52.

states that the ancient name for Bardaʿ was Harūm,33 this location offers another key to the comprehension of the Nūshāba and – moreover – of the Mihīn Bānū character: indeed, in the *Shāhnāma*, in the episode of Alexander's visit to the Amazons, these famous women warriors are located in Harūm or thereabouts; and, in some lexica, *Harūm* is defined as 'The city of women'.34

In Niẓāmī's *Sharaf-nāma* Nūshāba is described as the queen of a realm of women; she is surrounded, served and advised by women alone, and no man is allowed to approach her, not even – as was usual in Niẓāmī's own world – her relatives. Her male subjects live, separately, in another region, and never dare to approach, despite offering their military services when need arises.35 Therefore it is clear that, in the *Sharaf-nāma*, the episode of Nūshāba represents the point of convergence of two different episodes of the Pseudo-Callisthenes Alexander romance, which are still separate in the *Shāhnāma*: that of Alexander's visit to Kandake/Qaydāfa,36 and that of the Amazons.37

In the poem *Khusraw va Shīrīn*, Mihīn Bānū, whom Niẓāmī places – like Nūshāba/Kandake – in Bardaʿ, is likewise depicted as the queen of a realm of women alone. Arrān, in eastern Transcaucasia, and Armenia, the regions where she lives, are not too far from the country where the Amazons lived according to Greek tradition: the banks of the river Thermodon and the south-west shores of the Black Sea. (According to the Muslim tradition, instead, the fabulous country of these warrior women was much more to the west and to the north, being variously identified with Egypt, Yemen, or with a country not far from the north pole38). It would not be impossible, therefore, to see the literary character of Mihīn Bānū as embodying the legendary figure of the queen of the Amazons.39 This would explain the anomaly whereby

37 Pseudo-Callisthenes, *Historia Alexandri Magni*, 124-9 (III: 25-7); Firdawsī, *Shāhnāma*, 6: 85-90 (*Iskandar*, ll. 1233-327).

38 On the Amazons, cf. Shapur Shahbazi, s.v. "Amazons". On the location of the country of the Amazons in Muslim sources and on the etymology of the name Harūm, cf. Monchi-Zadeh, *Topographisch-historische Studien zum iranischen Nationalepos*, 172-6.

39 Orsatti, "Le donne e le città", 140-1. A link between some feminine characters in Niẓāmī's poem and the myth of the Amazons has been suggested by several other scholars. See, among others, Tughiyānī, Muʿīnī Fard, "Ārmān-shahr-i zanān dar Khusraw va Shīrīn-i Ḥakīm Niẓāmī-i Ganjaʾī"; and Karamī, "Bar-rasī va taḥlīl-i 'shāh-zan' dar nigāh-i Niẓāmī".

33 Niẓāmī, *Sharaf-nāma*, ch. 36, 19.

34 Dihkhudā, *Lughat-nāma*, s.v. "Harūm", gives the following definition, in a quote from the *Burhān-i qāṭiʿ*: "The name of the city of women. Some commentators maintain this to be the present-day Bardaʿ".

35 Niẓāmī Ganjaʾī, *Sharaf-nāma*, ch. 36, 26-33. For an account of a similar gender division in Islamic literatures, cf. Arioli, *Le isole mirabili*, 191-2.

36 Pseudo-Callisthenes, *Historia Alexandri Magni*, 115-23 (III: 18-23); Firdawsī, *Shāhnāma*, 6: 51-74 (*Iskandar*, ll. 671-1055).

only Shīrīn's aunt appears in the poems, but never her parents, who would have no place in a city of women. This can also explain the development that the character of Mihīn Bānū underwent after Niẓāmī. Hātifī, in his poem *Shīrīn va Khusraw* (written between 889/1484 and 895/1490), takes the figure of Mihīn Bānū to its extreme. She is described as a masculine woman: wise, fearless, childless, she has a male countenance and no need of men; she is compared to a lion (not a lioness); she is an excellent swords(wo)man, and in battle is able to outstare a lion.40 The only thing she fears is love; when she becomes aware of the exchange of amorous glances and gestures between Khusraw and her niece, "just thinking – Hātifī says – of a union between sugar and milk, her heart was transfixed as by a dagger or an arrow".41

Through her literary kinship with the Amazons, Shīrīn may have inherited the feature of the woman who escapes from sexual intercourse, one of the features of the character of Turandot. Her strenuous resistance to Khusraw's advances, in Niẓāmī's poem and even more so in some later responses to Niẓāmī's poem such as that by Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī (d. 725/1325), coupled with some stubbornness in her character,42 and with the tradition of her infertility (see below), may originate from this literary background.

#### 3 Shīrīn and the Misogamist Handmaiden

Some elements of the figure of Shīrīn and her aunt Mihīn Bānū can also be recognized in the heroine of another tale from Niẓāmī's *Haft paykar*, the Sunday tale recounted by the daughter of the Qayṣar of Rūm.43 Two features link this tale with the narrative in the Tuesday tale: the heroine, a beautiful handmaiden, flees from relations with men as does – at least initially – the princess in the Tuesday tale; and, secondly, both the hero – a pleasure-seeking prince who falls in love with the handmaiden – and the handmaiden must answer personal questions (not true riddles, however), in order to achieve union.44

The tale is as follows. A prince, who passes from one woman to another being unable to fall in love with any of them, at last falls in love

43 Niẓāmī, *Haft paykar*, ch. 33.

40 Hātifī, *Shīrīn va Khusraw*, 31, ll. 401-6.

41 Hātifī, *Shīrīn va Khusraw*, 59, l. 777.

42 Cf. Orsatti, "Le poème *Xosrow va Širin* de Neẓāmi et ses répliques par Amir Xosrow et Jamāli", 167-71.

44 The motif of the personal questions within the couple also recurs in a short anecdote about Bilqīs and Solomon inserted into the same Sunday tale (for a summary, see the following note). Riddles revolving around personal, often incestuous, tabooed or socially sanctioned matters are frequent in literature. Suffice it to recall the Apollonius of Tyre romance, on which see Goldberg, *Turandot's Sisters*, 20.

with the only woman who resists him, a beautiful handmaiden who, however, flees from physical relations. The prince asks her to be sincere with him and explain the reasons for her conduct; a procedure which – he says – has often proved successful in overcoming a difficulty (here, as illustration, a curious tale is inserted into the main story, concerning queen Bilqīs and Solomon45). The handmaiden, in her turn, asks the reason why the prince passes from one woman to another. The prince answers that he has found no sincere and honest woman until then, and now that he has found her, he only wants her love. The handmaiden, in her turn, confesses that she flees from men because her horoscope has warned that the love of a man would put her life at great risk. However, this confession does not have the expected effect. At this point an old woman intervenes: just as custom has it in horse-breaking, she counsels the prince to 'saddle' already tamed 'fillies' in the girl's presence. Stung by jealousy, the girl suffers deeply to the extent of almost dying, just as her horoscope had foreseen; the shrew is tamed and love is crowned with union.

In this tale it would be tempting to see, behind the figure of the handmaiden, a reflex of the literary character of Shīrīn: indeed, according to some sources, Shīrīn was only one of Khusraw's handmaidens;46 and the way she is depicted in the *Shāhnāma* leaves no doubts as to her humble origins (at least according to some traditions, possibly of Sasanid origins).47 Shīrīn's strenuous resistance of Khusraw's advances in Niẓāmī's and other poems may find a parallel in the character of the misogamist handmaiden of the Sunday tale. A final element of the plot is relevant in order to connect the handmaiden of the Sunday tale with the character of Shīrīn: the motif of sexual intercourse forbidden by a prediction is to be found in a tradition concerning Shīrīn reported by Ṭabarī.

46 Balʿamī, *Tārīkh*, 2: 1091-2; *Mujmal al-tavārīkh vaʾl-qiṣaṣ*, ed. Bahār, 79.

45 The anecdote is as follows: a baby is born to Bilqīs and Solomon, which has neither arms nor legs. As the only possible cure the archangel Gabriel suggests that, during intimacy, the two be sincere and answer honestly the questions they pose each other. Solomon asks Bilqīs if she has ever desired other men, apart from him; Bilqīs asks if he has ever coveted another's goods. When they respond honestly, their son gains his arms and legs (Niẓāmī, *Haft paykar*, ch. 33, 95-132). For a study of the sources and development of the tale of Bilqīs and Solomon, cf. Wesselski, "Quellen und Nachwirkungen der Haft Paikar", 116-19.

47 Cf. Firdawsī, *Shahname*, 8: 259-70 (*Khusraw Parvīz*: *Dāstān-i Khusraw bā Shīrīn*, ll. 3387-515). On the figure of Shīrīn in the *Shahname* see Khaleghi Motlagh, *Die Frauen im Schahname*, 84-8 (= 67-71 of the enlarged English edition); and van Ruymbeke, "Firdausi's *Dastan-i Khusrau va Shīrīn: Not much of a Love Story!*", 125-47.

#### 4 Shīrīn and the Interdiction Against Sexual Intercourse Due to a Prediction

The motif of the ban on sexual intercourse due to a prediction or a horoscope is to be found in a short narrative concerning Shīrīn recounted by Ṭabarī (d. 310/923), in his *Ta'rīkh al-rusul waʾl-mulūk*, and – with slight differences – in the Persian adaptation of the latter by Balʿamī (begun in 352/963). Shīrīn appears here in her traditionally negative aspect,48 as an infertile woman – a datum probably pertaining to the historical Shīrīn49 – and, worse still, as indirectly responsible for the fall of the Sasanid empire. Indeed, in this tale the foretold danger is the birth of a child under whose reign the power of Persia would come to an end. The source of the story is Hishām b. Muḥammad, who can certainly be identified with the famous scholar Ibn al-Kalbī (d. 204/819 or 206/821).50

According to this tradition, Khusraw had been warned by the court astrologers that one of his sons would have a son with a physical defect, under whose reign the kingdom of Persia would be destroyed. For that reason he gives orders to keep his sons separate from all women. Shīrīn had adopted Shahriyār, the eldest of Khusraw's eighteen sons (according to this tradition, therefore, Shīrīn was permanently infertile).51 As Shahriyār complains about his lust for women, Shīrīn at last provides him with one of her maids, a hideous woman she thinks will be of no use to him. Instead, Shahriyār immediately leaps on her, and she becomes pregnant with Yazdagerd (Yazdagerd III), the last Sasanid king.52

In this story the ban on sexual intercourse does not affect Shīrīn (the handmaiden in Niẓāmī's tale), but Shīrīn's putative son Shahriyār. However, as will appear from a late reworking of this anecdote placed in a different historical context, through the motif of the interdiction against sexual intercourse dictated by reasons of state the character of Shīrīn appears relevant to the development of that of Būrāndukht (see below, ch. 5, § 3).

48 On the negative traits of Shīrīn's character, even emerging from Niẓāmī's poem, see Orsatti, "Le donne e le città", 146-8.

49 Her initial infertility is attested by Theophylact Simocatta, a seventh-century Byzantine historian, who quotes the text of a probably authentic letter written by Khusraw concerning Shīrīn; see *The History of Theophylact Simocatta*, 151 (V: 14). On this letter, see Orsatti, s.v. "Kosrow o Širin and its Imitations".

50 See Atallah, s.v. "al-Kalbī: II. Hishām b. Muḥammad b. al-Sāʾib al-Kalbī".

51 Shahriyār, instead, is given in the *Shāhnāma* as one of the four sons Khusraw had had by Shīrīn. Cf. Firdawsī, *Shāhnāma*, 8: 368 (*Shīrūya*, ll. 551-2).

52 Ṭabarī, *History*, V: *The Sāsānids*, 379-80. This anecdote is told with slight differences by Balʿamī, *Tārikh*, 2: 1147-50. On this tale, see Sprengling, "From Persian to Arabic", 219-20.

**Materials for a History of the Persian Narrative Tradition** Two Characters: Farhād and Turandot Paola Orsatti

# 3 Būrān, the Daughter of Khursraw Parvīz

**Summary** 1 Shīrīn and Būrān. – 2 Būrān, the Wise and Combative Queen.

#### 1 Shīrīn and Būrān

A late transformation of Shīrīn's character, the figure of Nigār in Jamālī's poem *Mihr va Nigār* (composed in 805/1403), is particularly meaningful in order to trace a possible line of development from Shīrīn to Būrān-dukht. *Mihr va Nigār* is a poem composed in response (*javāb*) to Niẓāmī's *Khusraw va Shīrīn*; the character of Nigār corresponds to Shīrīn in Niẓāmī's poem.53 Jamālī gives fictitious names to his protagonists, and makes of Nigār, and not his male hero, Mihr, a descendant of the ancient dynasty ruling over Iran, having its court in Madāyīn – this being the Arabic name of Ctesiphon, the capital of the Sasanid kingdom. A particular helps place Nigār's fictional character in a precise historical context: according to Jamālī, Nigār is the daughter of Kisrā Thānī (The Second Khusraw), behind whom none other than historical Khusraw II Parvīz can be glimpsed, the hero of Niẓāmī's poem and the last great king of the Sasanid dynasty before the Arab conquest of Iran. The character of Nigār, then, reflects the figure of the historical Būrān (Bōrān), or Būrān-dukht, daughter of Khusraw Parvīz and queen of Iran (630-631 CE).54

53 London, Persian MS Ethé 1284, ff. 29*v*-86*v*. On this manuscript, the author and his work see Orsatti, "The *Ḫamsah* 'Quintet' by Ğamālī".

54 See on this queen Ṭabarī, *History*, V*: The Sāsānids*, 403-5; Balʿamī, *Tārikh*, 2: 1198-201; and Firdawsī, *Shāhnāma*, 8: 391-6. On the chronology of her kingdom cf. Nöldeke, "Exkurs 1. Chronologie der Sâsâniden", 433; Justi, *Iranisches Namenbuch*, 70; Chaumont, s.v. "Bōrān"; Pourshariati, *Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire*, 207-9. It is less likely that the character of Nigār

Nigār is a princess learned in all sciences, who lives in an ancient castle in the desert, near the royal court of Madāyin: it is the Qaṣr‑i Shīrīn of tradition, of course. She cannot belong to any man because she is bound by a promise to her cousin Bihzād, who has asked for her hand. Soon afterwards, however, Bihzād is kidnapped by brigands, and nothing more is heard of him; a plausible narrative reason for the heroine's initial misogamy.

Apart from her initial misogamy, and her being a Lady of the Castle, no other feature pertaining to Turandot can be recognized in the character of Nigār. What is interesting, however, is that, through the character of Nigār, Jamālī gives his own authorial version as to the identity of the Lady of the Castle; the Lady of the Castle was not Shīrīn, Khusraw's wife, but Būrān, his daughter.

#### 2 Būrān, the Wise and Combative Queen

Among the features attributed by the sources to this historical figure, one may be of interest in connection with the origins of the character of Būrān-dukht, the misogamist woman: queen Būrān is presented as a wise and combative queen, equal to a man. According to Balʿamī's account of her reign, after having appointed as minister the man who had killed the usurper to the throne of Iran, Farrahān Shahrbarāz,55 Būrān summons the army to her presence, asking for obedience. She writes a letter to be dispatched to all cities and provinces of Iran, in which she enounces the principles of good rule, the first and foremost being justice. In this letter she openly asserts that, whoever follows these principles can rule over a kingdom, be it either a man or a woman (*čūn pādshāh dādgar buvad mulk bitavānad dāshtan, agar mard buvad va agar zan*).56 In the *Shāhnāma*, the short report of Būrān's reign does not offer any relevant detail for the legendary development of the character, apart – perhaps – from a description of the cruel punishment reserved by Būrān for Pīrūz, one of Khusraw Parvīz's sons, responsible for the death of Ardashīr, son of Shīrūy.57

In other sources, Būrān is mentioned in connection with the emerging Islamic power, and for having sent an army to fight the Muslim conquerors. For example in the *Mujmal al-tavārīkh* (composed in 520/1127), in the section concerning Būrān's reign we read: "(Her reign) lasted a year and four months. It was the period of the (com-

could originate from the figure of another daughter of Khusraw Parvīz, Āzarm(i)dukht, whose reign is also mentioned in the *Shāhnāma*, 8: 397-400.

ing to) power of Islam (*rūzgār-i quvvat-i Islām*). She sent an army to fight against the Arabs. In the same period she died in Madāyin".58

In popular imagination queen Būrān must have been transformed into a warrior queen, endowed with masculine attributes, and even into a representative of the misogamist woman type. In a legend gathered by Abū Dulaf during his travels in Iran around the years 331/943 – 341/952,59 queen Bōrān is transformed into the wife of Shahr-barāz, the usurper of the throne of Persia; she is narrated as having had Shahr-barāz killed on the very night of their wedding.60

In a Medieval prose text, Ṭarsūsī's *Dārāb-nāma* (twelfth century), the daughter of Dārāb son of Dārāb, i.e. Darius III – the princess Rawshanak/Roxane who married Alexander in other sources – is surprisingly called Būrān-dukht. This text shows that the transformation of the character of Būrān into a warrior and masculine woman had already been completed. Indeed, at the beginning of the section of the *Dārāb-nāma* devoted to Būrān-dukht's story, Ṭarsūsī presents her as a beautiful and skilled girl. At the age of seventeen – he says – she was endowed with Siyāvakhsh's appearance and Hūshang's glory, and for her strength and courage she was like Isfandiyār: she was capable of fighting with a mace of the weight of two hundred and fifty *man*. The author adds a physical detail: she had down (*khaṭṭ‑i sabz*) on her lip, so that she looked like a man. Ṭarsūsī says that according to another tradition her name was Rawshanak, but she was called Būrān-dukht because of the down on her lip (*az ān sabab ū-rā Būrāndukht guftand-ī ki ū pusht‑i lab sabz dāsht*). She was said to despise men.61 Ṭarsūsī's Būrān-dukht is a warlike heroine who – unlike Rawshanak – refuses to marry Alexander; she raises an army and fights against him and the Greek conquerors, only agreeing to marry Alexander when he happens to see her naked, while bathing in a river.62

Concerning the character of Būrān-dukht, therefore, Ṭarsūsī allows a feature to emerge which probably originated from a development of the figure of Būrān, the daughter of Khusraw Parvīz: she was a queen, equal to a man. From Ṭarsūsī's words moreover, when he says that Dārāb's daughter was called Būrān-dukht because of her slight moustache, it appears that this name came to be used as a nickname for mustachioed, that is masculine women.

58 *Mujmal al-tavārīkh*, 82.

61 Ṭarsūsī, *Dārāb-nāma*, 1: 467.

59 See Minorsky, s.v. "Abū Dulaf, Misʿar b. Muhalhil al-Khazradjī al-Yanbuʿī".

60 Minorsky, "Two Iranian legends in Abū-Dulaf's second risālah", 177. See part 1, ch. 2, § 6 above.

62 Ṭarsūsī, *Dārāb-nāma*, 2: 92. On the personage of Būrān-dukht in the *Dārāb-nāma*, see Ṣafā, "Introduction" to Ṭarsūsī, *Dārāb-nāma*, 1: p. yāzdah [11]; and Gaillard, "Introduction", 40-6. See also Hanaway, s.v. "Dārāb-nāma".

A historical analogy probably helped in the merging of the two characters, Būrān-dukht and Rawshanak, and their names: as Būrān was the daughter of the last great Sasanid king before the Arab conquest of Iran, Rawshanak/Būrān-dukht is transformed into a warrior heroine fighting against the Greek conqueror of Persia, Alexander.63

63 My analysis of Būrān-dukht's character in the *Dārāb-nāma* is different but not incompatible with that offered by Hanaway ("Anāhitā and Alexander", 285-95), who sees in the character of Būrān-dukht a popular representation of the Iranian goddess Anāhitā. Venetis ("Warlike Heroines in the Persian Alexander Tradition"), calls into question Hanaway's thesis in favour of an unclear historical dimension of the Būrāndukht character, and underlines analogies between Būrān-dukht and other fabulous characters such as Arāqit. Only in passing does he note that Būrān-dukht "bears the historical name of a short-lived Sasanian Queen" (229B).

**Materials for a History of the Persian Narrative Tradition** Two Characters: Farhād and Turandot Paola Orsatti

# 4 Būrān, the Wife of Caliph al-Maʾmūn

**Summary** 1 Būrān's Historical Figure. – 2 The Development of the Character: the Postponement of the Union Due to the Bride's Indisposition.

#### 1 Būrān's Historical Figure

Apart from the daughter of Khusraw Parvīz, another historical personage was called Būrān or Būrān-dukht: the daughter of the powerful Ḥasan b. Sahl,64 and wife of Caliph al-Maʾmūn (198-218/813-833).65 As is shown below, it is especially to the latter Būrān that the characteristic features of Turandot are probably to be referred: rejection, or postponement of the wedding, and the presence of riddles or enigmatic expressions. As in the case of Darius's daughter, some sources assert that Būrān was a nickname – or possibly a title elevating her to the rank of the other Būrān – the true name of Ḥasan b. Sahl's daughter being Khadīja.66 In a tale from *The Thousand and One Nights*, the wife of caliph al-Maʾmūn appears under the name 'Khadīja'.67 However, nothing of Khadīja in this story recalls the Turandot character except, perhaps, for her being a clever and learned woman, fond of music and poetry; as if the

64 On Ḥasan b. Sahl see Sourdel, *Le vizirat ʿAbbâside de 749 à 936*, 1: 215-18. He belonged to a Zoroastrian family converted to Islam under caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd (see al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, *Tārīkh Baghdād*, 7: 319-20). He was a poet and a man of letters, and patronized the translation of Pahlavi texts into Arabic, also personally taking part in this task himself; see Zakeri, *Persian Wisdom in Arabic Garb. ʿAli b. ʿUbayda al-Rayḥānī (D. 219/834) and his Jawāhir al-kilam wa-farāʾid al-ḥikam*, 1: 11-12.

65 Cf. Ihsan Abbas, s.v. "Būrān".

66 Ibn Khallikān, *Biographical Dictionary*, 1: 268.

67 Cf. *Arabian nights*, 4: 119-25, nights 279-82.

characteristic features of the character were only appended to the name Būrān-dukht.

Būrān/Khadīja (192-271/807-884) married Maʾmūn in 202/817, when she was ten years old (the sources say that the caliph *tazawwaja* her); but the consummation of the marriage (*bināʾa*) took place only eight years later, in Ramazan 210/December 824-January 825:68 a long period that may have given birth to the legend of the woman who escapes from or postpones marriage.

The wedding or, better, the celebrations for the consummation of the marriage became famous in Islamic sources for their pomp and magnificence. They even passed into proverb, being referred to as "the invitation of Islam" (*daʿwat al-Islām*).69 Nabia Abbott has given a full account of the event, based on Arabic sources.70 Sources highlight Ḥasan b. Sahl's generosity in hosting the caliph and his retinue for the period – seventeen days in most sources – when they stayed in Fam al-Ṣilḥ, the residence of Ḥasan on a tributary of the Tigris, north of Wāsiṭ; and describe the precious and extravagant gifts he bestowed on the guests.71 In the account of the celebrations, what strikes the reader is the emphasis given to the financial side of the wedding, and the minute details in the report concerning the sums spent by the main participants: apart from Ḥasan and the caliph himself, Ḥamdūna, daughter of Hārūn al-Rashīd and half sister to al-Maʾmūn, and Zubayda, wife of Hārūn al-Rashīd and step-mother of al-Maʾmūn.72

Among the women present at the celebration was also Būrān's grandmother. When the caliph enters Ḥasan's palace and meets his bride, Būrān's grandmother pours a tray full of precious pearls over him. Again – in the historians' report – the accounting aspect of the matter takes over: the caliph asks how many pearls have been scattered. We are told, a thousand. The caliph orders they to be gathered and counted: ten of them are found to be missing, having been taken by somebody, a servant or someone else present at the ceremony. Maʾmūn buys back the ten pearls from the person and offers Būrān the thousand pearls as his personal wedding gift.73

73 Ibn Ṭayfūr, *Kitāb Baghdād*, 115; Ṭabarī, *History*, XXXII: *The Reunification*, 154-5.

68 Historical sources with an annalistic structure, such as the *Taʾrīkh al-rusul waʾlmulūk* by Ṭabarī (*History*, XXXII: *The Reunification*, 82 and 153-9) and the *Kāmil fīʾltaʾrīkh* by Ibn al-Athīr (*Ibn-el-Athiri Chronicon*, 6: 248, 279) mention the marriage between Būrān and the caliph under the year 202 (or 203 in Ṭabarī); and, then, under the year 210, they say that the marriage was consummated or the wedding celebrated.

69 Al-Thaʿālibī, *Latáifoʾl-maʾárif*, 73.

70 Abbott, *Two Queens of Baghdad*, 231-4.

71 Ibn Ṭayfūr, *Kitāb Baghdād*, 116; Ṭabarī, *History*, XXXII: *The Reunification*, 156; al-Yaʿqūbī, *Historiae*, 2: 559; al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, *Tārīkh Baghdād*, 7: 321.

72 See Ibn Ṭayfūr, *Kitāb Baghdād*, 116; Ṭabarī, *History*, XXXII: *The Reunification*, 156-7.

Būrān is not a real presence in the narrative. She only appears on the scene when the caliph invites her to ask him whatever she desires. "But Būrān – I quote here Nabia Abbott's words – modestly refrained from any request until her grandmother encouraged her with, 'Speak to your lord, and make your wishes known as he has commanded'". So Būrān, "who had, no doubt, been schooled for this very moment", made two requests in the interest of Zubayda and of Ibrāhīm b. al-Mahdī:74 nothing interesting in view of the development of her character.

Būrān is further remembered for having been present at the death of caliph al-Maʾmūn near Ṭarsūs in 218/833, during his expedition against Byzantium, only eight years after their wedding;75 and concerning the famous palace, at first called al-Qaṣr al-Jaʿfarī (after the former minister Jaʿfar Barmakī), then al-Maʾmūnī, and finally, after Maʾmūn donated it to Ḥasan b. Sahl, al-Qaṣr al-Ḥasanī, where she lived out her long life.76 No offspring of their union are recorded.77

If it were not for her name, or nickname, Būrān, and for the historical fact of the long delayed consummation of the marriage, nothing in the account given by the Arabic historians would let us presage the development of her character in literature, as the prototype of the misogamist and learned woman falling back on enigmatic expressions to keep her groom or suitor at bay.

#### 2 The Development of the Character: the Postponement of the Union Due to the Bride's Indisposition

It is in works outside historiography that we can best follow the development of the figure of the historical Būrān, the daughter of Ḥasan b. Sahl, as it progressed over time. In a work devoted to figurative expressions (*kināyāt*), by the shafiite jurist Abūʾl-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Jurjānī (d. 482/1089), two anecdotes are reported at the end of a very short account of the marriage between Būrān and Maʾmūn.78 They are to be found in the chapter entitled: "On figurative expressions relating to what comes out of human beings, be it excrement (or impurities: *ḥadat*) or flatulence (*rīḥ*)".79

74 Abbott, *Two Queens of Baghdad*, 233. On the Abbasid prince Ibrāhīm b. al-Mahdī, for a short period proclaimed (anti-)caliph in Baghdad under al-Ma'mūn's caliphate, see Sourdel, *Le vizirat ʿAbbâside*, 1: 209.

75 Abbott, *Two Queens of Baghdad*, 234.

76 See Le Strange, *Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate*, 244-6, 248-9; Yāqūt, *Muʿjam al-buldān*, 1: 807-8.

77 Abbott, *Two Queens of Baghdad*, 234.

78 Al-Jurjānī, *Kināyāt al-udabāʿ wa-ishārāt al-bulaghāʿ*, 170-1.

79 Al-Jurjānī, *Kināyāt*, 169.

The first anecdote, whose source is Muḥammad b. Khalaf b. al-Marzubān (d. 309/921),80 who quotes it from ʿUmar b. Shabba (173- 262/789-878),81 is also reported by Ibn Khallikān (608-681/1282-1211) in his *Biographical dictionary* (*Wafayāt al-aʿyān*). If the anecdote is to be ascribed to Ibn al-Marzubān, and before him to ʿUmar b. Shabba, it must be dated to before 262/878. I quote it in the version by Ibn Khallikān and the English translation by William Mac Guckin de Slane.

After having recounted, mainly from Ṭabarī's work, the story of the magnificent ceremony of Būrān's marriage to Maʾmūn, Ibn Khallikān then adds: "Another author says: 'When al-Mâmûn sought to enter in to Bûrân, he was refused admittance, on the pretext that she was indisposed, but he would not retire; and when his bride was brought forth to him, he found her unwell, and left her. The next morning, when he gave public audience, the *kâtib* Ahmad Ibn Yûsuf82 entered and said to him: 'Commander of the Faithful! May God accord you happiness and good fortune in what you have undertaken; may you be great in prowess and victorious in combat!' To this al-Mâmûn replied by reciting the following verses:

Eques impetuosus, cum hastâ suâ promptus in confossionem in tenebris, praedam suam sanguine inficere voluit; sed eum prohibuit illa, cum sanguine, a sanguine suo.83

Ibn Khallikān, in reference to Maʾmūn's enigmatic words, adds: "In this, he made allusion to the nature of her indisposition, and the figure he employed is perfectly appropriate".84

Al-Jurjānī, in his book on figurative expressions, had been more explicit than Ibn Khallikān in relating this anecdote: Maʾmūn utters the two lines quoted above in reply to an outspoken question by Aḥmad Ibn Yūsuf: "Did you profit from what happened (last night)?" Then, after the quotation of Maʾmūn's verses, al-Jurjānī explains: "He (Maʾmūn) was referring to the fact that she (Būrān) got her menstrual period, and he had not deflowered her".85

80 On al-Marzubān and his works see Zakeri, *Persian Wisdom in Arabic Garb*, 1: 31-8.

81 On this personage, "an expert in *akhbār* on history as well as poets and poetry, very important source for some of the most prominent works of Arabic literature", see Leder, s.v. "ʿUmar b. Shabba".

82 On him see Sourdel, *Le vizirat ʿAbbâside*, 1: 225-31.

83 "The fiery horse, ready to sink his rod into the darkness, wanted to stain his prey with blood. But, with blood, she prevented him from shedding her blood". It is interesting to note the translator's choice of rendering these lines in Latin, according a common usage, in Oriental studies in the past, of translating obscene expressions into Latin.

84 Ibn Khallikān, *Biographical Dictionary*, 1: 270.

85 Al-Jurjānī, *Kināyāt*, 171.

The second brief anecdote quoted by Abū ʾl-ʿAbbās al-Jurjānī in his book on *Kināyāt al-udabāʾ* is as follows: "Another person relates that he (al-Maʾmūn) met Būrān to deflower her. When he was about to, Būrān got her period. She told him: '*God's commandment comes, therefore do not desire to hasten it*'.86 Al-Maʾmūn understood what she meant and moved away from her".87 The same anecdote had already been narrated in another work also devoted to figurative expressions and allusions (mainly concerning tabooed objects and actions), by al-Thaʿālibī (d. 429/1039);88 and is to be found in a great number of other works, both in Arabic and in Persian.

In Persian literature, the second anecdote is briefly reported in the *Mujmal al-tavārīkh*. In the section concerning the history of Maʾmūn's caliphate, the anonymous author gives a description of Būrān and the caliph's sumptuous wedding. At the end he laconically adds: "When Maʾmūn stretched his hand towards his bride, a state appeared in her (*ū-rā ḥāl-ī ẓāhir gasht*). She said: 'O Commander of the Faithful! *God's commandment comes, therefore do not desire to hasten it*'".89

In the *Mujmal* no explanation is given as to the kind of state which appeared in Būrān. Perhaps the anecdote was so famous that the author thought it was pointless to provide further explanations. However, for the uninformed reader, Būrān's phrase could have been simply taken as a way of asking for the deferment of the consummation of the wedding.

The two anecdotes reported by Abū 'l-ʿAbbās al-Jurjānī in his book on figurative expressions are centred on the fact that, on the night of the consummation of the wedding, Būrān had got her period and therefore the consummation was further delayed. In both cases, Būrān's physical state is expressed through a figurative expression. These anecdotes are therefore relevant to both lines of development of Būrān's character in literature: her transformation into the misogamist woman type, who delays the consummation of marriage; and the association of her character with allusive or enigmatic expressions, and finally true riddles.

86 Koran XVI,1.

87 Al-Jurjānī, *Kināyāt*, 171.

88 Al-Thaʿālibī, *Kitāb al-kināya wa ʾl-taʿrīḍ*, 43.

89 *Mujmal al-tavārīkh*, 355.

**Materials for a History of the Persian Narrative Tradition** Two Characters: Farhād and Turandot Paola Orsatti

# 5 Būrān-dukht Back to Persia, and Her Association with Riddles and Enigmatic Expressions

**Summary** 1 Non-Verbal Riddles Though Objects: Niẓāmī's Tuesday Tale and the Pearls as Symbols. – 2 Niẓāmī ʿArūżī's Anecdote on Maʾmūn and Būrān in the Čahār Maqāla. – 3 Maʾmūn and Būrān in ʿAwfī's Collection of Anecdotes.

#### 1 Non-Verbal Riddles Though Objects: Niẓāmī's Tuesday Tale and the Pearls as Symbols

The two lines pronounced by Maʾmūn in the first anecdote, as well as the Koranic verse recited by Būrān in the other, are not true riddles, as they do not involve any explicit challenge to guess their meaning. Their genetic affinity with riddles, however, is evident: as riddles and enigmas, they are based on the substitution of plain and ordinary language with figurative or indirect expressions, in order to say something without revealing it openly.90 Both for Maʾmūn in the first anecdote, and for Būrān in the second one, they are a witty way of alluding to an unpleasant personal situation which is an object of taboo from a cultural point of view.91 In the first anecdote, the factual data (the frustrated sexual act and Būrān's menstruation) are talked about in an indirect way, through metaphors: the fiery horse, the horse's rod and the darkness; while the image of "blood preventing from shedding blood" is

90 See *The Poetics of Aristotle*, 83: "The essence of a riddle is to express true facts under impossible combinations. Now this cannot be done by any arrangement of ordinary words, but by the use of metaphor it can" (XXII: 1).

91 See Naaman, "Women Who Cough and Men Who Hunt".

constructed according to a technique typical of riddles and enigmas, consisting of expressing "true facts under impossible combinations".92 In the second anecdote, Būrān utters a Koranic verse in order to let Maʾmūn understand – without saying it openly – the embarrassing situation in which she has come to find herself. It is her usage of the Koranic verse in that particular situation, not the verse in itself, that renders it an allusive and enigmatic expression.

In Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale the riddles consist of the exhibition of certain objects that the princess, sitting in front of the prince, sends him via a handmaiden. In order to respond, the young prince must understand the meaning of each object. After the first object, however, the princess too must understand the meaning of the objects the prince sends her in reply. In this language, the objects exhibited, and the actions accompanying their exhibition, have a symbolic value: they are the signifier of something signified, which has to be guessed. They are true riddles, though presented by means of nonverbal language.93

The princess takes two little pearls off her earlobes and hands them to the youth. He weighs the two pearls, adds three more pearls of the same value, and returns all of them to her. The princess carefully examines the five pearls, reduces them to powder, mixes the pearl dust with sugar, and passes the mixture to the young prince. In answer, he puts the mixture into a glass of milk and passes it back. The princess drinks the milk, collects the residue and weighs it: the weight is exactly that of the five pearls. She then gives him a ring. He puts it on his finger and gives the princess a splendid pearl. The princess unstrings an identical pearl from her necklace and gives both pearls back to the youth, who finds that the two pearls are identical. He then adds a little azure stone before passing back all three. She hangs the two white pearls on her ears, the blue stone on her finger, smiles and announces to her father that she intends to marry the young man: at last she has found a man who surpasses her in learning and wisdom.94 She herself, then, explains to her father the meaning of the enigmatic exchange through objects she has had with the prince:95 the two pearls in the first exchange mean the transience of life; the three other pearls added by the young man mean that whether three or even five days, life is still fleeting; the following question concerns voluptuousness (the

92 See fn. 90 above.

94 Niẓāmī, *Haft paykar*, ch. 35, 232-60.

93 See the third group of riddles (the other two being the riddles of didactic intent, and the ones just for entertainment) in Khaleghi-Motlagh, "Afsāna-yi bānū-yi ḥiṣārī va pishina-yi qālib-i adabī-yi ān", 172.

95 Niẓāmī, *Haft paykar*, ch. 35, 268-85.

sugar), inextricably linked to life (the pearls): how to distinguish the one from the other? The young man gives the answer by adding the pearl dust to milk; by drinking it the princess subordinates herself to him, at the same time showing that the weight of the pearls is unchanged. By giving him the ring, she in turn accepts to marry him, to which he responds with a very precious pearl, signifying that she would never find another husband of equal worth. To this she adds a pearl of identical value, thereby declaring herself his companion and equal; he simply adds the azure stone as protection against the evil eye.

The wisdom interpretation given in the poem is not the only possible one. The mute exchange between the princess and her suitor represents an example of successful non-verbal communication, and has a strong erotic charge. A sexual interpretation of it has also been posited.96

Examples of such communication by means of objects (and actions) are well-known from ancient sources.97 Albert Wesselski has rightly suggested that one of the sources, or probably the main source, for the non-verbal riddles in Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale is the exchange of objects between Alexander and the wise Indian, recounted in its fullest version by Masʿūdī.98 On the other hand, examples of this kind of non-verbal communication are rather numerous in Persian literature, both in the context of a riddle, and in a context where no riddle is openly asked. An example of the latter type is a passage from the *Shāhnāma* where – after his marriage to Shīrīn – Khusraw uses nonverbal language through objects to overcome the opposition of the nobles of his court to the wedding. For three days the nobles keep away from court, as a sign of protest and disapproval. Khusraw convokes them.  He then orders it to be washed clean, and once again shows it to them. Khusraw himself explains the meaning of the vase and its cleaning: Shīrīn – he says – is like that vase. If at first she was not worthy of marrying the king, she has now been purified by their union.99 In the just seen example, the gestural language based on the exhibition of an object, though enigmatic in itself, functions as a comparison or a parable.

96 See for example Meier, "Turandot in Persien", 417.

97 On gestural riddles see the bibliography given by Rossi, "La leggenda di Turandot", 461 fn. 1.

98 Wesselski, "Quellen und Nachwirkungen der Haft Paikar", 114-16; Masʿudi, *Murūğ al-dahab*, 2: 265-74. This story is also recounted, with some differences and in a more succinct way, in Firdawsī, *Shāhnāma*, 6: 28-31 (*Iskandar*, ll. 353-96).

99 Firdawsī, *Shāhnāma*, 8: 267-9 (*Khusraw Parvīz*, ll. 3482-509).

The objects involved in non-verbal communication – the pearls exchanged by the two young people in Niẓāmī's tale, or the vase in the *Shāhnāma* – have a symbolic value. If Niẓāmī's riddle in the Tuesday tale pertains to the well-known category of non-verbal riddles, the choice of the pearls as symbolic objects represents the link connecting Niẓāmī's tale with the story of Maʾmūn's marriage with Būrān: a possible sign of a relation, or even of the derivation, of the princess in the Tuesday tale from Būrān-dukht.

### 2 Niẓāmī ʿArūżī's Anecdote on Maʾmūn and Būrān in the Čahār Maqāla

In the first 'discourse', or chapter, devoted to the profession of secretary, in Niẓāmī ʿArūżī's *Čahār maqāla* ('Four discourses', probably composed in 551/1156), an anecdote concerning Maʾmūn's marriage with Būrān is narrated. It is connected to the theme of the chapter by glorifying the great statesmen who flourished under the Abbasid dynasty, among whom were Ḥasan b. Sahl and his brother Fażl.100 Niẓāmī ʿArūżī freely reworks his sources, offering a narrative endowed with a quality which is not to be found in previous texts: beauty.

In the final part of the anecdote, after the description of the sumptuous preparations for the wedding – including an interesting account of Maʾmūn's decision to wear black clothing for the ceremony,101 and the traditional report concerning the gifts for the guests – the focus of the narrative moves on to the couple and their feelings: Būrān's kind and submissive attitude, and Maʾmūn's increasing passion for her. Būrān's grandmother, as well as the other noble ladies who – according to the sources – were present at the ceremony, disappear from the narrative, and the couple act in a refined setting, in absolute solitude.

Maʾmūn, on entering the bride's house, is struck by the beauty of the mansion. On a sumptuous carpet of gold thread embroidered with pearls, rubies and turquoises he sees six precious cushions and, seated in the place of honour, he sees Būrān. The author gives a description of her beauty, as it appears to Maʾmūn's astonished eyes. Būrān then acts (I quote the passage in the beautiful English translation by Edward G. Browne):102 "She, rising to her feet like a cypress, and walking gracefully, advanced towards Maʾmún, and, with

100 Niẓāmī ʿArūżī Samarqandī, *Chahār maqāla*,19-21. The author confuses the two dignitaries, as he says that Būrān was the daughter of Fażl.

101 In reference to Maʾmūn's political change, in 204/819, reflected in his abandoning the green clothing characteristic of the ʿAlids and coming back to the black of the ʿAbbāsids. See Rekaya, s.v. "al-Maʾmūn b. Hārūn al Rashīd". See also fn. 109 below.

102 Niẓāmī ʽArūżī Samarqandī, *Chahár Maqála*, 21-3.

a profound obeisance and earnest apologies, took his hand, brought him forward, seated him in the chief seat, and stood before him in service. Maʾmún bade her to be seated, whereupon she seated herself on her knees hanging her head, and looking down at the carpet. Maʾmún was overcome with love: he had already lost his heart, and now he would have added thereunto his very soul".

The recounting of the thousand pearls poured over Maʾmūn by Būrān's grand-mother and then counted and given (as if they were a settlement by notary act) to Būrān by Maʾmūn as his wedding gift, is here completely changed: "He stretched out his hand and drew forth from the opening of his coat *eighteen pearls* [my emphasis], each one as large as a sparrow's egg, brighter than the stars of heaven, more lustrous than the teeth of the fair, rounder, nay more luminous, than Saturn or Jupiter, and poured them out on the surface of the carpet, where, by reason of its smoothness and their roundness, they continued in motion, there being no cause for their quiescence. But the girl paid no heed to the pearls, nor so much as raised her head".

The narration of Maʾmūn's attempt to embrace Būrān and the beginning of her menstruation ("that state peculiar to women" in Niẓāmī ʿArūżī's words) is retold with a focus on Maʾmūn's and Būrān's feelings, in a clear though preciously allusive way: "Thereat was Maʾmún's passion further increased, and he extended his hand to open the door of amorous dalliance and to take her in his embraces. But the emotion of shame overwhelmed her, and the delicate damsel was so affected that she was overtaken by that state peculiar to women. Thereat the marks of shame and abashed modesty appeared in her cheeks and countenance, and she immediately exclaimed: – '*O Prince of Believers! The command of God cometh, seek not then to hasten it!*'".

In this beautiful narrative, there is no need to explain further what has happened. Maʾmūn gets the point and his love increases: "Thereat Maʾmún withdrew his hand, and was near swooning on account of the extreme appositeness of this verse, and her graceful application of it on this occasion. Yet still he could not take his eyes off her, and for *eighteen days* [my emphasis] he came not forth from this house and concerned himself with naught but her".103

In Niẓāmī ʿArūżī's retelling of the story, the pearls presented by Maʾmūn to Būrān become a symbol: there are eighteen of them, just as there are eighteen days of amorous dalliance between Maʾmūn and Būrān. They are a gift and a promise of love. The interpretation of the pearls as metaphorical objects is reinforced by the fact that in the Persian language 'pearl' has a vast array of metaphorical meanings, and appears in a number of figurative expressions. Metaphorically, 'pearl' means 'word', especially the poetical word; but also means 'tears', and 'rain'. Among the other metaphorical meanings, one is important here: 'pearl' can mean a virgin, a girl still untouched, or a girl of unique value. And 'to bore the pearl' (*dur[r] suftan*), besides meaning 'to compose poetry', also means 'to deflower a girl'.104

One can suppose that the other Niẓāmī, Niẓāmī of Ganja, had this anecdote in mind when he conceived the tale of the princess of the castle, with the enigmatic exchange of pearls between the princess and her suitor (see §§ 1.3 and 5.1 above). But this is only a suggestion, and can certainly not be proved.

### 3 Maʾmūn and Būrān in ʿAwfī's Collection of Anecdotes

The famous collection of anecdotes by Muḥammad ʿAwfī entitled *Javāmiʿ al-ḥikāyāt va lāvāmiʿ al-rivāyāt* (665/1228) which – as already stated (see above, ch. 1, § 2) – contains the first known attestation of the Turandot tale, also contains an anecdote having caliph Maʾmūn and Būrān as protagonists. It is an anecdote in chapter 22 of the third part of the work, entitled "On clever and wise women, and on the pleasantness of their sayings".105 Būrān (here Pūrān) is a representation of the clever and witty woman and embodies both characteristic features of 'Turandot': that of the misogamist woman, and that of the woman who asks and/or responds to riddles. The plot, however, is very different from that of both the Turandot tale, and the anecdotes on the wedding night of Maʾmūn and Būrān.  As will be shown, this anecdote also testifies to the connection of Būrān (in this case, the second Būrān) with the legendary figure of Shīrīn.

The story is as follows. Maʾmūn asks ten women of his harem, mothers of his sons,106 the following question: "What do I need?" None of the women can answer. The caliph then asks Būrān, and she gives the right answer: the caliph – she says – needs sexual intercourse (*mubāšarat*) with women, but this has been denied him by his physician Bukhtīshūʿ;107 he can have free social intercourse (*muʿāšarat*) with them, but when he is assailed by desire he must be content with a male slave (*khādim*). The caliph is amazed at Būrān's cleverness, how she is able to guess

104 Dihkhudā, *Lughat-nāma*, s.vv. "Dur(r)" and "Dur(r) suftan".

105 ʿAwfī, *Javāmi*ʿ *al-ḥikāyāt va lavāmi*ʿ *al-rivāyāt*, qism III, juzv II, 646-8.

106 This means that they were simple concubines and not, like Būrān, his wives.

107 This is the name borne by several physicians of a famous Christian family originally established at Jundīshābūr. The personage in this anecdote may be identified with Jibrīl b. Bukhtīshūʿ or with his son. See Sourdel, s.v. "Bukhtīshūʿ".

the secret only known to the physician and himself. She retires to her room and sends the caliph some beautiful male slaves; but he desires Būrān. He tries to penetrate Būrān's room, but – no matter how much he insists and pleads – she does not let him in, not wanting to transgress the prescription of the physician Bokhtishuʿ, for the sake of the caliph's health. She says to Maʾmūn: "The health of the Prince of Believers is what all his servants desire. Therefore, limit yourself to a friendly relationship (with your wives), so that your health be complete, and the servant's ease under (your) reign be perfect". In the end Būrān explains how she had managed to guess Maʾmūn's secret: if the caliph had free intercourse with such beautiful women without having sexual relations with them, she had deduced that this was because of a prohibition concerning sexual relations with women.

In this anecdote a feature recurs, already seen in the story of Shīrīn and her putative son Shahriyār referred to above (see ch. 2, § 4): it is the prohibition from sexual relations with women. Whereas in the anecdote of Shīrīn and Shahriyār the ban (for Shahriyār) on sexual intercourse was motivated by the need to avert the birth of an ill-omened child, in the anecdote of Maʾmūn and Būrān narrated by ʿAwfī it is motivated by a medical prohibition; but the reason for this is not clear. One might recall that, in classical moral literature, over-frequent relations with women were considered a danger to the health of a man, and especially for a ruler's well-being;108 or, rather, the prohibition concerning sexual intercourse with women (not sexual intercourse tout court) may be considered as a literary reflex of Maʾmūn's political choices in relation to the question of his succession.109 But such explanations are unconvincing. The only acceptable interpretation for the ban on sexual intercourse in this anecdote has to be searched for within the literary world. Indeed, it intertextually responds to and retells the anecdote of Shīrīn and Shahriyār, giving it a happy ending: Būrān – unlike Shīrīn – is a wise woman and resists the pleas of Maʾmūn for the sake of her husband's health and – above all – for the welfare of the country. The character of Būrān, which accords with some of Shīrīn's characteristic features, evolved until it became Shīrīn's opposite: no longer, as with Shīrīn, the main character responsible for the fall of the kingdom of Persia, but a model of virtue and cleverness, deeply interested in the welfare of the kingdom and its subjects. Perhaps a remote memory of the Sasanid queen Būrān can also be detected behind ʿAwfī's Būrān.

108 For advice on health problems connected with over-frequent contact with women cf. Fouchécour, *Moralia*, 389.

109 At the beginning of his reign, Maʾmūn had attempted to impose ʿAlī al-Riḍā, son of the martyr Mūsā al-Kāẓim, as his successor, therefore renouncing a direct line of succession. On that occasion he abandoned the black color of the ʿAbbāsids in favor of the green color of the ʿAlids. See Rekaya, s.v. "al-Maʾmūn b. Hārūn al Rashīd".

**Materials for a History of the Persian Narrative Tradition** Two Characters: Farhād and Turandot Paola Orsatti

# 6 The Turandot Tale in Europe: Origins of the Name 'Turandot'

**Summary** 1 The Name 'Turandot'. – 2 From Būrān-dukht to Tūrān-dukht. – 3 Conclusions: the Anecdote of Maʾmūn and Būrān and the Turandot Tale.

#### 1 The Name 'Turandot'

The name *Turandot* is attested for the first time, in the form *Tourandocte*, in the tale "Histoire du prince Calaf, et de la Princesse de la Chine" (other editions have: "Histoire du prince Calaf et de la Princesse Tourandocte") in François Pétis de la Croix's tale collection *Les Mille et un Jour(s)* (Paris, 1710-12, 5 vols.).110

In Europe, after the publication of Pétis de la Croix's collection of tales, the character of Turandot appears in many other re-elaborations of the tale, from the drama plays by Carlo Gozzi (*Turandot. Fiaba cinese teatrale tragicomica*, first performed in Venice on 22 January 1762) and Friedrich von Schiller (*Turandot, Prinzessin von China. Ein tragikomisches Märchen nach Gozzi*, first performed in Weimar in 1802), to Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni's libretto for Puccini's *Turandot*, which premiered in Milan, at La Scala theatre, on 25 April 1926 – these only being some of the main stages in the fortune of the Turandot tale in Europe.111

110 In the different editions the title is given either as *Les Mille et un Jour*, or as *Les Mille et un Jours*. In the edition I consulted (*Les Mille et un Jour. Contes persans*. Amsterdam and Paris, 1785, 2 vols.), this tale is in vol. 1: 227-42 and 296-392, days 45-8 and 60-82. I was not able to consult the critical edition of the work by Paul Sebag (Paris: Christian Bourgois, 1980; 2nd rev. ed. Paris: Phébus, 2003).

111 Among the studies specifically devoted to the fortune of the Turandot tale in Europe see Di Francia, *La leggenda di Turandot*.

The question of Pétis de la Croix's sources has been much debated.112 Scholars consider a manuscript of a Turkish tale collection entitled *Ferec baʿd eş-şidde* as the direct source of Pétis de la Croix's *Les Mille et un Jour(s)*. 113 Pétis de la Croix re-worked the Turkish Turandot tale introducing a number of innovations:114 the most relevant from the point of view of the present study is that he gave a name to all the personages of the tale, who – with the exception of the hero, Khalaf – were nameless in the Persian and Turkish redactions.115

On the origins of the character of Turandot and her name there is, as far as I know, no research. Letterio Di Francia, and Ettore Rossi after him, merely noticed that in d'Herbelot's *Bibliothèque orientale*  (1697) two historical figures bear the name *Tourandokht*: a queen, daughter of Khusraw II Parvīz, and the daughter of Ḥasan b. Sahl, wife of caliph al-Ma'mūn.116 Likewise Angelo M. Piemontese, without referring to Di Francia and Rossi's remark, quotes d'Herbelot on the two historical personages bearing the alleged name of Tūrāndukht.117 Recently Youssef Mogtader and Gregor Schoeler have hypothesized that Pétis de la Croix took the name from the short section dedicated to Queen Būrān in the *Shāhnāma*, where the queen's name is erroneously given in the form *Tūrān* or *Tūrān-dukht* due to a change in the diacritical points.118 Neither Mogtader and Schoeler, nor the scholars referring (without the due historical checks) to the two *Tourandokht*s in d'Herbelot's *Bibliothèque orientale*, deal with the narrative features linking these historical personages with the literary character of Turandot. However Piemontese is probably right when he states that: "The name Turandot, by which the Princess is known in European modern literary developments, originates in d'Herbelot's posthumous *Bibliothèque orientale*" (see § 3 below).119

112 The story related by Pétis de la Croix, and accepted – among others – by Meier, about a certain Moclès (i.e. Mukhliṣ) from Isfahan, who gave Pétis a manuscript containing a collection of tales from Indian sources, that he translated into French, has been recognized as a mere literary cliché (see, among others, Di Francia, *La leggenda di Turandot*, 14-15). Mukhliṣ, however, was a historical figure, that Pétis did actually meet in Isfahan (see Marzolph, *Relief After Hardship*, 7-8).

113 See Marzolph, *Relief After Hardship*, especially 9-11, and Di Francia, *La leggenda di Turandot*, 14-15.

114 On which see Mogtader, Schoeler, *Turandot*, 34-7.

115 In the long Persian prose redaction of the tale (see above, ch. 1, § 2) only one other character has a name: Āzād, a king who helps the hero during his journey in search of his fortune; cf. Mogtader, Schoeler, *Turandot*, 14 and 27 (Persian text).

116 See Di Francia, *La leggenda di Turandot*, 42; Rossi, "La leggenda di Turandot", 471 fn. 1.

117 Piemontese, "The Enigma of Turandot in Nizāmī's Pentad", 133.

118 Mogtader , Schoeler, *Turandot*, 14 and fn. 7.

119 Piemontese, "The Enigma of Turandot", 133.

#### 2 From Būrān-dukht to Tūrān-dukht

It is well-known that the name of the character in Pétis de la Croix's tale, and hence in Gozzi, Schiller and Puccini's plays, Turandot, corresponds to Persian *Tūrān-dukht*. This name, however, is only attested in Islamic sources as a misreading of the form Būrān-dukht,120 a name attested – as already stated – for two historical figures: the daughter of Khusraw Parvīz, and the daughter of Ḥasan b. Sahl, wife of caliph al-Ma'mūn. The original Persian name of the character known in European sources as Turandot, then, must have been Būrān-dukht (Burān-dokht according to later pronunciation), the form Tūrān(-dukht) only being attested in a number of manuscripts of different works as a misreading of the original form.121

*Bōrān* is considered an ancient patronymic formed from *Bōr* < \**Baur*, an abridged form from \**Baurāspa*- 'having bay horses', followed by the suffix for patronymics ‑*āna*-; and means 'daughter of the possessor of bay horses'.122 The occasional and later addition of -*dukht* to this name may have been dictated by analogy with the many Middle Persian female proper names ending in -*duxt* (daughter, girl).123 It is interesting to notice that, according to some sources, Būrān-dukht (or Pūrān-dukht) became a sort of nickname for a clever and wise woman, as strong as a man (see above, ch. 3, § 2).

'Tūrān-dukht', then, probably arose from a trivial misreading of the name of the two Būrān‑dukhts, the daughter of Khusraw Parvīz and the wife of caliph al-Maʾmūn. This kind of mistake, called *taṣḥīf*, is well-known to philologists: it consists in changing the diacritical points of a letter. Indeed, Būrān/Būrān-dukht does not seem to have been a widespread name, as only two historical personages bore it. The reading with initial <t>, instead of , allowed, with a simple displacement of the diacritical points in the initial letter, a more comprehensible etymology for the name: Tūrān-dukht, the girl from Tūrān – this region being variously identified with the central-Asiatic Turkish lands, and with China. As we have already seen, the corrupted form of the name was even accepted into European sources, such as d'Herbelot's *Bibliothèque orientale*.

As to the form Purān or Purān-dukht given in later Persian sources, Theodor Nöldeke demonstrated – comparing the Middle Persian

120 Cf. Justi, *Iranisches Namenbuch*, 329, s.v. "Tūrānduχt (°dot)".

121 For the name of the Sasanid queen, see *Shāhnāma*, 8: 394 (apparatus for l. 8); Balʿamī, *Tārikh*, 2: 1198 (apparatus); *Mujmal al-tavārīkh*, 37 and 82 (apparatus).

122 Cf. Gignoux, *Noms propres sassanides en moyen-perse épigraphique*, 58, nos. 208-9. See also Moḥammad Ḥasandust, *Farhang-i rīsha-shinākhtī-yi zabān-i fārsī*, 1: 527-8, s.v. "būr, bōr".

123 These nouns, in their turn, are for the most part patronymics; cf. Gignoux, *Noms propres sassanides*, 9.

form attested on the coins minted in her name with the form attested in the Syriac, Greek and Armenian *Nebenüberlieferung* – that this is only a late, incorrect form of the name of the Sasanid queen (also attested for the other Būrān).124

### 3 Conclusions: the Anecdote of Maʾmūn and Būrān and the Turandot Tale

A number of narrative features link the character of Turandot of European literature with that of Būrān-dukht, as it emerges from the review of texts given above. It is impossible, however, at least in the present stage of research, to trace a direct derivation of the Turandot tale and character from tales and anecdotes focused on the figure of Būrān-dukht (mainly intended as the caliph's wife). The inclusion, side by side, of both kinds of narratives – the Turandot tale and the anecdote about Maʾmūn and Būrān – in ʿAwfī's collection of tales seems to show that they developed independently from one another. What is sure is that the Turandot tale, from the one side, and the anecdotes on Maʾmūn and Būrān from the other, pertain to different literary genres: folk-literature, permeated with fabulous motifs and clichés, in the first case; narratives based on historical or semi-historical personages and events, in the second case. Such difference of narrative genres may explain some differences in the physiognomy of the female protagonist. For example, the princess in the Turandot tale possesses a feature (almost) unknown to the character of Būrāndukht: that of her cruelty.

The cruel princess who sets riddles to her suitors seems to have received a name, *Tourandocte*, for the first time in Pétis de la Croix's *Les Mille et un Jour(s)*. The name of Pétis's princess is so well-chosen that it cannot be due to chance; the hypothesis underlying this article is that it originated from the character of Būrān-dukht described in this study. As to possible ways of transmission of this character's name to Pétis de la Croix, one can only guess. If Būrān-dukht/Tūrāndukht as the name of the princess is not attested in any of the Eastern redactions of the Turandot tale, and in particular in Pétis's Turkish source, it is possible that the French author took the name either, directly, from one of the anecdotes about Maʾmūn and Būrān in the literatures of the Islamic world, or, indirectly, from the notice on *Tourandokht*, the wife of the caliph, in d'Herbelot's *Bibliothèque Orientale*. Indeed under this entry d'Herbelot recounts the episode of the couple's wedding and relates the Kuranic verse uttered by *Touran-*

124 See Nöldeke, in Ṭabarī, *Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden*, 390 fn. 2.

*dokht* to prevent the caliph from approaching her when she was in a state of impediment.125 In such a case, d'Herbelot's *Bibliothèque Orientale* provided Pétis de la Croix with not just a name, but with a name and a set of narrative features pertaining to one of the representatives of the misogamist woman type in Arabic and Persian literatures.

Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale in the poem *Haft peykar* seems to represent – if our supposition is confirmed by further research – an early text documenting a link between the Turandot tale and the anecdote about Maʾmūn and Būrān. Indeed, one can hypothesize that Niẓāmī's tale of the princess in the castle is a poetical re-elaboration of an early Turandot tale, perhaps the one in Ibn Khusraw's collection (see above, ch. 1, § 2), with substitution of the verbal with non-verbal riddles, in the wake of the tradition of riddles by means of objects. It is also possible that, in choosing the pearls as symbolic objects in the context of the couple's encounter, the poet was influenced by Niẓāmī ʿArūżī's beautiful anecdote on Maʾmūn and Būrān's union.

125 See d'Herbelot, *Bibliothèque orientale*, 895-6. Concerning *Tourandokht*, the caliph's wife, d'Herbelot says: "Cette princesse étoit fort sҫavant & douée d'un très bel esprit. L'Auteur du Nighiaristan rapporte que le Chalife étant entré un jour dans sa chambre & voulant avec precipitation s'acquitter avec elle du devoir de mary, cette Dame, qui avoit pour lors quelque empêchement legitime, luy dit ces paroles de l'Alcoran […] Il arriva que ce passage cité à propos reprima la convoitise trop ardente de son mary" (896).

Filologie medievali e moderne 19 | 4 **97** Materials for a History of the Persian Narrative Tradition, 93-98

**Materials for a History of the Persian Narrative Tradition** Two Characters: Farhād and Turandot Paola Orsatti

# Appendix **A Summary of the Turandot Tale in two Persian Sources**

The Turandot tale, as it is attested by ʿAwfī,126 and by the longer Persian prose tale127 published by Youssef Mogtader and Gregor Schoeler is, in broad outline, as follows. A young man (he is the son of indigent parents living in Iraq, in ʿAwfī's tale; the son of the king of Tūrān who has lost all his wealth, in the longer Persian version) is obliged – in order to cope with the situation of poverty which he and his parents are facing – to sell as slaves his father for a horse and his mother for armor. He then leaves to seek his fortune. He overcomes a long series of difficulties and dangers. Finally he arrives at the court of a king (the king of Rūm in ʿAwfī, the king of China in the longer tale) and comes to know of the conditions set by the king's daughter for her suitors: whoever aspires to her hand must answer a series (ten in ʿAwfī) of questions. If the suitor cannot answer, he is condemned to death. In ʿAwfī's tale a second condition is expounded from the very beginning: if the suitor is able to answer, he, in his turn, must ask the princess three questions. The princess will only consent to marry him if she cannot answer the suitor's questions. The young man/the prince accepts the challenge and answers the princess's questions. The hero then asks the princess a question focusing on his own personal story, and which cannot be answered other than by himself: who is that man/prince …? followed by a summary, in enigmatic terms, of the hero's story. In ʿAwfī

126 Mogtader, Schoeler, *Turandot*, 7-20 (Persian text), 55-67 (translation).

127 Mogtader, Schoeler, *Turandot*, 21-57 (Persian text), 69-118 (translation).

he asks: Who is that man whose mother is a horse and whose father is armor?128 The princess asks for a delay and, during a nocturnal visit to the young man in the company of one of her handmaidens (two of them in ʿAwfī), manages to find the solution. She, however, from simple heedlessness (in the longer tale), or at the express request of the youth (in ʿAwfī), leaves with the young man some of her personal possessions (a dress wet with wine, her ornaments). On the following day the princess answers the young man's question (in ʿAwfī's tale), whereas in the longer tale she only has the prince understand that she knows the answer. The young man/the prince then challenges the princess to guess a riddle concerning three female birds that visited a male bird, leaving him their feathers and wings (in ʿAwfī), or alluding to the princess's nocturnal visit through the metaphor of a bird which has fallen into the prince's net (in the longer tale). The princess surrenders and recognizes her suitor's superiority: she cannot risk everyone coming to know about her nocturnal visit to the young man. The tale ends with the wedding of the couple and the redemption from slavery of the old parents.

128 See the edition of ʿAwfī's tale by Mogtader, Schoeler, *Turandot*, 15 (Persian text). At the beginning of the tale, however, the young man asks for a horse in exchange for his father, and armour in exchange for his mother (Mogtader, Schoeler, *Turandot*, 8).

**Materials for a History of the Persian Narrative Tradition** Two Characters: Farhād and Turandot Paola Orsatti

# Bibliography

#### **Sources**

ʿĀrif Ardabīlī, *Farhād-nāma*. Ed. by ʿAbd al-Riḍā Ādhar. Tehran: Bunyād-i farhangi Īrān, 2535 imperial/ 1976.

*Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg. Un texte eschatologique zoroastrien*. Edited by Domenico Agostini. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 2013.

Balʿamī, Abū ʿAlī Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Balʿamī. *Chronique de […] Tabari, traduite sur la version persane d'Abou-ʿAli Moʾhammed Belʾami, […] par H. Zotenberg*. 4 vols. Paris: Maisonneuve, 1958 (reprint of the original ed. Paris, 1867-74).

Ibn Ṭayfūr, Abūʾl-Faḍl Aḥmad b. Abī Ṭāhir. *Kitāb Baghdād*. Bayrūt: Dār al-Jinān, n.d.

Niẓāmī Ganjaʾī. *Sharaf-nāma*. Ed. by Bihrūz Tharvatiyān. Tehran: Tūs, 1368/1989.

#### **Secondary literature**

Aarne, Antti; Thompson, Stith. *The Types of the Folktale. A Classification and Bibliography. Antti Aarne's Verzeichnis der Märchentypen […] translated and enlarged by Stith Thompson*. 2nd revision. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1961.

Abbas, Ihsan. s.v. "Būrān". *Encyclopaedia Iranica*, 4: 553-4.

Aliev, Ghazanfar Jusif-ogly. *Temy i sjužety Nizami v literaturakh narodov Vostoka* (Niẓāmī's Themes and Subjects in the Literatures of the Peoples of the Orient). Moscow: Nauka, 1985.

Arioli, Angelo. *Le isole mirabili. Periplo arabo medievale*. Torino: Einaudi, 1989.

Chaumont, Marie Louise. s.v. "Bōrān". *Encyclopaedia Iranica*, 4: 366.

Compareti, Matteo. "La raffigurazione della 'gloria iranica' nell'arte persiana e la sua distinzione dall'uccello fenice/simurgh". *Rivista di Studi Indo-Mediterranei*, 6, 2016, 1-32.

Massignon, L. s.v. "Al-Khawarnaḳ". *Encyclopedia of Islam*. 2nd ed. 4: 1133.

**Materials for a History of the Persian Narrative Tradition** Two Characters: Farhād and Turandot Paola Orsatti

# Index

Abkhāz (Abkhazia) 27-8, 31 Abūʾl-ʿAbbās Aḥmad al-Jurjānī 81, 83 Abū Dulaf's travelogue, 19, 23, 30, 33, 39, 54-5, 58, 77 Aḥmad b. Muḥammad, see Ibn al-Faqīh Aḥmad Ibn Yūsuf 82 Alexander 14, 77, 87 Amazons 71 country of the Amazons 13, 71 with fn. 38 myth of the Amazons 71 fn. 38 Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī 25, 31, 34-5, 39 (the) anecdote of Shīrīn and Shahriyār 74, 91 (the) anecdote of Maʾmūn and Būrān, see ʿAwfī's anecdote on Maʾmūn and Būrān, and Niẓāmī 'Arūżī's tale about Maʾmūn and Būrān Ardashīr III, son of Shīrūya 49, 53, 76 ʿĀrif Ardabīlī 25, 31-2, 35, 39 ʿAwfī's collection of tales 15, 64, 66 fn. 13, 68, 90 ʿAwfī's Turandot tale, see (the) Turandot tale ʿAwfī's anecdote on Maʾmūn and Būrān 15, 90-1, 96 Āzarmīdukht, Būrān's sister 54, 59

Baghdad 11, 20 Bahrām Chūbīn 46, 48 Balʿamī's chronicle 13, 19, 24, 34-5, 37, 39, 49, 55, 74, 76 Bārbad 55 Bardaʿ, city in Arrān 13, 70-1 Bilqīs and Solomon 73 with fn. 45 Bindūy, uncle of Khusraw 44 Bistām/ Bisṭām/ Wistām, name of a village 30, 45 Bisṭām/Gustaham, uncle of Khusraw 30, 44-6 Bīsutūn, passage, area of (see also Mount Bīsutūn) 20, 30-1, 34, 36 *Bōrān* (Būrān), etymology 95 Būrān or Būrān-dukht, daughter of Khusraw II Parvīz (r. 630-631) 11-15, 53-5, 58, 63-4, 75-8, 91, 94-6 Būrān or Būrān-dukht, wife of Caliph al-Maʾmūn 11, 14-15, 63-4, 79-83, 85-6, 88-91, 95-6 ʿAwfī's Būrān 90-1 Būrān's grandmother 80-1, 88 see also Khadīja Būrān-dukht (character) 11-13, 63, 74-5, 96 Būrān-dukht, Dārāb's daughter 14, 77, 79

Caliph al-Maʾmūn (813-833) 11, 14, 64, 79- 83, 85-6, 88-91, 96 Dārāb (Darius III), the last Persian king defeated by Alexander 14, 77 *Dārāb-nāma*, Ṭarsūsī's work 14, 77 Darius, reliefs and inscription 20, 33-4, 36 enigmatic expressions 14-15, 64, 85-7 Farāyīn (see also Farrahān) 50 with fn. 118, 52 Farhād 11, 14-15, 19-20, 22-5, 27-40, 41-7, 52, 54-9 *Farhād-nāma*, ʿĀrif Ardabīlī's poem 23, 25- 8, 31-2, 33 fn. 61, 34-5, 38-40 Farrahān (or Farrukhān), Khusraw's General (see also Shahr-barāz) 11-12, 15, 41, 45, 47-59, 76 Farrukh Hurmuz 53-4, 57 Farrukh-rūz, King of Syria 57 Farrukhān, see Farrahān Faṭṭūs/ Qaṭṭūs/ Fuṭrūs/ Kīṭūs, the sculptor of Ṭāq-i Bustān 28-9, 37, 39, 42 Fradāta, name of Parthian kings 22 General Farhād, see Farrahān, Khusraw's General Gul, daughter of the Qayṣar 57 Gulistān, a character in ʿĀrif's *Farhād-nāma* 27, 31 *Gul va Nawrūz*, Khwājū Kirmānī's poem 15, 57 Gurāz (see also Shahr-barāz) 50-1 Gurdiya 46 Gustaham, Khusraw's uncle, see Bisṭām Hamadan (Ecbatana) 11, 20-2 Ḥamdūna, daughter of Hārūn al-Rashīd 80 Harūm, see Bardaʿ Ḥasan b. Sahl 11, 63, 79 with fn. 64, 80-1, 88 Hātifī 25, 32, 35, 39 Heraclius, Byzantine emperor 49, 57 d'Herbelot, Barthélemy 94, 96-7 Ibn al-Faqīh al-Hamadānī (Aḥmad b. Muḥammad), Kitāb al-buldān 23, 28‑30, 32, 39-40, 54 Ibn al-Kalbī 13, 15, 74 Ibn Khallikān 82 Ibn Khusraw al-Ustād 65-6, 97 Ibn al-Marzubān 82 Ibn al-Nadīm's *Fihrist* 55-6 34 al-Jāḥiẓ 37 jānī with fn. 137 II Parvīz 75, 87 Rūm 57 Nigār 76 70, 86-7 Shīrīn 70 Master, see Ustād

Ibrāhīm b. al-Mahdī 81 al-Iṣṭakhrī's *Kitāb masālik al-mamālik* 21, Jaʿfar Barmakī 81 Jamshīd, son of Shāpūr, king of China 57 *Jamshīd va Khwarshīd*, Salmān Sāvajī's poem 15, 57 al-Jurjānī, see Abūʾl-ʿAbbās Aḥmad al-Jur-Kandake/ Qaydāfa 70-1 Khadīja (see also Būrān or Būrān-dukht, wife of Caliph al-Maʾmūn) 79-80 Khalaf, Prince 64-5, 68 Kharrād Burzīn 44 Khavarnaq 37, 39, 43 Khoṙeam/ Khurrahān (see also Farrahān) 53 with fn. 133 Khoṙokh Ormizd 53 Khumistān, a place in Abkhazia 27-8 Khurrīn (see also Khoṙeam/ Khurrahān) 54 Khusraw or Khusraw Parvīz, see Khusraw Khusraw I Anushirvān 51 Khusraw II Parvīz (r. 590-628) 11, 13, 20, 25, 29, 32-7, 39-49, 51-2, 56-8, 69, 73, Khwarshīd, daughter of the Qayṣar of King of Abkhāz, Shīrīn's father 27 King of Syria 15, 57-8 Kirmanshah (Qirmāsīn/Qirmīsīn) 20, 29, 33 *Kitāb al-tāj* by Pseudo-Jāḥiẓ 56 Kīṭūs (see also Faṭṭūs) 29, 42-4 (the) Lady of the Castle/Palace 14, 70, 76 the princess in Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale Sammuramat 69 with fn. 24, 70 al-Maʾmūn, see Caliph al-Maʾmūn

(the) Master of Mount Bīsutūn 11, 15, 41, 47, 58-9

Masʿūdī, *Kitāb murūj al-dhahab* 55, 87 Maurice, Byzantine emperor 48-9 Mihīn Bānū (Shamīrā/ Shumayrā) 13, 27, 31, 70-2 *Mihr va Nigār*, Jamālī's poem 14, 75 *(Les) Mille et un Jours*, Pétis de la Croix's tale collection 15, 63, 93-4, 96 (the) misogamist woman 14, 72-3 Moclès (Mukhliṣ) 94 fn. 112 Mount Alvand (Orontes) 22 Mount Bīsutūn 11, 15, 20-1, 25, 31, 33-6, 39, 41, 45, 47, 58-9 Muḥammad Jahān-pahlavān 66 *Mujmal al-tavārīkh vaʾl qiṣaṣ* 12-13, 24, 29, 30-1, 36-7, 40, 42-7, 51-2, 58, 76, 83 *Muʾnis-nāma*, see Ibn Khusraw Mustawfī Qazvīnī's *Nuzhat al-qulūb* 24-5, 30, 32-3 Nawrūz, in love with Gul 57 Nigār, Jamālī's character 14, 75-6 Ninos (King), husband of Semiramis 45, 58 Niẓāmī of Ganja 13, 23-5, 27-8, 30, 32-4, 38-9, 66, 68, 71-2, 90 Niẓāmī's poem *Haft paykar* 14, 66, 70 Niẓāmī's poem *Khusraw va Shīrīn* 13-15, 19, 23, 25, 33-4, 38-9, 55-8, 69, 71-2, 75 Niẓāmī's poem *Sharaf-nāma* 70-1 Niẓāmī's Sunday tale in the poem *Haft paykar* 72-3 with fn. 44, 74 Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale in the poem *Haft paykar* 14, 67-8, 70, 72, 86-7, 97 Niẓāmī 'Arūżī's tale about Maʾmūn and Būrān 14-15, 88-90, 97 non-verbal riddles through objects 14, 86-8 Nūshāba 70-1 Onnes, first husband of Semiramis, King Ninos's general 22, 45, 58 pearls as symbolic objects 15, 86-90 Pétis de la Croix, François 93-4 *Pīrūz-nāma* 12, 42 with fn. 87, 43-5, 47, 52, 58 Prince Calaf (see also Khalaf) 93 Pūrān or Pūrān-dukht (see also Būrān or Būrān-dukht) 90, 95-6 (the) princess in Niẓāmī's Tuesday tale 14- 15, 86-7

Qaṣr-i Shīrīn (Shīrīn's Castle) 11, 14, 20, 22, 25, 31-5, 39, 70, 76 Qaṭṭūs 38 al-Qazwīnī (Zakariyā), *ʿAjāyib al-makhlūqāt* 23 al-Qazwīnī (Zakariyā), *Kitāb āthār al-bilād* 23, 28-9, 33 Qirmāsīn/Qirmīsīn, see Kirmanshah Queen Būrān, see Būrān or Būrān-dukht, daughter of Khusraw II Parvīz Rawshanak (Roxane) 77-8 Razmyūzān 47-8 fnn. 104 and 106 riddles, see enigmatic expressions Rustah, Khusraw's slave 56 Sebeos 53 Semiramis 21-2, 45 sexual intercourse (ban on) 74, 90-1 sexual riddles 85, 87, 90 Shabdīz, Khusraw's horse 25, 29, 42-3 *Shabdīz* as an archaeological site, see *Ṣuffa-yi Shabdīz* Shādī, son of the King of Syria 57 *Shāhnāma*, Firdawsī's poem 13, 37, 49-52, 71, 73, 76, 87, 94 Shahr-barāz (see also Farrahān) 41, 45 fn. 97, 47-59 Shahriyār, Khusraw's son 74 Shāpūr (Shāvur/Shāūr), Khusraw's counsellor and companion 24, 27, 32, 38 Shīrīn 11, 13-15, 19-20, 22, 24-5, 27, 31-7, 39, 41-4, 46, 56, 58-9, 69-70, 73-5, 87 *Shīrīn va Khusraw*, Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī's poem 23, 31, 34, 38-9 *Shīrīn va Khusraw*, Hātifī's poem 23, 32, 35, 38-9 Shīrūy or Shīrūya (Qubād II) son of Khusraw Parvīz 20, 49, 55 Sinimmār/Sinnimār 37, 39, 42-3 *Siyar al-mulūk/ Siyāsat-nāma* 36 with fn. 77 Solomon, see Bilqīs *Ṣuffa-yi Shabdīz* (*Shabdīz*), archeological site 25, 28, 30, 35 *Sumayra* (see also Semiramis) 21, 33 Ṭabarī's chronicle 13, 37, 51, 54, 73-4 Ṭāq-i Bustān 12, 15, 24-31, 33, 35, 37, 40, 41-2, 45-7, 52, 54 *Tarāsh-i Farhād* (Farhād's Smoothing) 34-5

The two essays gathered here, devoted to the characters of Farha¯d and Turandot/Bu¯ra¯n-dukht respectively, represent two parallel upshots of a stream of research focusing on the transformation of historical or semi-historical figures into literary characters. The research moves from literary characters and their possible historical or legendary origins, to un understanding of their literary function in Persian literature.

**THE PERSIAN**

**A HISTORY OF**

ORSATTI

**MATERIALS FOR**

**Paola Orsatti** is an associate professor of Persian Language and Literature at "Sapienza" University of Rome, where she teaches for both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Her research focuses chiefly on the history of the Persian language as well as on Persian Classical literature, the history of Persian studies in Italy and Europe, Oriental manuscript collections, and paleography and codicology of Islamic manuscripts. Besides a number of articles in scholarly journals, she has published *Il fondo Borgia della Biblioteca Vaticana e gli studi orientali a Roma tra Sette e Ottocento* (Città del Vaticano, 1996), *Appunti per una storia della lingua neopersiana. Parte I: parte generale - fonologia - la pi antica documentazione* (Roma, 2007) and, with Daniela Meneghini, *Corso di lingua persiana* (Hoepli, 2012). Together with Mauro Maggi she edited the volume *The Persian language in history* (Wiesbaden, 2011).

Università Ca'Foscari Venezia