Qabus nama or
Qabus nameh [variations: Qabusnamah, Qabousnameh, Ghabousnameh, or Ghaboosnameh, in Persian: قابوسنامه, book of Qabus] is a major work of
Persian literaturePersian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
from the eleventh century (circa 1080 A.D.).
It was written by
Amir Unsur al-Mo'ali Keikavus ibn Iskandar ibn Qabus ibn Wushmgir ibn al-ZiyarShams al-Mo'ali Abol-hasan Ghaboos ibn Wushmgir was the Ziyarid ruler of Gurgan and Tabaristan . He was the son of Vushmgir and a daughter of the Bavandi Ispahbad Sharvin....
, the
ZiyaridThe Ziyarids, also spelled Zeyarids , were an Iranian dynasty that ruled in the Caspian sea provinces of Gorgan and Mazandaran from 928-1043 . The founder of the dynasty was Mardavij , who took advantage of a rebellion in the Samanid army of Iran to seize power in northern Iran...
ruler of Persia, also known as the
PrincePrince, from French "Prince" , is a general term for a monarch, for a member of a monarchs' or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in some members of Europe's highest nobility...
of
GurganGürgan is a village in Baku, Azerbaijan. It forms part of the municipality of Gürgən-Pirallahı....
, and was dedicated to his son
Gilan-Shah.
The
belles-lettresBelles-lettres or belles lettres is a term that is used to describe a category of writing. A writer of belles-lettres is a belletrist. However, the boundaries of that category vary in different usages....
was written in 44 chapters and outlines princely education, manners, and conduct in ethical didactic prose.
- The oldest copy, dated 1349, belongs to the library of Malik National Museum of Iran
Malek National Museum and Library is a museum and national library in Tehran, Iran. The museum was inaugurated in 1997. It currently contains around 18000 manuscripts as well as other historical items such as coins, stamps, carpets and paintings....
in TehranTehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Tochal mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia...
.
- One of the earliest remaining copies of this work is the one translated into Turkish by a person named Marjumak Ahmad ibn Ilias by the orders of the Ottoman
The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
SultanSultan is an Islamic title, with several historical meanings. Originally it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", or "rulership", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power"...
Murad II Murad II Kodja was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1421 to 1451 ....
dated 1450.
Qabus nama or
Qabus nameh [variations: Qabusnamah, Qabousnameh, Ghabousnameh, or Ghaboosnameh, in Persian: قابوسنامه, book of Qabus] is a major work of
Persian literaturePersian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
from the eleventh century (circa 1080 A.D.).
It was written by
Amir Unsur al-Mo'ali Keikavus ibn Iskandar ibn Qabus ibn Wushmgir ibn al-ZiyarShams al-Mo'ali Abol-hasan Ghaboos ibn Wushmgir was the Ziyarid ruler of Gurgan and Tabaristan . He was the son of Vushmgir and a daughter of the Bavandi Ispahbad Sharvin....
, the
ZiyaridThe Ziyarids, also spelled Zeyarids , were an Iranian dynasty that ruled in the Caspian sea provinces of Gorgan and Mazandaran from 928-1043 . The founder of the dynasty was Mardavij , who took advantage of a rebellion in the Samanid army of Iran to seize power in northern Iran...
ruler of Persia, also known as the
PrincePrince, from French "Prince" , is a general term for a monarch, for a member of a monarchs' or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in some members of Europe's highest nobility...
of
GurganGürgan is a village in Baku, Azerbaijan. It forms part of the municipality of Gürgən-Pirallahı....
, and was dedicated to his son
Gilan-Shah.
The
belles-lettresBelles-lettres or belles lettres is a term that is used to describe a category of writing. A writer of belles-lettres is a belletrist. However, the boundaries of that category vary in different usages....
was written in 44 chapters and outlines princely education, manners, and conduct in ethical didactic prose.
Extant original copies
- The oldest copy, dated 1349, belongs to the library of Malik National Museum of Iran
Malek National Museum and Library is a museum and national library in Tehran, Iran. The museum was inaugurated in 1997. It currently contains around 18000 manuscripts as well as other historical items such as coins, stamps, carpets and paintings....
in TehranTehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Tochal mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia...
.
- One of the earliest remaining copies of this work is the one translated into Turkish by a person named Marjumak Ahmad ibn Ilias by the orders of the Ottoman
The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
SultanSultan is an Islamic title, with several historical meanings. Originally it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", or "rulership", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power"...
Murad II Murad II Kodja was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1421 to 1451 ....
dated 1450. It is kept in the Fatih Library of IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
.
- The British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from...
also keeps a copy of an early Turkish translation, dated 1456.
- Another copy, dated 1474, exists in the Bibliothèque nationale de France
The Bibliothèque nationale de France is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
in ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
- An excellent copy is kept at the Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by Prince William of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
library.
The Turkish version was then translated into
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
by Heinrich Friedrich von Diez as
Buch des Kabus in 1811, and a source of inspiration for Goethe's West-%C3%B6stlicher Diwan as he was in contact with von Diez.
The text was translated directly from Persian into English by
Reuben LevyReuben Levy was Professor of Persian at the University of Cambridge, who wrote on Persian literature and Islamic history.-Life:...
with the title:
A Mirror for Princes in 1951.
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
,
Japaneseis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none have gained general acceptance...
,
RussianRussian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe...
, and
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
translations also followed.
Cultural References
This work is mentioned several times in Louis L'Amour's
The Walking DrumThe Walking Drum is a novel by American author Louis L'Amour. Unlike most of his other novels, it is not set in the American West, but is a historical novel set in 12th century Europe and the Middle East....
as well as in
Tariq AliTariq Ali is a British-Pakistani historian, novelist, filmmaker, political campaigner, and commentator. He is a member of the editorial committee of the New Left Review and Sin Permiso, and regularly contributes to The Guardian, CounterPunch, and the London Review of Books.He is the author of...
's "The Stone Woman".