Iran: Sassanid Prince Bahram Gur visiting princesses in the Red Pavilion, 1543 CE.

From a 1543 CE edition of the ‘Khamsa’ published in Shiraz, this illustration shows the Sassanid prince Bahram Gur visiting the red pavilion of the Slavic princesses. The Khamsa, or Hamsa, is a series of five lengthy epic poems written by the Persian poet Nezami-ye Ganjavi in the 12th century. The first of these five poems, all of which were composed in the ‘Masnavi’ form, is the didactic work Makhzan ol-asrar (The Treasury of Mysteries); the next three are traditional love stories; and the fifth, the ‘Eskandar-nameh’, records the adventures of Alexander the Great.

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Provider: Pictures From History