Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Arts, Islamic, Decentralization of Islamic literatures

Safavid Iran, as it happened, lost most of its artists and poets to the neighbouring countries: there were no great masters of poetry in Iran between the 16th and 18th centuries. And while the Persian Shah Esma'il wrote Turkish mystical verses, his contemporary and enemy, Sultan Selim I of Turkey (died 1520), composed quite elegant Persian ghazals. Babur (died 1530), in turn, composed his autobiography