PERSIAN LITERATURE

comprising

THE SHÁH NÁMEH, THE RUBÁIYÁT
THE DIVAN, AND THE GULISTAN

Revised Edition, Volume 1

1909

With a special introduction by
RICHARD J. H. GOTTHEIL, Ph.D.







SPECIAL INTRODUCTION

A certain amount of romantic interest has always attached to Persia.
With a continuous history stretching back into those dawn-days of
history in which fancy loves to play, the mention of its name brings to
our minds the vision of things beautiful and artistic, the memory of
great deeds and days of chivalry. We seem almost to smell the fragrance
of the rose-gardens of Tus and of Shiraz, and to hear the knight-errants
tell of war and of love. There are other Oriental civilizations, whose
coming and going have not been in vain for the world; they have done