^{page 741 note 1} Wherever convenient I have tried to maintain in this article the sounds ō and ē which in Modern Persian (as spoken in Persia) are no more distinguished from ū and ī. I have made some exceptions for the names too familiar, such as Rāmīn (better *Rāmēn), Vīs (possibly Vēs), etc.

^{page 741 note 2} The translation, slightly abridged, follows the Persian original very closely. It is attributed (with what reason ?) to Sargis T'mogveli, who wrote under Queen T'amar (1184–1213). The Georgian Visramiani has been done into English by Sir Oliver Wardrop, 1914 (reviewed by I. Guidi, Rivista S.O., 1917, 754–6, and Marr, N., Zap.K.V., I, 1925,118–138Google Scholar.) On the late Turkish translation see Appendix.

^{page 741 note 3} He was a native of the region of Hamadān and wrote in 520/1126. Ed. Bahār, 1318/1939, p. 94.

^{page 741 note 4} Lubab al-albāb, ed. Nicholson, ii, 98.

^{page 741 note 5} This misspelling already occurs in some MSS. of Ṭabarī, i, 707.

^{page 742 note 1} Ta'rīkh-i guzīda, G.M.S., 103, 824Google Scholar.

^{page 742 note 2} ZDMG., XV, 665Google Scholar.

^{page 742 note 3} Majālis al-nafā'is, in Persian translation, edited by A. A. Ḥekmat, 1945, p. 333. 'Alī Shēr speaks of Gurgānī as “a paragon of his time”, and says that his Vīs u Rāmīn gives the measure of his “perfection and discernment”.

^{page 742 note 4} Graf, ZDMG., 1869, 375–433; Ethé, Essays und Studien, 1872, 295–301, and Grundriss der Iran. Phil., II, 240Google Scholar; Stackelberg, R. v., Neskolko slov o persidskom epose Visa i Ramin in Drevnosti vostochnīye, Moscow, 1896, IIGoogle Scholar (this article of my old teacher is inaccessible to me); Marr, N., Zap. Koll. Vost., 1925, I, 118–138Google Scholar. Browne, E. G., LHP., II, 274–5Google Scholar, has only a few words on the poem.

^{page 742 note 5} Accademia dei Lincei, Rendiconti, Scienze morali, Serie VI, vol. xv, fasc. 3–4, 1939, pp. 168–188. Also Annali dell' Istituto … di Napoli, 1940, I, 253–8.Google Scholar

^{page 742 note 6} See Ibn al-Athīr, x, 23 (year 456).

^{page 743 note 1} In the Georgian translation all such “conceits” are presented in special paragraphs headed arahi “parable”, hukumati (*ḥikmat) “moral”, shegoneba “admonition”.

^{page 743 note 2} Irony: “were they not ?”

^{page 743 note 3} Samar means “an evening conversation, or entertainment”. The poet apparently has in view the stories written to be recited for the evening audiences.

^{page 744 note 1} Similarly to the four Zoroastrians who in 346/957 compiled the Shāh-nāma in prose, at the request of Abū Manṣūr b. 'Abd al-Razzāq. See Nŏldeke, , Grund. d. Iran. Phil., II, 104Google Scholar; Qazvīnī, MuḥammadPossibly some time round A.D. 950, when translations into PersianGoogle Scholar, Bīt maqāla In the Georgian translation all such “conceits”, II, 24Google Scholar; Taqizadeh, , Shāh-nāma va-Firdausi, Tehran, 1244, p. 59Google Scholar. Cf. Gabrieli, op. cit., p. 171.

^{page 744 note 2} Possibly some time round A.D. 950, when translations into Persian and compilations in Persian began to appear.

^{page 744 note 3} Cf. his explanation of the “pahlavī” terms Khorāsān and rām, pp. 177 and 505.

^{page 744 note 4} P. 460: “Oh, how many days since I experienced love⃜ Time (zamāna) has changed its former course; indeed its days of prosperity are gone.”

^{page 744 note 5} The monuments are at Rādkān-i Nikā (Ispahbad Abū Ja'far Muḥammad b. Vandarīn, year 411/1020), Lājīm (Kiyā Abul-Favāris Shahriyār b. 'Abbās b. Shahriyār, year 413/1022) and Razget (sameepoch): see Godard, A., in Āthār-e Īrān, 1936, I/1, 109–121Google Scholar; Herzfeld, , Arch. Mitt. aus Iran, IV, 1932, pp. 146–7Google Scholar; viii, 1936, pp. 72–81.

^{page 744 note 6} Yeruslan Lazarevich = Rustam, son of Zāl-i zar. See Minorsky, , “L'épopée persane et la litérature populaire russe”, Hazār-sāla-yi Firdausī, Tehran, 1944, pp. 48–57Google Scholar. I now think that the likely channels of transmission passed through the Northern Caucasus. The Osoet nurses (яƆыня) may have introduced them into the nurseries of Russian boyars.

^{page 745 note 1} Les Gestes des rois dans les traditions de l'Iran antique, 1936, p. 61: “… cette œuvre a son charactère spécial: elle ne relève pas de l'histoire ou de ce qu'on croyait être de l'histoire; c'est une épopée de pure fiction.”

^{page 745 note 2} All the three days called Dē in the month Ādhar (namely the 8th, the 15th, and the 23rd) are classed as “middling” in the list of lucky days. Cf. Bīrūnī, Chronology, pp. 231–2.

^{page 747 note 1} The Georgian version (p. 105) paraphrases the realistic hints of the original, pp. 160–1.

^{page 747 note 2} The 21st day of any month. Here probably the 21 Mihr, when the Great Mihragān festival was held.

^{page 747 note 3} I.e. Jewish wine merchants.

^{page 747 note 4} Surprisingly after what had happened.

^{page 747 note 5} The poet explains (p. 171) that Khorāsān means “Orient” for khur āsad in Pahlavi means khur āyad in Persian. The etymology is correct, but the form āsad seems to have been restored theoretically from -āsān.

^{page 748 note 1} In fact, there are some indications of love for Virō lingering in Vīs's heart.

^{page 748 note 2} Cf. Nādir Shāh's calling himself “the son of the sword”.

^{page 749 note 1} The climate of Gurgānī's native land is described as poisonous, p. 237.

^{page 749 note 2} Somewhat strange is the king's exclamation (p. 285): “Has she gone to Dummāvand ? Why has she gone while she is herself dignified and has a thousand managers (pēshkār) like Zohhāk”. Cf. also p. 174, where Mōbad offers Vūs the choice between three roads, of which the middle one is that of Damāvand. See below, BSOAS, XII/1, p. 11Google Scholar.

^{page 750 note 1} I.e. on the sixth day of the second month, which is but a “middling” day (Bīrūnī, Chronology, 219). Festivals come in Ardībihisht only on the 3rd and the 26th day.

^{page 750 note 2} Similarly Khusrau Anōsharvān saw in his dream that a boar thrust his muzzle into his goblet; Christensen, Les gestes des rois, p. 65.

^{page 750 note 3} Vis may have seen Gul during her stay in Gūlrāb (p. 66). The original story may have had more details.

^{page 751 note 1} But on p. 29 Ādhēn is already called nāmī.

^{page 751 note 2} P. 404: the aroma of Khirkhīz (= musk), Samandūr (= aloes), and Fanchūr (= camphor).

^{page 752 note 1} Kotval, an Indian term possibly reflecting the time of Maḥmūd's conquests.

^{page 752 note 2} Var. *Kishmēr-yal, Ādhēn, Vīrō, his kind vazir Sām and Gēlō.

^{page 753 note 1} N. Lees, 395: “now to the Shūristān of Baghdād” (read: *Sūristān “Assyria”).

^{page 753 note 2} Thus in N. Lees: “eighty-three”; Wardrop and Minovi: “eighty-one.”

^{page 753 note 3} p. 508: bar-avarda az ātash-gāh-i Burzīn (?). From the following verses it appears that Rāmīn built both the dakhma and the fire-temple.

^{page 754 note 1} It is true that in Vend., i, 6, Marv is called Mourum sŭrəm artāvanəm “the strong, the righteous”. In Ayātkār-i Zarēān, ed. Pagliaro, Roma, 1925, § 19, it is called Zaratushtrian Murv-i Zamtuštān). For an explanation of the king's name see below, vol. XII/1, p. 9.

^{page 754 note 2} On p. 29 the poet says that at the celebration of the Naurōz “the divine halo”(farr-i khudā'ī) was flashing from Mōbad's countenance, but this may be but a common formula carrying no special weight in a general description of the festival.

^{page 754 note 3} In N. Lees: niyāgān “ancestors” is surely a mistake.

^{page 754 note 4} See Marr's, N collation of N. Lees with the Georgian, p. 34Google Scholar.

^{page 755 note 1} It is difficult to say whether Bŭm-i Koh stands here for Kuhistān (= Media), or for some other Kuhistan (Southern Khorasan, or the highlands of the upper Murghāb, cf. p. 54) The two brides might be Shahrō's elder daughters referred to by Mobad (p. 121), although Shahro herself (p. 35) denies having borne any daughters.

^{page 755 note 2} He forgets that he himself had applied for Shahroō's love without any success. On p. 201 he blesses Vīs as the offspring “of Qārin's loins”.

^{page 755 note 3} The Georgian version (p. 116) reduces the list to Adrabad, P'araxzad, Viprond, Abanoz, Vis, and Shirin. The additional names of the Indian editions are possibly a later addition. The name “Sāsān” would suggest some relations between the house of Māh and Fārs. One remembers that Iṣṭakhr is one of the places from which Vīrō draws his auxiliaries, vide infra, p. 35.

^{page 756 note 1} Vēsa, father of Pīrān, was apparently the ruler of Khottal(), which name was later confused with Khotan . Vēsakirt is a town in Khuttal, but in the Shāh-nāma the residence of Pīrān, son of Vēsa, is at Khotan! Cf. Marquart, Ēransahr, 227.

^{page 756 note 2} Her réle is similar to that of Isolde-the-White-hand of the story of Tristan (Ethé).

^{page 756 note 3} Cf. Avestan rapiθwā “midday, south”, rafəδra” “support” (in Pahlavi translation rāmishn, rāmānītarīh). It is also possible that the name, or a part of it, was originally spelt in Aramaic, meant to be pronounced in Pahlavi. The Frakanq-i Pahlavik gives lpyt' (*r.pētā) in the meaning “a girl”, and Ipy' (*r.pyā) “a boy” (H. W. Bailey).

^{page 757 note 1} Hŭshang (130), Jamshēd (118,438,491), Zohāk (285,430), Bēzhān (230), Khusrau Nŭshīrvān (129, 184, 395, 472, 504, 506), Ārish (255, 322, 366, 398).

^{page 757 note 2} It would be more exact to say “from Gharchistān, bordering on Ghōr”.

^{page 757 note 3} Supposed to be of Buddhist origin, see Talbot, de Lassoě and Simpson, W., “Discovery of Caves on the Murghab”, JRAS., 1885, 92–102.Google Scholar

^{page 758 note 1} Georgian translation: “India, the lands of Turks, Greece, China, Arran, and Iraq.”

^{page 758 note 2} See the old Preface to the Shāh-nāma, ed. Qazvīnī, p. 36.

^{page 758 note 3} See Hoffmann, , Persische Mārtyrer, pp. 290–1Google Scholar, and Hudŭd al-'alam, 326. Rēvand may be a later home of the fire.

^{page 758 note 4} See the old Preface to ths Shāh-nāma, pp. 52, 57.Google Scholar

^{page 758 note 5} Nuzhat al-qulŭb, 150, speaking of Ivhabŭshān (= Qŭchān) says: “in the government books the name of this district is written *Astŭ.” Juvayni, ii, 13: Khabŭshan-i Ustuvā (or Ustŭ). Probably “a hearth, a home” = Turk. ojaq.

^{page 759 note 1} Qazwīnī, Athār al-bilād, 102: “the people (of Ahwāz, which is Khŭlzistān) are the most miserable of all men. You do not see there a ruddy cheek. Its air is fatal (qattāla) to men, especially to strangers.”

^{page 759 note 2} Yāqūt, ii, 494; jNuzhat, 50. One of the Khŭzān worthies (d. 633/1138) lived in Marv. Another celebrity was Amīr Yār Ahmad Kḥuzānī Isfāhanī, surnamed Najm-i Thānī, who tookan active part in Shah Ismā'īI's operations in the region of Marv (in 916/1510), and was known for his ruthlessness.

^{page 759 note 3} Cf. above, p. 758, note 5.

^{page 759 note 4} According to Yāqŭt, the latter abounded in amenities (kathīrat al-khayr).

^{page 759 note 5} Yāqŭt avers that a colony of Khŭz (of Khŭzistān) occupied a special quarter in Isfahan. The same may be true of the Khŭzān of Mārbīn. But whether a similar migration can explain the names in Eastern Khorāsān is more doubtful. In our case no great weight can be put on the well-known similarity of the prehistoric pottery of Anau (in the present day Turkmenistan) to that of Susa in Khŭzistan.

^{page 759 note 6} See Longworth Dames, Gharĉistān, in E.I.

^{page 759 note 7} Bundahishn, Gr., 197, 2: kŭmyr i andarōn, and 199, 1: “Kashmir in the mountains of India” (H. W. Bailey), cf. Hudŭd al-'ālam, 254.Google Scholar

^{page 760 note 1} It is possible that originally Kishmar was the name of the cypress itself. According to the Shāh-nāma, vi, 1499, the Kishmar cypress was planted by Gushtasp at the gate of the Burzīn-mihr fire (the latter being situated at Rēvand, vide infra, p. 32). Tha'ālibi, Thimar al-qulŭb, Cambridge Or. 828, fol. 1586, says that King Bīstasf planted it at *Kishmēr in the rustaq of B.st (*Pusht) of Nīshāpŭr. According to the Ta'rīkh-i Bayḥaq, Tehran, 1938, p. 281, two cypresses were planted, one at Turaythith (Turshīz) and another at Faryŭmad. The Nuzhat al-qulŭb, 122, 143, speaks of the two ancient cypresses, one in Balkh and the other in Kishmar (var. *Kishmer), the latter planted by Gushtāsp's minister Jamasp. That Kishmar was once a place of some importance is shown by the large tower standing in it and apparently belonging to the thirteenth century, Diez, Churasanische Baudenkmäler, 1918, p. 46, but nothing is known on its earlier history.

^{page 760 note 2} Rather unexpectedly Herzfeld locates X^vanvant in the West (!) between Hamadan and Zagros, Mitt, aus Iran, ii/2, pp. 83–4.

^{page 761 note 1} The Avestan archer ∂r∂xša seems to have been confused with the Kayānid Kavi Arshan, (Ṭab. Ash al-Jabbār), under the common Modern Persian form Ārish/Arish, cf. Marquart, ZDMG., 1895, p. 634.

^{page 761 note 2} Only the historian of Ṭabaristān Ẓahīr al-Dīn, who wrote A.D. 1476, has a similar statement.

^{page 761 note 3} That Mobad carried Vīs from Gīrāb does not mean that this was Vīs's home, but rather that she temporarily sojourned in the castle (diz) while the situation was unsettled.

^{page 762 note 1} I passed it in 1905, on my way from Hamadān to Burūjird. [According to the Gazetteer of Persia, 1905, II, 270Google Scholar, there are some ruins at Jurab and an old fort. My former pupil, R. Savory, writes to me (Hamadan, 25, I. 1946) that the ruined fort stands in a very prominent position on an (artificial ?) eminence, on the northern side of the village.]

^{page 762 note 2} Dr. W. Henning admits the possibility of an Aramaic etymology for gūrāb “a sepulchre”.

^{page 762 note 3} In the region of Rasht one finds Gūrāb-sar, Gūrāb-j‛r, Lūcha-gūrāb, Aḥmad-gūrāb, another Gūrāb-sar, Gūrāb-pas, Gūrāb-Naṣūr, Kuhna-gūrāb, Khatma-gurab, see Melgunov, 0 yuzhnom berege, 1869, pp. 226, 228, 232, 237, 239.

^{page 762 note 4} Very similar to the statements in the Ḥudūd al-'Ālam. p. 306, and Muqaddasī, 368. See Minorsky, , La domination des Daїlamites, Paris, 1932.Google Scholar

^{page 762 note 5} To Gurgānī's honour, he does not gloss over the Seljuk destruction of the countryside of Isfahān, pp. 18, 23.

^{page 763 note 1} 1 This fact was already noticed by Nöldeke, , Pers.Stud., II, 27: “fast ganz klar sind dagegen die geographisehen Verhältnisse in Wīs und Rāmīn.”Google Scholar