¹ Dorothy L. Sayers, “The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste,” Lord Peter Views the Body (1928, repr. Sevenoaks, 1987), 168.

² Kennedy, Philip F., The Wine Song in Classical Arabic Poetry. Abū Nuwās and the Literary Tradition (Oxford, 1997), 14–15Google Scholar and especially 26–36. “Dealing with wine is often portrayed as courting of a woman. The feminine gender of khamr makes this imaginative feature possible.”

³ Hitchman, J., Such a Strange Lady. A Biography of Dorothy L. Sayers, the Creator of Lord Peter Wimsey (1975, repr. London, 1988)Google Scholar, especially 33–39 and 201–3.

⁴ Kennedy, Philip F., Abu Nuwas. A Genius of Poetry (Oxford, 2005), 76.Google Scholar

⁵ SN48, 1–2 (Iskandar Reaches the Land of the Rus: 1120). References to Nizāmī's Sharaf-nāma throughout are taken from the following edition: Ganjavī, Nizāmī, Kulliyāt, ed. Dastgirdī, Vahīd (Tehran, 1993).Google Scholar The references give the initials “SN” for Sharaf-nāma, followed by the number of the chapter, the number of the lines and, in brackets, the title of the chapter and the page of the edition.

⁶ I will come back to the recurrent references to Islamic practices found within these invocations to the sāqī.

⁷ Brookshaw, Dominic P., “Palaces, Pavilions and Pleasure-gardens: The Context and Setting of the Medieval Majlis,” Middle Eastern Literatures 6, no. 2 (2003): 199–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁸ Miquel, André, La littérature Arabe, 3rd ed. (Paris, 1981), 50Google Scholar, discussing the use of alcohol in verses by the Abbasid poets Bashshar, Ibn al-Mu‘tazz and especially Abū Nuwās (cited in Kennedy, The Wine Song, 2).

⁹ For a synopsis of the two parts, see, for example, Chelkowski, P.J., “Nezami's Eskandarnameh,” Colloquio sul Poeta Persiano Nezami e la Leggenda Iranica di Alessandro Magno (Rome, 1977), 11–53Google Scholar, also W.L. Hanaway, “Eskandar-Nāma,” http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eskandar-nama (accessed 13 June 2011). The two parts have been translated into German by Bürgel, J.C.: Nezami. Das Alexanderbuch. Eskandarnama (Zürich, 1991).Google Scholar The Sharaf-nāma has also been “literally” translated into English: Ganjavi, Nezami, Literal Translation of the Sikandar Nama,e bara (The Book of Alexander the Great), by Clarke, Wilberforce (repr. London, 1881).Google Scholar

¹⁰ See especially F. de Blois’ argument for the absolute chronology of the poems and the relative chronology within Nizāmī's opus: de Blois, F., Persian Literature. A Bio-Bibliographical Survey, 2nd rev. ed. (London, 2004), 5: 366–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar and 483–88, where he argues that Nizāmī must have composed at the very least the first part of the Iskandar-nāma before his other mathnavī, the Haft Paykar. Also, idem, “Eskandar-Nāma of Nezāmī,” http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eskandar-nama-of-nezami (accessed 13 June 2011).

¹¹ This similarity has of course not escaped scholars. See for example the remark by A. Zarrinkoob, “Nezami, A Life-long Quest for a Utopia,” Colloquio (1977): 9. It is possible, though uncertain, that this particular Platonic dialogue was available to Nizāmī: Gutas, D., “Plato's ‘Symposion’ in the Arabic Tradition,” Oriens 31 (1988): 36–60Google Scholar, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1580725 (accessed 17 January 2013).

¹² Bürgel, Nezami, 586–93. See also Bürgel, J.C., “Conquérant, philosophe et prophète. L'image d'Alexandre le Grand dans l'épopée de Nezami,” in Pand-o Sokhan. Mélanges offerts à Charles-Henri de Fouchécour, ed. Balay, C. et al. (Tehran, 1995), 65–78.Google Scholar There is also a Greco-Roman traditional tripartite approach to Alexander's biography that goes back to the three books of Julius Valerius' translation of the Pseudo-Callisthenes' life of Alexander the Great: “Ortus Alexandri,” “Acti Alexandri,” and “Obitus Alexandri” (mentioned in Lasky, E.D., “Encomiastic Elements in the Dionysiaca of Nonnus,” Hermes 106, no. 2 (1978): 357–76 n. 14).Google Scholar

¹³ This is the accepted source of Nizāmī's work, and the choice of the mutaqārib meter seems an indication that Nizāmī indeed intended a response to Firdawsī, whom he calls “the knowledgeable [wise] predecessor speaker from Tūs” سخنگوی پيشينه دانای طوس (SN7, 118, About the Nobility of this Book over Other Books: 931) who, as he explains, has left quite a lot of Alexander's story untold and now Nizāmī will “renew the old story” حديث کهن را بدو تازه کرد (SN7, 125: 931). See also, for example, Bürgel, Nezami, 586–93 and Bürgel, J.C., “On Some Sources of Nezami's Eskandarnama,” in The Necklace of the Pleiades, ed. Lewis, F. and Sharma, S. (West Lafayette, 2007): 21–30Google Scholar, though I would hesitate to term the use Nizāmī makes of his sources “arbitrary” (21).

¹⁴ SN10, 17–23 (Summary of the Story: 939).

¹⁵ See de Blois, Persian Literature, 5: 367–69 and 483–88: this patron is most probably Nusrat al-din Bishkin of Mosul; he was a “very minor ruler” (487), despite Nizāmī's praise.

¹⁶ SN9, 8–11 (Praise of the Lofty Atabeg Nusrat al-Dīn Abū Bakr Muhammad: 934).

¹⁷ J.C. Bürgel has till now been the foremost scholar, having published numerous studies on Nizāmī's Iskandar-nāma, and has promoted the interest of the mathnavī. For opposite attitudes towards it, see, for example, Chelkowski, “Nezami's Eskandarnameh,” 26: “Unfortunately, Iskandarnāmeh is not that quintessent of his achievement which Nizāmī had hoped that it would be.” Also M.S. Southgate's opinion: “The version of Nezāmī, as a result of excessive interpolation of non-Alexander materials, lacks unity. Nezāmī retells a series of actions without exploring the feelings and emotions of the performers of these deeds.” Southgate, M.S., Eskandarnamah. A Persian Medieval Alexander-Romance (New York, 1978), 204.Google Scholar

¹⁸ For an illustration of Nizāmī's rewriting choices and technique and for an assessment of the relevance of the traditional scholarly approach to these rewritings, see my article “A Thrice-Pierced Pearl: Three Rewritings of the Story of Khosrow and Shirin,” in Reflections on Knowledge and Language in Middle Eastern Societies, ed. De Nicola, B. et al. (Newcastle, 2010), 14–31.Google Scholar

¹⁹ It is probable that these andarz passages belong together with the invocations. For example, Hanaway, “Eskandar-Nāma”: “two lines of mathnawi verse calling on the cupbearer … after this there follows a short section called andarz (advice).” For P. Losensky, “Sāqi-nāma,” http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saqi-nama-book (accessed 13 June 2011). Nizāmī's invocations to the sāqī count “eight to ten verses.”

²⁰ Nizāmī's other heroes also participate in banquets and drinking parties. For example, the memorable episode of Khusraw's intoxication on his wedding night with Shīrīn.

²¹ SH33, 23 and 26 (The Story of Nūshāba, Ruler of Barda': 1041). For an enlightening study of the versions and sources of the episode, see J. Rubanovich's forthcoming article “Re-writing the Episode of Alexander and Candace in Medieval Persian Literature: Patterns, Sources, and Motif Transformation.” I thank her for generously allowing me access to this study.

²² SN15, 13–15 (The Egyptians Complain of the Zangi's Tyranny to Iskandar: 951–52).

²³ SN18, 12–15 (Iskandar Envisages a War against Dara: 971–72).

²⁴ SH20, 13–20 (Dara Demands a Tribute from Iskandar: 978).

²⁵ See van Ruymbeke, C., “L'Histoire du Concours des peintres Rumis et Chinis chez Nizami et chez Rumi. Deux aspects du Miroir,” in Miroir et Savoir. La transmission d'un thème platonicien, des Alexandrins à la philosophie arabo-musulmane, ed. De Smet, D. et al. (Leuven, 2008), 273–92.Google Scholar

²⁶ Ibn al-Baytar in his al-Djami' li mufradat al-adwiya wa-l-aghdiya. Le Traité des Simples. Tr. française par L. Leclerc, Notices et extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale et autres bibliothèques, publiés par l'Institut National de France (Paris, 1877–83, repr. Institut du Monde Arabe, 3 vols, n.l., n.d.), C 358, tells us that the perfume of the orange counterbalances the effects of drunkenness as it is useful against nausea. See my discussion of similar verses in Nizāmī's Khamsa in van Ruymbeke, C., Science and Poetry in Medieval Persia. The Botany of Nezami's Khamsa (Cambridge, 2007), 138.Google Scholar

²⁷ Firdawsī, , Shāhnāma, 3rd ed., ed. Mohl, Jules (Tehran, 1369)Google Scholar, Book V (Sikandar), bb. 1418–25. Ferdowsi, Abol Qasem, Shahnameh. The Persian Book of Kings, A New Translation by Dick Davis (London, 2006), 520.Google Scholar

²⁸ Al-Tha'alibi, Ghurar Akhbār al-Mulūk al-Furs, Histoire des Rois des Perses par Abou Mansour ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Tha'alibi. Texte Arabe publié et traduit par Zotenberg, H.(Paris, 1900), 413–14.Google Scholar This passage is placed after the death of Darius and before Alexander starts on his expedition against Fur. (My translation from the French.)

²⁹ Knock, A.D., “Notes on Ruler-cult. I. Alexander and Dionysus,” Journal of Hellenic Studies 47 (1928): 21–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar: Descent from Heracles and Dionysus is ascribed to Alexander in Pseudo-Callisthenes, I 46a.

³⁰ Fraser, J. Sir, ed., Ovid Fasti III (London, 1931), 107Google Scholar where he refers to Euripides, Bacchae, 13–20. It is likely that the God's conquest of India represents a later enlargement of this legend which was intended to accommodate the fact that Alexander had gone that far. See also Lasky, “Encomiastic Elements,” 374–75.

³¹ Knock, “Notes on Ruler-cult,” 26, where the author informs us that a story, written probably under Ptolemy IV, told that Alexander's grandfather was Dionysus. See Graves, R., The Greek Myths (1955, repr. London, 1992), 103–11.Google Scholar

³² Possible alternative explanations I can think of for the presence of the invocations to the sāqī are much weaker hypotheses and rather unsatisfying: either wine and banqueting were such an intimate part of Nizāmī's patron's life that the poet was urged to introduce these calls to the sāqī between the episodes of Alexander's Gestae; or the (unidentified) example Nizāmī has tried to emulate (not the Shāh-nāma then) already contained similar chapter separations; or these invocations are really indications that the tales must be interpreted in an esoteric manner and they somehow contain a key to this interpretation.

³³ See Nietzsche's analysis of these concurrent furores in The Birth of Tragedy. See also, for example, Fiola Berry, A., “Apollo versus Bacchus: The Dynamics of Inspiration,” Publication of the Modern Language Association of America 90, no. 1 (1975): 88–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar N. Nādirpūr uses this contrast in another way, tagging Nizāmī as a “Dionysian poet,” by contrast with other “Apollonian” poets: “Nizāmī, mast-i may-nakhurda”, Iranshenasi 3, no. 3 (1991): 513–25).Google Scholar In his essay, Nādirpūr does not mention the sāqī invocations.

³⁴ SH6, 1–2 (About the Circumstances and the Conclusion of Life: 924).

³⁵ SH8, 1–2 (The Teaching by Khizr to Narrate the Story: 931).

³⁶ SN59, 1–2 (The Tale of the Water of Life: 1157).

³⁷ SN62, 41–45 (Iskandar Returns to Rum: 1171).

³⁸ “In this particular chapter [chapter 10 of Dastgirdi's 1993 edition ‘Remembering several of his family who have passed away,’ 463–69—16 invocations to the sāqī] which may be regarded as the earliest occurrence of the sāqī-nāma device in Nizāmī's oeuvre, the narrator dwells on various themes by communing with an imaginary cup-bearer (sāqī). He intersperses topics such as the licitness of wine in the religion of lovers; epitaphs on Nizāmī's father, mother and uncle, sorrow and solitude, life's transient nature, humility, etc. All these topics are further elaborated in the body of the romance.” Seyed-Gohrab, A., Layli and Majnun, Love, Madness and Mystic Longing in Nezami's Epic Romance (Leiden, 2003), 59.Google Scholar

³⁹ Their importance, however, has been recognized. In P. Losensky's words (“Sāqī-nāma”), “whatever their sources, the meter, phraseology and content of the passages from Eskandar Nāma would provide the basis for the later prototypical form of the saqi-nāma. Summoning of the cupbearer continues as a structural device in responses to Nezāmī's Eskandar Nāma (Amir Khosrow's Ayina-ye Sekandari, Khwaju Kermani's Homay o Homayun and Jami's Kherad nama-ye Eskandari).”

⁴⁰ Chelkowski, “Nezami's Eskandarnameh,” 25.

⁴¹ The Literal Translation of the Sikandar Nama,e bara (The Book of Alexander the Great…), by Wilberforce Clarke, 1881, based on the edition Calcutta, 1812 under the auspices of Lord Minto, the direction of Dr Lumsden, by Maulavi Badr ‘Ali and Maulavi Husayn ‘Ali, and assistance of several other Persian versions (Lakhnau ed. 1295, Calcutta ed. 1296, Lakhnau glossary 1296, Kanpur ed. 1878, text and commentary (first half) by Muhammad Gulvi 1874; the explanation of difficult passages (second half) by Muhammad Gulvi and others, 1879.

⁴² SN20, 1–2 (Dārā Demands a Tribute from Iskandar: 977).

⁴³ Bürgel, Nezami, 595–96.

⁴⁴ SN38, 1–2 (Iskandar enters Kay Khusraw's Cavern: 1070).

⁴⁵ Khushguvār means literally “easy of digestion”; I will come back to the numerous medicinal aspects of the wine which are mentioned in these invocations.

⁴⁶ SN37, 93–96 (Iskandar goes to the Fortress of Sarir: 1069).

⁴⁷ SN38, 13 (Iskandar enters Kay Khusraw's Cavern: 1070).

⁴⁸ The poet's plea has apparently been heard. See Sharma, S., “Hafiz's Saqinamah: The Genesis and Transformation of a Classical poetic Genre,” Persica XVIII (2002): 75–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar, who cites (78) a passage from the fifth chapter of the Munsha’āt-i salātin of Shihāb Munshī (cited in Gulchīn-Ma‘ānī's, Ahmad Tadhkira-yi paymāna (Mashhad, 1980), 8Google Scholar), a secretary employed by Hāfiz's patron Shāh Shujā‘. It refers to Nizāmī's addresses to the sāqī as a whole, “the sāqīnamah of Nizami.” However, the conclusions of the Muzaffarid literati were harsh: “Those present were all in agreement that poetry cannot be composed in this manner.” This was apparently the trigger for Hāfiz to compose his own sāqī-nāma.

⁴⁹ SN28, 1–2 (Iskandar Destroys the Fire-temples of Iran: 1018).

⁵⁰ SN29, 1–2 (Iskandar's Marriage Proposal to Rawshanak: 1023).

⁵¹ SN59, 8–10 (The Story of the Water of Life: 1158).

⁵² SH46, 1–2 (Iskandar Returns from Chin: 1114).

⁵³ SN42, 1–2 (Iskandar goes from Hindustan to Chin: 1086).

⁵⁴ Ibn al-Baytar (s.d.): A, 315. See also my comments on the similar image used in the Laylī u Majnūn sāqī-nāma in van Ruymbeke, Science and Poetry in Medieval Persia, 44 and 139–40.

⁵⁵ SN43, 1–2 (The Thoughts of the Khāqān in Answer to Iskandar: 1094).

⁵⁶ Ibn al-Baytar (s.d.): 820: 51–52. See also van Ruymbeke, Science and Poetry in Medieval Persia, 134–35.

⁵⁷ SN40, 1–2 (Iskandar goes to Hindustan: 1078).

⁵⁸ This is not limited to Nizāmī's treatment of Alexander, the Shāh-nāma does so as well. See the episode mentioned above, where he masquerades as his own envoy at the Chinese court. There, he also falls prey to drunkenness. As he is in danger of being recognized, Sikandar has to flee. Though the episode curiously does not lead anywhere, it might be a remnant of a tradition where excessive drinking almost exposed Alexander despite his disguise.

⁵⁹ Van Ruymbeke, “L'Histoire du Concours,” 273–92.

⁶⁰ SH11, 49–50 (Nizāmi's Wishes as he Composes the Sharaf-nāma: 943).

⁶¹ Kennedy, The Wine Song, 17–18, and citing Hamori, A., On the Art of Medieval Arabic Literature (Princeton, NJ, 1974), 67.Google Scholar

⁶² F. Rabelais, Gargantua, première édition critique faite sur l”Editio Princeps, texte établi par R. Calder (Genève, 1970), XXV, 170.

⁶³ Nadirpūr, “Nizāmī, mast-i may-nakhurda,” 68 and 513–25.

⁶⁴ SN6, 66–71 and SN7, 1–2 (On the Situation and the Continuation of Time: 926).

⁶⁵ This is reminiscent of the invocation mentioned above: SH8:931. Compare with the Horatian theme of Homerus vinosus, for example: Tinguely, F., “D'un prologue à l'autre: vers l'inconscience consciente d'Alcofrybas Rabelais,” Etudes Rabelaisiennes XXIX (1993): 83–91.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Here is a memorable instance of Wilberforce Clarke's (Literal Translation of the Sikandar Nama,e bara, 1881) mystical parti pris in his interpretation. This verse receives the following translation and commentary: “For me the Cup-Bearer is the Divine Promise (of beholding God's majesty); the morning-draught (especially intoxication) is rapture; wine, senselessness.” [Note 68, p. 62: “mai here signifies bekhud (ecstasy or senselessness, the state in which a person considers himself non existent, on beholding the majesty of God. Kharabi signifies a state in which a person makes himself enraptured (kharab) or perfectly senseless in the knowledge of God. Kharabi va be khudi is the state (described in couplets 67 and 68) of the true lovers of God Most High. Note that saki means the Divine promise, not cup-bearer, sabuh means kharabi, not morning-draught; mai means be khudi not wine. The words are so used through this work. Saki occasionally means murshid, mabda e fiyaz.].”

⁶⁷ This is only a hypothesis, as I have not made any research within manuscripts, and neither do V. Dastgirdi, nor Tharvatyan comment on a possible spuriousness of these verses. Tharvatiyan has a slightly different reading of the passage. See Ganjayi, Nizami-yi, Sharaf-nama, ed. Tharvatiyan, Bihruz, Tehran, 1368/1989.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Suffice it to note here that the debate about the licitness of some sorts of alcoholic drinks opened the door for license. See Kennedy, The Wine Song, 8: “The Iraqi holds nabidh to be permitted, and the drinking of it, but says that grape-wine and intoxication are forbidden; The Hijazi says both drinks are alike.”

⁶⁹ See Bürgel, “Conquérant, philosophe et prophète”: 71. See also idem, Feather of Simurgh. The “Licit Magic” of the Arts in Medieval Islam (New York, 1988), 89–118.Google Scholar And idem, “Der Wettstreit zwischen Plato und Aristoteles im Alexander-Epos des persischen Dichters Nezami,” Die Welt des Orients 17 (1986): 95–109.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Information on the sāqī in Persian poetry in general and on his presence in pre-Islamic Iran can be found in J.R. Russel, “Cupbearer,” http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cupbearer; W.L. Hanaway, “saki,” http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saki (accessed 13 June 2011); Yarshater, E., “The Theme of Wine-Drinking and the Concept of the Beloved in Early Persian Poetry,” Studia Islamica 13 (1960): 43–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar I thank Dr J. Rubanovich for bringing to my attention the following anthology-like study which I have not yet examined: Hosayni Kazeruni, S.A., Saqi Nama-ha. Negareshi be saqinama-ha dar adab-e farsi (Tehran, 1385).Google Scholar

⁷¹ Kennedy, The Wine Song, 14–15, discusses “the sexual imagery of wine in mischievous interplay between khamr and ghazal, … which is achieved largely by developments in the description of the cupbearer (saqi) and attendant players.”

⁷² SN11, 28–34 (Nizāmī's Desire to Compose the Sharaf-nāma: 943).

⁷³ See P. Franke's analysis of the mentions of the Prophet Khizr in Nizāmī's Khamsa: “Drinking of the Water of Life: Nizami, Khizr and the Symbolism of Poetical Inspiration in Later Persianate Literature,” A Key to the Treasure of the Hakim: Artistic and Humanistic Aspects of Nezami Ganjavi's Khamsa, ed. Bürgel, J.C. and van Ruymbeke, C. (Leiden, 2011), 107–26.Google Scholar