Quiz

Abu Nasr Ali ibn Ahmad Asadi Tusi: Persian Poet and Author

• Asadi Tusi was a Persian poet, linguist, and author born in Tus, Iran, in the early 11th century, and died in Tabriz in the late 1080s.
• He is considered an important Persian poet of the Iranian national epics, and his best-known work is Garshaspnameh.
• Asadi Tusi spent his first twenty years in Ṭūs, and from about 1018 to 1038 AD, he was a poet at the court of the Daylamite Abū Naṣr Jastān.
• He completed his seminal work, Garshāsp-nama, in Nakhjavan in 1065–1066, and later served at the court of the Shaddadid king Manuchehr, who ruled Ani.
• Asadi's tomb is in the city of Tabriz.
• Garshāsp-nama, with 9,000 couplets, is Asadi Tusi's major work, and the hero of the poem is Garshasp, identified in the Shahnameh with the ancient Iranian hero Kərəsāspa-.
• The poem begins with Yama (or Jamshid), the father of Garshāsp, who was overthrown by Zahhak and flees to Ghurang, king of Zabulistan.
• Garshāsp defeats the rebel prince Bahu in India and remains there to observe its marvels and engage in philosophical discourse.
• He then goes to Sarandib (Ceylon), where he sees the footprint of the Buddha and meets a Brahman, whom he questions in detail about philosophy and religion.
• Garshasp later visits Indian islands and sees supernatural wonders, which are described at great length.
• In the West, he meets a "Greek Brahman" and engages in philosophical discourse with the wise man.
• Garshāsp becomes king of Zābolestān and fights a final battle with the king of Tanger, slaying another dragon before he dies.