Geographical Space and Historical Time Layers in Nizami Ganjavi's Works

Abstract

The great poet Nizami Ganjavi’s extensive worldview and philosophy of life and his knowledge of sciences, history, and geography played an exceptional role in his descriptions of geographical space and historical time in all his five poems united under the name “Khamsa.” This chapter attempts to answer questions like: What is the known world for Nizami’s favorite heroes? How did Nizami use historical sources? Why did Nizami allow historical anachronisms? How does the history of Iskender, Nizami’s favorite hero, differ from that of Alexander the Great? According to Nizami, the poet is not a historian, and therefore it is impossible for him to refrain from adding a certain embellishment to a historical event; that is, there is a difference between literary, artistic work and historical research. Nizami, in order to achieve his goal, changed history as he wished. Nizami’s Iskender travels and meets people who did not appear on the stage of history in the time of Alexander the Great; Nizami sends him to places where the real Alexander never went. Nizami decides that his commander, the wise ruler, and the prophet will travel and conquer the known world; Iskender fulfils his dream of reaching the ends of the known world in every direction, to go to the edge of the world, saying, “It is impossible to go further from here.” Nizami also allows anachronisms regarding the life, time, and ideas of philosophers and scholars.