Haft Peykar
literary work by Nezami Ganjavi
Haft Peykar (Persian: هفت پیکر), also known as Bahramnameh (بهرامنامه, The Book of Bahram, referring to the Sasanian emperor Bahram V), is a romantic epic poem by Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi, written in 1197. This poem is one of his five works known collectively as Khamsa ("Quintet").
The title Haft Peykar can be translated literally as "Seven Portraits", with the figurative meaning "Seven Beauties". Both translations are meaningful, and the poet probably made use of this ambiguity intentionally. The poem was dedicated to the Ahmadili ruler of Maragheh, Ala-al-Din Korpe Arslan bin Aq-Sonqor. Iranologist François de Blois writes, "Nezami’s Haft peykar is a masterpiece of erotic literature, but it is also a profoundly moralistic work."
Around the time Haft Peykar was written, there were various styles in which Persian lyric poetry was presented and written. The style found in Haft Peykar is that of epic literature, where characters change moods and express complex feelings in heroic tales. In this case, the poem's protagonist is searching for some sort of spiritual resolution.
Date
Haft Peykar is likely the latest of Nizami's five works known collectively as Khamsa (Quintet), although in most manuscripts it comes after Iskandarnameh. According to Iranologist François de Blois, the work was probably completed in August 1197.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Haft Peykar” as literary work by Nezami Ganjavi. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as literary work by Nezami Ganjavi. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4679100. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1197.
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This entry incorporates text from “Haft Peykar” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.