Persian Letters
1721 literary work by Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu
Persian Letters (French: Lettres persanes) is a satirical work, published in 1721, by Baron Charles de Montesquieu, recounting the experiences of two fictional Persian noblemen, Uzbek and Rica, who spend several years in France under Louis XIV and the Regency.
Plot summary
In 1711, Uzbek leaves his seraglio in Isfahan to make the long journey to France, accompanied by his young friend Rica. He leaves behind five wives (Zashi, Zéphis, Fatmé, Zélis, and Roxane) in the care of a number of black eunuchs, one of whom is the head or first eunuch. During the trip and their long stay in Paris (1712–1720), they comment, in letters exchanged with friends and mullahs, on numerous aspects of Western, Christian society, particularly French politics and manners, including a biting satire of the System of John Law. Over time, various disorders surface back in the seraglio, and, beginning in 1717 (Letter 139 [147]), that situation rapidly unravels. Uzbek orders his head eunuch to crack down, but his message does not arrive in time, and the internal revolt brings about the death of his wives, including the vengeful suicide of his favorite, Roxane, and, it appears, most of the eunuchs.
Chronology
The chronology can be summarized as follows:
Letters 1–21 (1–23): The journey from Isfahan to France, which lasts almost 14 months (from 19 March 1711 to 4 May 1712).
Letters 22–89 (24–92): Paris in the reign of Louis XIV, 3 years in all (from May 1712 to September 1715).
Letters 90–137 (93–143) plus [Supplementary Letter 8 (145)]: the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans, covering five years (from September 1715 to November 1720).
Letters 138–150 (146–161): the collapse of the seraglio in Isfahan, approximately 3 years (1717–1720).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Persian Letters” is 1721 literary work by Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Persian, Letters and literary, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “1721 literary work by Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1050479. VIAF identifies the subject as 219961518. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1721, 1711, 1712 and 1720.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Persian Letters” 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.