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Document Details :

Title: The Kitab-i Samak 'Ayyar
Author(s): STOCKLAND, Will
Journal: Persica
Volume: 15    Date: 1993-1995   
Pages: 143-182
DOI: 10.2143/PERS.15.0.2003530

Abstract :
The Kitab-i Samak 'Ayyar is what may be described as a popular romance and, in the same sense that this expression retains today, it was written for a popular audience. It was collected by Faramarz ibn Khudadadh al-Arrajani in the 12th century and written down by Sadaqa b. Abu’l-Qasim Shirazi. This type of literature, although not unusual for its literary type, was seldom illustrated, and the Oxford manuscript of Kitab-i Samak 'Ayyar is the only Persian illustrated novel of the period. Although many other Persian manuscripts were illustrated in the period postulated for the Oxford manuscript, these were generally prose histories or epic poetry.

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