Khamseh
Quick Summary
The Khamseh, meaning "The Quintuplet," is a collection of five long epic poems written by the Persian poet Nezami in the rhyming couplet form known as masnavi. Composed around 1209, this influential work inspired many other poets to write their own khamseh collections.12
The five poems within Nezami's Khamseh include:
* Makhzan ol-asrar (The Treasury of Mysteries): A didactic work.12
* Three traditional love stories: Khosrow o-Shirin (Khosrow and Shirin), Leyli o-Mejnun (The Story of Layla and Majnun), and Haft paykar (The Seven Beauties), considered his masterpiece.12
* Eskandar-nameh (The Book of Alexander the Great): Recounting the adventures of Alexander the Great.12
Nezami's work is celebrated for its romantic epic style, colloquialism, and realistic approach within Persian literature.2
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Persian literatureThe proliferation of court patronage…masnawis known collectively as the Khamseh (“The Quintuplet,” or “The Five”; they are in fact individual works that only later were treated as a set of poems). The first, Makhzan al-asrār (The Treasury of Mysteries), is a didactic poem; the other four are usually classified as romantic masnawis, though they…
Read More…masnawis known collectively as the Khamseh (“The Quintuplet,” or “The Five”; they are in fact individual works that only later were treated as a set of poems). The first, Makhzan al-asrār (The Treasury of Mysteries), is a didactic poem; the other four are usually classified as romantic masnawis, though they…
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Islamic artsEpic and romance…latter are known as the Khamseh (“The Quintuplet” or “The Five”) and, though the names of Vīs or Vāmeq continued for some time to serve as symbols of the longing lover, it was the poetical work of Neẓāmī that supplied subsequent writers with a rich store of images, similes, and…
Read More…latter are known as the Khamseh (“The Quintuplet” or “The Five”) and, though the names of Vīs or Vāmeq continued for some time to serve as symbols of the longing lover, it was the poetical work of Neẓāmī that supplied subsequent writers with a rich store of images, similes, and…
Read More

