“Parthian” women in Vīs and Rāmīn

Abstract

A few decades ago in a series of articles, the Russian orientalist Vladimir Minorsky argued that the Persian romance novel Vīs u Rāmīn by As’ad Gurgānī re-elaborated materials derived from the court minstrel tradition of the Parthian period noble houses. His assumption was mainly based on the political system described in the poem. Enlarging the scope of the investigation this paper aims at connecting what is known about the role of women at the Arsacid court with the prominent role of women as decision makers in the novel.