Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dick Davis, who has not only made wonderful translations of many of the poems in this book but also for his superb translations of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh and Gorgani’s Vis and Ramin, from which I have used several sections relating to Persian ceremonies; Djalal Khaleghi Motlagh, who sent me Khosrow and His Knight; Abolala Soudavar, who allowed me to use several miniatures from his excellent Art of the Persian Courts and who kindly brought me back a copy of Drakht-e Asurik from Iran.