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Part of
The Reality of Women in the Universe of the Ancient Novel
Edited by María Paz López Martínez, Carlos Sánchez-Moreno Ellart and Ana Belén Zaera García
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 40] 2023
► pp. 396–406

Chapter 25
“Parthian” women in Vīs and Rāmīn

 | Durham University | Università di Udine
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.
Keywords: Parthia, Arsacids, women, Minorsky, Vīs u Rāmīn, court, novel, love, queen Šahru, queen Mousa
Published online: 1 December 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.40.25gre
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