Vis and Ramin

Vis and Ramin, composed by Fakhr al-Din As'ad Gorgani, is one of the oldest verse romances in the Persian language, written in the mid-eleventh century (around 1050–1055 CE). It predates the romances of Nezami of Ganja and is among the earliest examples of the genre in Persian.

The story's roots reach back to the Parthian era and, by tradition, to an older tale in the Pahlavi language; Gorgani recast it in Persian verse. The passionate, turbulent love of Vis and Ramin, told with an unusual frankness of feeling, sets it apart among the old tales.

Some scholars — Vladimir Minorsky among them — have noted parallels between Vis and Ramin and the European legend of Tristan and Isolde, and have suggested the Persian romance may have influenced the Western story; the connection remains a subject of scholarly debate.

For today's Iranian reader, Vis and Ramin is a window onto an older stratum of Iranian culture, before the familiar later forms took hold — a tale that reveals how deep and ancient the roots of Persian love poetry truly are.