Dumyat al-Qasr wa Usrat Ahl al-Asr
- Author died
- 467 AH
- Editions
- Dar Al-Jeel
Dumyat al-Qasr wa Usrat Ahl al-Asr (The Palace Effigy and the Squeeze of the People of the Age) is a major biographical anthology of fifth-century AH poets and literary figures composed in Arabic by the Khurasanian secretary, poet, and scholar Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Hasan al-Bakharzi (d. 467 AH / 1075 CE) .
Purpose and Composition
Al-Bakharzi composed the work as a continuation (dhayl) to the famous literary anthology Yatimat al-Dahr by Abu Mansur al-Tha'alibi . Having met al-Tha'alibi during his youth in Nishapur, al-Bakharzi set out to document contemporary poets who flourished in the period following al-Tha'alibi's survey, covering figures across the Islamic world up to the mid-fifth century AH .
While the standard title across classical biographical dictionaries is Dumyat al-Qasr wa Usrat Ahl al-Asr, Yaqut al-Hamawi cited it under the variant Dumyat al-Qasr fi Shu'ara' al-Asr . Some manuscripts also transmitted an abridged recension under the title Taj al-Kuttab fi Tabaqat al-Shu'ara' al-Arab .
Structure and Scope
The anthology is arranged into seven geographic and thematic classes (tabaqat or aqsam) comprising biographical entries and poetic selections for 530 literary figures . It opens with an introductory section titled Taj al-Kitab ("The Crown of the Book"), featuring a panegyric al-Bakharzi delivered before the Abbasid caliph al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah and verses composed by the caliph himself . The main divisions are:
- Poets of the Bedouins and the Hejaz .
- Poets of Syria, Diyar Bakr, Azerbaijan, the Jazira, and the Maghrib (including Egypt and al-Andalus) .
- Eminent literary figures of Iraq .
- Poets of Rayy, al-Jibal, Isfahan, Fars, and Kirman .
- Eminent figures of Jurjan, Astarabad, Dihistan, Qumis, Khwarazm, and Transoxiana .
- Poets of Khurasan, Quhistan, Bust, Sijistan, Ghazna, and adjacent districts .
- Eminent masters of prose and letters who were not recognized for composing formal poetry .
The book concludes with an epilogue entitled Khalkhal al-Kitab ("The Anklet of the Book"), followed by poems composed in praise of the work .
Style and Content
The prose of Dumyat al-Qasr reflects the ornate chancery style prevalent in the fifth century AH, characterized by rhymed prose (saj'), rhetorical embellishments, and wordplay . In addition to preserving otherwise lost Arabic verses of eastern and western poets, the book provides evidence of bilingual Arabic-Persian (dhu al-lisanayn) literary activity in Seljuk domains, incorporating Persian terms and noting verses translated between Arabic and Persian .
Influence and Continuations
Dumyat al-Qasr formed a central link in the classical genre of regional and generational poetical anthologies . Later scholars composed explicit continuations to it:
- Ali ibn Zayd al-Bayhaqi (d. 565 AH) authored Wishah al-Dumya as a direct supplement .
- Sa'd ibn Ali al-Haziri (d. 568 AH) compiled Zinat al-Dahr wa Usrat Ahl al-Asr as a continuation bridging the subsequent century .
- Imad al-Din al-Isfahani (d. 597 AH) noted that inspecting a manuscript of Dumyat al-Qasr at the library of Taj al-Mulk in the congregational mosque of Isfahan inspired him to write his multi-volume anthology Kharidat al-Qasr wa Jaridat Ahl al-Asr .
Editions
The work has been published in several modern editions, including:
- An early edition edited by Muhammad Raghib al-Tabbakh (Aleppo, 1930) .
- An edition edited by Abd al-Fattah Muhammad al-Hilw (Cairo, 1968) .
- An edition edited by Sami Makki al-Ani (Baghdad, 1970) .
- A critical edition prepared by Muhammad al-Tunji (Damascus and Beirut) .
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