Persians II

1000-1258 CE

From 1000 to 1258 CE, the Persians proved that conquest could not silence their civilization — Turkic warlords sat on the throne, but Persian viziers ran the chancery, Persian poets sang at court, and Persian became the language of culture from Delhi to Damascus. Ferdowsi completed the Shahnameh under Ghaznavid patronage; Omar Khayyam calculated calendars for Seljuk sultans. Then the Mongols came, and Nishapur's libraries burned — yet Persian poetry would seduce even the khans.