Preface

Wisdom and Politics in Tenth-Century Iran attempts a contextualised reading of a tenth-century mirror for princes. Stated in the broadest terms, Volume I concentrated on the environment that produced the mirror and to which it responded; Volume II focuses on the structure, logic, characteristics and techniques displayed in the text. The distinction is imprecise; it is assumed that the text and its many contexts are, for most purposes, inseparably linked. The emphasis in Volume II is placed upon the mirror's construction of meaning for its tenth-century audience. The notes to this volume provide several cross-references, which, it is hoped, will facilitate the reader's movement from one volume to the other.

This second volume of Wisdom and Politics in Tenth-Century Iran explores parts of Pseudo-Māwardī's text. Part I, in two chapters, addresses the cultural–literary context for Naṣīḥat al-mulūk. Chapter 1 discusses Pseudo- Māwardī's preface and first chapter, both of which deal with counsel (Naṣīḥa). Chapter 2 situates the mirror in the context of the cultural and literary activities of tenth-century eastern Iran, and studies Pseudo-Māwardī's use of an extensive and diverse set of authorities. Part II discusses Pseudo-Māwardī's three central chapters, devoted to the three ‘governances’ of practical philosophy. Chapter 3 explores Pseudo-Māwardī's fifth chapter, ‘On the governance and discipline of the self’; Chapter 4 concentrates on his sixth chapter, ‘On the governance of the elites’; and Chapter 5 discusses his seventh chapter, ‘On the governance of the common people’. In order to portray the sequence of Pseudo-Māwardī's exposition, each chapter in Part II of this volume follows the corresponding chapter in Naṣīḥat al-mulūk.

Of particular importance in Volume II are Pseudo-Māwardī's numerous and diverse citations, paraphrases and allusions. By these devices Pseudo- Māwardī integrates into his text several additional voices, among them the Qurʾānic voice, and the voices of prophetic, historical, narrative and poetic utterance. The materials that he cites and to which he alludes did not carry single or fixed meanings. Volume II studies Pseudo-Māwardī's methods of instilling meanings into these materials, the significance of which he thereby expanded and renewed for contemporaneous audiences.