On March 11, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian-Armenian University hosted a conference dedicated to the Memorial Day of the great Iranian poet Nizami Ganjavi.  Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Mehdi Sobhani was the guest of honor. Thanking the organizers, the Ambassador told the audience about the poet: he called Nizami's work a pearl of oriental literature.

In his turn, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies, RAU, Professor Garnik Asatryan emphasized the historical importance of the poet's heritage.

"Nizami Ganjavi is one of the rare poets who clearly articulated the concept of Iran, in particular, of a great Iran. In one of his works, Ganjavi glorifies Iran with the following words: 'The whole world is the body, but Iran is the heart.'" Of course, the idea of a great Iran is most clearly and systematically manifested in the work "Shah-name" by Ferdowsi in the 10th century, but Ferdowsi lived in a different time, space and dimension, and Nizami lived in a different one. Nizami was undoubtedly a carrier of the imperial Iranian worldview, which for his time - in the XII century, under the dominance of the ideology of the general Muslim ummah - looks simply amazing. From this point of view, it is ridiculous when a different, Turkish, identity is attributed to him," said Prof. Garnik Asatryan, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies.

The participants talked about the life and works of Nizami Ganjavi, the popularity of his heritage all over the world, manuscripts and other works of the poet preserved in the Matenadaran (the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts), translations of his poems into Russian, etc. 

Ekaterina Andreeva, Deputy Head of Rossotrudnichestvo Representative Office in Armenia, spoke about how Russian specialists, historians and literary scholars translated Nizami Ganjavi's works. She reminded that in the 1920-30s Russian translators and researchers translated a short story from the poem "Seven Beauties" (A. Gruzinsky), small prose translations from the same poem,from "Layla and Majnun" and so on.

It should be noted that the event was organized by the Institute of Oriental Studies of RAU in cooperation with the Iranian Embassy in Armenia and the Iranian Cultural Center in RA.

 

 

 

Translated by Milena Nazaryan,    
I year Master’s Student in Translation & Interpretation, RAU