Rudaki

Rudaki, dating from the late 9th to early 10th century, is widely regarded as one of the earliest great poets of the Persian language and is often called the father of Persian poetry. He is traditionally identified as having been born in Transoxiana, in a region that is now part of Tajikistan, and he rose to prominence as a court poet for the Samanid rulers in Bukhara.

Writing in New Persian, Rudaki helped establish Persian as a literary language at a time when Arabic dominated scholarly and cultural life in the region. His verse covered a range of genres, including panegyric, moral exhortation, and lyric themes, and he is known to have praised patrons and offered reflections on life and nature. Much of his supposed corpus survives only in fragmentary form, or through references in later anthologies and critical works, as his original complete collection (divan) did not endure in full.

Rudaki’s contribution to Persian literature extended beyond his own poems. He is credited with shaping a refined Persian style, cultivating diction and imagery that set patterns later poets would follow. His innovations provided a bridge between earlier oral and courtly traditions and the classical Persian poetry that flourished in subsequent centuries.

Today Rudaki is honored as a foundational figure in Persian literary history. In addition to scholarly study, his name appears in modern cultural contexts across Central Asia and Iran, with places and institutions bearing his name and with sculptures, monuments, and festivals that commemorate his legacy.