چکیده:
Marzban-nameh is one of the literary works in which politics is presented symbolically through the language of animals. The political disorder prevailing during the author's lifetime is reflected in this work. War, conflict, and struggle for the possession of power are considered the main characteristics of this era. In this historical period in Iran, the previous political order and its legitimizing ritual (Zoroastrianism) had collapsed, but a new political order (Islamic) had not yet been established. Therefore, the rules of the political game were unclear, and personal interest was the only motivation and goal of the political and military efforts of the actors in the public sphere. In such circumstances, Ispahbadzadah Tabaristani attempts to invite rulers and emirs to observe the principles of peace and friendship and to avoid excess by recalling the principles of statecraft and the ritual of kingship in ancient Iran, and to encourage their officials toward honesty, truthfulness, loyalty, and cooperation with one another. This writing begins, after a short introduction introducing the work under review, its creator, and its reviser. Then, the political and social situation of the author's lifetime (Tabaristan in the fourth and fifth centuries) is briefly introduced, and finally, the content of the book is examined from a political perspective.
خلاصه ماشینی:
Marzban-nameh is a literary-political work that, in the form of various stories, considers social, political, and moral subjects and proceeds to criticize and evaluate them.
Since social and political status plays an important role in directing the author's thoughts, and a written work carries marks and signs of transformations and environmental and historical conditions, a brief familiarity with these circumstances helps researchers understand the content presented within the text.
The last point worth mentioning in this regard is that this book is a manual written for a small local power, and unlike the Siyasatnama of Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk, which was composed at the height of Seljuk power and the expansion of that dynasty and analyzes politics in a large government and on a very macro level, the author of Marzban-nameh presents his solutions for a small and local government caught in the midst of conflicts between numerous rivals, and perhaps the root of some of the differences of opinion between the two authors is related to this very issue.
The first chapter of the book is dedicated to the cause and manner of the composition of the Marzban-nameh by the original author, and it details the story of the dispute between the author and the minister regarding the necessity or non-necessity of writing the work, which finally concludes with the dismissal of the minister and receiving permission from the king to compose the book.
In several places in the book, the author of Marzban-nameh also provides financial advice to the king, strongly warning him against the extravagance of wealth.
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