“Iskandar Reaches the City of Iram”
Fol. 382r from a manuscript of the Khamseh of Nizami

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The fifth and final poem in Nizami’s quintet—the Iskandarnameh—recounts the exploits of Alexander the Great, known as Iskandar in Persian. In this illustration, Iskandar reaches the lost city of Iram, built by the arrogant king Shaddad, who claimed he was God. Closely following the description of Shaddad’s “paradise on earth,” the illustrator has included a structure with alternating gold-and-silver bricks and a tiled, jewel-like dome. The two idols in the background refer to the Qur’anic description of Iram as a city of polytheists.