Khosrow and Shirin

Khosrow and Shirin (Persian: خسرو و شیرین, romanized: Xusraw u Šīrīn) is a romantic epic poem by Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209). It is the second work of his set of five poems known collectively as Khamsa. It tells a highly elaborated fictional version of the story of the love of Khosrow II for the Christian Shirin, who became the queen consort of the Sasanian Empire. The essential narrative is a romantic tale of Persian origin which was already well known from the great historical epic poem, the Shahnameh, as well as Persian writers and popular tales; other works have the same title. Variants of the story were also told under the title Shirin and Farhad (شیرین و فرهاد).