MEDITERRANEAN DESCRIPTIONS IN THE PERSIAN LITERATURE THROUGH ASTRONOMICAL, HISTORICAL, ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND MYTHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

Abstract

Mediterranean, its surrounding tribes and wonders have attracted attention of most societies and on the other hand, this region has been the center of medical philosophical thoughts and astronomy and had important historical, archeological and cultural role in the world. Persian literature in Iran has deep history and it has paid attention to their achievements and thoughts due to communication with cultures and societies. Mediterranean and its attributes are manifested in Persian literature from legend to reality and poets and writers have dealt with these features. In the present paper, we mention characteristics of Mediterranean by studying these works. In literary, astronomical, historical, archeological, geographical, cultural and mythological works of Persian language, attributes of Mediterranean and its wonders can be studied. These words allude to Mediterranean in Persian poem and prose: daryāye meditarāne, daryāye Maqreb, daryāye rum, daryāye šām, daryāye abyaz, daryāye tennis, bahre rum and bahre abyaz. We find some literary, astronomical, historical and archeological peculiarities of the Mediterranean in Persian literature: Its strangeness, Mediterranean greenery in the fall, density of Mediterranean's water that ship can't arrive at there, limitless of Mediterranean, Its red fish that has human face and another fish that has bestial voice, its glassy fish, its flying fish and its stone that solaces lovers and so on.