A Hermeneutical Study of the Concept of Political Power in Machiavelli's The Prince and Nizari's Adab Nameh

Adab Nameh and The Prince can be considered as two literary works in which some advices are given to the king by philosophers away from the scope of power. The first one is written by a literary figure¡ Nizari Ghuhistani¡ excluded from the court of Kartids during Mongolian Era in Iran and the second by an Italian philosopher¡ Machiavelli who faced the wrath of the Byzantine political system. It is important to note that although these books were written in different times and climates¡ political isolation¡ annoyance with those in power and ambition to return to the power were of major concerns to their writers¡ causing them to adopt a similar attitude towards the field of politics. This article is an attempt to analyze attitudes to the concept of politics in Adab Nameh and The Prince based on Skinner’s Hermeneutic method and with an emphasis on the impact of socio-political background on the emergence of the text.