Introducing Two Unknown Characters Mentioned in Daqayeq al-Sheʻr, Shams-e Razi and Aswadi

In the book Daqayeq al-Sheʻr, two characters are mentioned, Shams-e Razi and Aswadi, and a quatrain is quoted from each of them. There is almost no mention of these two poets in other works. This paper is focused on finding information about the two poets above. For this purpose, in addition to reflecting on the remaining quatrains, tazkiras, anthologies, and other sources were explored, and authentic historical texts related to the Seljuk period were studied. The findings indicate that Shams-e Razi traveled between 588 and 607 AH/ 1192 and 1211 in Bukhara, Delhi, Makran, Sistan, and Esfezar and spent some time in the court of the vizier of Ghor and Firuzkuh and the governer of Esfezar. Shams-e Razi was the son of Saeed Razi al-Din Abu Saeed, a well-reputed finance minister of the Seljuk period, and the brother of Aziz al-Din, a finance minister and vizier of the era. What is left from Shams’s poetry are two verses in the form of a quatrain in satire of “Aswadi” and the beginning of an ode in praise of Abu Bakr Jamji. Aswadi is the other character, who lived in the 6 and 7 centuries AH/ 12 and 13, and from the only surviving quatrain, it appears that he was probably a satirist who had arguments with Shams-e Razi. His quatrain in satire of Shams-e Razi is recorded in Daqayeq al-Sheʻr; therefore, a satirical quatrain by Shams-e Razi against him has also been preserved in the book.