The Reaction of Certain Poets and Men of Letters to the Mongols

The Mongol period is one of the most outstanding eras in the history of Iran: positively because of the variety of epoch making events which took place in that era, and negatively due to the intellectual‚ cultural and social degradation which became prevalent in that period. Therefore this era still deserves careful study from different perspectives. One of the issues which requires scrutiny is the reaction of literary figures of those days against Mongol hegemony which naturally can be traced to their philosophical and ideological orientation to life in general. The present article is the result of an attempt to scrutinize this topic‚ utilizing available historical and literary sources and to offer an explanation for the reaction of contemporary men of letters to that national catastrophe.