APersonIndependent states
Nizami Ganjavi
Great poet and thinker (c. 1141–1209), author of the Khamsa, a cycle of five long poems.
Nizami Ganjavi (born Ilyas Yusif oglu) lived and wrote in Ganja in the 12th century, composing his works in Persian, the literary language of the age.
His Khamsa ("Quintet") consists of five poems: The Treasury of Mysteries, Khosrow and Shirin, Leyli and Majnun, The Seven Beauties and the Iskandarnameh. They inspired hundreds of later khamsas in Eastern poetry — and Gara Garayev's ballet The Seven Beauties.
His mausoleum stands in Ganja, and statues of him rise in Baku, Moscow, Rome and St Petersburg. Azerbaijan declared 2021 the Year of Nizami Ganjavi.
Sources
Updated: October 1, 2026