From a 1543 CE edition of the ???hamsa??published in Shiraz, this illustration shows the Sassanid prince Bahram Gur visiting the red pavilion of the Slavic princesses. The Khamsa, or Hamsa, is a series of five lengthy epic poems written by the Persian poet Nezami-ye Ganjavi in the 12th century. The first of these five poems, all of which were composed in the ???asnavi??form, is the didactic work Makhzan ol-asrar (The Treasury of Mysteries)