includes works of Islamic art including a 13th-century Quran, and examples of Afghan decorative and folk art. Cultural role Balkh had a major role in the development of the Persian language and literature. The early works of Persian literature were written by poets and writers who were originally from Balkh. Many famous Persian poets came from Balkh. Furthermore, the city was a cultural centre for science and had notable scientists working in or originating from that region. Notable people Poets Abu-Shakur Balkhi 10th century Persian poet Abul Moayyad Balkhi 10th century Persian poet Abu Ali Balkhi, author of a Shah-nama, according to Biruni Rabi'a Balkhi, 10th century Persian poetess, first woman poet in the history of Persian poetry Abu Mansur Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Daqiqi, 10th century Persian poet, Balkh is one of his suggested places of birth Ma'ruf Balkhi, 10th century Persian poet, one of the first to compose poems in New Persian Abu-Shakur Balkhi, 10th century Persian poet Sani Balkhi, 10th century Persian Rubaʿi poet Unsuri Balkhi, 10th/11th century Persian royal poet at the court of the Ghaznavids Manuchihri Damghani, 11th century Persian royal poet at the court of the Ghaznavids, born in Balkh, according to Dawlat Shah Samarkandi Rashid al-Din Vatvat, 11th century Persian secretary, poet and philologist Anvari, 12th century Persian poet and scientist, considered to be one of the greatest figures in Persian literature, lived and died in Balkh Rumi, 13th-century Persian poet, Hanafi faqih, Islamic scholar, Maturidi theologian, and Sufi mystic Mawlānā Jalal ad-Din Rūmī Balkhi 13th century Persian poet, one of the most famous and influential Persian writers, born in Balkh Amir Khusraw (Dehlavi), from the 13th century, the greatest Persian-writing poet of medieval India whose father, Amir Saifuddin, was from Balkh Wasef Bakhtari, Afghan contemporary poet of the Persian language, literary figure and intellectual, one of the first Persian poets to introduce she’r-e nimaa'i ("Nimaic poetry") to Afghan-Persian literature, born in Balkh Scientists Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi, 8th century Persian astrologer, astronomer and philosopher, thought to be the greatest astrologer of the Abbasid court in Baghdad Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, 9th century Persian polymath: geographer, mathematician, physician, psychologist and scientist, introduced the Concept of Mental Health In Psychology Avicenna or Ibn Sina, 10th/11th century philosopher and scientist, one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age and father of early modern medicine, whose father Abdullah was a Balkh native