where he served under local rulers. His diwan was compiled and published by the 20th-century Iranian businessman and collector Hajj Mohammad Nakhjavani (died 1962). It contains 3000–10,000 couplets, which mentions about thirty patrons. The majority of the odes in his diwan are dedicated to the Rawadid rulers of Tabriz, Abu Mansur Wahsudan () and his successor Abu Nasr Mamlan II (), as well as the Shaddadid rulers of Ganja, Abu'l-Aswar Shavur ibn Fadl () and Fadl ibn Shavur (). Other notable patrons include Abu Dulaf-i Dayrani, the ruler of Nakhchivan. Some works have been erroneously attributed to Qatran, such as the Qausnama ("The Book of Arch"), which was in reality the work of a certain Qatran Tirmidhi, who lived 100 years after him. Some works of the prominent Persian poet Rudaki (died 941) have also erroneously been attributed to Qatran, due to the similarity of their styles, and the names of their patrons, the Samanid ruler Nasr ibn Ahmad () and Abu Nasr Mamlan. Qatran was the first poet from Azarbaijan to compose poetry in Dari. Qatran's work is also an important source in historiography, as many names and events in Azarbaijan and the Caucasus mentioned in his poems would have been otherwise unknown. This includes among other things the Ghuzz incursions into Arran and Azarbaijan, and the peace treaty between the Rawadids and Shaddadids in 1040. During his later career, Qatran suffered from gout, possibly an indication of his good welfare. Qatran died in Ganja; the date of his death is uncertain. According to some accounts of writers such as the 19th-century Persian poet Reza-Qoli Khan Hedayat, Qatran died in 1072. However, one of Qatran's qasidas dedicated to Abu Nasr Mamlan indicate that he at least lived till 1088. According to Taqi, Qatran died in 1092. Legacy Qatran is considered to have been one of the leading poets in 11th-century Iran. The modern historian De Bruijn calls him the first eminent poet born in the western Iranian provinces. Notes References Sources Further reading 11th-century births 11th-century deaths 11th-century Persian-language poets 11th-century writers 11th-century Iranian people Poets from Tabriz Burials in Maqbaratoshoara