Varka and Golshah

Various battles ensued, and Varqa's father and Rabīʿ and his two sons are killed, until Golshah was finally rescued.

[1] The epic is based on an old Arab story,[1] but the only known manuscript is a 13th-century edition, generally held to be a product of early 13th-century Seljuks.

[4] The author of the miniatures in the manuscript is the painter Abd ul-Mumin al-Khoyi, born in the city of Khoy in the Azerbaijan region.

[5] The miniatures constitute the first known example of illustrated Persian-language manuscript, dating from the pre-Mongol era, and are useful in studying weapons of the period.

[5][12] Particularly, metal face masks and chainmail helmets in Turkic fashion, and armor with small metal plates connected through straps, large round shields (the largest of them called "kite-shields") and long teardrop shields, armoured horses are depicted.

[5] The weapons and armour types depicted in the miniatures were common in the Middle East and the Caucasus in the Seljuk era.

Gulshah (right) disguised as a man, watches as her lover Varqa (centre) and his rival Rabi (left) fight on horseback. Varka and Golshah , mid-13th century miniature, Seljuk Anatolia
Combat of Warqah with the army of Bahrain and of ‘Adan. Varka and Golshah , mid-13th century miniature, Seljuk Anatolia
Rabi, armoured with lamellar Jawshan cuirass and mail hauberk beneath his tunic, armed with long single-edged sword and large round shield. Supported by infantrymen with kite-shaped shields