Hamza al-Isbahani

Ḥamza ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Mū'addib al-Iṣbahānī Abū ‘Abd Allāh The city had served as an important center in western Iran under the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian Empire. During the 9th-century, many Zoroastrians and other adherents of non-Zoroastrian, Iranian faiths continued to reside in the city. During the late 9th-century or early 10th-century, the city started to gain a large Muslim community, which, nevertheless, preserved their ancient lore. Some scholars such as A.C.S. Peacock have theorized Hamza to possibly have been a secret Zoroastrian, but other scholars have disagreed with this statement.

Despite his keen interest in Iranian affairs and the pre-Islamic history of the country, Hamza preferred to write in Arabic, like the rest of the literary elite of Isfahan. The city seemingly served as a major hub for the collection and transmission of the numerous modifications of the Middle Persian history text Khwaday-Namag (Book of Kings). Hamza made much use of the work, as demonstrated in his Sini Muluk al-ard w'al-anbiya. Not many scholars in Isfahan were familiar with Middle Persian, and it is uncertain if Hamza himself had any knowledge of it. Hamza was seemingly a distinguished citizen of Isfahan, due to his broad knowledge, which also earned him opponents, who referred him to as "drivel merchant." In his work, Hamza immediately puts emphasis on the importance of Iran at the center of the world, a common trend in the historiography of the period as also seen in the works of al-Tabari and Abu Hanifa Dinawari.