HansHan hed Ilyas<ref name="FrancoisePersianLiterature">C. A. (Charles Ambrose) Storey and François de Blois (2004), "Persian Literature - A Biobibliographical Survey: Volume V Poetry of the Pre-Mongol Period.", RoutledgeCurzon; 2nd revised edition (June 21, 2004). ISBN 0-947593-47-0. p. 363: "Nizami Ganja’i, whose personal name was Ilyas, is the most celebrated native poet of the Persians after Firdausi. His [[nisbah]] designates him as a native of Ganja (Elizavetpol, Kirovabad) in Azerbaijan, then still a country with an Iranian population, and he spent the whole of his life in Transcaucasia; the verse in some of his poetic works which makes him a native of the hinterland of Qom is a spurious interpolation." [http://www.amazon.com/dp/094759311X www.amazon.com] (p. 438 of Amazon link).</ref> og hans [[pseudonym]] var Nezami (også stavet som Nizami og Neẓāmi). Han blev født i [[Gandja]] (nu dagens [[Aserbajdsjan]]) og menes at have tilbragt hele sit liv i det sydlige [[Kaukasus]]. Ifølge de Blois, havde byen [[Gandja]] en meget stor iransk befolkning.<ref name="FrancoisePersianLiterature"/> Den armenske historiker Kirakos Gandzaketsi (ca. 1200-1271) nævner, at: " Denne by blev tæt befolket med Iranerne og et mindre antal Kristne ".<ref>Kirakos Gandzakatsi Kirakos Gandzakats'i's History of the Armenians / translation from Classical Armenian by Robert Bedrosian. — New York: 1986. — p. 197. Excerpt: "This city was densely populated with Iranians and a small number of Christians.". Available also at: [http://www.archive.org/details/KirakosGanjaketsisHistoryOfTheArmenians Kirakos Gandzakets'i, Patmut'iwn Hayots' ][Kirakos of Gandzak, History of Armenia], edited by K.A. Melik'-Ohanjanyan, (Erevan, 1961), p. 235: "Ays k'aghak's bazmambox lts'eal parsko'k', ayl sakaw ew k'ristone'iwk'..."</ref>
