Table of Contents

  • ZABĀN-E ZANĀN

    Nassereddin Parvin

    a newspaper and a magazine published in Isfahan and Tehran, respectively, by Ṣeddiqa Dawlatābādi (1883-1961), a pioneer advocate of women’s rights in Iran (18 July, 1919 to 1 January, 1921, a total of 57 issues).

  • ZĀDSPRAM

    Philippe Gignoux

    a 9th-century Zoroastrian scholar and author. He was one of the four sons of Gušn-Jam (or Juwānjam, according to Boyce and Cereti).

  • ZĀDUYA

    Touraj Daryaee

    a Persian noble in the 7th century CE who was instrumental in the crowning of Farroḵzād Ḵosrow as Sasanian king.

  • ZAEHNER, ROBERT CHARLES

    Carlo Cereti

    (1913-1974), a scholar of Iranian and Indian studies, historian of religions, Professor at Oxford University, British Intelligence officer stationed at the British Embassy in Tehran, and the major planner of the plot leading to the overthrow of Moḥammad Mosaddeq’s government.

  • ẒAHIR-AL-DAWLA, EBRĀHIM KHAN

    Mehrnoush Soroush

    (d. Tehran, 1240/1824), military leader and governor of Kermān under Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah Qajar.

  • ZĀL

    A. Shapur Shahbazi and Simone Cristoforetti

    legendary prince of Sistān, father of Rostam, and a leading figure in Iranian traditional history. His story is given in the Šāh-nāma.

  • ZAMYĀD YAŠT

    Pallan Ichaporia

    Yašt 19, the last in sequence of the great pieces of the Yašt hymn collection of the Younger Avesta.

  • ZAND

    Cross-Reference

    Zoroastrian term for the literature written in Middle Persian to translate and explicate the Avestan scriptures. The supplementary explanations, which developed into the exegetical literature that we know from the Sasanian period and which are  preserved in the Middle Persian/Pahlavi texts are known as the Zand, hence the expression “Avesta and Zand” or “Zand-Avesta.”

    See EXEGESIS i. In Zoroastrianism.

  • ZAND DYNASTY

    John Perry

    a dynasty that ruled in Persia (excluding Khorasan) from Shiraz, from the time when Nāder Shah’s (r. 1736-47) successors, the Afsharids, failed to recover western Persia until the founding of the Qajar dynasty by Āḡā Moḥammad Khan Qajar (r. 1779-97).

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ZAND Ī FRAGARD Ī JUD-DĒW-DĀD

    Yaakov Elman and Mahnaz Moazami

    “A Commentary on Chapters of the Vidēvdād”, a sixth-century Zoroastrian text. It has been preserved more or less intact as 240 pages and made up of about 540 sections.

  • ZĀR

    Maria Sabaye Moghaddam

    harmful wind (bād) associated with spirit possession beliefs in southern coastal regions of Iran. People believe in the existence of winds that can be either vicious or peaceful, believer (Muslim) or non-believer (infidel).

  • ZARANGIANA

    Cross-Reference

    territory around Lake Hāmun and the Helmand river in modern Sistān. See DRANGIANA.

  • ZARATHUSTRA

    Cross-Reference

    the name generally known in the West for the prophet of ancient Iran, whose transformation of his inherited religion inaugurated a movement that eventually became the dominant religion in Iran up until the triumph of Islam. See ZOROASTER.

  • ZARINAIA

    Rüdiger Schmitt

    legendary Saka queen during the reign of the likewise legendary Median king Astibaras.

  • ZARIRI, ʿAbbās

    Jalil Doostkhah

    (b. Isfahan 1909; d. Isfahan 1971) noted story-teller (naqqāl). Zariri like most other eulogists of his era, was functionally illiterate. He memorized and recited whatever he heard from other storytellers and scroll-writers. However, he became literate towards the end of his life.

  • ŻARRĀBI, MOLUK

    Erik Naḵjavāni

    the stage name of Moluk Faršforuš Kāšāni (b. Kāšān, ca 1289 Š./1910; d. Tehran, 1378 Š./1999), Persian singer and actress. Moluk was born into a musically inclined family.

  • ZARUDNIĬ, NIKOLAĬ ALEKSEEVICH

    Natalia Ananjeva

    (1859-1919), zoologist and explorer of fauna in Iran. Between 1884 and 1904, he conducted field trips in the Caspian region, the plains of Bukhara, the Khiva (Ḵiva) oasis, and northern and eastern Persia. More than 130 species of animals were named after him.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ZĀYANDARUD newspaper

    Nassereddin Parvin

    weekly newspaper published in Isfahan by ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Mo ʿin-al-Eslām Ḵᵛānsāri from 1 RabiʿI 1327 to 22 Ḏu’l-ḥejja 1333 (23 March 1909 to 31 October 1915).

  • ZĀYČA

    Enrico G. Raffaelli

    Middle Persian term meaning "birth chart, horoscope."

  • ZAYN AL-AḴBĀR

    Cross-Reference

    a history written in 11th century by Gardizi. See GARDIZI

  • ZAYN-AL-ʿĀBEDIN MARʿAŠI MAUSOLEUM

    SANDRA AUBE

    a tomb-shrine in Sāri, Māzandarān, where Sayyed Yaḥyā Marʿaši is buried.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ZAYNAB BEGUM

    Kioumars Ghereghlou

    (d. Qazvin, 1640), the fourth daughter of Shah Ṭahmāsp and one of the most influential princesses in Safavid Iran.

  • ZEFRA

    Multiple Authors

    mountainous district and village northeast of Isfahan, best known for its dialect.  This article is divided into two sections: i. The district   ii. The dialect

  • ZEFRA i. The District

    Mohammad-Hasan Raja’i Zefra’i and Habib Borjian

    mountainous district and village northeast of Isfahan. Historical documents have little mention of Zefra.  Nevertheless the village is embellished with a fine congregational mosque from the Saljuq era with subsequent renovations; the mosque’s antique gate and pulpit are dated 790/1388 and 791/1389, respectively.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ZEǏMAL’, Evegeniǐ Vladislavovich

    Alexander Nikitin

    (1932-1998), Russian numismatist and historian of ancient Iran and Central Asia.

  • ZEKRAWAYH B. MEHRAWAYH

    Heinz Halm

    10th-century Ismaʿili missionary in Iraq.

  • ẒELLI, REZĀQOLI MIRZĀ

    Morteżā Ḥoseyni Dehkordi

    (1906-1945), singer. He had a clear voice with wide range, which his distinct, beautiful yodeling (taḥrir) made especially enchanting. His singing is an example of the Tehran singing school. He died of tuberculosis.

  • ZEMESTĀN-E 62

    ʿAli Ferdowsi

    (Winter of 62, 1987), a novel published by the well-known and prolific Persian novelist Esmāʿil Fasih.

  • ZENDA BE GUR

    SOHILA SAREMI

    “Zenda be gur” is a first-person narrative featuring the notes of a young writer in his sickbed in Paris; his unfortunate existence; his disgust and despondency; his horrible nightmares; his desire to end his life; his plots for a “successful suicide,” and how he tortures himself throughout in his failure to attain his goal.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ZHUKOVSKIĬ, Valentin Alekseevich

    Firuza Abdullaeva

    (1858-1918), one of the most prominent representatives of Russian, namely St. Petersburg, Oriental studies. The scholarly interests of Zhukovskiĭ were extremely wide, covering the whole range of subjects from dialectology and folklore to archeology. His archives contain papers on many different subjects; some of them still await publication.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ŻIĀʾ-AL-SALṬANA

    Dominic Parviz Brookshaw

    (1799-1873), Šāh Begom, seventh daughter of Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah Qajar (r. 1797-1834), private secretary to him, calligrapher and poet.

  • ZIAPOUR, JALIL

    Nojan Medinei

    (1920-1999), painter, art critic, and scholar, who played a pioneering role in the establishment of modern arts in Iran.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ZIGGURAT

    Michael Herles

    In Iran, buildings considered ziggurats or high temples can be distinguished from Mesopotamian ziggurats by their means of access.  External flights of steps are always missing from monumental buildings in Iran, yet they are at all times present in Mesopotamia.  In Iran, monumental buildings were accessible by ramps.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ZIWIYE

    Oscar White Muscarella

    name of an archeological site in northwestern Iran at which a trove of objects known as the “Ziwiye Treasure” was reputedly found.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ZIYARIDS

    C. Edmund Bosworth

    (Āl-e Ziār), a minor Islamic dynasty of the Caspian coastlands (931-ca. 1090).  They ruled first in northern Iran, and then in abarestān and Gorgān.

  • ZODIAC

    Antonio Panaino

    The origin and development of the idea of a zodiacal circle have been much debated, but now there is a general consensus that a kind of zodiacal belt must have been defined by Babylonian astronomers as early as 700 BCE. In this period the “path” followed by the planets, sun, and moon was divided into 15 constellations.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ẒOHUR-AL-ḤAQQ

    Moojan Momen

    (also called Tāriḵ-e Ẓohur-al-Ḥaqq and Ketāb-e Ẓohur-al-Ḥaqq) the most comprehensive history of the first century of the Bahai faith yet written, compiled in nine volumes by Mirzā Asad-Allāh,

  • ẒOHURI TORŠIZI

    Paul E. Losensky

    Mollā Nur-al-Din Moḥammad (d. 1025/1616), Persian poet.

  • ZOROASTER

    Multiple Authors

    the name generally known in the West for the prophet of ancient Iran, whose transformation of his inherited religion inaugurated a movement that eventually became the dominant religion in Iran up until the triumph of Islam. 

  • ZOROASTER i. THE NAME

    Rüdiger Schmitt

    The authentic form of Zoroaster’s name is that attested in his own songs, the Gathas: Old Av. Zaraθuštra-, on which are based regular derivatives like zaraθuštri- “descending from Zoroaster."

  • ZOROASTER ii. GENERAL SURVEY

    W. W. Malandra

    “Zoroaster” is the name generally known in the West for the prophet of ancient Iran, whose transformation of his inherited religion inaugurated a movement that eventually became the dominant religion in Iran up until the triumph of Islam.

  • ZOROASTER iii. ZOROASTER IN THE AVESTA

    Manfred Hutter

    Zaraθuštra is considered the founder of the Mazdayasnian religion who lived in Eastern Iran during the end of the second millenium BCE.

  • ZOROASTER iv. In the Pahlavi Books

    A. V. Williams

    Although Pahlavi was spoken as long ago as the 3rd century BCE, most of the written works that survive were compiled from older Zoroastrian material in the period after the Muslim conquest up to the 10th century CE.

  • ZOROASTER v. AS PERCEIVED BY THE GREEKS

    Roger Beck

    The Greek constructions of Zoroaster relate to the historical Zoroaster and to the Zoroaster of the Zoroastrian faith in one respect only. The Greeks knew that Zoroaster was the “prophet,” in the sense of the human founder, of the national Persian religion of their times.

  • ZOROASTER vi. AS PERCEIVED IN WESTERN EUROPE

    Michael Stausberg

    There is a continuous tradition of reports about Zoroaster among early and later medieval Christian historians, chroniclers, and annalists. In slightly modified form, this tradition continues through the early modern periods stretching from Humanism to Enlightenment.

  • ZOROASTER vii. AS PERCEIVED BY LATER ZOROASTRIANS

    Jenny Rose

    This entry treats the development of the concept and image of Zoroaster among the Zoroastrians of Persia and India after the Islamic conquest (10th century onwards).

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ZOROASTRIAN RITUALS

    Michael Stausberg

    Ritual has been variously theorized in recent decades.  While the category remains elusive, the formative social importance of ritual is by now generally acknowledged even in Zoroastrian studies.

  • ZOROASTRIANISM

    Multiple Authors

    Historical reviews

  • ZOROASTRIANISM i. HISTORICAL REVIEW UP TO THE ARAB CONQUEST

    William W. Malandra

    This article presents an overview of the history of Zoroastrianism from its beginnings through the 9th and 10th centuries CE. Details of different periods and specific issues relating to Zoroastrianism are discussed in the relevant separate entries.

  • ZOROASTRIANISM ii. Historical Review: from the Arab Conquest to Modern Times

    Jamsheed K. Choksy

    As Zoroastrians in the seventh century began slowly but steadily adopting Islam, the magi attempted to preserve their religion’s beliefs, traditions, and lore by writing them down.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ZOROASTRIANS IN IRAN

    Multiple Authors

    The subject of the history and status of the Zoroastrian communities of Iran.

  • ZOROASTRIANS IN IRAN iv. Between the Constitutional and the Islamic Revolutions

    Janet Kestenberg Amighi

    A group of Zoroastrians emigrated to Tehran and thrived in business and culture through historical events, after escaping the Qajari persecution in Yazd and Kerman.

  • ZOROASTRIANS OF 19TH-CENTURY YAZD AND KERMAN

    Janet Kestenberg Amighi

    The main focus of this entry is on the nature of pressures exerted on the Zoroastrians of Yazd and Kerman to convert away from their religion, and the Zoroastrian responses of both conversion and persistence during the 19th century. It will cover four themes: Muslim treatment of Zoroastrians and pressures to convert, Zoroastrian modes of resistance and submission, the Parsi contribution to Zoroastrian revivalism, and a comparison of Zoroastrian responses to Muslim pressures to convert versus responses to Bahai forms of proselytization.

  • ZOROASTRIANS OF IRAN vi. Linguistic Documentation

    Saloumeh Gholami

    This article focuses on the importance of documenting the Zoroastrian dialects of Yazd and Kerman, also known as Zoroastrian Dari (a term not to be confused with classical Persian Dari or Dari in Afghanistan).

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ZRANKA

    Cross-Reference

    territory around Lake Hāmun and the Helmand river in modern Sistan. See DRANGIANA.

  • ZUR-ḴĀNA

    Houchang E. Chehabi

    (lit. “house of strength”), the traditional gymnasium of urban Persia and adjacent lands.

  • ZURVAN

    Albert de Jong

    ancient Zoroastrian deity of Time.  Although the etymology of the Avestan word causes difficulty, there is consensus over its basic meaning,  “period (of time).”

  • ZURVANISM

    Albert de Jong

    a hypothetical religious movement in the history of Zoroastrianism. The myth of Zurvan is fairly well known from Armenian, Syriac, Greek, and Arabic sources, but it is not to be found in any Zoroastrian source.

  • ZURWĀNDĀD

    Touraj Daryaee

    the eldest son of the grand vizier (wuzurg framādār) Mehr Narseh, who appointed him to the high religious office of chief hērbed.

  • Zār Songs: Vorāra, Yo mama

    music sample

  • Žimnāstik muzikāl

    music sample

  • Z~ CAPTIONS OF ILLUSTRATIONS

    Cross-Reference

    list of all the figure and plate images in the Z entries