Volume XVI Now Available

The Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation was established in 1990 with the mission to guarantee the Encyclopædia Iranica's intellectual independence and ensure its ongoing publication both in digital and print versions. Learn More
Cinema Iranica provides historical articles on movies, genres, film movements, filmographies, directors, composers, stars, cinematographers ...
start exploringWomen Poets Iranica is an integrative encyclopedia of postclassical, modern, and contemporary women poets.
The Encyclopædia Iranica is a comprehensive research tool dedicated to the study of Iranian civilization in the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
In the mid-19th century, European travelers became aware that the area of the republic abounded in ancient ruins. Since the 1960s and 1970s several scores of archeological expeditions of the Azerbaijanian Academy of Sciences have been active.
In the Achaemenid period rulers were represented wearing two different kinds of crown. Most common was a rigid cylinder with crenellated decoration, which had a long tradition in Persia; crenellations appeared on the Elamite rock relief at Kūrāngūn in Fārs and were revived again for the crown of the Pahlavi dynasty.