Table of Contents

  • AČAṘEAN, HRAČʾEAY YAKOBI

    J. R. Russell

    Armenian linguist, born 8 March 1876 (O. S.; 20 March N. S.) at Constantinople. 

  • ACƎKZĪ

    C. M. Kieffer

    (ACAKZĪ, or AČƎKZĪ, AČAKẒĪ), a tribal grouping of Paṧtūn clans in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

  • ACHAEMENES

    M. A. Dandamayev

    (Greek Achaiménēs), Old Persian proper name Haxāmaniš, traditionally derived from haxā- “friend” and manah “thinking power.”

  • ACHAEMENID DYNASTY

    R. Schmitt

    Two principles of their election, dynastic and divine right, belong to contrasting areas and periods—respectively, to prehistoric nomad tribes of Indo-European origin and to the highly civilized Mesopotamian peoples. 

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ACHAEMENID GLAZED BRICK DECORATION

    Oscar White Muscarella

    architectural elements at Achaemenid capital cities that reflected the king's power and authority through depictions of historical, religious, political, military, and social realities and protocols.

  • ACHAEMENID RELIGION

    M. Boyce

    Greek writings establish with all reasonable clarity that the later Achaemenids were Zoroastrians; but the religion of the early kings has been much debated.

  • ACHAEMENID ROYAL COMMUNICATION

    Bruno Jacobs

    the spreading of every kind of information and decision-making needed for governmental control. Under this topic can be subsumed the royal agenda, political objectives, ideological and legitimizing strategies, and orders and messages to subordinates and the general population.

  • ACHAEMENID SATRAPIES

    Bruno Jacobs

    the administrative units of the Achaemenid empire.

  • ACHAEMENID TAXATION

    M. A. Dandamayev

     a most important component of the Achaemenid state administration.

  • ACHAEMENID VISUAL REPRESENTATIONS OF ROYAL FIGURES

    Erica Ehrenberg

    Visual representations of Achaemenid kings, while indebted to established Mesopotamian iconographic conventions, betray distinct understandings of sovereignty.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ACHMA

    R. E. Emmerick

    (a Turkish word meaning “opening”), a town in the Domoko (Dumaqu) oasis near Khotan, so named with reference to the local springs.

  • ĀÇINA

    M. A. Dandamayev

    son of Upadarma, a rebel against Darius I.

  • ĀÇIYĀDIYA

    R. Schmitt

    (a-ç-i-y-a-di-i-y-), name of the ninth month (November-December) of the Old Persian calendar.

  • ACKERMAN, PHYLLIS

    Cornelia Montgomery

    (b. Oakland, California, 1893; d. Shiraz, 25 January 1977), author, editor, teacher and translator in the fields of Persian textiles, European tapestries, Chinese bronzes, iconography, and symbolism.

  • ACTA ARCHELAI

    Cross-Reference

    See ARCHELAUS.

  • ACTS OF ĀDUR-HORMIZD AND OF ANĀHĪD

    J. P. Asmussen

    Syriac martyrological texts.  Their events are set in the year 446 A.D., during the reign of Yazdegerd II; and they were apparently recorded not long afterward. They offer more detailed data on Zoroastrianism and Zurvanism, even though in a somewhat corrupted form, than is commonly found in the records of the Christian martyrs of the Sasanian empire. 

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ACTS OF THE PERSIAN MARTYRS

    A. Vööbus

    a collection of the acts of martyrdom under Šāpūr II (309-79 CE). The author states that the text is not a free composition for glorification of the martyrs, but rather rests on information he gathered from those close to the actual happenings—even eyewitnesses. 

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ĀDĀ

    J. Duchesne-Guillemin

    “requital” in Avestan.

  • ADAB

    Multiple Authors

    Term applied to a genre of literature as well as to refined and well-mannered conduct; in Persian it is often synonymous with farhang.

  • ADAB i. Adab in Iran

    Dj. Khaleghi-Motlagh

    Apart from a genre of literature (see section ii), adab in Persian means education, culture, good behavior, politeness, proper demeanor; thus it is closely linked with the concept of ethics.

  • ADAB ii. Adab in Arabic Literature

    Ch. Pellat

    In modern Arabic usage the term adab (plur. ādāb) denotes “literature,” but in classical Islam it was applied only to a limited range of literary works.

  • ĀDĀB AL-ḤARB WA’L-ŠAJĀʿA

    C. E. Bosworth

    (“The correct usages of war and bravery”), a treatise in a straightforward Persian prose style in the “Mirror for Princes” genre, written by Faḵr-al-dīn Moḥammad b. Manṣūr Mobārakšāh, called Faḵr-e Modabber.

  • ADAB AL-KABĪR

    I. Abbas

    an Arabic work by Ebn al-Moqaffaʿ dealing largely with Persian manners and court etiquette.

  • ADAB AL-KĀTEB

    C. E. Bosworth

    (“Manual for secretaries”), a work composed by the celebrated Baghdad scholar probably of Khorasanian mawlā origin, Ebn Qotayba (213-76/828-89).

  • ĀDĀB AL-MAŠQ

    M. Dabīrsīāqī

    (“Manual of penmanship”), a short essay on writing the nastaʿlīq hand by the noted Safavid calligrapher Mīr ʿEmād (961-1024/1553-54 to 1615-16).

  • ADAB AL-ṢAḠĪR

    I. Abbas

    an Arabic book of wisdom and advice, based on Middle Persian works.

  • ADAB NEWSPAPER

    L. P. Elwell-Sutton

    title of several Persian periodicals.

  • ʿADĀLAT

    L. P. Elwell-Sutton

    (“Justice”), name of several periodicals.

  • ADAM, GUILLAUME

    J. Richard

    14th-century traveler.

  • ĀDAMĪ

    A. Gorjī

    late 3rd/9th century Shiʿite traditionist.

  • ĀDAMĪYAT

    L. P. Elwell-Sutton

    (“Humanity”), name of two Iranian periodicals.

  • ĀDAR

    Cross-Reference

    See ĀDUR.

  • ĀḎAR

    Cross-Reference

    See ĀDUR.

  • ʿADAS

    A. Parsa and N. Ramazani, A. Parsa

    "lentils."

  • ADĀT

    Ḵ. Faršīdvard

    “particle,” Arabic word corresponding to the Persian abzār which is used as a technical term in logic (manṭeq), grammar (dastūr), and rhetoric (maʿānī o bayān).

  • ADDĀ

    W. Sundermann

    one of the earliest disciples of Mani.

  • ʿĀDEL SHAH AFŠĀR

    J. R. Perry

    the royal title of ʿAlī-qolī Khan, r. 1160-61/1747-48, nephew and successor of Nāder Shah.

  • ʿĀDELŠĀHĪS

    R. M. Eaton

    A dynasty of Indo-Muslim kings who governed the city-state of Bijapur from 895/1490 to 1097/1686.

  • ADERGOUDOUNBADES

    R. N. Frye

    kanārang (eastern border margrave) appointed by the Sasanian king Kavād (r. 488-531 A.D.).

  • ADHAM, MĪRZĀ EBRĀHĪM

    W. Thackston

    11th/17th century poet.

  • ADHYARDHAŚATIKĀ PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ

    R. E. Emmerick

    (“The perfection of wisdom in 150 lines”), title of a Praǰñāpāramitā text in Tantric.

  • ADIABENE

    D. Sellwood

    a district near the present-day borders of Iraq, Iran, and Turkey.

  • ADIB ḴᵛĀNSARI

    Morteżā Ḥoseyni Dehkordi and EIr

    a major vocalist of Persia in the first half of 20th century (1901-1982).

  • ADĪB NAṬANZĪ

    ʿA. N. Monzawī

    poet and linguist of the 5th/11th century, from Naṭanz, near Isfahan.

  • ADĪB NĪŠĀBURĪ

    J. Matīnī

    Persian litterateur and poet (19th century).

  • ADĪB PĪŠĀVARĪ

    Munibur Rahman

    poetic name of SAYYED AḤMAD B. ŠEHĀB-AL-DĪN RAŻAWĪ (1844-1930).

  • ADĪB ṢĀBER

    Ḏ. Ṣafā

    famous poet of the first half of the 6th/12th century. 

  • ADĪB ṬĀLAQĀNĪ

    M. Momen

    prominent Iranian Bahaʾi author of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

  • ADĪB-AL-MAMĀLEK FARĀHĀNĪ

    Munibur Rahman

    poet and journalist (1860-1917).

  • ĀDĪNEVAND

    P. Oberling

    a small Lur tribe of Lorestān which lives the year round in the baḵš of Ṭarhān.

  • ʿADL, Aḥmad-Ḥosayn

    Bāqer ʿĀqeli

    minister of agriculture, Director General of the Plan Organization, and the first director of the College of Agronomy (1898-1963). He did much to advance industrial development in Isfahan, both holding cabinet positions in the government and contributing in the private sector.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ʿADL, MOṢṬAFĀ

    Bāqer ʿĀqeli

    In 1945, as the head of the Iranian delegation in San Francisco, ʿAdl gave a persuasive lecture arguing for de-occupation of Iran and ayment of reparations for damage caused by the war. He attended the assembly of the United Nations, and struggled for the recognition of the rights of Iran and her territorial integrity.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ʿADL-E MOẒAFFAR

    J. Calmard, L. P. Elwell-Sutton

    “Moẓaffar’s justice,” a phrase connected with the events of the Constitutional Revolution (1905-11) and the name of a newspaper.

  • ADLER, ELKAN NATHAN

    Dalia Yasharpour

    avid traveler and collector of Hebrew, Judeo-Persian, and Judeo-Tajik manuscripts from the Jewish Persian and Bukharan communities (1861-1946). In 1921, personal circumstances compelled Adler to sell his manuscript and book collections to the Hebrew Union College of Cincinnati and the Jewish Theological Seminary of New York.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ADMINISTRATION in Iran

    Multiple Authors

    This entry covers state administration in Iran in the modern period, from the rise of the Safavids to the fall of the Pahlavis in 1979. 

  • ADMINISTRATION in Iran i. Achaemenid Period

    Cross-Reference

    See ACHAEMENID DYNASTY

  • ADMINISTRATION in Iran ii. Arsacid/Parthian Period

    Cross-Reference

    See ARSACIDS.

  • ADMINISTRATION in Iran iii. Sasanian Period

    Cross-Reference

    See SASANIAN DYNASTY.

  • ADMINISTRATION in Iran iv. Early Islamic Period

    Cross-Reference

    See under ʿABBASID CALIPHATE and BUYIDS.

  • ADMINISTRATION in Iran v. Medieval Period

    Cross-Reference

    See under GHAZNAVIDS and IL-KHANIDS.

  • ADMINISTRATION in Iran vi. Safavid, Zand, and Qajar periods

    S. Bakhash

    The rise of the Safavids was marked by developments that significantly influenced the nature of political, military, and revenue administration.

  • ADMINISTRATION in Iran vii. Pahlavi period

    R. Sheikholeslami

    The constitution of 1906 and the supplementary laws of 1907 provided the juridical foundation for a legal-rational state within which the legislature was empowered to establish and modify the administration.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ʿADNĪ, MAḤMŪD PĀŠĀ

    T. Yazici

    (879/1474), Ottoman vizier and poet, better known in Turkish literature by his pen name ʿAdnī.

  • ADRAPANA

    C. J. Brunner

    the third station from the western border of “Upper Media” recorded by Isidore of Charax in the 1st century CE.

  • ADRĀVVŪN

    M. F. Kanga

     Gujarati term for the Parsi betrothal ceremony (in Persian nāmzadī). 

  • ADUKANAIŠA

    R. Schmitt

    (a-du-u-k-n-i-š-), name of the first month (March-April) of the Old Persian calendar.

  • ĀDUR

    M. Boyce

    (and ādar) Middle Persian word for “fire;” the Avestan form is ātar (of unknown derivation), and the late form is arabicized in New Persian as āẕar.

  • ĀDUR BURZĒN-MIHR

    M. Boyce

    an Ātaš Bahrām, i.e., a Zoroastrian sacred fire of the highest grade. 

  • ĀDUR FARNBĀG

    M. Boyce

    an Ātaš Bahrām, that is, a Zoroastrian sacred fire of the highest grade, held to be one of the three great fires of ancient Iran, existing since creation.

  • ĀDUR GUŠNASP

    M. Boyce

    an Ātaš Bahrām, that is, a Zoroastrian sacred fire of the highest grade, held to be one of the three great fires of ancient Iran, existing since creation.

  • ĀDUR NARSEH

    A. Tafażżolī

    son of the Sasanian king Hormozd II (302-09 CE) and ruler for several months after his father.

  • ĀDUR-ANĀHĪD

    Ph. Gignoux

    3rd century CE  Sasanian “queen of queens.”  

  • ĀDUR-BŌZĒD

    A. Tafażżolī

    a Sasanian mobad of mobads (mowbedān mowbed) or high priest.

  • ĀDURBĀD ĒMĒDĀN

    A. Tafażżolī

    second author of the 9th century CE Zoroastrian compilation, Dēnkard.  

  • ĀDURBĀD Ī MAHRSPANDĀN

    A. Tafażżolī

    (“Ādurbād, son of Mahrspand”), Zoroastrian mobad of mobads (mowbedān mowbed) or high priest in the reign of the Sasanian king Šāpūr II (309-79 CE). 

  • ĀDURBĀDAGĀN

    Cross-Reference

    See AZERBAIJAN iii. Pre-Islamic History.

  • ĀDURFARNBAG Ī FARROXZĀDĀN

    A. Tafażżolī

    first author of the 9th century CE Zoroastrian compilation, the Dēnkard

  • ĀDURFRĀZGIRD

    C. J. Brunner

    a brother of the Sasanian king Šāpūr II (309-79 CE) who is mentioned in the Syriac Acts of the Persian Martyrs.

  • AELIANUS, CLAUDIUS

    M. L. Chaumont

    a sophist of the first third of the 3rd century CE, from Praenest near Rome. His chief service to Iranian history was the preservation of some data from the works of Ctesias of Cnidus, the Greek physician of Artaxerxes II.

  • AĒŠMA

    J. P. Asmussen

    “wrath” in Younger Avestan, both metaphysically, as a distinct demon, and psychologically as the function and quality of that demon realized in man.

  • ĀFARĪN LĀHŪRĪ

    Z. Ahmad and W. Kirmani

    Punjabi Persian poet (b. ca. 1070/1660, d. 1154/1741).

  • ĀFARĪN-NĀMA

    J. Matīnī

    a poem in the motaqāreb meter by the 4th/10th century poet Abū Šakūr Balḵī.

  • AFḠĀNĪ, JAMĀL-AL-DĪN

    N. R. Keddie

    (1838 or 39-97), ideologist and political activist of the late 19th century Muslim world, whose influence has continued strong in many Muslim countries. Iran, Egypt, and Afghanistan are the countries of his greatest influence; his combination of reformed Islam and anti-imperialism continues to have widespread appeal.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • AFGHAN

    Ch. M. Kieffer

    (afḡān), in current political usage, any citizen of Afghanistan, whatever his ethnic, tribal, or religious affiliation. According to the 1977 constitution of the Republic of Afghanistan (1973-78), all Afghans are equal in rights and obligations before the law.

  • AFGHANI

    ʿA. Ḥabībī

    (afḡānī), the unit of currency in modern Afghanistan. 

  • AFGHANISTAN

    Multiple Authors

    (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan), landlocked country located in Central Asia and bordered by Iran to the west, Pakistan to the south and east, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the north, and China to the far northeast.

  • AFGHANISTAN i. Geography

    J. F. Shroder, Jr.

    Afghanistan has an extreme continental, arid climate which is characterized by desert, steppe, and highland temperature and precipitation regimes.

  • AFGHANISTAN ii. Flora

    M. Šafīq Yūnos

    Climate studies have shown the importance of precipitation and altitude as conditioning factors for the diversity of Afghanistan’s flora.

  • AFGHANISTAN iii. Fauna

    K. Habibi

    Thirty-two species of bats have been identified in Afghanistan. Their preferred habitat is in warmer sections of the country, where they may be found in abandoned ruins and caves of the Sīstān basin and the steppes. To the east, common bats (Myotis and Pipistrellus) have been observed in Lāgmān and the Kabul river valley.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • AFGHANISTAN iv. Ethnography

    L. Dupree

    In their ethnolinguistic and physical variety the people of Afghanistan are as diverse as their country is in topography. Except in rural areas off the main lines of communications, few peoples maintain racial homogeneity.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • AFGHANISTAN v. Languages

    Ch. M. Kieffer

    Best represented are the Iranian languages, followed by Turkish languages of recent import, and Indian languages which are either native (Nūrestānī and Dardic) or imported (New Indian).

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṣ̌tō

    G. Morgenstierne

    Paṣ̌tō is an Iranic language spoken in south and southeastern Afghanistan, by recent settlers in northern Afghanistan, in Pakistan (North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan), and on the eastern border of Iran. 

  • AFGHANISTAN vii. Parāčī

    G. Morgenstierne

    Parāčī is an Iranian language now spoken northeast of Kabul in the Šotol valley, north of Golbahār, and in the Ḡočūlān and Pačaḡān branches of the Neǰrao valley,  northeast of Golbahār. 

  • AFGHANISTAN viii. Archeology

    N. H. Dupree

    Excavations by countries other than France did not occur until after World War II. In the winter of 1950-51 the second expedition of the American Museum of Natural History was directed by W. Fairservis; Šamšīr Ḡār and Deh Morāsī Ḡonday, 17 miles southwest of Qandahār, were investigated by L. Dupree.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • AFGHANISTAN ix. Pre-Islamic Art

    F. Tissot

    In the tombs of Ṭelā Tapa, the dead are covered with fine fabric sewn with gold bracteates, while their clothing is woven from gold thread and embroidered with pearls. Their swords and daggers are placed in gold sheaths decorated with fantastic animals; their necklaces and pendants portray Greco-Iranian divinities.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • AFGHANISTAN x. Political History

    D. Balland

    1747 marks the appearance of an Afghan political entity independent of Safavid and Mughal empires. In 1709 a Ḡilzay uprising, led by the Hōtakī tribal chief Mīr Ways, had freed all of southern Afghanistan from Safavid control, thus establishing the basis of a state which would extend into Persia.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • AFGHANISTAN xi. Administration

    A. Ghani

    The form and function of Afghanistan’s administrative organizations have reflected the changing balance of power between centripetal and centrifugal forces. 

  • AFGHANISTAN xii. Literature

    R. Farhādī

    Under Aḥmad Shah Dorrānī, Afghanistan continued to play its long-standing role as a center of Persian literature and a transmitter of literary currents between Transoxiana and Islamic India. 

  • AFGHANISTAN xiii. FORESTS AND FORESTRY

    Xavier de Planhol

    The development of forests is limited in Afghanistan not only by the total quantity of rainfall, but also by its seasonal distribution with respect to the vegetative season.

  • AFGHANISTAN xiv. AFGHAN REFUGEES IN IRAN

    Zuzanna Olszewska

    Afghan refugees make up a population of up to 3 million people of various ethnicities, who have settled in Iran since the communist coup of 1978 in Afghanistan.