Table of Contents

  • ĀLČĪ

    D. O. Morgan

    (“sealer”), a Turkish term (from āl “red seal”) designating an il-khanid chancery official.

  • ALDANMIŠ KÄVAKEB

    S. Soucek

    Azeri Turkish title of a narrative by Āḵūndzāda (1812-78).

  • ʿĀLEMPUR, Moḥyi-al-Din

    Habib Borjian

    (Muhiddin Olimpur/Olimov), Tajik journalist, photographer, and intellectual figure who was instrumental in strengthening cultural ties among Persianate societies (1945-1995).

  • ALESSANDRI

    A. M. Piemontese

    (d. after 1595), Venetian secretary and diplomat, author of an important report on Safavid Persia.

  • ALEXANDER OF LYCOPOLIS

    G. Widengren

    apparently a Neoplatonic philosopher living in Egypt about 300 CE.

  • ALEXANDER THE GREAT

    P. Briant

    (356-323 B.C.). Ascending the throne of Macedonia on the assassination of his father Philip II in 336, Alexander quickly took up Philip’s grand scheme to land an army in Asia and “liberate the Greek cities from the Achaemenid yoke.” 

    This Article Has Images/Tables.

  • ALEXANDER THE GREAT ii. In Zoroastrian Tradition

    F. M. Kotwal and P. G. Kreyenbroek

    heritage of the Sasanian period includes two widely divergent storylines about Alexander, both of which were presumably transmitted by Zoroastrians and can therefore be labelled “Zoroastrian.”

  • ALEXANDER, PRINCE

    G. Bournoutian

    (known in Persian as ESKANDAR MĪRZĀ), pro-Persian member of the royal family of Georgia (b. 1770, d. after 1830).

  • ALEXANDRIA

    P. Leriche

    general designation of cities whose foundation is credited to Alexander the Great (356-23 B.C.).

  • ALEXANDROPOLIS

    P. Leriche

    name of a number of cities. According to certain historians, these cities were founded after Alexander’s death; others call some of these same cities Alexandria.

  • ALF LAYLA WA LAYLA

    Ch. Pellat

    “One thousand nights and one night,” Arabic title of the world-famous collection of tales known in English as The Arabian Nights. 

  • ALFARIC, PROSPER

    H. C. Puech

    (1876-1955), French historian of religions.  

  • ALFĪYA VA ŠALFĪYA

    Cross-Reference

    name given to illustrated books, in particular one by Azraqī, describing various kinds of sexual relationships between men and women. See AZRAQI.

  • ʿALĪ ʿAJAMĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See ʿALĪ, ḴᵛĀJA.

  • ʿALĪ AKBAR

    J. Calmard

    Imam Ḥosayn’s eldest son, killed at the age of 18, 19, or 25 at the battle of Karbalā on the day of ʿĀšūrā (10 Moḥarram 61/10 October 680).

  • ʿALĪ AKBAR ḤOSAYNĪ ARDESTĀNĪ

    K. A. Nizami

    Indo-Muslim taḏkera writer, remembered solely for his unpublished Maǰmaʿ al-awlīāʾ, an encyclopedia of Sufi saints compiled in 1043/1633-34 and dedicated to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahān (1037-68/1628-58).

  • ʿALĪ AKBAR ḴEṬĀʾĪ

    T. Yazici

    (15th-16th centuries), author of the Persian Ḵeṭāy-nāma or “Book of Cathay,” i.e., of China.

  • ʿALĪ AKBAR ŠAHMĪRZĀDĪ

    M. Momen

    known as Ḥāǰǰ Āḵund, a prominent Iranian Bahāʾī (b. 1842).

  • ʿALĪ AL-AʿLĀ

    H. Algar

    (d. 822/1419), also known as Amīr Sayyed ʿAlī, principal successor of Fażlallāh Astarābādī, founder of the Ḥorūfī sect.

  • ʿALĪ AL-HĀDĪ

    W. Madelung

    the 10th imam of the Emāmī Shiʿites (d. 254/868).