Table of Contents

  • IRAQ vi. PAHLAVI PERIOD, 1921-79

    Mohsen M. Milani

    Relations between Iran and Iraq underwent three different phases between 1921, when Britain installed Faysal Ibn Hossein as king of a newly formed nation-state of Iraq and 1979, when the Pahlavi dynasty was swept away by revolution.

  • IRAQ vii. IRAN-IRAQ WAR

    Saskia M. Gieling

    The war between Iran and Iraq commenced with the Iraqi invasion of Iran on 22 September 1980, and ended with the bilateral acceptance of the UN Security Council Resolution 598 on 20 July 1988.

  • IRAQ viii. THE SHIʿITE SHRINE CITIES OF IRAQ

    cross-reference

    See ʿATABĀT.

  • IRAQ ix. IRANIAN COMMUNITY IN IRAQ

    cross-reference

    See DIASPORA vi.

  • IRAQ x. SHIʿITES OF IRAQ

    Meir Litvak

    Iraq was the cradle of Shiʿism, where it evolved as a political and religious movement, yet, Shiʿites became a majority there only during the 19th century.

  • IRAQ xi. SHIʿITE SEMINARIES

    Meir Litvak

    The communities of learning in the shrine cities of Najaf and Karbalā emerged as the most important centers of Twelver Shiʿite learning during the 19th century.

  • IRAQ xii. PERSIAN SCHOOLS IN IRAQ

    Eqbal Yaghmaʾi

    At the time of the 1905-11 Constitutional Revolution in Persia, local committees in Iraq created Persian-language schools with the backing of the leading, progressive religious scholars.

  • IRAQ xiii. PERSIAN NEWSPAPERS IN IRAQ: 1909-22

    Nassereddin Parvin

    The publication of Persian-language newspapers in Iraq began with the implementation of the 1909 Ottoman Constitutional Law.

  • IRON AGE

    Oscar White Muscarella

    In Iran the term Iron Age is employed to identify a cultural change that occurred centuries earlier than the time accorded its use elsewhere in the Near East, and not to acknowledge the introduction of a new metal technology.

  • IRON IN EASTERN IRAN

    B. A. Litvinsky

    Ancient iron objects in Central Asia were found for the first time at the southern mound of Anau (Turkmenistan) in 1904; these should be dated to the 9th-8th centuries BCE.

  • IRONSIDE, WILLIAM EDMUND

    Denis Wright

    (1880-1959), Field Marshall, 1st Baron Ironside of Archangel and Ironside, noted for his important role as commander of British forces in Persia in 1920-21.

  • ʿISĀ B. ṢAHĀRBOḴT

    L. Richter-Bernburg

    medical author of the third/ninth century, from Gondēšāpur. descendant of an apparently Nestorian Christian Syro-Persian family.

  • ʿISĀ B. YAḤYĀ MASIḤI JORJĀNI

    David Pingree

    (d. after 925), Abu Sahl, physician, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer. Little is securely known about the life of this Christian scholar.

  • ISAAC

    Sebastian Brock

    bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and Catholicos of the Church of the East (399-410). At the importnt church synod held, with permission of the Sasanian king, not long before his death, he worked with Marutha, bishop of Maipharqat, to obtain the approval of the creed of the Council of Nicaea (325) on the part of  the Church of the East.

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  • ISAIAH, BOOK OF

    Shaul Shaked

    one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, traditionally arranged among those of the latter Prophets.

  • ISARDĀS NĀGAR

    Mario Casari

    (or Išwar Das, 1655-1749),  Hindu historian writing in Persian, author of  Fotuḥāt-e ʿālamgiri, a contemporary account of the reign of Awrangzēb.

  • ISFAHAN

    Multiple Authors

    ancient province and old city in central Iran. Isfahan city has served as one of the most important urban centers on the Iranian Plateau since ancient times.

  • ISFAHAN i. GEOGRAPHY

    EIr, Xavier de Planhol

    The province consists of 52 hydrological units belonging to 9 basins and 27 sub-basins. Rivers are small and temporary, with the exception of the Zāyandarud, which totals 405 km in length, with an average annual discharge of 1,053 mcm, average annual precipitation of 450 mm, and a basin area of 27,100 km.2.

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  • ISFAHAN ii. HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

    Xavier de Planhol

    The Isfahan oasis, as a prosperous area of agricultural life, eventually fostered the foundation of a major city—one whose strategic location helped it to dominate the entire area of Iran.

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  • ISFAHAN iii. POPULATION

    Heidi Walcher, Habibollah Zanjani

    Isfahan’s population size from the Safavid through the Qajar periods, as reported by European travelers and diplomats, remained largely a matter of speculation.

  • ISFAHAN iii. POPULATION (1) The Qajar Period

    Heidi Walcher

    Moḥammad-Mahdi Arbāb, a native of Isfahan, maintained that, at the time of Nāṣer-al-Din Shah’s accession in 1848, there were 200,000 city inhabitants, with that number decreasing to about 80,000 for a period before growing again.

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  • ISFAHAN iii. POPULATION (2) Isfahan Province

    Habibollah Zanjani

    In 2001, the sub-provinces of Isfahan (with more than 1.6 million), Kāšān, and Najafabād (with more than 300,000) were the most populated, while the sub-provinces of Naṭanz, Fereydunšahr, and Ardestān were the least populated with populations of less than 50,000 persons.

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  • ISFAHAN iii. POPULATION (3) Isfahan City

    Habibollah Zanjani

    As the capital of Isfahan Province, the city accounted, in 1996, for about 32.2 percent of the total population of the province and 43.4 percent of its urban population. Isfahan is also the third most populated city in the country, behind Tehran and Mashad.

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  • ISFAHAN iv. PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD

    J. Hansman and EIr

    The Arab geographers  report that the Sasanian city of Isfahan comprised two adjoining towns: Jayy, the fortified town and province center and, two miles (mil) away, Yahudiya, a Jewish settlement.

  • ISFAHAN v. LOCAL HISTORIOGRAPHY

    JÜRGEN PAUL

    Isfahan is exceptional in the number and variety of works of local historiography; no other Persian city has attracted nearly as many such works.

  • ISFAHAN vi. MEDIEVAL PERIOD

    Hossein Kamaly

    The history of Isfahan prior to the city’s efflorescence in the 17th century often traced alternating cycles of urbanization and de-urbanization.

  • ISFAHAN vii. SAFAVID PERIOD

    Masashi Haneda and Rudi Matthee

    Isfahan came under Safavid rule in 1503 following Shah Esmāʿil’s defeat of Solṭān Morād, the Āq Qoyunlu ruler of Erāq-e ʿAjam, near Hamadān.

  • Isfahan ix. THE PAHLAVI PERIOD AND THE POST-REVOLUTION ERA

    Habib Borjian

    In the process of consolidating his power in Isfahan, Reza Shah managed to constrain two powerful social groups: the Shiʿite clergy and the Baḵtiāri tribesmen.

  • ISFAHAN x. MONUMENTS

    Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

    According to the French traveler Jean Chardin, in the late 17th century Isfahan housed some 162 mosques, 48 theological colleges (madrasa), 1,802 caravansaries, and 273 bathhouses.

  • Isfahan x. MONUMENTS (1) A Historical Survey

    Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

     Isfahan’s monuments developed in the early medieval period first under the ʿAbbāsid caliphate and Buyid patronage. But many of the extant monuments of Isfahan date to the periods in history when the city served as the capital of the ruling dynasties of the Great Saljuqs (1040-1194) and the Safavids (1501-1722).

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  • Isfahan x. Monuments (2) Palaces

    Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

    European visitors to Safavid Persia, for example, found themselves increasingly bound by Isfahan, where they were able to gain a royal audience or conduct their business with the court and government bureaucracy without having to follow the itinerant monarchs.

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  • Isfahan x. Monuments (3) Mosques

    Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

    Isfahan is known historically for its large number of mosques. According to Abu Noʿaym of Isfahan, the first large mosque in Isfahan was built during the Caliphate of Imam ʿAli b. Abi Ṭāleb (r. 656-61). The French traveler Jean Chardin counted 162 mosques during his travels to Isfahan in the middle of the 17th century.

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  • Isfahan x. Monuments (4) Madrasas

    Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

    The earliest extant madrasa in Isfahan is the 1325 Emāmi Madrasa, which is also known as the Madrasa-ye Bābā Qāsem after the name of its first teacher, who is buried in a nearby tomb. As in Persian mosque type, this and most other madrasas in Persia follow the four-ayvān courtyard-centered plan.

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  • Isfahan x. Monuments (5) Bridges

    Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

    On the southern edge of the city of Isfahan lies the Zāyandarud River, the unnavigable river that has been the major source of water in the region since the earliest settlements in its environs. Until the transfer of the Safavid capital to Isfahan in the late 16th century, the river was well outside the city walls.

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  • Isfahan x. Monuments (6) Bibliography

    Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

  • Isfahan xi. SCHOOL OF PAINTING AND CALLIGRAPHY

    Massumeh Farhad

    The “Isfahan” school of painting and calligraphy generally refers to works of art associated with the city, when it was chosen as the Safavid capital. The school has two distinct phases of first the followers of Reżā ʿAbbāsi and then the European style.

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  • Isfahan xii. BAZAAR: PLAN AND FUNCTION

    Willem Floor

    It is one of the best-preserved examples of a large, enclosed, and covered bazaar complex that was typical of most cities in the Muslim world prior to the 20th century. The oldest areas of the present-day bazaar date from the early 17th century; its first stone was laid in 1603.

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  • Isfahan xiii. CRAFTS

    Habib Borjian and EIr

    Isfahan has maintained its position as a major center for traditional crafts in Persia. The crafts of Isfahan encompass textiles, carpets, metalwork, woodwork, ceramics, painting, and inlay works of various kind. The work is carried out in different settings including small industrial and bazaar workshops, in the homes of craftsmen and women, and in rural cottage industries.

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  • Isfahan xiv. MODERN ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES

    Habib Borjian

    This sub-section is divided into the following parts: (1) Modern Economy of the Province; (2) Industries of Isfahan City.

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  • Isfahan xiv. MODERN ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES (1) The Province

    Habib Borjian

    The distribution of economic activities within Isfahan, with an urbanism of 76 percent, is highly uneven. The oasis of Isfahan, watered by the Zāyandarud, is responsible for nearly half of rural activities.

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  • Isfahan xiv. MODERN ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES (2) Isfahan City

    Habib Borjian

    The stagnation experienced after the fall of the Safavids was even more marked in the 19th century, owing to European competition that had rendered many local industries practically extinct.

  • Isfahan xv. EDUCATION AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS

    Maryam Borjian and Habib Borjian

    The Lazarists, with the support of the prince-governor, founded in 1875 schools for both boys and girls and an infirmary. These appear to be the predecessors of the boys school L’Etoile du Matin and the girls school Rudāba.

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  • Isfahan xvi. FOLKLORE AND LEGEND

    Mahmoud Omidsalar

    Systematic collection of the folklore of Isfahan is mostly due to Amirqoli Amini, whose first publication was a collection of Persian dicta entitled hazār o yak soḵan.

  • Isfahan xvii. ARMENIAN COMMUNITY

    Cross-Reference

    See JULFA.

  • Isfahan xviii. JEWISH COMMUNITY

    Amnon Netzer

    According to Armenian sources, the Sasanian Šāpūr II transferred many Jews from Armenia and settled them in Isfahan. According to the Middle Persian text Šahristānihā ī Ērān, Yazdegerd I settled Jews in Jay (Gay) at the request of his Jewish wife Šōšan-doḵt.

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  • ISFAHAN xix. JEWISH DIALECT

    Donald Stilo

    The Jewish dialects of Isfahan, Kāshān, Hamadān, Borujerd, Yazd, Kermān and others belong to the Central dialect group of Northwestern Iranian. All of Northwestern Iranian languages, in turn, are descended from Median.

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  • Isfahan xx. GEOGRAPHY OF THE MEDIAN DIALECTS OF ISFAHAN

    Habib Borjian

    The continuum of Central Plateau Dialects appears along a northwest-souteast axis traversing the modern provinces of Hamadān, Markazi, Isfahan, and Yazd, that is, the area of Ancient Media Major.

  • Isfahan xxi. PROVINCIAL DIALECTS

    Donald Stilo

    The Iranian languages of Isfahan Province are of three basic types: Northwest Iranian dialects belonging to the Central Plateau Dialect group, and two different types of Southwest Iranian  languages: slightly divergent dialects of Persian and  large pockets of Lori.

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  • Isfahan xxii. GAZI DIALECT

    Donald Stilo

    Gazi belongs to the Central Plateau Dialect group of Northwestern Iranian (NWI) languages. Gazi, the Jewish dialect of Isfahan, Sedehi, and probably other uninvestigated dialects of the area are grouped together as one subgroup of CPD.

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  • Isfahan Mode

    Cross-Reference

    a dastgāh in Persian music. See BAYĀT-E EṢFAHĀN.

  • ISFAHAN SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY

    Sajjad H. Rizvi

    term coined to describe a philosophical and mystical movement patronized by the court of Shah ʿAbbās I (r. 1588-1629), centered in the new Safavid capital of Isfahan.

  • ISFAHAN viii. QAJAR PERIOD

    Heidi Walcher

    The historical changes affecting the Isfahan of this period included loss of its status as the royal capital and its transformation into a major provincial city.

  • ISIDORUS OF CHARAX

    Rüdiger Schmitt

    author of the Stathmoì Parthikoí (in Latin Mansiones Parthicae) “Parthian Stations,” which is the only Greek text preserved at all of the genre of the itinerary or route description.

  • IŠKATA

    Rüdiger Schmitt

    in the Avesta the name of a mountain and of the land (situated in the Hindu Kush region) which is dominated by this mountain.

  • ISLAM AKHUN

    Ursula Sims-Williams

    (Eslām-āḵūn), treasure-seeker and swindler active in Khotan and neighboring areas between 1894 and 1901, best known, however, as an adept forger of manuscripts and block prints. He was eventually unmasked by Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943) in 1901.

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  • ISLAM IN IRAN i - iv

    Multiple Authors

    The following series of articles provide an overview of some historical, contemporary, and especially political aspects of the topic that are of special interest and relevance in the world today.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN v. MESSIANIC ISLAM IN IRAN

    Abbas Amanat

    Messianism is one of the most powerful, diverse and enduring expressions of Islam in Iran throughout its long history.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN vi. THE CONCEPT OF MAHDI IN SUNNI ISLAM

    Said Amir Arjomand

    The Savior is a descendant of the Prophet whose expected return to rule the world will restore justice, peace, and true religion.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN vii. THE CONCEPT OF MAHDI IN TWELVER SHIʿISM

    Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi

    Mahdism in Twelver Shiʿism inherited many of its elements from previous religious trends.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN viii. THE OCCULTATION OF MAHDI

    cross-reference

    See ḠAYBA.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN ix. THE DEPUTIES OF MAHDI

    Verena Klemm

    according to Twelver Shiʿite tradition, the four intermediaries between the Hidden Imam and the faithful during his “Minor Occultation,” 874-941 CE.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN x. THE ROOTS OF POLITICAL SHIʿISMs

    Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi

    By “political Shiʿism” we mean here the politicization of theological and legal doctrines of Twelver Shiʿism among some thinkers, in order to make of these doctrines an ideology of legitimization of religious authority and power.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN xi. JIHAD IN ISLAM

    David Cook

    The term jihad (Ar. jehād “struggle, striving”) occurs (either in its root or derivatives) about forty times in the Qurʾān with the secondary, but dominant, meaning of “regulated warfare with divine sanction.”

  • ISLAM IN IRAN xii. MARTYRDOM IN ISLAM

    Cross-Reference

    Forthcoming online.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN xiii. ISLAMIC POLITICAL MOVEMENTS IN 20TH CENTURY IRAN

    Ahmad Ashraf

    New Islamic political movements first emerged in the Near East, the Indian Subcontinent, and Indonesia in the middle of the 19th century.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN xiv - xviii

    Cross-Reference

  • ISMAʿILISM

    Multiple Authors

    a major Shiʿite Muslim community. The Ismaʿilis have had a long and eventful history dating back to the middle of the 2nd/8th century when the Emāmi Shiʿis split into several groups.

  • ISMAʿILISM i. ISMAʿILI STUDIES

    Farhad Daftary

    In its modern and scientific form, dating to the 1930s, Ismaʿili studies represents one of the newest fields of Islamic studies.

  • ISMAʿILISM ii. ISMAʿILI HISTORIOGRAPHY

    Farhad Daftary

    The general lack of Ismaʿili interest in historiography is well attested by the fact that only a few works of historical nature have been found in the rich corpus of Ismaʿili literature.

  • ISMAʿILISM iii. ISMAʿILI HISTORY

    Farhad Daftary

    On the death of Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq in 148/765 his followers from among the Imami Shiʿites split into six groups, of which two may be identified as proto-Ismaʿilis or earliest Ismaʿilis.

  • ISMAʿILISM iv - x

    cross-reference

  • ISMAʿILISM xi. ISMAʿILI JURISPRUDENCE

    Ismail K. Poonawala

    The Ismaʿili system of jurisprudence was founded after the establishment of the Fatimid dynasty in North Africa.

  • ISMAʿILISM xii. ISMAʿILI HADITH

    Cross-Reference

    See HADITH iii.

  • ISMAʿILISM xiii. ISMAʿILI LITERATURE IN PERSIAN AND ARABIC

    Ismail K. Poonawala

    Ismaʿili literature (all the written products of scholarly disciplines delineated by learning, religion, and science) refers to the literary production of more than a millennium.

  • ISMAʿILISM xiv. ISMAʿILISM IN GINĀN LITERATURE

    Ali Sultaan Ali Asani

    Nezāri Ismaʿili texts from the Indian Subcontinent exhibit an adaptive response to the region’s complex religious, literary, and cultural environment.

  • ISMAʿILISM xv. NEZĀRI ISMAʿILI MONUMENTS

    Peter Willey

    The principal monuments of the Nezāri Ismaʿili state, which also defined and defended its boundaries, were the exceptionally well-constructed and provisioned castles.

  • ISMAʿILISM xvi. MODERN ISMAʿILI COMMUNITIES

    Azim Nanji and Zulfikar Hirji

    The Ismaʿilis consist of two main branches—the Nezāri Ismaʿilis and the Mustaʿlian Ṭayyebi Ismaʿilis. Both have their roots in the Fatimid period of Ismaʿili history.

  • ISMAʿILISM xvii. THE IMAMATE IN ISMAʿILISM

    Azim Nanji

    in common with all major Shiʿite groups, the Ismaʿilis believe that the Imamate is a divinely sanctioned and guided institution.

  • ISRAEL

    Multiple Authors

    : relations with Iran. OVERVIEW of the entry: i. Diplomatic and political relations. ii. The Jewish Persian community: forthcoming. iii. Iranian Studies in Israel: forthcoming. iv. Persian art collections in Israel: forthcoming.

  • ISRAEL i. RELATIONS WITH IRAN

    David Menashri, Trita Parsi

    The relationship between Israel and Iran has, since the very inception of the Jewish state in 1948, been a complex function of Iran’s geo-strategic imperatives as a non-Arab, non-Sunni state.

  • ISRAEL ii. JEWISH PERSIAN COMMUNITY

    David Yeroushalmi

    Jews of Persian origin and their descendants who live in the State of Israel and constitute an integral and active part of its general population.

  • ISRAEL iii. IRANIAN STUDIES

    Shaul Shaked

    A department of Iranian Studies was only formally established in Israel in 1970, but scholars working in Israel have been interested in aspects of Iranian history and culture since long before that date.

  • ISRAEL iv. PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS

    RACHEL MILSTEIN

    Iron Age II-III is represented by a few clay rhytons, including one with human face and hands; anthropomorphic and zoomorphic vessels; tiny animals made of baked clay and frit; a metal figurative comb; an Elamite figure of a goddess; a finial of a standard portraying two lions from Luristan; and various kinds of daily objects.

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  • ISRĀʾILIYĀT

    Cross-Reference

    See QEṢAṢ AL-ANBIĀʾ.

  • ITALY

    Multiple Authors

    : relations with Iran. Overview of the entry. i. Introduction. ii. Diplomatic and commercial relations. iii. Cultural relations. iv. Travel accounts. v. Iranian Studies, pre-Islamic. vi. Excavations in Iran. vii. Iranian Studies, Islamic period. viii. Persian manuscripts. ix. Persian art collections. x. Lirica Persica. xi. Translations of Persian works into Italian. xii. Translations of Italian works into Persian. xiii. Iranians in Italy. xiv. Current centers of Iranian Studies in Italy. xv. IsMEO

  • Italy i. INTRODUCTION

    Carlo G. Cereti

    Direct relations between the Italian peninsula and the Iranian plateau date at least from the Parthian period,  when the border between the Arsacids and the Roman Empire was set on the Euphrates.

  • Italy ii. DIPLOMATIC AND COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

    Mario Casari

    A privileged relationship between Iran and Italy dates back to the age of the ancient Roman and Persian empires. Despite their ever-changing internal affairs, the two political centers of Europe and Asia, throughout the entire ancient time, experienced long lasting contacts.

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  • Italy iii. CULTURAL RELATIONS

    Mario Casari

    during the Middle Ages, when Italy and Persia were not clearly definable cultural entities, the translated works of significant Persian literature had a great influence on Italian and European culture.

  • Italy iv. TRAVEL ACCOUNTS

    Michele Bernardini, Anna Vanzan

    Italian travel accounts represent a major source for the history of Iran, especially that of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

  • Italy v. IRANIAN STUDIES, PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD

    Carlo G. Cereti

    Although Italian contacts with Iran date from ancient times, scientific interest in pre-Islamic Iran cannot be traced earlier than the second half of the eighteenth century.

  • Italy vi. ITALIAN EXCAVATIONS IN IRAN

    Pierfrancesco Callieri, Bruno Genito

    From the early 20th century on, Italians participated in the scholarly investigation of ancient Iran, but direct involvement in field archeology dates from relatively recent times.

  • Italy vii. IRANIAN STUDIES, ISLAMIC PERIOD

    Mario Casari

    The earliest known references to Persia by Italian writers are gleaned from numerous notes in the oldest medieval travel accounts, dating from the 13th century onwards.

  • Italy viii. PERSIAN MANUSCRIPTS

    Paola Orsatti

    Italy houses 439 Persian manuscripts in two public archives and thirty public libraries located in fifteen different cities.

  • Italy ix. PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS

    M. V. Fontana

    ix. PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS Since the Middle Ages, Italians have been some of the greatest collectors of Islamic art in Europe. The Islamic market that Italy drew on was very large, and some of the most opulent works were imported from Persia.

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  • Italy x. LIRICA PERSICA

    Daniela Meneghini

    a project set up in 1989 by the School of Persian Literary Studies at Venice University to create a database for Persian lyric verse.

  • Italy xi. TRANSLATIONS OF PERSIAN WORKS INTO ITALIAN

    Mario Casari

    The period of Italian translations of Persian literary works from the Islamic era began, and not by accident, in the post-Risorgimento (Italian unification) age (1880s) with epic poetry. 

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  • Italy xii. TRANSLATIONS OF ITALIAN WORKS INTO PERSIAN

    MARIO CASARI

    Two texts by Italian authors appear to be the first known translations of European literary works into Persian carried out in the modern age.

  • Italy xiii. IRANIANS IN ITALY

    Mario Casari

    The presence of Persians in Italy has always been fragmentary and discontinuous, which never led to any extended, cohesive social groups of permanent residents.

  • Italy xiv. CURRENT CENTERS OF IRANIAN STUDIES IN ITALY

    Carlo G. Cereti

    Studies on subjects related to the Iranian cultural world can boast an ancient tradition in Italy, but not as an independent field of study at academic level. Things have considerably changed in recent times.

  • Italy xv. IsMEO

    Antonio Panaino

    acronym for the Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (‘Italian Institute for Middle and Far East’), founded in 1933.