Table of Contents

• NABIL-AL-DAWLA

  Guity Etemad

  ʿAliqoli Khan learned English and French at the Dār al-Fonun School and, with his older brother, Ḥosaynqoli Khan Kalāntar, frequented traditional Persian gymnasia, where the latter was converted to the Bahai faith by a wrestler called Ostād Ḡolām-Ḥosayn Kāši, and he in turn led ʿAliqoli Khan into the new faith in about 1895.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NABIL-E AKBAR

  Minou Foadi

  title of Āqā Moḥammad Qāʾeni, a prominent Bahai author and apologist (1829-92).

• NABIL-E AʿẒAM ZARANDI, MOLLĀ MOḤAMMAD

  Vahid Rafati

  (1831-1892), Persian Bahai poet, teacher, and chronicler of Babi history.

• NĀDER SHAH

  Ernest Tucker

  ruler of Iran, 1736-47. He rose from obscurity to control an empire that briefly stretched across Iran, northern India, and parts of Central Asia, with a reputation as a skilled military commander and with  success in battle against numerous opponents, including the Ottomans and the Mughals.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NĀDERA

  Evelin Grassi

  (1792-1842), Transoxianan poetess of Ḵᵛoqand, who wrote in both Persian–with the pen name Maknuna–and Čaḡatāy under the pseudonyms of Nādera and Kāmela.

• NADERPOUR, NADER

  Houra Yavari

  Naderpour received his primary education in Tehran and in 1942 was enrolled at Irānšahr high school. As was the case with a good number of his peers, he developed an interest in politics, and joined the nationalist Pan-Iranist Party for a short period of time. He later joined the Youth Organization of the Tudeh Party.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NAFAR

  Pierre Oberling

  a tribe of Fārs and the Tehran region. Although of Turkic origin, the Nafar of Fārs have become a mixture of Turkic, Arab, and Lor elements.

• NAJAF

  Rose Aslan

  also known as al-Najaf al-Ašraf, a town in southern Iraq and one of the most important pilgrimage destinations for the Shiʿites. The city is tied to the death of ʿAli b. Abi Ṭāleb and his burial site, and has been home to many illustrious religious scholars over the past thousand years, rivaling Qom as a center of Shiʿite scholarship.

• NAJM-AL-SALṬANA

  Mansoureh Ettehadieh

  a Qajar princess whose life spanned the late Qajar and early Pahlavi eras (b. 1231-32 Š./1853; d. 1311 Š./1932).

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NAJM-E ṮĀNI

  Michel M. Mazzaoui

  (d. 918/1512), the third holder of the office of wakil-e nafs-e nafis-e Homāyun under Shah Esmāʿil Ṣafawi, the representative of the Shah both in his religious and in his political capacity.

• NAḴJAVĀN

  C. Edmund Bosworth

  the administrative center of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) with its own elected representative assembly, within the Republic of Azerbaijan but separated from it by Armenia.

• NAḴJAVĀNI, ḤĀJJ MOḤAMMAD

  Hushang Ettehad and EIr

  (1880-1962), businessman, scholar, and collector of manuscripts.

• NAḴL

  Peter Chelkowski

  As ritual objects for the ʿĀšurāʾ, naḵls are built from wood in various sizes, from simple constructions that can be carried by two persons to colossal structures about three stories high that have to be supported by hundreds of men.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NAḴŠABI, ŻIĀʾ-AL-DIN

  Mohammad Karimi Zanjani Asl

  14th-century Češti mystic and author. Though originally from Naḵšab (or Nasaf, in Transoxiana), his family emigrated to India at the time of Mongol incursions.

• NALÎ

  Keith Hitchins

  Through his extensive travels and continuous studies Nali acquired a solid knowledge of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, which allowed him to draw on three rich literary traditions for his own work. His work, and his patriotic sentiments, were much affected, too, by the Ottoman government’s campaign to eliminate the autonomous Kurdish principalities.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NĀMA-YE BĀNOVĀN

  Nassereddin Parvin

  (Women’s journal), a biweekly paper published in Tehran between 1 Mordād 1299 and 24 Khordād 1300 Š. (23 July 1920-14 June 1921).

• NĀMA-YE BĀNOVĀN-E IRĀN

  Nassereddin Parvin

  (The journal of the women of Iran), a weekly paper published in Tehran from Farvard in 1317 until Tir 1319 Š. (March 1938-June 1940).

• NAQŠ-E ROSTAM

  Hubertus von Gall

  a perpendicular cliff wall in Fārs, about 6 km northwest of Persepolis, a site unusually rich in Achaemenid and Sasanian monuments.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NARSEH

  Ursula Weber

  Sasanian king (r. 293-302 CE), who was crowned only at the advanced age of approximately 60-65 after the short reign of his grandnephew, Bahrām III.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NASAFI, ʿAZIZ

  Hermann Landolt

   b. Moḥammad, 7th/13th-century mystical thinker and scholar from Nasaf (Naḵšab) in Transoxania (present Qarshi or Karshi in Uzbekistan), author of many works in Persian.

• NĀṢER-AL-MOLK, ABU’L-QĀSEM

  Shaul Bakhash

  (1856-1927), Qajar era courtier and statesman, prime minister during the early constitutional period, and the regent during the minority of Aḥmad Shah.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NASIM-e ŠEMĀL

  Nassereddin Parvin

  (in popular parlance, Nasim-e šomāl; Breeze of the North), one of the best-known and most popular periodicals in the history of Iranian journalism.

• NAṢIR-AL-DIN ṬUSI

  Cross-Reference

  See ṬUSI, NAṢIR-AL-DIN.

• NAṢR (I) B. AḤMAD (I) B. ESMĀʿIL

  C. Edmund Bosworth

  ruler of the Samanid dynasty in Transoxiana and Khorasan between 301/914 and 331/943.

• NASU

  Mahnaz Moazami

  the demon of carrion, the greatest polluter of Ahura Mazdā’s world.

• NATEL-KHANLARI, Parviz

  CROSS-REFERENCE

  See KHANLARI, Parviz.

• NATIONAL PARKS OF IRAN

  Eskandar Firouz

  including national nature monuments, wildlife refuges, and protected areas.

• NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY IN IRAN

  Pirooz Ashraf

  a brief history from the outset to the Islamic Revolution of 1978-79.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NAVSARI

  Cross-Reference

  city and district of Gujarat State, adjoining Surat. See PARSI COMMUNITIES i. Early History, ZOROASTRIANISM ii. Historical Review: from the Arab Conquest to Modern Times.

• NAVY i. Nāder Shah and the Iranian Navy

  Michael Axworthy

  earliest moves toward establishing a navy arose out of the consequences of his military campaigns in the interior of Persia.

• NAWBAḴTI FAMILY

  Sean W. Anthony

  a notable Shiʿite family of Persian descent, many of whose members, like their eponymous ancestor Nawbaḵt and his son Abu Sahl Fażl, ranked among the local illuminati of Baghdad.

• NAWBAḴTI, ḤASAN

  David Pingree

  b. Musā Abu Moḥammad, 4th/10th century theologian and philosopher in Baghdad, d. between 300/912-3 and 310/922-3.

• NAWʿI

  Sunil Sharma

  MOḤAMMAD-REŻĀ ḴABUŠĀNI (1563-1610),  Persian poet in India, best known for his long maṯnawi, Suz o godāz, a romance centered on a suttee (sati) heroine.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NAWM-NĀMA

  Orkhan Mir-Kasimov

  the dream journal of Fażl-Allāh Astarābādi (1339-1394), the founder of the Ḥorufi movement.

• NAWWĀB ŠIRĀZI, ʿALI-AKBAR

  Manṣur Rastegār Fasāʾi

  (1773-1847), a scholar, author, and poet also known by the pen-name Besmel.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NAXARAR

  N. Garsoian

  term given to the para-feudal, social pattern that early Armenia apparently shared with Parthian Iran, although it was preserved into the Sasanian period and beyond.

• NĀẒER

  Cross-Reference

  title of the director of the Safavid royal secretariat.  See DAFTAR-ḴĀNA-YE HOMĀYŪN.

• NAẒIRI NIŠĀPURI

  Paul Losensky

  Indo-Persian poet of the late 16th and early 17th centuries (b. Nishapur, ca. 1560; d. Ahmadabad, between 1612 and 1614).

• NEDĀY-E ESLĀM

  Nassereddin Parvin

  (The voice of Islam), a pro-constitutional newspaper lithographed and published in Shiraz, 1907.

• NEGAHBAN, EZAT O.

  Kamyar Abdi

  eminent Iranian archaeologist. Negahban carried out his first series of excavations in 1961 at the site of Mehrānābād about 25 km south of Tehran on the road to Sāveh.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NEHĀVAND

  C. Edmund Bosworth

  (Nehāvand), a town in western Iran, situated in the northern Zagros region.

• NEʿMAT-ALLĀH MOKRI, Ḥājj

  Cross-Reference

  See JEYḤUNĀBĀDI.

• NÉMETH, Gyula

  András Bodrogligeti

  Nemeth's scholarship was devoted almost entirely to various aspects of Ottoman-Turkish studies.  A few works of his, however, crossed over into Iranian studies and made lasting contributions to this field, including the Persian-Arabic elements in the Turkish language. 

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NEMRUD DAĞI

  Bruno Jacobs

  The burial mound of Antiochus I is flanked by terraces in the east, north, and west. The settings of the sculptures on the east and west terraces are essentially identical: in each case, a row of five limestone statues (originally up to 8 m in height) overlook the terrace, their backs to the mound.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NEO-ARAMAIC LANGUAGE

  Cross-Reference

  See  ARAMAIC, IRAN vii. NON-IRANIAN LANGUAGES (10). Aramaic ,  ASSYRIANS IN IRAN.

• NEOLITHIC AGE IN IRAN

  Frank Hole

  Originally the term “Neolithic” referred to the final Stone Age before the ages of metals.Today “Neolithic” usually refers to the period of the origins and early development of agricultural economies.

• NEŠALJ

  Multiple Authors

  large village in central Iran known for its picturesque architecture, the festivity of Friday of Nešalj in the early autumn, and its extinct Median dialect.

• NEŠALJ i. The Village

  Habib Borjian

  located in Niāsar Rural District, Niāsar District, Kashan Sub-Province, Isfahan Province.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NEŠALJ ii. The Dialect

  Habib Borjian

  Nešalj had a Median dialect of Rāji variety, a language group spread throughout Kashan region, but it has been succumbing to Persian in recent decades.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NETHERLANDS : Archives

  Willem Floor

  The main sources for Iran, the Persian Gulf and the Dutch-Persian relations are found in the Dutch National Archives (Nationaal Archief, NA).

• NEW JULFA

  Cross-Reference

  the Armenian settlement at Isfahan. See JULFA.

• NEY-DĀWUD, Morteżā

  Morteżā Ḥoseyni Dehkordi

  (1900-1990), celebrated composer of music and performer and instructor of the tār (a plucked, long-necked lute).

• NĒZAK

  Frantz Grenet

  dynastic name appearing on a long series of silver coins issued by a local dynasty in Kāpisā (in the region of Kabul; Sk. Kāpiśī) ca. late 7th century C.E.

• NEẒĀM-AL-MOLK

  Neguin Yavari

  (1018-92), vizier of two Saljuq sultans, rose from a relatively lowly position in the bureaucracy of the provincial governor of Balḵ (Balkh) to become the de facto ruler over a vast empire, with a final apotheosis as the archetypal good vizier in the world of Islam.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NEẒĀM-AL-SALṬANA, ḤOSAYNQOLI KHAN

  Mansoureh Ettehadieh

  (1832-1908), official, governor, and prime minister in the Qajar era.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NEẒĀMI QUNAVI

  Osman G. Özgüdenlı

  (Neẓāmi of Konya; d. 1469-73?), poet in Persian, Arabic, and Turkish.

• NEZĀR B. AL-MOSTANṢER, ABU MANṢUR

  Farhad Daftary

  (1045-1095), Fatimid crown prince and Nezāri Ismaʿili imam.  He was the eldest son of al-Mostanṣer Be’llāh, the eighth Fatimid caliph and the eighteenth Ismaʿili imam.

• NEZĀRI QOHESTĀNI

  Nadia Eboo Jamal

  (1247-1320-21), a Persian poet of Nezāri Ismaʿili affiliation; born in Birjand, a commercial town in Qohestān, southern Khorasan.

• NIĀZI, FĀTEḤ

  Keith Hitchins

  (1914-1991), Tajik prose writer; began his literary career in the early 1930s as a writer of verse in Uzbek. As a fiction writer Niāzi began with short pieces, which he published in a collection entitled Intiqomi tojik. Niāzi’s reputation as a writer rests on three long novels, the writing of which spanned his entire career. All of them are concerned with the Second World War and are based upon his own experiences.

• NIETZSCHE AND PERSIA

  Daryoush Ashouri

  Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900), the great German thinker, is best known as a philosopher of culture.

• NIGHTINGALE

  Cross-Reference

  See BOLBOL.

• NĪRANGDĪN CEREMONY

  Firoze M. Kotwal and Philip G. Kreyenbroek

  a Zoroastrian ritual to consecrate gōmēz, or bull’s urine; the consecrated liquid is known as nīrang or nīrangdīn.

• NISA

  Antonio Invernizzi

  New Nisa, capital of ancient Parthia, occupies a large area enclosed within stout mud-brick fortifications, which enclose a citadel. Excavations here have brought to light a monumental funerary building of the Parthian era with a flat, crenellated roof, a façade, and wall decoration with terracotta plates.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NISĀBURI, ḤASAN

  David Pingree

   b. Moḥammad al-Aʿraj, Neẓām-al-Din Qommi, astronomer; d. after 1311.

• NISĀYA

  Rüdiger Schmitt

  the Old Iranian name of several Iranian regions and places, which cannot easily be distinguished from one another.

• NISHAPUR i. Historical Geography and History to the Beginning of the 20th Century

  C. Edmund Bosworth

  Nishapur (Nišāpur) was, with Balḵ, Marv and Herat, one of the four great cities of the province of Khorasan.  It flourished in Sasanid and early Islamic times, but after the devastations of the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, subsided into a more modest role until it revived in the 20th century.

• NISHAPUR vi. Archeology

  Rocco Rante

  A major crossroad on the international trade route and silk road, the archeological area in Nishapur has two main sections which have been subjects of discoveries during different eras.

• NISHAPUR vii. Excavations by the Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Marika Sardar

  The MMA started expeditions in Iran in 1935 in Qaṣr-e Abu Naṣr, continued to Nishapur, and ended in 1948 after six seasons.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NISIBIS

  Samuel Lieu

  city in northern Mesopotamia, a major focus of military confrontations between the Roman and Sasanian empires an center of theological studies for the Church of the East. Once in Sasanian hands, the city’s role was reversed to that of advanced Persian base of operations against Roman and Byzantine frontier defenses.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NÖLDEKE, THEODOR

  Rüdiger Schmitt

  Nöldeke could convincingly prove the thesis already proposed by Niels Ludvig Westergaard (1815-1878) that Middle Persian was not an Irano-Semitic hybrid language, but an authentic Iranian dialect, the phonetic forms of which were “obscured by a partly cryptographic, partly extremely historicizing spelling.”

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NOMADISM

  Eckart Ehlers

  Pastoral nomadism is a livelihood form that is ecologically adjusted at a particular level to the utilization of marginal resources. These resources occur in areas too dry, too elevated, or too steep for agriculture to be a viable mode of livelihood, and the nomadic pastoralist thus makes use of resources that otherwise would be neglected.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NOṢAYRIS

  Meir M. Bar-Asher

  followers of Nusayrism, a syncretistic religion with close affinity to Shiʿism, whose adherents live mostly in Syria and southeastern Turkey.

• NOWRUZ

  Multiple Authors

  Nowruz, “New Day”, is a traditional ancient festival which celebrates the starts of the Persian New Year. It is the holiest and most joyful festival of the Zoroastrian year.

• NOWRUZ i. In the Pre-Islamic Period

  Mary Boyce

  Nowruz, “New Day”, is the holiest and most joyful festival of the Zoroastrian year. It is also its focal point, to which all other high holy days relate.

• NOWRUZ ii. In the Islamic Period

  A. Shapur Shahbazi

  Nowruz survived while less significant festivals were eclipsed by their Islamic rivals and gradually became abandoned by indifferent Mongol and Turkish rulers or hostile clerical authorities.

• NOWRUZ iii. In the Iranian Calendar

  Simone Cristoforetti

  The day Hormoz (the first day of any Persian month) of the month of Farvardin is the New Year day in the Persian calendar; at present it coincides with the day of the vernal equinox.

• NOWŠAHR

  Habib Borjian

  port city and sub-province in western Māzandarān Province.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NOZHAT AL-MAJĀLES

  Moḥammad Amin Riāḥi

  an anthology of over 4,000 quatrains (robāʾi) by some 300 poets of the 5th to 7th/11th-13th centuries, compiled around the middle of the 7th/13th century.

• NUḤ (II) B. MANṢUR (I)

  C. Edmund Bosworth

  (r. 976-97), ABU’L-QĀSEM, Samanid Amir, initially in both Transoxania and Khorasan, latterly in Transoxania only.

• NUR-AL-DIN MOḤAMMAD II B. ḤASAN

  Farhad Daftary

  (March 1148 - September 1210), an Ismaʿili imam; the fifth lord of Alamut who succeeded to the leadership of the Nezāri Ismaʿili state and daʿwa at the age of seventeen. He reigned for forty-four years, managing the affairs of the Nezāris, especially in Persia.

• NURI, FAŻL-ALLĀH

  Vanessa Martin

  (1843-1909), a prominent jurist who campaigned in the Constitutional Revolution of 1906-1909 for constitutionalism according to the šariʿa (canonical laws of Islam), and in its default, preferred absolutism to secularism.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• NURISTAN

  Max Klimburg

  (Nurestān), the “Land of Light,” a region to the northeast of Afghanistan, imbedded in the Hindu Kush valleys to the south of its main ridge.

• NUTS

  Cross-Reference

  See ĀJĪL.

• NYBERG, Henrik Samuel

  Carlo G. Cereti

  (1889-1974),  Swedish scholar of extremely broad interests, competent in a number of different fields, in both Semitic and Iranian studies.

• Nakisā va Bārbad

  music sample

• Newroz

  music sample

• Nowhe of Men's Mourning

  music sample

• Nowhe Zeynab

  music sample

• Nowruze-ḵuni

  music sample

• Neydāwud – Māhur

  music sample

• N~ CAPTIONS OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  Cross-Reference

  list of all the figure and plate images in the letter N entries.