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(or ESTERĀBĀD), the older Islamic name for the modern town of Gorgān in northeastern Iran, and also the name of an administrative province in Qajar times. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 8, pp. 838-840 ASTARĀBĀD (or ESTERĀBĀD), the older Islamic name for the modern town of Gorgān in northeastern Iran, and also the name of an administrative province in Qajar times. i. History The district and province. This lies at the southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea, and is essentially a lowland and piedmont area, rather drier in climate and…

literally, “commander of commanders,” hence “supreme commander,” a military title found from the early 4th/10th century onwards, first in Iraq and then in the Iranian lands. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 9, pp. 969-971 i. The Early Period The appearance of the term dates from the period when the ʿAbbasid caliphs’ direct political and military power was becoming increasingly enfeebled and powerful military leaders were taking over de facto executive power in Iraq. According to the sources, the commander Hārūn b. Ḡarīb is reported to have become amīr-al…

a town on the Caspian shore in the southwest of the modern province of Māzandarān, medieval Ṭabarestān. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 9, pp. 980-982 i. History In classical times, Āmol (Old Pers. *Āmṛda) fell within the province of Hyrcania, and in Alexander the Great’s time it was the home of the Mardoi or Amardoi, possibly a people of the pre-Iranian substratum, who were subjugated by the Parthian king Phraates I ca. 176 B.C. In the Sasanian period, Kavād’s eldest son Kāvūs was made ruler o…

a town and district in Khorasan. i. The town and district. ii. History. The town (1976: 47,719 inhabitants; lat 37°29’ N, long 57°17’ E) is situated at the foot of the Ālādāḡ. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 3, pp. 326-327 BOJNŪRD, a town and district in Khorasan. i. The Town and District The town of Bojnūrd (1976: 47,719 inhabitants), situated at 37°29’ north latitude and 57°17’ east longitude at the foot of the Ālādāḡ (q.v.) and in the center of the Khorasan trench, is of relatively recent origin. Possibly founded b…

Arabo-Persian form of the Central Asian title yabḡu. Although it is best known as a Turkish title of nobility, it was in use many centuries before the Turks appear in the historical record. A version of this article is available in print Volume XIV, Fascicle 3, pp. 314-317 JABḠUYA, Arabo-Persian form of the Central Asian title yabḡu. i. ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY Although yabḡu is best known as a Turkish title of nobility, it was in use many centuries before the Turks appear in the historical record. The earliest form of the word attested is the Chinese xihou (ancient i̯əp-g’u; Karlgren, pp. 67…

(Pers. gadāʾī, takaddī, soʾāl). i. In the early centuries of the Islamic period. ii. In Sufi literature and practice. iii. In later Iran. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 1, pp. 80-84 i. In the Early Centuries of the Islamic Period In early Islam, begging must have arisen in the first place from sheer economic necessity, but its continuance was soon buttressed by religious motives and, in particular, by the Sufi stress on tawakkol and toklān, utter dependence on God, which might mean resorting to mendicancy in order to survive. The early my…

archive, register, chancery, government office; also, collected works, especially of a poet. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 4, pp. 432-438 i. THE TERM Dīvān is a Persian loan-word in Arabic and was borrowed also at an earlier date into Armenian. It is attested in Zoroastrian Middle Persian in the spellings dpywʾn and dywʾn. It has long been recognized that the word must go back to some derivative of Old Persian dipi-, (inscription, document), itself borrowed, via Elamite, from Akkadian ṭuppu and ultimately from Sumerian dub (clay tablet). Compare …

Arāk was originally the popular name of Solṭānābād, a town in western Iran, but is now the official name as well. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 3, pp. 247-248 i. History Arāk was originally the popular name of Solṭānābād, a town in western Iran, but is now the official name as well. It lies at 49° 41’ east longitude and 34° 5’ north latitude, 284 km southwest of Tehran. It is situated at an altitude of 1,800 m in the plain of Farāhān, on the edge of the Zagros massif, adjoining the extensive Tuz…

city of southwestern Iran, located in the province of Ḵūzestān on the Kārun river. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 688-691 AHVĀZ, a city of southwestern Iran. Located in the province of Ḵūzestān at 31°19′ north latitude and 48°46′ east longitude, elevation 82 feet, Ahvāz lies on the Kārūn (early Islamic Doǰayl) river below its confluence with the Dezfūl river or Āb-e Dez in the Ḵūzestān plain, but at a point where the river breaks through the low ridge of sandstone hills, the Jabal …

the border river of Afghanistan and Persia. It originates in the mountains in the Hazārajāt (q.v) and flows into the Sistān in southeastern Persia and finally drains into the Hāmun Lake. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 2, pp. 170-176 HELMAND RIVER (Av. Haētumant; modern usage, Hirmand, Halmand), the border river of Afghanistan and Persia. It originates in the mountains in the Hazārajāt (q.v) and flows into the Sistān in southeastern Persia and finally drains into the Hāmun Lake (q.v.). i. Geography. ii. In Zoroastrian tradition. iii. In the medieval …

castrated males who were in charge of the concubines of royal harems, served in the daily life of the court, and sometimes carried out administrative functions. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 1, pp. 64-69 i. THE ACHAEMENID PERIOD According to Herodotus (8.105), the Persians, like other Oriental peoples, valued eunuchs highly for their trustworthiness. Ctesias and Xenophon date the appearance of eunuchs in Persia to the time of Cyrus the Great. It is possible that the Persians adopted the practice of cas…

As two of the most prominent ethnic elements in the Middle East, Arabs and Iranians have been in contact with each other, and at times have had their fortunes intertwined, for some three millennia. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 2, pp. 201-224 See also ARABIC. ʿARAB i. Arabs and Iran in the pre-Islamic period As two of the most prominent ethnic elements in the Middle East, Arabs and Iranians have been in contact with each other, and at times have had their fortunes intertwined, for some three millennia. Herodotus (3.5)…

Slaves and slavery. i. In the Achaemenid period. ii. In the Sasanian period. iii. In the Islamic period up to the Mongol invasion. iv. From the Mongols to the abolition of slavery. v. Military slavery in Islamic Iran. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 7, pp. 762 BARDA and BARDADĀRĪ, "slaves and slavery." BARDA and BARDA-DĀRI i. Achaemenid Period At the beginning of the Achaemenid period, the institution of slavery was still poorly developed in Iran. In Media a custom existed whereby a poor man could place himself at the disp…

town and district in northeastern Azerbaijan. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 4, pp. 357-365 i. History of Ardabīl Ardabīl (spelled Ardavīl in the Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, and vocalized Ardobīl by Samʿānī), the name of a town and a district in northeastern Azerbaijan. It is situated at 48° 17’ east longitude and 38° 15’ north latitude, about 25 miles from the present Soviet frontier and 40 miles from the Caspian Sea across the mountains and then the lowlands of Ṭāleš. The town of Ardabīl lies on a p…

scholar and polymath of the period of the late Samanids and early Ghaznavids and one of the two greatest intellectual figures of his time in the eastern lands of the Muslim world (973-after 1050). A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 3, pp. 274 BĪRŪNĪ, ABŪ RAYḤĀN MOḤAMMAD b. Aḥmad (362/973- after 442/1050), scholar and polymath of the period of the late Samanids and early Ghaznavids and one of the two greatest intellectual figures of his time in the eastern lands of the Muslim world, the other being Ebn Sīnā (Avicenna). BĪRŪNĪ, ABŪ RAYḤĀN i. Life Bīrūnī was born i…

OVERVIEW of the entry: i. Geography, ii. Dašt-e Gorgān, iii. Population, iv. Archeology, v. Pre-Islamic history, vi. History from the rise of Islam to the beginning of the Safavid Period, vii. To the end of the Pahlavi era. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 2, pp. 139-154 GORGĀN i. Geography GORGĀN, the ancient Hyrcania, an important Persian province at the southeast corner of the Caspian sea. In June 1997, the eastern part of the Māzandarān Province, consisting of the two sub-provinces of Gorgān and Gonbad-e Kāvus/Qābus (formerly c…

a survey from early pre-Islamic times to the mid-20th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 5, pp. 489-517 ARMY i. Pre-Islamic Iran Introduction. Source materials for a study of pre-Islamic Iranian military concerns fall into four categories: textual evidence; archeological finds of actual specimens of martial equipments; documentary representations (on monuments and objects of art); and philological deductions for organizational matters. The availability and value of these categories …

i. In pre-Islamic times. ii. From the Arab invasions to the Mongols. iii. After the Mongol invasion. iv. The khanate of Bukhara and Khorasan. v. Archeology and monuments. vi. The Bukharan school of miniature painting. vii. Bukharan Jews. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 5, pp. 511 BUKHARA i. In Pre-Islamic Times The site or town of Bukhara was one of many settlements in the large oasis formed by the mouths of the Zarafshan (Zarafšān) river in ancient Sogdiana. Since there is no evidence that the river reached the Oxus…

This series of articles covers Central Asia. A version of this article is available in print Volume V, Fascicle 2, pp. 159 CENTRAL ASIA (See also Archeology v, vii; Architecture iv; Art in Iran vi, viii.) CENTRAL ASIA i. Geographical Survey The central expanse of the Asian continent, the land mass situated approximately between 55° and 115° E and 25° and 50° N, comprises two geographically distinct areas. The western part includes the Transcaspian plains and the low tablelands between the Aral Sea and the Tien Shan (lit. “heavenly moun…

This series of entries covers Indian history and its relations with Iran. A version of this article is available in print Volume XIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 6-87 INDIA: relations with Iran. INDIA i. Introduction By the close of the second millennium B.C.E. the speakers of related but already well-differentiated and internally diversified language groups, proto-Iranian and proto-Indo-Aryan (along with proto-Nuristani), were settling in the new homelands of Iran and India where their historical future lay. Existing cultural, as well as …