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Jamāl al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Ilyās b. Yūsuf b. Zakī Muʾayyad (conventionally 535–605/1141–1209), better known as Niẓāmī Ganjavī, one of the most famous Persian poets, is the author of five poems—which, after the poet’s death, were grouped under the title Panj ganj (“The five treasures”) or Khamsa (“Quintet”)—and of a less famous dīvān (songbook) of lyrical poetry. He was from Ganja, a city in the historical Transcaucasian region of Arrān (today in the Republic of Azerbaijan), between the region of Sharvān and Christian Armenia. The five poems, in the or…

(Ignazio di Gesù, 1596-1667), an Italian missionary in Persia and a scholar of the Persian language, renowned mainly for his studies on religion and on the customs of the Mandaeans.A version of this article is available in printVolume XII, Fascicle 6, pp. 619-620 IGNATIUS OF JESUS (Ignazio di Gesù). An Italian missionary in Persia and a scholar of the Persian language. Carlo Leonelli was born near Pesaro in Italy in 1596 and died in Rome in 1667. He entered the Discalced Carmelite Order (see CARMELITES) taking the name Ignatius of Jesus, a…

Leandro di Santa Cecilia Date of Birth: 2 February 1702 Place of Birth: Breglio (today Breil, France) Date of Death: 6 July 1784 Place of Death: Rome Biography The Carmelite Leandro di Santa Cecilia (Giovanni Augusto Cottalorda), missionary in countries of the Muslim Orient from 1732 to 1751, was born in Breglio (Breil, diocese of Ventimiglia), a small town now in France, in 1702. He had at least two brothers, one of whom entered the Carmelite Order with the name of Giovanni Andrea di S. Agostino (he died in November 1746, during one of Leandro’s brief stays in Italy back from the East; see Persia…

- Leandro di Santa Cecilia Date: 1753 Original Language: Italian DescriptionThis book (with the full title  Palestina, ovvero primo viaggio di F. Leandro di S. Cecilia in Oriente, scritto dal medesimo e dedicato al merito impareggiabile dell’Altezza Serenissima del Principe reale Giuseppe d’Austria) is divided into two parts: the first (pp. 1-122) contains the account of the first of Leandro’s journeys, from the Seminario of S. Pancrazio in Rome to the Carmelite Convent of Mount Carmel, and back to Rome (1731-4), and descriptions of the…

- Leandro di Santa Cecilia Date: 1757 Original Language: Italian DescriptionThis book (its full title is  Persia, ovvero secondo viaggio di F. Leandro di S. Cecilia in Oriente, scritto dal medesimo e dedicato a Sua Altezza Serenissima il Principe Carlo Arciduca d’Austria) describes Leandro’s second visit to the East, from 1735 to 1746. Although he spent only a relatively short period in Persia, in Hamadan, from January 1736 to September 1737 (with a couple of months in Isfahan), and a few months in Hamadan again at the beginning of 1738, he entitled his second book of travels Persia. Indeed…

- Leandro di Santa Cecilia Date: 1757 Original Language: Italian DescriptionThis book (its full title is  Mesopotamia, ovvero terzo viaggio di F. Leandro di S. Cecilia in Oriente, scritto dal medesimo e dedicato a Sua Altezza Serenissima il Principe Pietro Leopoldo Arciduca d’Austria) describes Leandro’s third journey to the East, to Mesopotamia, mainly Baghdad, Mosul (Nineveh) and Diyarbakir, between 1747 and 1751. It offers descriptions of various places, among them Baghdad (pp. 46-51), and the ‘Earthly Paradise’ near Mardin (p. 92), …

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 A version of this article is available in printVolume XIV, Fascicle 3, pp. 240-296 I…