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son of a Turkish slave commander of Maḥmud of Ghazna who served as governor in Kᵛārazm 1032-35, first for the Ghaznavids, and then as an independent ruler. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 1, pp. 17 HĀRUN B. ALTUNTAŠ, son of a Turkish slave commander of Maḥmud of Ghazna (q.v.) who served as governor in Kᵛārazm from 423/1032 until 426/1035 (see CHORASMIA ii.), first of all for the Ghaznavids, and then as an independent ruler. Hārun succeeded his father Altuntaš as de facto governor of Ḵᵛārazm on his death in Jomādā I 423/April-May 1032 (for the ev…

or Govāḵarz, a district of the medieval Islamic province of Qūhestān/Qohestān in Khorasan. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 5, pp. 533-534 BĀḴARZ or Govāḵarz, a district of the medieval Islamic province of Qūhestān/Qohestān (q.v.) in Khorasan, lying to the west of the middle, northerly-flowing course of the Harīrūd, with Ḵᵛāf on its west, Jām on its north, Pūšang on its east and the desert on its south. A popular etymology derived its name from bād-harza “place where the wind blows.” The medieval geographers describe Bāḵarz as a fertile region, …

a late and short-reigned sultan of the Ghurid dynasty in Afghanistan (607-11/1210-14). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 777 ʿALĀʾ-AL- DĪN ATSÏZ B. ʿALĀʾ-AL-DĪN ḤOSAYN, a late and short-reigned sultan of the Ghurid dynasty in Afghanistan (607-11/1210-14). He was still a child when his father, the great ʿAlāʾ-al-Dīn Ḥosayn Jahānsūz died in 556/1161, and the succession in the Ghurid capital Fīrūzkūh went to his cousins, Šams-al-Dīn (later Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn) Moḥammad and Šehāb-al-Dīn (later Mo…

Name of (1) a small town in northern Fārs province, and (2) a medieval town near the northern shore of Lake Baḵtegān in Fārs.A version of this article is available in printVolume I, Fascicle 1, pp. 51i. Town in Northern FārsThe name of a small town in northern Fārs province, lying to the northeast of the chaîne magistrale of the Zagros at an altitude of 2,011 m/6,200 ft in 52°40 ′ east longitude and 31°11 ′ north latitude. It is on the easterly (formally the winter, now the all-weather) main Isfahan-Shiraz highway, 204 km from the former and 280 km fr…

the usual name in the sources for ʿALĪ B. ḤASAN or HĀRŪN BOḠRA KHAN, member of the Hasanid or eastern branch of the Qarakhanid family, ruler in Transoxania during the early 5th/11th century (d. 425/1034). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 8, pp. 887-888 ʿALĪTIGIN, the usual name in the sources for ʿALĪ B. ḤASAN or HĀRŪN BOḠRA KHAN, member of the Hasanid or eastern branch of the Qarakhanid family, ruler in Transoxania during the early 5th/11th century (d. 425/1034). We known about ʿAlītigin almost wholly through …

lit. “Persian Iraq”; the name given in medieval times to the largely mountainous, western portion of modern Persia. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 5, pp. 538 ʿERĀQ-EʿAJAM(Ī) “Persian Iraq,” the name given in medieval times to the largely mountainous, western portion of modern Persia. The geographers (Eṣṭaḵrī, p. 195; Ebn Ḥawqal, pp. 357-58, tr. Kramers and Wiet, pp. 349-50; Moqaddasī, pp. 384-86; Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, tr. Minorsky, p. 131; Yāqūt, Boldān [Beirut], II, p. 99) describe it as bounded by Fārs and Ḵūzestān on the south, Mesopo…

Arabic broken plural form of a singular oswār(ī), eswār(ī), early recognized by Arab philologists as a loanword from Persian meaning “cavalryman.” A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 706-707 ASĀWERA, Arabic broken plural form (the variant asāwīrāt also occurs in Yaʿqūbī, p. 202) of a singular oswār( ī), eswār( ī), early recognized by Arab philologists as a loanword from Persian meaning “cavalryman,” equivalent to Ar. fāres (cf. Jawālīqī, al-Moʿarrab, ed. Aḥmad Moḥammad Šāker, repr. Tehran, 1966, pp. 20-21). The Iranian background …

b. Masʿūd b. Maḥmūd, Ghaznavid sultan of Afghanistan and northern India (r. 1052-59). A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 323-324 FARROḴZĀD, ABŪ ŠOJĀʿ, b. Masʿūd b. Maḥmūd, Ghaznavid sultan of Afghanistan and northern India (443-52/1052-59). He succeeded in Ḡazna after the traumatic events of the reign of his uncle ʿAbd al-Rašīd (q.v.; ca. 440-43/1049-52), whose power had been usurped by the slave commander Ṭoḡrel; Ghaznavid authority was restored only after a countercoup. Farroḵzād rem…

(d. 818), high official of the early ʿAbbasids and vizier to the caliph al-Maʾmūn (r. 813-33). A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 5, pp. 464-466 FAŻL, b. SAHL b. Zādānfarrūḵ (d. 202/818), high official of the early ʿAbbasids an…

ABU’L ḤASAN (d. ca. 1040), Ghaznavid military commander under Sultan Masʿūd I. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 8, pp. 853 ʿALĪ B. ʿOBAYDALLĀH ṢĀDEQ, ABU’L ḤASAN, called by Bayhaqī and Ebn Bābā Qāšānī ʿALĪ DĀYA (probably day “maternal uncle,” bestowed by the ruler on a servant as a term of endearment or special confidence), Ghaznavid military commander under Sultan Masʿūd I b. Maḥmūd. The form of his name indicates a Tajik origin rather than a Turkish one, but nothing is known of his early career, which must have begun under Sultan Maḥmūd.…

(r. 311-52/923-63), amir in Sīstān of the Saffarid dynasty (that part of it sometimes called “the second Saffarid dynasty”). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 641-642 AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. ḴALAF B. Layṯǰ, ABŪ JAʿFAR (r. 311-52/923-63), amir in Sīstān of the Saffarid dynasty (that part of it sometimes called “the second Saffarid dynasty”). The vast military empire built up by Yaʿqūb and ʿAmr b. Layṯ had been shattered by the Samanids of Transoxania, who had in 298/910-11 and again in 301/913-1…

princely title of the rulers of Ošrūsana at the time of the Muslim conquest, the most famous of whom was Ḵeyḏār (Ḥaydar) b. Kāvūs, d. Šaʿbān, 226/May-June, 841. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 589-591 AFŠĪN, princely title of the rulers of Ošrūsana at the time of the Muslim conquest, the most famous of whom was Ḵeyḏār (arabicized Ḥaydar) b. Kāvūs, d. Šaʿbān, 226/May-June, 841. The term is an arabicized form of middle Persian Pišīn, Avestan Pisinah-, a proper name of uncertain etymology ( AirWb., col. 907). In pre-Islamic Iranian tradition, it i…

Samanid Amir (r. 365-87/976-97), initially in both Transoxania and Khorasan, latterly in Transoxania only, called after his death Amir-e Rāżi, “The Well-Pleasing Amir,” or according to Naršaḵi, Amir-e Rašid, “The Rightly-Guided Amir.”Nuḥ was the last Samanid to enjoy a reign of significant length, but within it he had little freedom to act independently. NUḤ (II) B. MANṢUR (I), ABU’L-QĀSEM, Samanid Amir (r. 365-87/976-97), initially in both Transoxania and Khorasan, latterly in Transoxania only, called after his death Amir-e Rāżi, “The Well-Pleasing Amir,” or according to…

b. Żaḥḥāk b. Maḥmūd, Persian historian of the early 5th/11th century. He was clearly connected with the Ghaznavid court and administration and close to the sultans. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 3, pp. 314-315 GARDĪZĪ, ABŪ SAʿĪD ʿABD-al-ḤAYY b. Żaḥḥāk b. Maḥmūd, Persian historian of the early 5th/11th century whose exact dates of birth and death are unknown. His life is almost wholly obscure, although his nesba implies a connection with Gardīz (q.v.) in eastern Afghanistan, and the name Zahāk/Żaḥḥāk seems to have been a popular on…

second son of the Kakuyid amir of Jebāl, ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla Moḥammad b. Došmanzīār, ruled in Hamadān and parts of what are now Kurdistan and Luristan, 433-37/1041-42 to 1045, d. 443/1051-52. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 328 ABŪ KĀLĪJĀR GARŠĀSP (I), ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA, second son of the Kakuyid amir of Jebāl, ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla Moḥammad b. Došmanzīār, ruled in Hamadān and parts of what are now Kurdistan and Luristan, 433-37/1041-42 to 1045, d. 443/1051-52. When ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla died in 433/1041-42, Abū Kālīǰār G…

an extensive general history composed in Persian by b. Serāj-al-Din Jowzjāni, who for the first part of his career lived in Ḡur under the Ghurid sultans and latterly in Muslim India under the Moʿezzi or Šamsi Delhi sultans. ṬABAQĀT-E NĀṢERI, an extensive general history composed in Persian by b. Serāj-al-Din Jowzjāni, who for the first part of his career lived in Ḡur under the Ghurid sultans and latterly in Muslim India under the Moʿezzi or Šamsi Delhi sultans (b. 589/1193 in Ḡur, d. at Delhi in India apparently in the time of Ḡiāṯ-al-Din Balaban, r. 664-86/1266-89; see MEHNĀJ-E SERĀJ). The w…

the last sultan of the Ghaznavid dynasty, in northwestern India, essentially in the Panjab, with his capital at Lahore. Various honorifics are attributed to him in the historical sources, in the verses of poets eulogizing him, and in the legends of his coins in the collections of the British Museum and Lahore ḴOSROW MALEK b. Ḵosrowšāh, ABU’L-MOŻAFFAR (r. ca. 555-82/1160-86), the last sultan of the Ghaznavid dynasty, in northwestern India, essentially in the Panjab, with his capital at Lahore. Various honorifics (Tāj-al-Din wa’l-Dawla, Serāj-al-Daw…

Abū Saʿīd b. ʿAbd al-Ḥayy b. al-Ḍaḥḥāk b. Maḥmūd Gardīzī (fl. first half of the fifth/eleventh century) is important as an historian of the eastern Islamic world, in particular, for the first four centuries or so of Islam. His life and career are very obscure, with neither his birth nor death dates known. His family presumably came from Gardīz and the region of Zamīndāwar in eastern Afghanistan. He probably held some function at the Ghaznavid court or in the bureaucracy; the title of his book, the Zayn al-akhbār (“Ornament of histories”) seems to be an allusion to the laqab (honorific) of th…

administrative and then military office in the pre-modern Iranian world. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 5, pp. 544-548 ḤĀJEB, an administrative and then military office in the pre-modern Iranian world. ḤĀJEB i. IN THE MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC PERIOD The office of ḥājeb, implying military command, appears in the Iranian world with the Samanids, where it probably grew out of the amir’s domestic household, in which the ḥājeb had had duties similar to those of the Umayyad and Abbasid ḥājebs or doorkeepers/chamberlains. The office of chief ḥājeb of the Samanids ( al…

(“The marvels of created things”), the name of a genre of classical Islamic literature and, in particular, of a work by Zakarīyāʾ b. Moḥammad Qazvīnī.A version of this article is available in printVolume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 696-699i. Arabic WorksWorks of this sort form part of a general interest by Muslim scholars in the monuments and buildings of classical antiquity, whether of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, or Persia; in physical and topographical phenomena, such as unusual springs and wells, mineral deposits, volcanoes, etc.; and in t…

by the 10th century, one of the towns of the Farighunid princes of Gūzgān, vassals of the Samanids. The medieval name was revived when the high governorate ( ḥokūmat-e ʿalā) of Maymana was elevated to the rank of province ( welāyat). Its cities, besides Maymana, are Andḵūy and Dawlatābād. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 4, pp. 379-382 FĀRYĀB (also spelled Pāryāb, Bāryāb), a town in northern Afghanistan, now in the modern Afghan province of Faryāb. i. IN PRE-MODERN ISLAMIC TIMES Early Islamic Fāryāb lay within the region of Gūzgān/Jūzjān (q.v.). …

a town and medieval Islamic fortress in eastern Anatolia.A version of this article is available in printVolume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 725-727i. HistoryThe first contact with the Armenian town of Aḵlāṭ was made, according to Balāḏorī ( Fotūḥ, pp. 176, 199), during ʿOmar’s caliphate. In 24/645, during ʿOṯman’s reign, Moʿāwīa, governor of Syria, sent Ḥabīb b. Maslama into Armenia, and the local Armenian princes of the Lake Van region submitted to the Arabs. For the next four centuries, the town was ruled in turn by Arab governors, Armenia…

During the first century of Islam, Bāḏḡīs passed into Arab hands, together with Herat and Pūšang, around 652-53, under the caliph ʿOṯmān, for already in that year there is mentioned a rebellion against the Arabs by an Iranian noble Qāren, followed by further unrest in these regions in 661-62. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 4, pp. 370-372 i. General and the Early Period The region of Bāḏḡīs is bisected in an east-west direction by the Paropamisus mountains, which rise towards the east to 11,791 ft/5,535 m; the southern slopes d…

name of two towns: (1) a fortified city in the medieval Islamic province of Ḡūr in Central Afghanistan, which was the capital of the senior branch of the Ghurid sultans (see GHURIDS) for some sixty years in the later 6th/12th and 7th/13th centuries; (2) fortress and surrounding settlement in the Damāvand region of the Alborz mountains in northern Persia. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 6, pp. 636-639 FĪRŪZKŪH,name of two towns: (1) a fortified city in the medieval Islamic province of Ḡūr in Central Afghanistan, which was the capital…

(or ABARQŪYA), a town in northern Fārs; it was important in medieval times, but, being off the main routes, it is now largely decayed. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 1, pp. 64-67 ABARQUH i. History The Islamic geographers of the 4th/10th century describe Abarqūh as lying in the Shiraz-Isfahan-Eṣṭaḵr road, at a point where another road led off northeastwards to Yazd, and as 28 farsaḵs from Yazd, 20 from Isfahan, and 39 from Shiraz. According to Ebn Ḥawqal, Abarqūh was administratively the chief town of the nāḥīa or district of Rūdān; formerly dependent…

“country of the Balās,” designating a region located for the most part south of the lower course of the rivers Kor (Kura) and the Aras (Araxes), bordered on the south by Atropatene and on the east by the Caspian Sea. i. In pre-Islamic times. ii. In Islamic times.A version of this article is available in printVolume III, Fascicle 6, pp. 580-582i. In Pre-Islamic Times The country and its inhabitants. The heart of this country was the dašt i-Bałasakan “Balāsagān plain,” which the Armenian Geography of Pseudo-Moses of Khorene (Adontz, p. 124*) places in Albania and which is …

a significant Turkic tribe in western Eurasia in the 5th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 2, pp. 184-187 ḠOZZ, a significant Turkic tribe in western Eurasia in the 5th century. i. ORIGINS Ḡozz is the rendering by Muslim geographers of the Turkic Oḡuz. Oḡur, the Bulḡaro-Čuvašic form of this term, is noted as the name of a Turkic people in Western Eurasia in the 5th century. Oḡur/Oḡuz is probably a term denoting some kind of tribal confederation, perhaps signifying a union of related tribes or clans. Chinese sources sometimes …

these centers played important diplomatic and administrative roles in Iranian history, closely linked to the fortunes of the ruling families. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 7, pp. 768-774 i. In Pre-Islamic Times Iranians most probably first coalesced into an organized community in the Jaxartes and Oxus basins (see most recently Francfort, pp. 165ff.) and gradually migrated westward, eventually reaching as far west as Babylonia on the Mesopotamian plain (Pahl. (A)sōristān, q.v.). This region was to become their cultural and political center, Del-…

(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…

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. i. Historical Geography and History to the Beginning of the 20th CenturyNishapur (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 …

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…

Nāʾīn (Nāyin) is a small town (lat. N 32°52′ long. E 53°05′, elev. 1,408 metres) on the southwestern edge of the Great Desert of central Iran, on the road connecting Yazd with Isfahan and Qum. The town, known for its large citadel and its congregational mosque, seems to have had a pre-Islamic history, but nothing is known of it. The mediaeval Islamic geographers place it in the sardsīr (cooler upland regions) and describe it as located administratively within Fārs but as dependent on either Yazd or Isfahan. According to Mustawfī (69, trans. 77), its citadel, wh…

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…

region on the lower reaches of the Oxus (Amu Darya) in western Central Asia.A version of this article is available in printVolume V, Fascicle 5, pp. 511-520 CHORASMIA (Gk. Chorasmiē < OPers. (H)uwārazmiš, Av. Xᵛāirizəm, later Ḵᵛārazm [Khwārazm], generally derived from * hwāra-zam/zmī-, either “nourishing land” [Burnouf, p. cviii; Sachau, p. 473; Geiger, p. 29;  Pauly-Wissowa III/2, cols. 2406-8] or “lowland” [Lerch, p. 447; Veselovskiĭ, p. v; Kiepert, no. 60; MacKenzie,  Camb. Hist. Iran III/2, p. 1244; Bogolyubov, p. 370, has suggested “land with good cattle enclo…

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…

ASB, “horse” ( equus cabullus, Av. aspa-, Old PerS. asa- and aspa-, Mid. and NPers. asp/b); uses and significance of horses in the Iranian world. A version of this article is available in printVolume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 724-737 ASB, “horse” ( equus cabullus, Av. aspa-, Old PerS. asa- and aspa-, Mid. and NPers. asp/b).i. In Pre-Islamic IranFrom the dawn of history the Iranians have celebrated the horse in their art and in their literature.There were horses closely related to (and also the progenitors of) present-day domesticated horses living in temperate Eurasia in th…

province of Iran located between Fars and Sistan va Balučestān; also the name of its principal city and capital.A version of this article is available in printVolume XVI, Fascicle 3, pp. 246-315 KERMAN (Kermān), a province in southeastern Iran; also the name of one of its sub-provinces as well as that of its principal city and capital.KERMAN i. Geography Physical geography. Kerman province is situated in southeast Iran, to the southwest of the Kavir-e Lut (see DESERT). Covering an area of 182,000 km2 (70,000 square miles), Kerman is the largest province in Persia, constitutin…

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 …

A version of this article is available in printVolume VI, Fascicle 4, pp. 356-388COURTS AND COURTIERS i. In the Median and Achaemenid periodsAvailable information on the Median and Achaemenid imperial courts is very limited and not entirely reliable. From Herodotus’ report (1.114) of the child Cyrus’ playing at being king it seems that the Median court included bodyguards, messengers, the “king’s eye” (a kind of secret agent; see below), and builders, for it is likely that the game was modeled on the existing court (…

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…

(Āḏarbāy[e]jān), historical region of northwestern Iran, east of Lake Urmia, since the Achaemenid era.A version of this article is available in printVolume III, Fascicle 2-3, pp. 205-257 AZERBAIJAN (Āḏarbāy[e]jān), historical region of northwestern Iran, east of Lake Urmia, since the Achaemenid era.The name Azerbaijan was also adopted for Arrān, historically an Iranian region, by anti-Russian separatist forces of the area when, on 26 May 1918, they declared its independence and called it the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan. To allay …

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 …

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…