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(Us̲h̲nuh, Us̲h̲nūya), a district and town in Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān. Us̲h̲nū lies to the south of Urmiya [q. v.] from which it has usually been administered. The district is watered by the upper course of the river Gādir (Gader) which, after traversing the district of Sulduz [q. v.], flows into Lake Urmiya on the S. W. To the south of Us̲h̲nū is the district of Lāhid̲j̲ān which is administered from Sawd̲j̲-Būlāḳ [q. v.]. The town of Us̲h̲nū (710 houses) is situated on the left bank of the Gādir (Čom…

, the name of several groups of Turkish tribes in Persia. The term means in Turkish “those who love the S̲h̲āh”. Persian historians write: s̲h̲āhīsēwan, thus indicating the Turkish accusative ( s̲h̲āhi̊) and the Turkish closed e. History. According to Malcolm, S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās I (995—1037 = 1587—1628), in order to reduce the turbulent Turkish tribes known as ḳi̊zi̊l-bas̲h̲ (= “red-heads”), who played the part of praetorians, invited the men of all the tribes to enrol themselves in a new body which was called S̲h̲āh-sewan. Entirely devoted to the Ṣafawī f…

, (the “sinner”), pseudonym ( tak̲h̲alluṣ) of S̲h̲āh Ismāʿīl [q. v.]. Of his Persian po ems we only know so far the single verse quoted in the anthology compiled by his son Sām Mīrzā [q.v.] and some other lines. On the other hand his Turkish Dīwān is known from several manuscripts, although these are rather scarce and differ considerab y. E. G. Browne ( Persian Liter, in Modern Times, p. 12—13) has discovered the curious fact that the founder of the Ṣafawī kingdom wrote mainly in Turkish while his rival Sulṭān Selīm used Persian for his poems. Ḵh̲aṭāʾī is now ri…

, a S̲h̲īʿī Arab dynasty of Ḥawīza [q. v.] in Ḵh̲ūzistān. The town of Ḥawīza (or Ḥuwaiza; Ibn Battūta, ii. 93: ) was situated in E. Long. 31° 25′, Lat. 48° 5′ on the old course of the Kark̲h̲a [q. v.] where the latter turned west. The founder of the dynasty, Saiyid Muḥammad b. Falāḥ, according to the genealogists, was a descendant in the fourteenth generation from the seventh imam Mūsā al-Kāẓim. S. Muḥammad was born at Wāsiṭ and studied at Ḥilla with S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Aḥmad b. Fahd, known for his leanings to mysticism. The ixth (xvth) century is important in the history of the S̲h̲īʿī g̲h̲ulāt (the rising…

, an Indian(?) deity, of whom there was a famous idol at Zamīn-Dāwar in the country of Zābul, east of Sīstān. In 33 (654—55) ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Samura, appointed governor of Sīstān, arrived at Dāwar and laid siege to the hill of Zūn (* d̲j̲abal al-Zūn). He entered the sanctuary of Zūn where there was an idol of gold with two rubies for eyes. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān cut off an arm and took away the rubies but left the remainder to the local marzubān, saying that his only object was to show the impotence of the idol (Balād̲h̲urī, p. 394). Marquart found in Chinese sources a mention of the temple of Deva …

(S̲h̲akkāk), a Kurdish tribe on the Turco-Persian frontier. In Persia to the west of Lake Urmiya before the war they occupied the cantons of Brādōst, Somāi [q. v.], Čehrīḳ (cf. salmās) and Ḳotūr; in Turkey, the eastern districts of the wilāyet of Wān: Sarāi (Maḥmūdī) and Albaḳ (Bas̲h̲ḳalʿa), i.e. the territory which in the xvith century belonged to the Dumbulī tribe ( S̲h̲araf-nāma, i. 313—314). The name of the tribe is written by Yūsuf Ḍiyā al-Dīn: S̲h̲ikākān and by S̲h̲īrwānī: S̲h̲akāk; Ḵh̲urs̲h̲īd Efendī writes “S̲h̲iḳāḳī or S̲h̲ikākī”. To the south of Lak…

(S̲h̲i̊ḳāg̲h̲i̊), a tribe of Kurdish origin. According to Yūsuf Ḍiyā al-Dīn, the word s̲h̲iḳāḳī means in Kurdish a beast which has a particular disease of the foot. According to the S̲h̲araf-nāma (i. 148), the S̲h̲aḳāḳī were one of the four warrior tribes, ( ʿas̲h̲īrat) in the nāhiya of Finlk of the principality of Ḏj̲azīra. According to the Ottoman sāl-nāma, there were Kurdish S̲h̲aḳāḳī in the nāḥiya of S̲h̲eik̲h̲ler in the ḳaḍā of Ḳillīs in ¶ the wilāyet of Aleppo (cf. Spiegel, Eran. Altertumskunde, i, 744). The nāḥiya S̲h̲aḳāḳ of the Ḏj̲ihānnumā (between Mukus and Ḏj̲ulāmerg) is c…

, the Russians; at first the Normans, then the founders of the dukedom of Kiev. The Rūs of the west. In his description of Spain Yaʿḳūbī, B.G.A., vii. 354, says that in 229 (843—844) “the Mad̲j̲ūs called Rūs” invaded Seville and committed all kinds of depredations. The name Mad̲j̲ūs [q. v.] is regularly applied to the Normans. The name even passed into the Spanish Primera Crónica General (xiiith century) according to which the Almuiuces were worshippers of fire (!). The origin of this use of mad̲j̲ūs is obscure. Did the Arabs and Spaniards allude to such rites as the cremation o…

(in Arabic usually taken as al-lān ), an Iranian people (Alān < Aryan) of Northern Caucasus, formerly attested also east of the Caspian sea (see al-Bīrūnī, Taḥdīd al-Amākin , ed. A. Z. Validi, in Bīrūnī’s Picture of the world, 57), as supported by local toponymy. The Alān are mentioned in history from the 1st century A.D. In 371 they were defeated by the Huns. Together with the Vandals, a part of the Alāns migrated to the West across France and Spain, and finally took part in the creation of the Vandal kingdom in North Africa (418-5…

, the Persian and Turkish name of a town, in Georgian ak̲h̲al tsik̲h̲e , "New Fortress", situated on the Posk̲h̲ov river (left tributary of the upper Kur), centre of the Georgian province Samtsk̲h̲e (later Sa-atabago) which is mentioned among the conquests of Ḥabīb b. Maslama (under Muʿāwiya), al-Balād̲h̲urī, 203. ¶ Under the Mongols the local rulers (of the Ḏj̲akilʿe family) became autonomous and received the title of atabegs . The name Ḳurḳūra found in Persian and Turkish sources refers to these rulers of whom several bore the name of Ḳuarḳuare (see Brosset, Histoire de la Géorgie …

, “land of the Lurs”, a region in the south-west of Persia. In the Mongol period the terms “Great Lur” and “Little Lur” roughly covered all the lands inhabited by Lur tribes. Since the Ṣafawid period, the lands of the Great Lur have been distinguished by the names of Kūh-Gīlū and Bak̲h̲tiyārī. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Mamāsanī confederation occupied the old S̲h̲ūlistān [ q.v.] and thus created a third Lur territory between Kūh-Gīlū and S̲h̲īrāz. It is however only since the 16th century that Lur-i Kūčik [ q.v.] has been known as Luristān (for greater precision it was …

(in Persian Lor with o short), an Iranian people living in the mountains in southwestern Persia. As in the case of the Kurds, the principal link among the four branches of the Lurs (Mamāsanī, Kūhgīlūʾī, Bak̲h̲tiyārī and Lurs proper) is that of language. The special character of the Lur dialects suggests that the country was Iranicised from Persia and not from Media. On the ancient peoples, who have disappeared, become Iranicised or absorbed in different parts of Luristān, see luristān . The name. Local tradition ( Taʾrīk̲h̲-i guzīda ) connects the name of the …

, a dynasty of princes of Marāg̲h̲a. Distinction must be made between the eponym Aḥmadīl and his successors. Aḥmadīl b. Ibrāhīm b. Wahsūdān al-Rawwādī al-Kurdī was a descendant of the local branch of the originally Arab family of Rawwād (of Azd) established in Tabrīz (see rawwādids ). In the course of time the family became Kurdicized, and even the name Aḥmadīl is apparently formed with an Iranian (Kurdish) diminutive suffix -īl . Aḥmadīl took part in the anti-Crusade of 505/1111. During the siege of Tell Bās̲h̲ir, Jocelyn made an arrangement …

, geographically speaking, the highlands of Gīlān [ q.v.]. In the south, the lowlands of Gīlān proper are bounded by the Alburz range; the latter forms here a crescent, the eastern horn of which comes close to the Caspian coast (between Lāhīd̲j̲ān and Čālūs). In the centre of the crescent there is a gap through which the Safīd-rūd, formed on the central Iranian plateau, breaks through ¶ towards the Caspian Sea. Before entering the gorge at Mand̲j̲īl the river, flowing here from west to east, receives a considerable tributary, the S̲h̲āh-rūd, which, rising in t…

, the form found in Islamic sources for the capital of Georgia, Tiflis or modern Tbilisi. The city is situated on hilly ground in the Kura river valley [see kur ] (lat. 41° 43′ N., long. 44° 49′ E.), and has a strategic position controlling the routes between eastern and western Transcaucasia which has ensured it a lively history. The city is an ancient one, being founded in A.D. 455 or 458 when the capital of Georgia was transferred thither from nearby Mtsk̲h̲eta. For the subsequent history of the city, from Byzantine and Sāsānid times through the long…

, Gurd̲j̲ , Gurd̲j̲istān , the names in Islamic sources for the province of Georgia in western Caucasia. Georgia comprises four distinct regions: Mingrelia and Imereti in the north-west; Samtask̲h̲e in the south-west (adjoining the Black Sea coastal region of Lazistān [see laz ], inhabited by a people closely related to the Georgians); Kartli in the north, with the capital Tiflis [ q.v.], Georgian Tbilisi; and Kak̲h̲eti in the east. Topographically, much of Georgia comprises mountains, hills and plateaux, with lowland only on the Black Sea coastal plain an…

, a Persian man of letters, who died on 19 S̲h̲awwāl 1313/3 April 1896. His honorific titles were Sanīʿ al-Dawla and later Iʿtimād al-Salṭana . …

, a district in Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān whose precise location is unknown. According to al-Balād̲h̲urī, Futūḥ , 328, Saʿīd b. al-ʿĀṣ [ q.v.], sent to conquer Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān, attacked the people of Mūḳān and Gīlān. A number of inhabitants of Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān and Armenians, who had gathered in the nāḥiya of Urm and at …

, a former k̲h̲ānate in the Persian province of Ad̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān, and now the name of a town and of modern administrative units around it (see below). Mākū occupies the north-western extremity of Persia and forms a salient between Turkey (the old sand̲j̲aḳ of Bāyazīd, modern vilayet of Ağri) and Soviet Transcaucasia. In the west the frontier with Turkey follows the heights which continue the line of the Zagros in the direction of Ararat. The frontier then crosses a plain stretching to the south of this mountain (valley of the Ṣari̊-ṣu) and runs over the saddle between Great and Little Ararat. Down to 1920 Great Ararat formed the frontier between Russia and Turkey, while Little Ararat was divided between Russia and Persia. Since 1920 Great Ararat has b…

(i) province of Persia; (ii) Soviet Socialist Republic. (i) The great province of Persia, called in Middle Persian Āturpātākān, older new-Persian Ād̲h̲arbād̲h̲agān, Ād̲h̲arbāyagān, at present Āzarbāyd̲j̲ān, Greek ’Ατροπατήνη, Byzantine Greek ’Αδραβιγάνων, Armenian Atrapatakan, Syriac Ad̲h̲orbāyg̲h̲ān. The province was called after the general Atropates (“protected by fire”), who at the time of Alexander’s invasion proclaimed his independence (328 B.C.) and thus preserved his kingdom (Media Minor, Strabo…