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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 habitat than the semi-tropical regions of Māzandarān and Gīlān further west; it forms in fact a transition area,…

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…

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 peo…

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…

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 for…

(Pers. gadāʾī, takaddī, soʾāl). i. In the early centuries of the Islamic period. ii. In Sufi literature and practice. iii. In later Iran.…

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 …

Arāk was originally the popular name of Solṭānābād, a town in western Iran, but is now the official name as well. A version of th…

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 …

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.).…

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 castration from the Babylonians or Assyrians (Cook, p. 136; cf. also Meier, pp. 485-86). According to Xenophon, Cyrus the Great included eunuchs among his guards (Xenophon, Cyropædia 7.5.60-64). The most influential eunuch under Cyrus was Petisakas,…

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 disposal of a rich person if the latter agreed to feed him. The position of such a man was similar to that of a slave. However, he could at any time leave his master if he was poorly fed (see I. M. D’yakonov [Diakonoff], Istoriya Midii, Moscow and Leningrad, 1956, pp. 334-35). By the time their own state had emerged (the first half of the 6th cent. b.c.), the …

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 in the outer suburb ( bīrūn, hence his …

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 called Dašt-e Gorgān) were brought together to form a new province for which the name Golestān (lit. “rose garden,” the name of a popular natural park in Minu-dašt sub-prov…

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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 Th…

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 expans…

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 …