Search

, the site of a mediaeval Islamic monument in northern Persia. The tomb tower (Iranian National Monument 145) sits on the edge of an isolated, 1,300 metre long valley in the Alburz Mountains north of the Nikā River, 70 km/43 miles east of Nikā in the province of Māzandarān. It is often known as Rādkān West to distinguish it from another tomb tower, the Mīl-i Rādkān at Rādkān East near Ṭūs in K̲h̲urāsān. The cylindrical tower (height 35 m; exterior diameter 9.8 m; interior diameter 5.80 m) is bui…

(p.) (from an Old Persian form * srāda , root Θrā “to protect”) means in Persian dwelling, habitation or house. The word is frequently compounded with another substantive to indicate a particular kind of building. The best known example is kārwān sarāy “caravanserai”, a roadside stopping-place for caravans [see k̲h̲ān ]. Similarly, the D̲j̲annat-sarāy added to the northern part of the shrine at Ardabīl by the Ṣafawid S̲h̲āh Ṭahmāsp I ca. 947/1540 is a domed octagonal building used for Ṣūfī gatherings and prayer (A.H. Morton, The Ardabīl shrine in the reign of S̲h̲āh Ṭahmāsp I , in Iran …

, the traditional capital of the Persian province of Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān [ q.v.] and now the administrative centre of the ustān of eastern Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān (lat. 38° 05′ N., long. 46° 18′ E., altitude ca. 1,340 m/4,400 feet). 1. Geography and history. Geographical position. The town lies in the eastern corner of the alluvial plain sloping slightly towards the north-east bank of Lake Urmiya. The plain is watered by several streams, the chief of which is the Ad̲j̲i̊ čay (“bitter river”) which, rising in the south-west face of Mount Sawalān…

, a town in the mediaeval Islamic province of northern D̲j̲ibāl some 50 km/32 miles to the southeast of Zand̲j̲ān [ q.v.] (lat. 36° 24′ N., long. 48° 50′ E.). 1. History. Sulṭāniyya was founded towards the end of the 7th/13th century by the Mongol Il K̲h̲ānids and served for a while in the following century as their capital. The older Persian name of the surrounding district was apparently S̲h̲āhrūyāz or S̲h̲ārūyāz/S̲h̲arūbāz (which was to be the site, adjacent to Sulṭāniyya, of the tomb which the Il K̲h̲ānid Abū Saʿīd [ q.v.] built for himself, according to Ḥāfiẓ-i Abrū). It was orig…

iii. Languages (a) Pas̲h̲to [see afg̲h̲ān . (ii). The Pas̲h̲to language] (b) Kurdish [see kurds , kurdistān . v. Language] (c) Zaza [ q.v.] (d) Ḵh̲wārazmian (e) Sogdian and Bactrian in the early Islamic period (f) New Persian (g) New Persian written in Hebrew characters [see judaeo-persian . ii. Language] (d) Ḵh̲wārazmian. Ḵh̲warazmian, last attested late in the 8th/14th century (before yielding to Turkish), belonged to the Eastern branch of the Iranian language family, being most closely related to Sogdian, its southeastern neighbour. Pre-Islami…

the Mongol dynasty in Persia and the surrounding countries, from about 1260 until about 1335. The dynasty was founded by Holāgu/Hülegü Khan, the grandson of Čengiz Khan.A version of this article is available in printVolume XII, Fascicle 6, pp. 645-670 IL-KHANIDS, the Mongol dynasty in Persia and the surrounding countries, from about 1260 until about 1335. The dynasty was founded by Holāgu/Hülegü Khan (q.v.), the grandson of Čengiz Khan, and ruled the territory covered by present-day Persia, Turkmenistan, northern Afghanistan, the sout…

the study of inscriptions, particularly their collection, decipherment, interpretation, dating, and classification.A version of this article is available in printVolume VIII, Fascicle 5, pp. 478-510EPIGRAPHY i. Old Persian and Middle Iranian epigraphyDefinitions, classification, and method.Inscriptions are texts carved, incised, or engraved on durable materials like stone and metal. Often they are public messages intended to be permanent, but graffiti scratched, drawn, or painted on walls are also included. Manuscripts, on the o…

A version of this article is available in printVolume XIV, Fascicle 5, pp. 462-468JĀMEʿ AL-TAWĀRIḴ i. The work JĀMEʿ AL-TAWĀRIḴ (The Compendium of chronicles), the historical work composed in the period 1300-10 by Ḵᵛāja Rašid-al-Din Fażl-Allāh Ṭabib Hamadāni, vizier to the Mongol Il-khans Ḡāzān (r. 1295-1304) and Öljeitü (Uljāytu; r. 1304-16), in response to commissions by both rulers. As its title suggests, the work is a compilation of materials not only on Islamic and Persian history, but also on the Mongols and…