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(aror) also written al-rūr , town in Sind; it is surmised to have been the capital of king Musicanus, defeated by Alexander the Great, and to be mentioned in the 7th century A.D. by Hiungtsang. The town was conquered by Muḥammad b. al-Ḳāsim before 95/714 (al-Balād̲h̲urī, Futūh , 439, 440, 445) and it is mentioned by al-Istak̲h̲rī, 172, 175, and al-Bīrunī, Hind (Sachau), 100, 130, according to whom it lay thirty farsak̲h̲s S-W of Multān and twenty farsak̲h̲s upstream from al-Manṣūra. The Indus used to flow near the town, but later it changed its course, destroying the prosperity of the town. The date of the change is uncertain; the local historians of the 17th-18th centuries (cf. Elliot-Dowson, History of India , i, 256-8) give a legendary accoun…

, one of the names for gipsies in Persia; parallel forms are: in Persian, lūrī , lōrī ( Farhang-i D̲j̲ahāngīrī ); in Balūčī, lōṛī (Denys Bray, Census of Baluchistan , 1911, iv, 143, gives the popular etymology from lōṛ = “lot, share”). The name lūlī is first found in a legend relating to the reign of Bahrām Gūr (420-38 A.D.). At the request of this Sāsānid King, who wished to amuse his subjects, the Indian king S̲h̲angal (?) sent to Persia 4,000 (12,000) Indian musicians. Ḥamza (350/961), ed. Berlin-Kaviani, 38, calls them al-Zuṭṭ [ …

, a town and district in southern Kurdistān, since the Ottoman reconquest of ʿIrāḳ from the Ṣafawids in the 11th/17th ¶ century under nominal Ottoman suzerainty, and since the aftermath of the First World War in the kingdom and then republic of ʿIrāḳ. The town lies in lat. 35° 32′ E. and long. 45° 27′ N. at an altitude of 838 m/2,750 feet, and is 90 km/54 miles east of Kirkūk [ q.v.], to which it is connected by road. The historical region of Sulaymāniyya lies between what is now the ʿIrāḳ-Persia frontier, the Diyāla [ q.v.] and its upper affluents the Tand̲j̲aru and Sīrwān, the region of …

or Sonḳor , the name of a district and of a present-day small town in western Persia (town: lat. 34° 45′ N., long 47° 39′ E.). It lies in the Zagros Mountains between modern Kangāwar [see kinkiwar ] and Sanandad̲j̲ [ q.v.] or Sinna, within the modern province of Kirmāns̲h̲āh. In mediaeval Islamic times, it lay on the road between Dīnawar [ q.v.] and Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān, and must correspond approximately to the first marḥala on the stretch from Dīnawar to Sīsar, the name of which is read al-D̲j̲ārbā (al-Muḳaddasī, 382), K̲h̲arbārd̲j̲ān (Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, 119; Ḳudāma, 212), etc. which was 7 f…

, Banū , a numerous and formerly powerful Arab tribe living on the borders of Iran and ʿIrāḳ, principally on the plain between the foothills of the Pus̲h̲t-i Kūh mountains and the river Tigris. The easterly limit of the main tribal territory follows the course of the Rūd-i Kark̲h̲a southwards from Pā-yi Pul to the area north of Ḥawīza where the river peters out into salt flats. The course of the Tigris between S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Saʿd and ʿAmāra forms the westerly limit of that territ…

(or Ābaskūn ), a harbour in the south-eastern corner of the Caspian. It is described as a dependency of Ḏj̲urd̲j̲ān/Gurgān (Yāḳūt, i, 55: 3 days’ distance from Ḏj̲urd̲j̲ān; i, 91: 24 farsak̲h̲s). It might be located near the estuary of the Gurgān river (at Ḵh̲od̲j̲a-Nefes?). Al-Istak̲h̲rī, 214 (Ibn Ḥawḳal, 273) calls Abaskūn the greatest of the (Caspian) harbours. The Caspian itself was sometimes called Baḥr Abaskūn . Abaskūn possibly corresponds to Ptolemy’s Σωκανάα in Hyrcania (Gurgān). Several times Abaskūn ¶ was raided by Rūs pirates (some time between 250-70/864-84, a…

, Nisā , the name of several places in Persia. Yāḳūt enumerates Nasās in K̲h̲urāsān. Fārs, Kirmān and the district of Hamad̲h̲ān in D̲j̲ibāl, but W. Eilers has assembled a much larger number of Persian place names containing the element nasā ( r) or containing linguistic elements apparently connected with it. Scholars like Bartholomae and Marquart sought an etymology in Old Iranian śai- “to lie” (Grk. Κεῖσθαι), with the ideas of “settlement” or “low-lying place”; Eilers however explains it as from NP nasā, nasa ( r), nisā , “place lying in the shade (e.g. of a mountain)” ( Iranische Ortsname…

, a mystic and poet who wrote in a Persian dialect. According to Riḍā Ḳulī Ḵh̲ān (19th century), who does not give his source, Bābā-Ṭāhir lived in the period of Daylamī rule and died in 401/1010. Among his quatrains there is an enigmatical one: “I am that sea ( baḥr ) which entered into a vase; that point which entered into the letter. In each alf (“thousand”, i.e. of years?) arises an alif-ḳadd (a man upright in stature like the letter alif ). I am the alif-ḳadd who has corne in this alf” . Mahdī Ḵh̲ān in the JASB has given an extremely curious interpretation of this quatrain: the letters alf-ḳd …

, the tak̲h̲alluṣ or pen-name of the Persian poet Mīrzā Abu ’l-Ḥasan Raḥīm ( ca. 1196-1276/ ca. 1782-1859), often called by his fellow-poets Ḳaḥba-zan “whore” from the expression repeated monotonously in his obscene verse. He was born at K̲h̲ūr in the D̲j̲andaḳ oasis in the central desert of the Das̲h̲t-i Kawīr, roughly half-way between Yazd and Simnān. He began his life as a camel-herd but by the age of seven his natural gifts had been noticed by the owner of the oasis, Ismāʿīl K̲h̲ān ʿArab-i ʿĀmirī, whose secretary ( muns̲h̲ī-bās̲h̲ī ) he ultimately became. Hi…

, a town of mediaeval Islamic Persian Kurdistān, in the region bounded by Hamadān, Dīnawar and Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān. The Arab geographers ¶ place Sīsar on the Dīnawar-Marāg̲h̲a road 20-22 farsak̲h̲s (3 stages) north of Dīnawar (Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, 119-21; Ḳudāma, 212; al-Muḳaddasī, 382). According to al-Balād̲h̲urī, Futūḥ , 310, Sīsar occupied a depression ( ink̲h̲ifāḍ ) surrounded by 30 mounds, whence its Persian name “30 summits”. For greater accuracy it was called Sīsar of Ṣadk̲h̲āniya ( wakāna Sīsar tudʿā Sīsar Ṣadk̲h̲āniya ), which al-Balād̲h̲urī …

, the old capital of Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān. Position. The town lies in lat. 37° 23′ N. and long 46° 15′ E. at a height of 5,500 feet above sea-level on the southern slope of Mount Sahand (11,800 feet high) which separates it from Tabrīz [ q.v.]. This explains the very considerable difference in climate ¶ between the two towns, which are only 50 miles apart as the crow flies (by the high road 80 miles). The climate of Marāg̲h̲a is mild and rather moist (H̲amd Allāh and Mecquenem, 1904). The plentiful water supply makes the vegetation rich. The fruit of …

, a town in the district of Buk̲h̲ārā, also called Nasaf by the Arab geographers (cf. the similar evolution of Nas̲h̲awā from Nak̲h̲čiwān). The town lay in the valley of the Kas̲h̲ka-Daryā, cf. Ibn Ḥawḳal, 2460, tr. Kramers and Wiet, 444: Kas̲h̲k-rūd̲h̲, which runs southwards parallel to the Zarafs̲h̲ān (river of Samarḳand) and runs towards the Amū-Daryā [ q.v.] but before joining it disappears in the sands. Nak̲h̲s̲h̲ab lay on the road joining Buk̲h̲ārā to Balk̲h̲ four days’ journey from the former and eight from the latter (cf. al-Muḳaddasī, 344). In…

, the ancient Rag̲h̲ā, a city in the old Persian region of Media, during Islamic times in the province of D̲j̲ibāl [ q.v.]. Its ruins may be seen about 5 miles south-southeast of Tehran [ q.v.] to the south of a spur projecting from Elburz into the plain. The village and sanctuary of S̲h̲āh ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm lie immediately south of the ruins. The geographical importance of the town lies in the fact that it was situated in the fertile zone which lies between the mountains and the desert, by which from time immemorial communication ha…

, “celestial sphere”, nom-de-plume ( tak̲h̲alluṣ ) of the Persian historian and man of letters, Mīrzā Muḥammad Taḳī of Kās̲h̲ān (d. Rabīʿ II 1297/March 1880). After a studious youth spent in his native town, he settied definitely in Tehran, where he found a patron in the poet-laureate ( malik al-s̲h̲uʿarāʾ ) of Fatḥ ʿAlī S̲h̲āh. On his accession (1250/1834), Muḥammad S̲h̲āh appointed him his private panegyrist ( maddāḥ-i k̲h̲āṣṣa ) and secretary and accountant in the treasury ( muns̲h̲ī wa-mustawfī-i dīwān ). The same S̲h̲āh entrusted him with the compo…

, a town in the northeast of Diyār Bakr [ q.v.]. The other Islamic forms of the name are Māfārḳīn, Mafārḳīn, Fārḳīn (whence the name of origin al-Fāriḳī), etc. The town is called in Greek Martyropolis, in Syriac Mīpherḳēt, in Armenian Nphkert (later Muharkin, Muphargin). According to Yāḳūt, iv, 702, the old name of the town was Madūr-ṣālā (read ḳāla < * matur-khalakh in Armenian, "town of the martyrs"). On the identification of Tigranocerta with Mayyāfariḳīn, see below. 1. Topography and early history. Geography. The town lies to the south of the little r…

, a district in K̲h̲urāsān, original Persian form Tōs (also thus in the later 8th century Armenian geography, see Markwart-Messina, A catalogue of the provincial capitals of Ērānshahr , Rome 1931, 11, 47), which played a notable part in the medieval Islamic period of Persia’s Islamic history. ¶ 1. History. In early Islamic times, Ṭūs was the name of a district containing several towns. The town of Nawḳān flourished down to the end of the 3rd/9th century. The form Nawḳān < Nōḳan is confirmed by the present name of the Mas̲h̲had quarter Nawg̲h̲ān (where the diphthong aw corresponds to the old wāw…

b. ʿAlī b. Ḳara yoluk ʿUt̲h̲mān , Abū Naṣr, born in 828/1425, died in 882/1478, and together with his grandfather, one of the most celebrated rulers of the line of Aḳ Ḳoyunlu Turkmens [ q.v.] and a statesman and military commander of genius. Expanding from his family’s base in Diyār Bakr [ q.v.], Uzun (“the Tall”) overcame his Ḳara Ḳoyunlu [ q.v] Turkmen rivals, and in the east defeated his rivals for control of Persia, the Tīmūrids [ q.v.], reigning 861-82/1457-78 over a powerful and extensive state which comprised western Persia and Kirmān as far as the borders of K̲h̲u…

(in Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam : Awhar), a small town owing its importance to the fact that it lies half-way between Ḳazwīn (86 km) and Zand̲j̲ān (88 km.) and that from it a road branched off southwards to Dīnawar. It was conquered in 24/645 by Barāʾ b. ʿĀzib, governor of Rayy. Between 386/996 and 409/1029 it formed the fief of a Musāfirid [ q.v.] prince. The stronghold of Sar-d̲j̲ahān (in Rāḥat al-ṣudūr : Sar-čāhān), lying some 25 km. N.W. of Abhar near a pass leading into Tārom [ q.v.] played an important rôle under the Sald̲j̲ūkids. (V. Minorsky) Bibliography Le Strange, 221 Schwarz, Iran, 726-8 Minorsky,…

(Us̲h̲nuh, Us̲h̲nūya), a district and small town of Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān. The modern town, known as Ushnuwiyya (Oshnoviyeh), situated in lat. 37° 03ʹ N., long. 45° 05ʹ E., is some 56 km/35 miles south of Urmiya [ q.v.], on which it has usually been administratively dependent. It is at present the cheflieu of a bak̲h̲s̲h̲ in the s̲h̲ahrastān of Urmiya. The present population (1991 census results) is 23,875. The district of Us̲h̲nū 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 south-west. To …

, a people of South Caucasian stock (Iberic, “Georgian”) now dwelling in the southeastern corner of the shores of the Black Sea, in the region called in Ottoman times Lazistān. 1. History and geography. The ancient history of the Laz is complicated by the uncertainty which reigns in the ethnical nomenclature of the Caucasus generally; the same names in the course of centuries are applied to different units (or groups). The fact that the name Phasis was applied to the Rion, to the Čorok̲h̲ (the ancient Akampsis), and even to the sources of the Araxes, also creates difficulties. The earliest G…