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, Ṭārom , the name of two places in Persia. 1. The best-known is the mediaeval Islamic district of that name lying along the middle course of the Ḳi̊zi̊l Üzen or Safīd Rūd river [ q.vv.] in the ancient region of Daylam [ q.v.] in northwestern Persia. Adjoining it on the east was the district of K̲h̲alk̲h̲āl [ q.v.]. There are, at the present time, two small towns or villages bearing the name Ṭārum, one of them on the right bank of the Ḳi̊zi̊l Üzen between Wanisarā and Kallad̲j̲. According to Ḥamd Allāh Mustawfī ( Nizhat al-ḳulūb , 65, 217-18, tr. 69-70, 209-10), the district of “the two Ṭārums” ( Ṭāruma…

, Misʿar b. Muhalhil al-Ḵh̲azrad̲j̲ī al-Yanbuʿī , an Arab poet, traveller and mineralogist. The earliest date in his biography is his appearance in Buk̲h̲ārā towards the end of the reign of. Naṣr b. Aḥmad (d. in 331/943). His travels in Persia hint at the years 331-341/943-952. Abū Ḏj̲aʿfar Muḥammad b. Aḥmad, whom Abū Dulaf mentions as his patron in Sīstān (read: *Aḥmad b. Muḥammad), ruled 331-52/942-63. The author of the Fihrist (completed in 377/987) refers to him as d̲j̲awwāla “globe-trotter” and as his personal acquaintance. Al-T̲h̲aʿālibī in his Yatīmat al-Dahr …

, ancient Armenian capital, whose ruins lie on the right bank of the Arpa-Čay (called by the Armenians Ak̲h̲uryan) at about 20 miles from the point where that river joins the Araxes. A suggestion has been made that the town may owe its name to a temple of the Iranian goddess Anāhita (the Greek Anaďtis). The site was inhabited in the pre-Christian period, for pagan tombs have been found in the immediate vicinity of the town. As a fortress Ānī is mentioned as early as the 5th century A.D. Its foun…

(now Ḳuba), a district in the eastern Caucasus between Bākū and Derbend [ q.vv.]. The district of Ḳubba, with an area of 2,800 sq. miles, is bounded on the north by a large river, the Samūr, which flows into the Caspian, on the west by the “district” of Samūr which belongs to Dāg̲h̲istān [ q.v.], on the south by the southern slopes of the Caucasian range (peaks: S̲h̲āh-Dag̲h̲, 13,951 feet high, Bābā Dag̲h̲, 11,900) which separate Ḳubba from S̲h̲amāk̲h̲a (cf. the article s̲h̲īrwān ), on the southeast by the district of Bākū and on the east by the Caspian. …

, (“great one of the Magians”) a Zoroastrian dynasty which the Arabs found in the region of Dunbāwand (Damāwand [ q.v.]) to the north of Ray. The origins of the Maṣmug̲h̲āns. The dynasty seems to have been an old, though not particularly celebrated, one, as is shown by the legends recorded by Ibn al-Faḳīh, 275-7, and in al-Bīrūnī, Āt̲h̲ār , 227. The title of maṣmug̲h̲ān is said to have been conferred by Farīdūn upon Armāʾīl, Bēwarāsp’s former cook (Zohāk), who had been able to save half the young men destined to perish as food for the t…

, a small town in the Zagros Mountains of western Persia on the highroad between Kangāwar and Bīsutūn at 61 km/38 miles from Kirmāns̲h̲āh [ q.v.]. The district of Ṣaḥna contains about 28 villages inhabited by settled Turks belonging to the tribe of K̲h̲odābandalū (of Hamadān). At Ṣaḥna there are a few Ahl-i-Ḥaḳḳ [ q.v.], who are in touch with their spiritual superiors in Dīnawar [ q.v.], a frontier district in the north. Ṣaḥna must not be confused with Sinna [ q.v.] or Sanandad̲j̲ [ q.v.], the capital of the Persian province of Kurdistān, the former residence of the Wālīs of Ardalān [ q.v.]. Quit…

, a place in Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān on the road from Marāg̲h̲a [ q.v.] to Urmiya [ q.v.] south of the Lake of Urmiya. The stages on this route are still obscure. At about 15 farsak̲h̲ s south of Marāg̲h̲a was the station of Barza where the road bifurcated; the main road continued southward to Dīnawar, while the northwestern one went from Barza to Tiflīs (2 farsak̲h̲s), thence to D̲j̲ābarwān (6 farsak̲h̲s), thence to Nirīz (4 farsak̲h̲s), thence to Urmiya (14 farsak̲h̲s); cf. Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih. 121 (repeated by Ḳudāma with some variations); al-Muḳaddasī, 383. The distance from Urmiya indi…

, Mūg̲h̲ān . a steppe lying to the south of the lower course of the Araxes, the northern part of which (about 5,000 square km.) belongs to the Azerbaijan SSR and the other part (50-70 × ca. 50 km.) to Persia. The steppe which covers what was once the bottom of the sea has been formed by the alluvial deposits from the Kur (in Russian, Koura) and its tributary the Araxes. (The latter has several times changed its course and one of its arms flows directly into the gulf of Ki̊zi̊l-Aghač.) In the interior, the only water in Mūg̲h̲ān is…

, modern Turkish form Manisa, classical Magnesia, a town of western Anatolia, in the ancient province of Lydia, lying to the south of the Gediz river on the northeastern slopes of the Manisa Daği, which separates it from Izmir or Smyrna (lat. 38° 36′ N., long 27° 27′ E.). In Greek and then Roman times, Magnesia ad Sipylum was a flourishing town, noted amongst other things for the victory won in its vicinity by the two Scipios over Antiochus the Great of Syria in 190 B.C., and continued to flourish under the Byzantines (see Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopädie , xxvii, 472-…

, a town in the Zagros Mountains of western Persia, in the mediaeval Islamic province of D̲j̲ibāl [ q.v.], situated in lat. 34° 13’ N. and long. 48° 21’ E. and lying at an altitude of 1,786 m/5,860 feet. It is on the branch of the Gāmāsāb which comes from the south-east from the vicinity of Burūd̲j̲ird; the Gāmāsāb then runs westwards to Bisūtūn. Nihāwand lies on the southern road which, coming from Kirmāns̲h̲āh (Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, 198), leads into central Persia (Iṣfahān) avoiding the massif of Alwand (’Οροω…

(“bridgehead of Zohāb”), a place on the way to the Zagros Mountains on the great Bag̲h̲dād-Kirmāns̲h̲āh road, taking its name from the stone bridge of two arches over the river Alwand, a tributary on the left bank of the Diyāla. Sarpul in the early 20th century consisted simply of a little fort ( ḳūr-k̲h̲āna = “arsenal”) in which the governor of Zohāb lived (the post was regularly filled by the chief of the tribe of Gūrān), a caravanserai, a garden of cypress and about 40 houses. The old town of Zohāb, about 4 hours to the no…

(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 pro…

, 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 [ q.v.], Firdawsī (Mohl, vi, 76-7), Lūriyān; T̲h̲aʿālibī, G̲h̲ur…

, 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. His first nom-de-plume was Mad̲j̲nūn. In 1216/1802 Ismāʿīl K̲h̲ān, after a rising against the government, had to flee to K̲h̲urāsān, while D̲j̲andaḳ was occupied by D̲h̲u ’l-Fiḳār K̲h̲ān, representative of the governor of Simnān and Dāmg̲h̲ān. Yag̲h̲mā was forcibly conscripted as an ordinary soldier but at Simnān his gifts obtained him the post of secretary to the governor. In 1223/1808 as a result of a false charge, the poet received the bastinado a…

, 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…

, S̲h̲ahrizūr (in S̲h̲araf K̲h̲ān Bidlīsī’s S̲h̲araf-nāma , S̲h̲ahra-zūl), a district in western Kurdistān lying to the west of the Awrāmān mountain chain, essentially a fertile plain some 58 × 40 km/36 × 25 miles in area, watered by the tributaries of the Tānd̲j̲arō river, which flows into the Sīrwān and eventually to the Diyālā and Tigris. In the wide sense, S̲h̲ahrazūr denoted in Ottoman times the eyālet or province of Kirkūk, a source of considerable confusion in geographical terminology. The district is closely associated with the Ahl-i Ḥaḳḳ [ q.v.], and the initiates of the sec…

, the second king of the Pīs̲h̲dādī dynasty in the Persian epic cycle. The name Tak̲h̲mō-urupa ( Avesta), Tak̲h̲mōrup ( Bundahis̲h̲) is compounded of tak̲h̲ma (“strong, courageous”) (cf. Rustam < Rustahm) + urupa (or urupi) (cf. Christensen, p. 140), “a certain animal of the dog family”, cf. Bartholomae, Altir. Wört., p. 1532, who, however, expresses doubts as to the real meaning of the name (Darmesteter, Avesta, ii., p. 583, interprets it “of sturdy shape”; cf. ¶ Sanskrit rūpa?). Later forms are Tak̲h̲mūraf, Tahmūras. The transcription into Arabic characters Ṭahmūrat̲h̲…

, Mag̲h̲nisa (> Māʾnisa), in Arabic Mag̲h̲nīsiya, capital of the district of Ṣārūk̲h̲ān in western Anatolia. Mag̲h̲nisa is two hours’ journey distant on the south from the river Gediz or Gedüs (the ancient Hermon; on its course, cf. Tchihatchef, Asie Mineure, ii. [1860], p. 232) on the northern slope of Mount Mag̲h̲nisa-dag̲h̲i̊ or Yamanlar (the ancient Sipylos) which separates it from Smyrna (the distance between the two towns by the Sabunči-beli pass is only 20 miles; by railway 40 miles). In ancient times the town (“Magnesia ad Sipylum”) was mainly noted for the victory …

, a province to the south of the Caspian Sea bounded on the west by Gīlān, on the east by the province of Āstarābād (q. v., formerly Gurgān). The name. If Gurgān to the Īrānians was the “Land of the Wolves” ( vəhrkāna), the region to its west was peopled by “Māzainian dēws” (Bartholomae, Altir. Wörterbuch, col. 1169 under māzainya daēva). Darmesteter, Le Zend-Avesta, ii. 373, note 32, thought that Māzandarān was a “comparative of direction” ( *Mazana-tara; cf. s̲h̲ūs̲h̲ and S̲h̲ûs̲h̲tar) but Nöldeke’s hypothesis is the more probable ( Grundr. d. iron. Phil., ii. 178) who thinks that Māz…

(Suldūs). 1. A tribe in Mongolia. According to Bérézine the Mongol form of the name would be Suldes (plural of sulda, “good fortune”). L. Ligeti ( Die Herkunft des Volksnamens Kirgis, Körösi-Csoma Archiv, Budapest 1925, i.) sees in the ending of Suld-uz, as in that of Ḳi̊rḳ-i̊z the remains of an ancient Turkish plural suffix (cf. biz, “we”, siz, “you”, etc.) and as a hypothetical singular quotes the name of a Ḳi̊rg̲h̲i̊z clan: Sult, Sultu. Ras̲h̲īd al-Dīn classes the Suldūz among the dürlükin Mongols, i. e. of “common” origin, in contrast to the “pure” ( nīrūn), who however were descended…

, a dynasty of Atābegs which flourished in Eastern and Southern Luristān between 550 (1155) and 827 (1423) the capital of which was Īd̲h̲ad̲j̲ (= Mālamīr; q. v.). The eponymous founder of the dynasty, also known as Faḍlawī, was a Kurd chief of Syria named Faḍlōya. His descendants (the Ḏj̲ihān-ārā mentions 9 predecessors of Abū Ṭāhir) migrated from Syria and passing through Maiyafāriḳīn and Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān (where they made an alliance with the Amīra Dībād̲j̲ [?] of Gīlān) they arrived about 500 (1006) in the plains north of Us̲h̲turān-Kūh (Luristān). Their (1) chief Abū Ṭāhir (b. ʿA…

, the old capital of Ad̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān. Position. The town lies 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 (Ḥamd Allāh and Mecquenem, 1904). The plentiful water supply makes the vegetation rich. The fruit…

, according to Yāḳūt, a village 2 farsak̲h̲s from Marw al-S̲h̲āhid̲j̲ān [q.v.] In 130 the Umaiyad wālī Naṣr b. Saiyār, retiring under pressure from Abū Muslim, encamped on the river Nahr ʿIyāḍ and appointed Abu ’l-Dhaiyāl to Ṭūsān, the inhabitants of which were partisans of Abū Muslim. Abū ’l-Ḏh̲aiyāl was defeated at Ṭūsān (cf. Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, v. 282). (V. Minorsky)

(in Persian Lor with o short), an Īrānian people living in the mountains in S.W. Persia. As in the case of the Kurds, the principal link among the four branches of the Lurs (Mamāsani, 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 Luristan, cf. the latter article. The name. Local tradition ( Taʾrīk̲h̲-i Guzīda) connects the name of the Lurs with the place Lu…

(written Māridīn in Arabic, in Syriac Marde), a town in upper Mesopotamia (Diyār Rabīʿa). Position. In Upper Mesopotamia, the watershed between the Tigris and Euphrates is formed by the heights which culminate in Ḳarad̲j̲a-dag̲h̲, (5,000 feet) S.W. of Diyār-bakr. This basalt massif is continued eastwards in the direction of Ḏj̲azīrat Ibn ʿOmar by the limestone chain known in ancient times as Masius and later as Izala (’ΙζαλαΣ). The eastern part of this ridge forms the district of Ḏj̲abal-Ṭūr or Tūr ʿAbdīn [q.…

, pseudonym of the Persian poet Abu ’l-Ḥasan Raḥīm b. Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī Ibrāhīm Ḳulī. He was born about 1196 (1782) in the village of Ḵh̲ūr in the oasis of Ḏj̲andaḳ or Biyābānak in the middle of the central desert of Persia. He began his life as a camel-herd but by the age of 7 his natural gifts had been noticed by the owner of the oasis, Ismāʿīl Ḵh̲ān ʿArab-i ʿĀmirī whose secretary ( muns̲h̲ī-bās̲h̲ī) he ultimately became. His first nom de plume was Mad̲j̲nūn. In 1216 (1802) Ismāʿīl Ḵh̲ān after a rising against the government had to flee to Ḵh̲urāsān, while Ḏj̲andaḳ was …

, an Iranian term applied to the country to the north-east of Iran. The form of the name is not earlier than the Middle Persian period. The suffix - ān is used to form both patronymics (Pāpakān) and the names of countries (Gēlān, Dailamān) (cf. Grundr. d. iran. Phil., I/ii., p. 176; Salemann, ibid., I/i., p. 280 expresses doubts as to whether - ān is from the genitive plural - ānām). Three questions are raised by the name Tūrān: 1. its origin, 2. its later acceptation, which identifies Tūrān with “the land of the Turks”, 3. its modern geographical, linguistic and political applications. The Tūra.…

(better T-čayi̊), a village in the district of Gärmärūd in the province of Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān. Türkmän-čai, “the river of the Turkomans”, is really the name of the stream on which the village stands; it comes down from the Čičäkli pass (between Türkmän-čai and Sarāb). It is one of the northern tributaries of the river of Miyāna (S̲h̲ähär-čayi̊) which flows into the Ḳi̊zi̊lüzän (cf. the article safīd-rūd). The village of Türkmän-čai marks a stage on the great Tabrīz-Zand̲j̲ān-Ḳazwīn-Tihrān-Ḵh̲urāsān road. The distances are Tabrīz-Türkmän-čai c. 60 miles; Türkmä…

, 1. capital of the Persian province of ʿIrāḳ (popularly: ʿArāḳ). The town was founded in 1808 by Yūsuf Ḵh̲ān Gurd̲j̲ī in the S. W. corner of the plain of Farāhān. The town is built very regularly in the shape of a rectangle; its walls (2,000 × 2,666 feet) are each protected by 12 or 18 towers. The inhabitants number 25,000 (Stahl). The province now bearing the name of ʿIrāḳ (ʿArāḳ) must not be confused with the extensive area to which the geographers of the Mongol period gave the name of ʿIrāḳ ʿAd̲j̲amī (cf. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, p. 185—186) which included Kirmāns̲h̲ā…

, “men of God”, a secret religion found especially in Western Persia. If one wished to choose a name for the sect, Ahl-i Ḥaḳḳ would seem to lack precision for it was in use, for example, among the Ḥurūfīs (cf. Huart, Textes persons relatifs à la secte des Ḥurūfī, in G.M.S., 1909, p. 40), and it resembles Ṣūfī terms like Ahl-i Ḥaḳīḳat (this is also used by the Ahl-i Ḥaḳḳ). In the narrow sense however, Ahl-i Ḥaḳḳ is the name actually given themselves by the followers of the religion described in the present article. The name ʿAlī-Ilāhī [q. v.] given them by…

(more frequently S. Sohāḳ, S. Sohāk), an important personage in the beliefs of the Ahl-i Ḥaḳḳ sect (popularly known as ʿAlī llāhī; q. v.). The first manifestations of God (Ḵh̲āwandigār, ʿAlī, Bābā Ḵh̲os̲h̲īn) correspond to the stages of s̲h̲arīʿa, ṭarīḳa and maʿrifa, but it is the fourth avatar — Sulṭān Sohāk — which marks the highest degree of gnosis, the ḥaḳīḳa [q. v.]. Everything goes to show that Sulṭān Isḥāḳ was a historical personage. The Ahl-i Ḥaḳḳ put him in the xivth century. He js said to have been a son of a certain S̲h̲aik̲h̲ ʿĪsā and Ḵh̲ātūn Dāyira (Dayarāḳ), da…

b. bazzāz (Tūklī [?] b. Ismāʿīl), a darwīs̲h̲, author of the Ṣifwat al-Ṣafā, which is a biography of the grand S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Ṣafī al-Dīn of Ardabīl (650—735= 1252—1334), ancestor of the Ṣafawid dynasty. The book was written in 750 (1350) under the direction of S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Ṣadr al-Dīn, son of Ṣafī al-Dīn, whom Tawakkul quotes as an authority. Later under S̲h̲āh Ṭahmāsp I the text of the work was revised by a certain Abu ’l-Fatḥ Ḥusainī. The Persian text was published in Calcutta in 1329 (1911). The Ṣifwat al-Ṣafā is a work of considerable length, about 216,000 words. It is purely hagi…

(Send̲j̲ābī), a Kurd tribe in the Persian province of Kirmāns̲h̲āh. In summer the Sind̲j̲ābī pitch their tents in the plain of Māhīdas̲h̲t and in the district of Ḏj̲wānrū; in winter they move to the lands south of the Alwand (in Kurdish: Halawān from the older Ḥulwān, cf. sarpul), a left bank tributary of the Diyāla which it joins near Ḵh̲āniḳīn. Here the ¶ pasturages of the Sind̲j̲ābī stretch from Sarpul to the mountains of Ag̲h̲-dāg̲h̲, Bāg̲h̲če and Ḳaṭār (south of Ḵh̲āniḳīn) and in the south stretch as far as Ḳala-naft. The delimitation of the Turco-Per…

, a Mongol Ḵh̲ān, whose dynasty ruled in Ḏj̲urd̲j̲ān for a century before 808 (1405). The Name. The Ḵh̲ān’s name may be read Tug̲h̲a or Tog̲h̲a. The Ẓafar-nāma transcribes it Ṭg̲h̲y (Tug̲h̲ai?); on a coin published by Fraehn it is spelled Tog̲h̲an (in Mongol character; cf. Howorth, op. cit., iii. 718). Family. Tug̲h̲a Tīmūr b. Suri (Surikuri?) b. Bābā Bahādur was a descendant in the sixth generation from a brother of Čingiz-Ḵh̲ān (Ḏj̲uči-Ḳasar, S̲h̲ad̲j̲arat, p. 315, misunderstood by Miles). In 705 (1305) Bābā Bahādur arrived in Ḵh̲orāsān with his tuman (10,000 families) and entered…

, or properly Maʿalt̲h̲āyā, the Arabic name of two villages in the ḳaḍā of Duhūk in the old wilāyet of Mawṣil. They are about 40 miles N. N. W. of Mawṣil at the point where the river of Duhūk (left bank tributary of the Tigris) enters the plain, whence the Aramaic name Maʿallt̲h̲ā > Malt̲h̲ai, “entrance”. The pass of Maʿalt̲h̲āyā giving access to the country to the south of Lake Van must have played an important part in ancient times. Its importance is indicated by the famous bas-reliefs carved on the rock half an hour’s walk to the south of Maʿalt̲h…

( Kangarids or Sallārids ), a dynasty of Daylamī origin which came from Ṭārum [ q.v.] and reigned in the 4th-5th/10th-11th centuries of the Hid̲j̲ra in Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān, Arrān and Armenia. Its coming to power was one of the manifestations of the great movement of Iranian liberation which formed a kind of interlude between the end of Arab domination and the first Turkish invasions. While in K̲h̲urāsān and Transoxania this movement culminated in the rule of the Sāmānids [ q.v.], in western Persia and Mesopotamia its standard-bearers were the Daylamīs and to a smaller extent…

, a region in the heart of Inner Asia, to the south of the Pamir [ q.v.] range, essentially a long and narrow valley running east-west and watered by the upper Oxus or Pand̲j̲a and the Wak̲h̲ān Daryā, its southernmost source. The length of Wak̲h̲ān along the Oxus is 67 miles and of the Wak̲h̲ān Daryā (from Langar-kis̲h̲ to the Wak̲h̲d̲j̲īr pass) 113 miles. Afg̲h̲an sources put the distance from Is̲h̲kās̲h̲im to Sarḥadd at 66 kurōh (=22 farsak̲h̲s ). ¶ To the south of Wak̲h̲ān rises the wall of the Hindū Kus̲h̲, through which several passes lead to the lands of the upper In…

, Nak̲h̲čuwān , the name of a town in Transcaucasia which is also the chief town of a region of the same name, until the early 19th century a largely independent khanate and in former Soviet Russian administrative geography part of the Azerbaijan SSR but an enclave within the Armenian Republic. Both town and region lie to the northwest of the great southern bend of the Araxes river, since 1834 here the frontier between Persia and Russian territory. The town of Nak̲h̲čiwān is …

, a former fortress on the Black Sea, situated on the Bugur river 40 km. S. W. of the Kuban estuary. Built by French engineers for Sultan ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd I in 1781, it was unsuccessfully attacked by the Russians in 1787 and 1790, but stormed by Gen. Gudovich in 1791. Returned to Turkey by the treaty of Yassy (1791), it was in 1808 taken by the Russians but returned to Turkey in 1812. In 1828 it was blockaded by Admiral Greig and Prince Menshikov and ceded to Russia by the treaty of Adrianople of 1…

1. The most southern group of Kurd tribes in Persia. According to Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn, their name (Läk, often Läkk) is explained by the Persian word läk (100,000), which is said to have been the original number of families of Lak. The group is of importance in that the Zand dynasty arose from it. The Lak now living in northern Luristān [ q.v.] are sometimes confused with the Lur (Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn), whom they resemble from the somatic and ethnic point of view. The facts of history, however, show that the Lak have immigrated to their present settlements from lan…

(or Ṭuwārān?), the mediaeval Islamic name for the district around Ḳuṣdār [ q.v.] or Ḳuzdār in the east-central part of what is now Balūčistān, the territory in British Indian times of the Ḵh̲ānate of Kalāt [see kilat ]. According to al-Ṭabarī, i, 820, the kings of Ṭūrān and of Makurān (Makrān) submitted to the Sāsānid Ardas̲h̲īr (224-41). The Paikuli inscription only mentions the Makurān-S̲h̲āh. Herzfeld, Paikuli, 38, thought that these princes at first owned the suzerainty of the Sakas, and their submission to Ardas̲h̲īr was the result of the conquest of Sak…

, a small town belonging to Yazd and lying on the road from S̲h̲īrāz to Yazd (at 39 farsak̲h̲s from the former and at 28 fars. from the latter) and also connected by a road with Ābādah [ q.v.]. It lies in a plain, and according to Mustawfī, Nuzha , 121, its name ("on a mountain") refers to its earlier site. In 443/1051 Ṭug̲h̲ri̊lbeg gave Yazd and Abarḳūh to the Kākūyid Farāmarz (Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, ix, 384) as a compensation for the loss of Iṣfahān. His successors continued to rule these towns as atābeks . In the 8th/14th century Abarḳūh is frequently mentioned in the …

, “those of the White Sheep”, rederation of Turkmen tribes, which rose in the region of Diyār Bakr in post-Mongol times (in the 14th century) and lasted till c. 908/1502. The name (cf. Chalcocondyles, ch. ix: Λευκοὶ ᾿Ασπρο<προ>βατάντες) is unknown in earlier times. There is some uncertainty about the origin of the name, whether it refers to the breed of sheep, or to some kind of totem; the tumular stones of the Turkmens have often the form of rams, but such a symbol is absent in Uzun Ḥasan’s ban…

(?), a people whom the Arabs found in Sind. Only the outline of the name is certain = *myd (Mīd, Maid), *mnd (Mand, Mund). In the reign of Muʿāwiya (41-60), Ras̲h̲īd b. ʿAmr lost his life on an expedition against the Mand (Balād̲h̲urī, p. 433). During the governorship of al-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲, some Mand from Daibul [q. v.] seized on the high seas the Muslim women who were being repatriated by the king of the Rubis islands (Ḏj̲azīrat al-Yāḳūt); this act of piracy served the Arabs as a pretext to send an expedition against Daibul ( ibid., p. 435). After 95 (714) Muḥammad b. Ḳāsim concluded a …

(Mūnd, Mund), the longest river in Fārs ( Nuzhat al-Ḳulūb: 50 farsak̲h̲s; E. C. Ross: over 300 miles in length). The name. As a rule in Persia, sections of a river are called after the districts through which they flow. Mānd is the name of the last stretch near its mouth. The name seems to appear for the first time in the Fārs-nāma (before 510 = 1116) but only in the composite Māndistān (cf. below). ¶ The old name of the river is usually transcribed in Arabic characters Sakkān (Iṣṭak̲h̲rī, p. 120; Ibn Ḥawḳal, p. 191; Idrīsī, tr. Jaubert, i. 401) but the orthography varies: T̲h̲akān, Fārs-nāma, G. M. S.…

, king of Persia (1147—1160 = 1736—1747). Origins. Nādir b. Imām-ḳuli b. Nad̲h̲r-ḳuli belonged to the Ḳi̊ri̊ḳlu clan of the Turkoman tribe of the Afs̲h̲ārs, of which a section had settled in northern Ḵh̲urāsān, and was born on the 28th Muḥarram 1100 (Oct. 22, 1688) at Kūbkān. Entering the service of Tahmāsp II, he was called Tahmāsp-ḳuli Ḵh̲ān but after his coronation his original name was improved to Nādir, “the rare one”. At an early date Nādir distinguished himself in the incessant fighting with the Turkomans of Nasā, the Čamis̲h̲…

a religious community of Kurdish origin in the wilāyet of Mawṣil. English statistics estimate the number of S̲h̲abaks at 10,000; the Muslims give them the nickname aʿwad̲j̲ (“turbulent”, “disloyal”). The S̲h̲abak live in the villages in the Sind̲j̲ār district (ʿ Alt-rash, Yangid̲j̲a, Ḵh̲azna, Talllra etc.). They are related to their neighbours, the Yazīdīs, most of whose assemblies and places ¶ of pilgrimage they attend. On the other hand, if we may rely on Father Anastase, they show a particular devotion to ʿAlī whom they call ʿAlīras̲h̲ ( ras̲h̲ in Kurdish = “black”). Another st…

Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. Ḏj̲aʿfar (d. 348 = 1959), author of the “History of Buk̲h̲ārā”, the original Arabic version of which he presented to the Sāmānid Nūḥ b. Naṣr in 332 (943—944). In 522 (1128—1129) the book was translated into Persian by Abū Naṣr Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Ḳubāwī who omitted several “tedious” passages. Then in 574 (1178—1179) Muḥammad b. Ẓufar prepared a new abbreviated edition of the book which he presented to Ṣadr ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Burhān al-Dīn, governor of Buk̲h̲ārā. Finally an unknow…

, a Persian corruption of the Turkish soʾuḳ-bulaḳ “cold spring”; the form sāwd̲j̲ (pronunciation sāʾud̲j̲) is found as early as the ¶ Nuzhat al-Kulūb (740 = 1340). There are two places of this name: 1. The fertile district beginning at Ṭeherān and stretching to the west of the river Karad̲j̲ along both sides of the great Ṭeherān-Ḳazwīn road. To the north a range of hills separates it from Ṭalaḳān. On the southern slopes of these hills are the pits of Fes̲h̲and which supply the capital with coal. The district is watered by the Ko…

(the contracted form Rāmiz, Rāmuz is found as early as the tenth century), a town and district in Ḵh̲ūzistān [q. v.]. Rām-Hormuz lies about 55 miles southeast of Ahwāz, 65 miles S.S.E. of S̲h̲ūs̲h̲tar, and 60 miles N. E. of Behbehān. Ibn Ḵh̲urdād̲h̲bih, p. 43, reckons it 17 farsak̲h̲s from Ahwāz to Rām-Hormuz and 22 farsak̲h̲s from Rām-Hormuz to Arrad̲j̲ān. Ḳudāma, p. 194, who gives a more detailed list of stages, counts it 50 farsak̲h̲s from Wāsiṭ to Baṣra, thence 35 farsak̲h̲s to Ahwāz, thence 20 …

, a Persian man of letters, who died on 19th S̲h̲awwāl 1313 (April 3, 1896). His honorific titles were Sanīʿ al-Dawla and later Iʿtimād al-Salṭana. Through his mother he was related to the Ḳād̲j̲ārs [q. v.] and through his father he claimed descent from the Mongol rulers. His father, Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī ʿAlī Ḵh̲ān of Marāg̲h̲a, was a faithful servant of Nāṣir al-Dīn S̲h̲āh (in 1852 he discovered the conspiracy of Sulaimān Ḵh̲ān) and the son from his youth upwards was in the service of the court. Muḥammad Ḥasan Ḵh̲ān was one of the first students at the Dār al-Funūn founded in 1268 (1851…

, “parasite, sponger”. This is the meaning given to the word in the majority of the European dictionaries of Arabic, Persian and Turkish, e.g. Bélot, G̲h̲affārow, Sāmī-bey, etc. But this does not render the exact shade of meaning of the word, which was first of all applied to an individual who goes to a feast without being invited or accompanies a person invited. A little lower class of parasite is called in everyday Persian ḳufailī ¶ the term applied to hangers on of the ṭufaili. According to the Arabic dictionaries, Lisān al-ʿArab, xiii., p. 429, Tād̲j̲ al-Arūs, vii., p. 418 the word ṭufailī c…

, a place in Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān on the road from Marāg̲h̲a [q. v.] to Urmiya [q. v.] south of the Lake of Urmiya. The stages on this route are still obscure. At about 15 farsak̲h̲s south of Marāg̲h̲a was the station of Barza where the road bifurcated; the main road continued southward to Dīnawar while the northwest went from Barza to Tiflīs (2 farsak̲h̲s), thence to Ḏj̲ābarwān (6 farsak̲h̲s), thence to Nirīz (4 farsak̲h̲s), thence to Urmiya (14 farsak̲h̲s); cf. Ibn Ḵh̲urdād̲h̲bih, p. 121 (repeated by Ḳudāma with some variations); Muḳaddasī, p. 383. The distance from Urmiya indicates that…

(Sulṭān Uwais), second king of the dynasty of Ḏj̲alāʾir [q. v.] or Īlakān (Īlkān <*Ilg’än?) who reigned 756—776 (1355—1374). Uwais, born about 742 (1341), was the son of Ḥasan Buzurg [q. v.], son of Ḥusain Gurgān ( Küräkän, “son-in-law of the Ḵh̲ān”), son of Aḳ-bug̲h̲a Noyon, son of Īlakān (*Īlkān) Noyon (Ras̲h̲īd al-Dīn: Īlkāy, *Ilg’äy). Ḥasan Buzurg’s mother was a Mongol princess, daughter of Arg̲h̲un-Ḵh̲ān. Ḥasan himself married the famous Dils̲h̲ād-Ḵh̲ātūn, daughter of Dimis̲h̲ḳ-Ḵh̲wād̲j̲a, son of Čopan [cf. suldūz], who had previously married Abū Saʿīd Ḵh̲ān and on h…

, the ancient Ragha, a town in Media. Its ruins may be seen about 5 miles S. S. E. of Teheran [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 has taken place between the west and east of Īrān. Several roads from Māzandarān [q. v.] converge on Raiy on the north side. In the Avesta, Wīdēwdāt, i. 15, Raghā is men…

, the name given to the new town of Mezre, built beside Ḵh̲arpūt [q. v.] in honour of Sulṭān ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. In time the name became applied to the new wilāyet formed in 1879 around Ḵh̲arpūt-Mezre; this consisted of three sand̲j̲aḳs: al-ʿAzīz, Ḵh̲ozāt and Malaṭiya. As a result of the administrative reforms of 1340 (1921) each of these sand̲j̲aḳs became an independent wilāyet but later modifications were made. According to the official annual of 1925—1926, the wilāyet of Maʿmūret al-ʿAzīz has an area of 11,299 sq. km. or 12,428,900 dönüms, of which 3,124,596 are arable. It contains 6 …

(i. e. Ilčī-yi Niẓām-s̲h̲āhī “ambassador of Niẓām-S̲h̲āh” of the Dakhan), a Persian historian whose real name was Ḵh̲ūrs̲h̲āh b. Ḳubād al-Ḥusainī. Born in the Persian ʿIrāḳ, he entered the service of Sulṭān Burhān [cf. nihẓāms̲h̲āh]. The latter being converted to the S̲h̲īʿa sent Ḵh̲ūrs̲h̲āh as ambassador to Ṭahmāsp-S̲h̲āh Safawi. Reaching Raiy in Rad̲j̲ab 952 (Sept. 1545), he accompanied the S̲h̲āh to Georgia and S̲h̲īrwān during the campaign of 953 (1546) against Alḳāṣ-Mīrzā. He stayed in Persia till 971 (1563), perhaps with occasional breaks. He died at Golconda on the 15th Ḏh̲u …

, an Iranian people of Nearer Asia, living in Persia, Transcaucasia, Turkey and al-ʿIrāḳ (cf. kurdistān). Before 1914 the number of Kurds living in compact bodies or isolated colonies (Ḵh̲orāsān, Asia Minor, Cilicia, southern Syria) was estimated at two to three millions. Although many, travellers have passed through Kurdistān and there are a large number of important works dealing with the Kurds from the linguistic, historical, ethnographical and political point of view, we still lack a general study devoted to this people. Its prepara…

, a ruined site in Transcaspiana (Türkmenistan), N. W. of the confluence of the Atrak and its right bank tributary the Sumbar, or more exactly, on the road which runs from Čat at right angles to the road connecting Čikis̲h̲lär with the railway station of Aydi̊n. The ruins are surrounded by a wall of brick and a ditch and have an area of 320 acres. The old town, situated in the steppes which are now peopled by Turkomans, received its water from a canal led from the Atrak about 40 miles ¶ above Čat. Near the latter place the canal diverged northwards from the river, crossed the Sumbar b…

(now Ḳuba), a district in the eastern Caucasus, between Bākū and Derbend [q. v.]. The district of Ḳubba with an area of 2,800 square miles is bounded on the north by a large river, the Samūr, which flows into the Caspian, on the west by the “district” of Samūr which belongs to Dāg̲h̲istān [q. v.], on the south by the southern slopes of the Caucasian range (peaks: S̲h̲āh-Dag̲h̲, 13,951 feet high, Bābā Dag̲h̲ 11,900) which separate Ḳubba from S̲h̲amāk̲h̲a (cf. the article s̲h̲īrwān), on the S. E. by the district of Bākū and on the east by the Caspian. The area between the mount…

, a town in the old province of Hamad̲h̲ān, with, at the present day, 5,000-6,000 inhabitants (de Morgan), at a height of 5,860 feet on the branch of the Gāmāsāb which comes from the S. E. from the vicinity of Burūd̲j̲ird; the Gāmāsāb then runs W. to Bisūtūn. Nihāwand lies on the southern road which, coming from Kirmāns̲h̲āh (Ibn Ḵh̲urdād̲h̲bih, p. 198), leads into Central Persia (Iṣfahān) avoiding the massif of Alwand (ʾΟρόντηΣ) which rises W. of Hamad̲h̲ān. Hence the importance of the town in the wars of Persia with her western neighbours. The French excavations of 1931 (Dr. Contenau)…

, [Balād̲h̲urī gives the form Māyazdiyār < *Māh-yazd-yār], the last of the Ḳārinid rulers of Ṭabarīstān, leader of the rising against the caliph al-Muʿtaṣim. Origins. The Ḳarīn-wand dynasty claimed descent from Ḳarīn b. Sūk̲h̲rā, whom Ḵh̲usraw Anus̲h̲irwān had established in Ṭabarīstān and who was descended from the legendary smith Kāwa, who saved Farīdūn. The hereditary fief of the dynasty was the “mountain of Ḳarīn” [or of Windād Hurmuz], Ṭabarī, iii. 1295. The capital of this region was probably Lapūra (cf. Lafūr on…

, a little township in the Persian province of Kermāns̲h̲āh on the great road between Kangāwar and Bīsutūn. The district of Ṣaḥna contains about 28 villages inhabited by settled Turks belonging to the tribe of Ḵh̲odābandelū (of Hamadān). At Ṣaḥna there are a few Ahl-i-Ḥaḳḳ (see the article ʿalī ilāhī), who are in touch with their spiritual superiors in Dīnawar (see dīnawar), a frontier district in the north. Ṣaḥna must not be confused with Senne, the capital of the Persian province of Kurdistān, the former residence of the Wālīs of Ardilān [q. v.]. Quite …

(Kangarī or Sallārī), a d y n as t y of Dailamī origin which came from Tārom [q. v.] and reigned in the fourth and fifth centuries of the Hid̲j̲ra in Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān, Arrān and Armenia. Its coming to power was one of the manifestations of the great movement of Īrānian liberation which formed a kind of interlude between the end of Arab domination and the first Turkish invasions. While in Ḵh̲urāsān and Transoxania this movement culminated in the rule of the Sāmānids [q. v.], in western Persia and Mesopotamia its standardbearers were the Dailamīs and to a smaller extent the Kurds (cf. V. Minorsky, L…

, Thoma, an Armenian historian, who lived in the second half of the ninth century and beginning of the tenth. He says he was acquainted with the assassin of Yūsuf b. Abī Saʿīd, who was killed in 851 (p. 105) and the authentic part of his work comes down at least to 906 (p. 210—211) and perhaps even to before 943 (p. 236, 245). Of his private life we know only that he was a monk ( vardapet) and that he travelled in Transcaucasia (p. 236). By birth he must have been connected with the Artsruni noble family who were feudatories of Waspurakan, i. e. of the lands lying east o…

, a Zoroastrian dynasty whom the Arabs found in the region of Dunbāwand (Damāwand) to the north of Raiy. The origins of the Maṣmug̲h̲āns. The dynasty seems to have been an old though not particularly celebrated one as is shown by the legends recorded by Ibn al-Faḳīh, p. 275—277, and in al-Bīrūnī, p. 227. The title of maṣmug̲h̲ān is said to have been conferred by Farīdūn upon Armāʾīl, Bēwarāsp’s former cook (Zohāk), who had been able to save half the young men destined to perish as food for the tyrant’s serpents. A…

, or Abīward [q. v.], a town and district on the northern slopes of the mountains of Ḵh̲orāsān in an area now belonging to the autonomous Turkoman republic which forms part of the U. S. S. R. The whole oasis region including Nasā [q.v.], Bāward etc. (known by the Turkish name of Ätäk “foothills”) ¶ played a great part in ancient times as the first line of defence of Ḵh̲orāsān against the nomads. In the Arsacid period this region was in the ancestral country of the dynasty. Isidore of Charax, § 13 (at the beginning of the Christian era) mentions between Παρθυηνή (with…

, a dynasty of Atābegs which ruled in Northern and Western Luristān between 580 (1184) and 1006 (1597) with Ḵh̲urramābād as their capital. The Atābegs were descended from the Lur tribe of Ḏj̲angrūʾī (Ḏj̲angardī?). The dynasty is also known by the name of Ḵh̲urshīdī from the name of the first Atābeg. (It remains to be seen if this name is connected with that of Muḥammad Ḵh̲urs̲h̲īd, vizier of the former rulers ¶ of Luristān before the rise of the Atābegs of Lur-i Buzurg). After 730 the power passed to another line which later claimed to be of ʿAlid descent; at this time also the title malik succeede…

(or Ṭawārān?), the old name of a district in Balūčistān. According to Ṭabarī, i. 820, the kings of Ṭūrān and of Makurān (Mukrān) submitted to the Sāsānian Ardas̲h̲īr (224—241). The Paikulī inscription only mentions the Makurān-s̲h̲āh. Herzfeld, Paikuli, p. 38, thinks that these princes at first owned the suzerainty of the Sakas and their submission to Ardas̲h̲īr was the result of the conquest of Sakastān (=Sīstān) by this monarch. Balād̲h̲urī does not mention al-Ṭūrān. According to one of his sources, Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲ [q. v.] appointed Saʿīd b. Aslam to Mukrān and…

(and Ṭassūd̲j̲), 1. Arabicised forms of the Persian word tasū (Phi. *tasūk, cf. Phi. tasum “fourth” <.*čaθruma; cf. Salemann, Manich. Studien, i. 128; Tedesco, Dialectologie der west-iranischen Turfantexte, p. 209) which means the 24th part of certains measures (Vullers, i. 445). According to the Farhang-i S̲h̲uʿūri, two d̲j̲aw = a ḥabba; two ḥabba = a tasūd̲j̲; four tasūd̲j̲ = a dāng; six dāng = a dīnār. In the Dīwān of Ḳāsim al-Anwār (Bib. Nat. de Paris, Sup. Pers. 717, fol. 174) is a verse giving to tasu some mystic sense. The word is found in Arménien thasu and in Aramaic ṭyswga; cf. Hübsc…

1. A town in Gīlan to the east of the Safīd-Rūd and north of the mountain Dulfāk (cf. the ancient name of a people Δέρβικαι) on the river Čom-k̲h̲ala (Purdesar) which 8 miles higher up flows through Langarūd, the present capital of the district of Rān-i Kūh. Lāhīd̲j̲ān although unknown to the early Arab geographers is certainly one of the oldest towns in Gīlān. Its foundation is attributed to the legendary Lāhīd̲j̲ b. Sām b. Nūḥ. The river Safīd-Rūd divides Gīlān into two parts. In ancient times the river formed the frontier between the Amar…

(Mūg̲h̲ān). In the important passage in Masʿūdī, Murūd̲j̲, ii. 5 (omitted in Marquart, Ērānšahr, p. 119), it is distinctly stated that al-Mūḳāniya conquered by the lord of S̲h̲irwān [q. v.] was situated near Ḳabala [cf. s̲h̲ekkī], i. e. to the north of the Kur, and was different from al-Mūḳāniya on the shore of the Caspian Sea (cf. the Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, with notes by Minorsky, in G.M.S., 1937, p. 407). In the Georgian Chronicle (Brosset, Hist. de la Georgie, i. 18) we read that Mowakan son of Thargamos received from his father “the north ( sic) of Mtkwar (= Kur) from the junction with the …

, a district in the province of Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān in Persia, to the north-west of the Lake of Urmiyah and having an area of 25 miles (N. to S.) by 40 (E. to W.). To the south the chain ¶ of the Awg̲h̲ān (Afg̲h̲ān)-dag̲h̲ with its pass Wer gewīz (6,150 feet high) separates Salmis from the district of Urmiyah (Urūmī); the eastern portion of the Awg̲h̲ān-dag̲h̲ forms the lofty promontory of Ḳara-bāg̲h̲ [q.v.] which runs out into the Lake; at the end of it is the fortress of Güwerčin-Ḳalʿa. In the west the Harāwīl range (in Turkish Araʾu…

, capital of the Persian province of Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān [q. v.]. Geographical position. The town lies in the eastern corner of the alluvial plain (measuring about 30 × 20 miles) sloping slightly towards the north-east bank of Lake Urmiya. The plain is watered by several streams, the chief of which is the Ad̲j̲i̊-čai (“bitter river”) which, rising in the south-west face of Mount Sawalān runs along the Ḳarad̲j̲a-dag̲h̲ which forms a barrier on the south and entering the plain runs around on the northwest suburbs of the town. The left bank tributary ¶ of the Ad̲j̲i̊-čai, Mihrān-rūd (now th…

, 1. a dynasty in Kirmān [q. v.] in the viith (xiiith) century, descended from the heathen Ḳara-Ḵh̲itai people [q. v.]. The dynasty, successively vassals of the Ḵh̲wārizms̲h̲āh, the Great Mongol Ḵh̲āns and the dynasty of Hūlāgū Ḵh̲ān (Īlk̲h̲āns), lasted from 619 (620?) to 706 and never had more than local importance. It entertained close relations with the neighbouring dynasties of the Atābegs of’Yazd, the Salg̲h̲urids of Fārs and the Muẓaffarids [q. v.] and came into occasional contact with the Caliph and with India. The…

(Nak̲h̲ičewān), a t own to the north of the Araxes. The town Ναξουάνα is mentioned in Ptolemy, v., ch. 12. The Armenians explain the name of Nak̲h̲čawan (Nak̲h̲čuan) by a popular etymology as nak̲h̲-id̲j̲ewan “(Noah’s) first stopping-place” (although the name is apparently compounded with -awan “place”) and locate the town in the province of Waspurakan (cf. Yāḳūt, i. 122), or in that of Siunikh. According to Moses of Chorene, i. ch. 30, Nak̲h̲ičewan was in the area peopled by Median prisoners ( mar) in whom we should see the ancestors of the Kurds of this region (cf. Balād̲h̲urī, p. 200; nahr …

(S̲h̲ahrazūr, in the S̲h̲eref-nāme:. S̲h̲ahra-zūl), a district in Kurdistān. S̲h̲ehrizūr, strictly speaking, is a beautiful and fertile plain (36 × 25 miles) situated to the west of the chain of Awrāmān (cf. senne). To the south-east it adjoins the Persian district of Awrāmān-i luhūn. On the south the river Sīrwān is the boundary of the district; on the south-west S̲h̲ehrizūr extends as far as the pass of Darband-i Ḵh̲ān by which the Sīrwān (Diyāla) makes its way to the south. On the west S̲h̲ehrizūr is bounded by Arbet which …

(often Nisā), the name of several places in Persia: in Ḵh̲urāsān, Fārs, Kirmān and Hamad̲h̲ān; cf. Yāḳūt, iv. 778. (According to Bartholomae, nisāya means “settlement”). 1. Nasā in Ḵh̲urāsān was situated in the cultivated zone which lies north of the range separating Ḵh̲urāsān from the Turkoman steppes. It corresponds to the Νίσαια, Νίσαιον πεδίον of the classical authors, celebrated for its breed of horses (Herodotos, iii. 106; cf. Strabo, xi., ch. xiv., §7). Alexander the Great is said to have built an Alexandropolis …

(p.), “house of strength”, the Persian gymnasium. There are zūrk̲h̲āna in many Persian towns and often also in several quarters of a large town. From the architectural point of view these gymnasiums recall an eastern bath lit by a skylight in the centre of the little dome. The arena ( go u d) lies below the level of the floor. The superintendent and the spectators take their places in niches cut in the walls; sometimes there is a kind of gallery reserved for the public. Among the members of a zūrk̲h̲āna various degrees are distinguished: a nouče “novice”, nouk̲h̲āste “beginner”, pähläwān “athl…

(Mūg̲h̲ān), a steppe lying to the south of the lower course of the Araxes, one part of which (about 5,000 square kilometres) belongs to Russia (U. S. S. R.) and the other (50—70 × c. 50 kilometres) to Persia. The steppe which covers what was once the bottom of the sea has been formed by the alluvial deposits from the Kur (in Russian Koura) and its tributary the Araxes. (The latter has several times changed its course and one of its arms flows directly into the gulf of Ḳi̊zi̊l-Ag̲h̲ač). In the i…

, a little seaport on the Persian Gulf which lies between Lāristān [q. v.] and the desert. The old port was at Kung, 8 miles east of Linga; the Portuguese had a factory there where they ruled long after the loss of Hormūz (to 1711). In the reign of the Zand dynasty, 1,000 Ḏj̲awāsim Arabs (Banī Ḏj̲ās̲h̲im, Ḏj̲awās̲h̲im, Kowāsim) with their chief S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Ṣāliḥ came from Ras al-Ḵh̲aima (ʿOmān) and took Linga from the kalāntar of the district Ḏj̲ahāngīrī. In 1887 the Persian government took possession of Linga and deported to Ṭeherān the last hereditary s̲h̲aik̲h̲ (Ḳaḍ…

, a Kurdish district in Persia near the Turkish frontier. In Kurdish, sōmāi means “view” (cf. in Persian sūma, “terminus, finis, scopus”, Vullers, ii. 352). To the north Ṣōmāi is separated from the basin of the Zola-čai (S̲h̲epirān, Salmās, q. v.) by the mountains of Bere-dī, Und̲j̲ali̊ḳ and Ag̲h̲wān; on the east the canton of Anzal separates it from Lake Urmia; to the southeast lies the S̲h̲aik̲h̲-Bāzīd range, to the south the canton of Brādōst; to the S.W. the peak of Kotūl; towards the west the ravine of Bāneg…

(Banī Lām), an Arab tribe leading a nomadic life on the lower course of the Tigris (ʿAlī G̲h̲arbī, ʿAlī S̲h̲arḳī, ʿAmāra). According to the statistics of Ḵh̲urs̲h̲īd Efendi (middle of the xixth century) there were over 4,400 families of Banī Lām west of the Tigris (between ʿAmāra and S̲h̲aṭṭ al-Ḥaiy) and 5,070 east of the Tigris, along the Persian frontier from Mandalī to the region of marshes ( k̲h̲ōr) into which the Kark̲h̲a disappears. 17,450 families of the Banī Lām went over to Persian territory between 1788 and 1846 (the southern parts of the Pus̲h̲t-i Kūh…

, “land of the Kurds”. The name can be regarded from two points of view: historical and ethnographical. I. From the historical point of view the term Kurdistān seems to have been invented by the Sald̲j̲ūḳs as a name for the province including the lands between Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān and Luristān (Senna, Dainawar, Hamadān, Kirmāns̲h̲āh etc.) as well as certain a joining areas to the west of Zagros (S̲h̲ahrizūr, Ḵh̲uftiyān = Kōi-sand̲j̲aḳ?). The capital of the province of Kurdistān was at first Bahār (N. E. of Hamadān) a…