Table of Contents

• ASPASTES

  A. Sh. Shahbazi

  Greek form of an Old Persian name attested in the Achaemenid period.

• ASPATHINES

  Cross-Reference

  See ASPAČANĀ.

• ĀŠPAZ, ʿABDALLĀH HERAVĪ

  Cross-Reference

  See ʿABDALLĀH HERAVĪ.

• ĀŠPAZ-ḴĀNA

  ʿE. Elāhī

  “kitchen.”

• ĀŠPAZĪ

  B. Fragner

  "cooking." The history of food consumption in Iran is primarily part of the history of agriculture and stockbreeding on the Iranian plateau.

• ASPBED

  M. L. Chaumont

  “master of horses, chief of cavalry,” Parthian title attested in the Nisa documents and the inscription of Šāpūr I on the Kaʿba-ye Zardošt.

• ASPET

  C. Toumanoff

  Armenian title.

• ʿAṢR-E ENQELĀB

  N. Parvīn

  a journal of news and political comment published at Tehran in 1333-1915.

• ʿAṢR-E JADĪD

  N. Parvīn

  (New era), the name of several journals and a magazine published in Iran at various times.

• AŠRAF GĪLĀNĪ

  M. Rahman

  (1870-1934), poet and leading journalist of the Constitutional era.

• AŠRAF ḠILZAY

  D. Balland

  the Afghan chief who ruled as Shah over part of Iran from 1137/1725 to 1142/1729.

• AŠRAF

  Cross-Reference

  town in Māzandarān. See BEHŠAHR.

• AŠRAF-ʿALĪ KHAN FOḠĀN

  M. Baqir

  (or FEḠĀN), poet writing in Persian and Urdu (1140-86/1727-72).

• AŠRAFI

  B. Fragner

  term used from the mid-15th century for a gold coin first minted in Mamluk Egypt in 810/1407-08.

• AŠRAFĪ

  A. Hairi

  religious leader, born sometime before 1235/1819 and died 1315/1897-98.

• ASRĀR AL-ḤEKAM

  M. Moḥaqqeq

  the title of a book written for Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah Qāǰār, by the philosopher Ḥāǰǰ Mollā Hādī Sabzavāri (1212-89/1797-1872).

• ASRĀR AL-TAWḤĪD

  H. Algar

   principal source for the life and teachings of the well-known mystic of Khorasan, Abū Saʿid b. Abi’l-Ḵayr (b. 357/967, d. 440/1049).

• ĀSRĒŠTĀR

  P. O. Skjærvø

  in Middle Persian Manichean texts a kind of demons, often associated with the mazans.

• ĀSRŌN

  EIr

  Middle Persian form of Avestan āθravan.

• ʿAṢṢĀR TABRĪZĪ

  Z. Safa

  poet, scholar, and mystic of the 8th/14th century.

• ʿAṢṢĀR, Sayyed MOḤAMMAD-KĀẒEM

  Ahmad Kazemi Mousavi and EIr

  (b. 1302/1884-85; d. Tehran, 19 Dey 1353 Š./9 January 1975), outstanding Shiʿite scholar and professor of philosophy at the University of Tehran.

• ASSARHADDON

  J. A. Delaunay

  king of Assyria 680-69 B.C., son of Sennacherib and father of Aššurbanipal. Here only Assarhaddon’s relations with the Cimmerians and Mannians, and the Medes, are described. The Cimmerians  with an admixture of Scythians came down from the Caucasus about 700 B.C. and began to press on the eastern borders of Assyria.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ASSASSINS

  Cross-Reference

  (Ar. Ḥaššāšin), pejorative name given to Neẓāri Ismaʿilis by their adversaries during the Middle Ages. See ISMAʿILISM iii. History.

• AŠŠURBANIPAL

  J. A. Delaunay

  The Cimmerians (Gimirru) had entered Assyria about 700 B.C. but were stopped by Assarhaddon and so turned towards Lydia (Luddu). The king of Lydia, Gyges (Gūgu, Guggu), who had founded the Mermandes dynasty, following the advice of the god Aššur in a dream, sent a delegation to Aššurbanipal to ask for assistance.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ASSYRIA

  M. Dandamayev, È. Grantovskiĭ, K. Schippmann

  i. The Kingdom of Assyria and its relations with Iran. ii. Achaemenid Aθurā. iii. Parthian Assur.

• ASSYRIA i. The Kingdom of Assyria and its Relations with Iran

  M. Dandamayev and È. Grantovskiĭ

  Texts belonging to the 9th-7th centuries B.C. provide valuable data on the expeditions of Assyrian kings to Iranian territory, including “Messages to the Deity” and summaries of royal victories presented in geographical order.

• ASSYRIA ii. Achaemenid Aθurā

  M. Dandamayev

  Old Persian Aθurā “Assyria” goes back to Akkadian Aššur, the name of the city of Aššur and of the original Assyrian territory on the middle course of the Tigris.

• ASSYRIA iii. Parthian Assur

  K. Schippmann

  In 141 B.C. the Parthian king Mithridates I conquered large parts of Mesopotamia, including probably Assyria. Although the Parthians were soon driven back out of Mesopotamia, Assur finally fell under Parthian influence from the reign of Mithridates II onwards.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ASSYRIANS IN IRAN

  R. Macuch, A. Ishaya

  The development of the modern concept of “Assyrians” among the East Syrian Christian communities began with Botta’s excavation of the palace of Sargon II in Khorsabad (1843), followed by Layard’s discovery of Nineveh. This research opened the eyes, not only of the West, but also of the ethnically nameless Aramean population in these regions which had been satisfied to identify itself by religions denominations.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ASSYRIANS IN IRAN i. The Assyrian community (Āšūrīān) in Iran

  R. Macuch

  Clearly, this small ethnic group divided into different confessions needed special arguments for accepting a standard name “Assyrians” after this term had already been accepted, for practical reasons, by others.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ASSYRIANS IN IRAN ii. Literature of the Assyrians in Iran

  R. Macuch

  Although there were four missionary printing-houses in Urmia before the end of World War I, the Iranian Assyrian writers and poets were producing much more than they were able to publish. Many of their literary products remained in manuscript or were published only posthumously.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ASSYRIANS IN IRAN iii. Assyrian Settlements Outside of Iran

  A. Ishaya

  The dispersion of the Assyrians took place during World War I, when the whole nation was uprooted from its homegrounds. The diaspora is still in progress. Presently in the Middle East, besides Iran, Assyrian settlements are located in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey.

• ASTABED

  M. L. Chaumont

  The word astabid occurs in two Syriac texts as the title of a high-ranking Iranian officer and is applied to three different individuals.

• AŠTĀD

  G. Gnoli

  Old Iranian female deity of rectitude and justice.

• AŠTĀD YAŠT

  P. O. Skjærvø

  Yt. 18, though dedicated to Aštād, the goddess of rectitude, does not mention her.

• ĀSTĀN-E QODS-E RAŻAWĪ

  ʿA.-Ḥ. Mawlawī, M. T.Moṣṭafawī, and E. Šakūrzāda

  the complex of buildings surrounding the tomb of the Imam ʿAlī al-Reżā at Mašhad.

• ĀSTĀNA

  Eckart Ehlers, Marcel Bazin, and Christian Bromberger

  a township and a district of Lāhīǰān in the province of Gīlān.

• ASTARA

  Multiple Authors

  a town and sub-province in the province of Ardabil, northern Iran.

• ĀSTĀRĀ i. Town and sub-province

  M. Bazin

  The rural inhabitants grow rice, wheat, and vegetables on the coastal plain and wheat, corn (maize), and fruit trees on the lower slopes of the mountains, and graze flocks and herds between qešlāq and yeylāq. 

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ASTARA ii. Population, 1956-2011

  Mohammad Hossein Nejatian

  This article deals with the growth of Astara from 1956 to 2011, age structure, average household size, literacy rate, and economic activity status.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ASTARĀBĀD

  C. E. Bosworth, S. Blair

  (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.

• ASTARĀBĀD BAY

  E. Ehlers

  a lagoon in the extreme southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea.

• ASTARĀBĀD-ARDAŠĪR

  Cross-Reference

  See KARḴ MAYSĀN.

• ASTARĀBĀDĪ, ʿABD-AL-JABBĀR

  Cross-Reference

  See ʿABD-AL-JABBĀR ASTARĀBĀDĪ.

• ASTARĀBĀDĪ, FAŻLALLĀH

  H. Algar

  (d. 796/1394), founder of the Ḥorūfī religion.

• ASTARĀBĀDĪ, MAHDĪ KHAN

  J. R. Perry

  court secretary and historiographer to Nāder Shah Afšār (r. 1148-60/1736-47).

• ASTARĀBĀDĪ, MOḤAMMAD AMĪN

  E. Kohlberg

   founder of the 17th-century Aḵbārī school.

• AŠTARAK

  KAMRAN EKBAL

  a village in the Ābārān district about six miles northwest of Yerevan (Iravān) in a mountainous region of the Caucasus.

• AŠTARJĀN

  R. Hillenbrand

  (OŠTORJĀN), name of a subdistrict (dehestān) and its chief village, lying southwest of Isfahan.

• ĀSTARKĪ

  J. Qāʾem-Maqāmī

  (or AŠTARKĪ), one sub-tribe of the six which presently constitute the Dūrkī tribe of the Haft Lang confederation of the Baḵtīārī people.

• ASTAUENE

  Cross-Reference

  Parthian province to the north of Hyrcania (Gorgān). See OSTOVĀ.

• ĀŠTĪĀN

  C. E. Bosworth

  the name both of an administrative subdistrict (dehestān) and its chef-lieu in the First Province (ostān).

• ĀŠTĪĀNI

  E. Yarshater

  the dialect of Āštīān, belongs to the group of “Central” dialects spoken in Kashan and Isfahan provinces and some adjacent areas.

• ĀŠTĪĀNĪ, ḤASAN

  H. Algar

  (d. 1319/1901), late 19-century moǰtahed who played an important role in the campaign against the tobacco concession of 1309/1891.

• ĀŠTĪĀNĪ, MAHDĪ

  H. Algar

  known as Mīrzā Kūček (1306-1372/1888-89 to 1952-53), a scholar who excelled in both the traditional (manqūl) and rational (maʿqūl) sciences.

• AŠTIŠAT

  M. Van Esbroeck

  religious center of pagan Armenia and first official Christian see.

• ASTŌDĀN

  A. Sh. Shahbazi

  “bone-receptacle, ossuary.” The term has an important place in the vocabulary of ancient Iranian funerary rites.

• ASṬORLĀB

  D. Pingree

  The altitude of the sun or of the star is determined by an observation through the alidade on the back; the rim of the upper two halves of the back is graduated from 0° to 90° from the horizontal diameter (horizon) to the apex (zenith).

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ASTRAKHAN

  B. Spuler

  a town (Russian since 1556) on the river Volga.

• ASTROLABE

  Cross-Reference

  See ASṬORLĀB.

• ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY IN IRAN

  D. Pingree, C. J. Brunner

  Highly relevant are the subjects Mithraism and Zurvanism. It is here assumed that the exposure of Zoroastrian priests to Near Eastern divination, from the Achaemenid period on, helped foster cosmological speculation; and this developed a body of myth around Zurwān “Time.” 

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ASTVAṰ.ƎRƎTA

  M. Boyce

  the Avestan name of the Saošyant, the future Savior of Zoroastrianism.

• ASTWIHĀD

  M. F. Kanga

  the demon of death in the Avesta and later Zoroastrian texts.

• ASTYAGES

  R. Schmitt

  the last Median king.

• ʿĀŠŪRĀʾ

  M. Ayoub

  tenth day of Moḥarram, the first month of the Islamic calendar; for Sunnis it is a day on which fasting is recommended, and for Shiʿites a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Imam Ḥosayn.

• ĀŠŪRĀDA

  J. Qāʾem-Maqāmī

  (or Āšūrʾāda, ʿAšūrʾāda), formerly (until ca. 1308-09 Š./1930) three adjacent islands, now part of the end of the Mīānkāla peninsula of Māzandarān, at the southeast corner of the Caspian Sea.

• ASWĀR

  P. O. Skjærvø

  (Middle Persian) “horseman.” In Old Persian asabāra designated the horseman as opposed to the foot-soldier.

• ASYLUM

  Cross-Reference

  religious, secular, and extraterritorial. See BAST.

• ʿAṬĀʾ SAMARQANDĪ

  D. Pingree

  author of a set of astronomical tables for an unidentified prince of the Yuan dynasty of China, 1362-63.

• ATĀBAK

  C. Cahen

  Turkish atabeg, lit. “father-chief,” a Turkish title of rank which first appears, at least under this name, with the early Saljuqs.

• ATĀBAK-E AʿẒAM, AMĪN-AL-SOLṬĀN

  J. Calmard

  grand vizier under the last three Qajar kings.

• ATĀBAKĀN-E ĀḎARBĀYJĀN

  K. A. Luther

  an influential family of military slave origin, also called Ildegozids, ruled parts of Arrān and Azerbaijan from about 530/1135-36 to 622/1225.

• ATĀBAKĀN-E FĀRS

  B. Spuler

  princes of the Salghurid dynasty who ruled Fārs in the 6th/12th and 7th/13th centuries.

• ATĀBAKĀN-E LORESTĀN

  B. Spuler

  rulers of Lorestān, part of the Zagros highlands of southwestern Iran in the later middle ages. Lorestān had a mixed population of Lors, Kurds, and others.

• ATĀBAKĀN-E MARĀḠA

  K. A. Luther

   a family of local rulers of Marāḡa who ruled from the early 6th/12th century until 605/1208-09.

• ATĀBAKĀN-E YAZD

  S. C. Fairbanks

  a dynasty which governed Yazd in the 6th/12th century.

• ATABAKI, PARVIZ

  Farhad Taheri

  (1928 - 2004), a Persian diplomat, literary scholar, translator, and editor.

• ʿATABĀT

  H. Algar

  “thresholds,” more fully, ʿatabāt-e ʿalīyāt or ʿatabāt-e (or aʿtāb-e) moqaddasa “the lofty or sacred thresholds,” the Shiʿite shrine cities of Iraq

• ATABAY, CYRUS

  Saeid Rezvani

  (1929-1996), Iranian poet and translator who wrote poetry exclusively in German and translated works on Persian literature into German. 

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ATĀʾĪYA ORDER

  D. DeWeese

  a branch of the Yasavīya Sufi brotherhood especially active in Ḵᵛārazm from the 8th/14th century.

• ĀṮĀR AL-BĀQĪA

  D. Pingree

   (The Chronology of Ancient Nations), a historical work by Bīrūnī, composed at the age of 27, in 1000 CE.

• ĀṮĀR AL-BELĀD

  C. E. Bosworth

  the title of a geographical work composed in Arabic during the 7th/13th century by the Persian scholar Abū Yaḥyā Zakarīyāʾ b. Moḥammad Qazvīnī.

• ĀṮĀR AL-WOZARĀʾ

  M. Dabīrsīāqī

  a biographical work on ministers and other officials, their policies and literary works, by Sayf al-dīn Ḥāǰǰī b. Neẓām ʿAqīlī, written at Herat between 1470-71 and 1486-87.

• ĀṮĀR-E ʿAJAM

  M. Dabīrsīaqī

  a study of the geographical features and historical monuments of Fārs.

• ĀTAŠ

  M. Boyce

  “fire” in Zoroastrianism. The hearth fire, providing warmth, light and comfort, was regarded by the ancient Iranians as the visible embodiment of the divinity Ātar, who lived among men as their servant and master. Fire was also present at their religious ceremonies.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ĀTAŠ Journal

  N. Parvīn

  (Fire), a Persian journal of news and political comment, published in Tehran, 1946-60.

• ĀTAŠ NIYĀYIŠN

  M. Boyce and F. M. Kotwal

  the fifth in a group of five Zoroastrian prayers, which is addressed to fire and its divinity.

• ĀTAŠ, AḤMAD

  cross-reference

  See  ATEŞ, AHMED.

• ĀTAŠ, Ḵᵛāja ʿAlī Ḥaydar

  M. Baqir

  late 18th to early 19th-century Indo-Muslim poet in Persian and Urdu.

• ĀTAŠ-ZŌHR

  M. Boyce and F. M. Kotwal

  or ātaš-zōr, a Middle Persian term for the Zoroastrian ritual.

• ĀTAŠDĀN

  M. Boyce

   “place of fire, fire-holder,” designates the altar-like repository for a sacred wood-fire in a Zoroastrian place of worship.

• ATASHI, MANUCHEHR

  Saeed Rezaei

  Missing the bucolic backdrop of his childhood, Manucher Atashi soon dropped out of school and left the city to live in Čāh-kutāh, a village near Bušehr, where he worked as a shepherd and fell in love with a young girl, who eventually married another man and died at an early age.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ĀTAŠKADA

  M. Boyce

   “house of fire,” a Zoroastrian term for a consecrated building in which there is an ever-burning sacred fire.

• ATEŞ, AHMED

  Tahsin Yazici

  (1911-1966), Turkish orientalist and scholar of Persian literature.

• ATHENAIOS OF NAUCRATIS

  J. Duchesne-Guillemin

  author of the Deipnosophistai, his only extant work, in which in about a hundred passages he deals with things Persian.

• AṮĪR AḴSĪKATĪ

  Z. Safa

  Poet of the 6th/12th century with a distinctive style.

• AṮĪR OWMĀNĪ

  Z. Safa

  Poet of the ʿErāqī (western Iranian) school of the 7th/13th century (d. 665/1266).

• AṮĪR-AL-DĪN ABHARĪ

  Cross-Reference

  See ABHARĪ SAMARQANDĪ, AṮĪR-AL-DĪN.

• ATKINSON, James A.

  A. Karimi-Hakkak

  (1780­-1852), a notable British orientalist, a scholar of the Persian language and literature, and the translator of Persian literature.

• ATOSSA

  R. Schmitt

  Achaemenid queen.