Table of Contents

• BASKERVILLE, HOWARD C.

  K. Ekbal

  a teacher at the American mission in Tabrīz, killed 19 April 1909 during the siege of Tabrīz by royalist troops.

• BĀSMA

  M. Dabīrsīāqī

   a Turkish word which originally referred to a design applied (e.g., with a wood block) in ink, silver, and gold to paper, cloth, and other materials.

• BASRA

  F. M. Donner

  (Ar. al-Baṣra), town located near the Šaṭṭ al-ʿArab river in southern Iraq, predominantly Arab, possessing a rich political, cultural, and economic history. This article concentrates mainly on describing the town’s many significant ties with Iran.

• BASSĀM-E KORD

  Z. Safa

  the Kharijite (fl. mid-9th century), one of the first poets in the New Persian language, active at the court of the Saffarids.

• BAŠŠĀR-E MARḠAZĪ

  Z. Safa

  a Persian poet of the 10th century, apparently from Marv in Khorasan.

• BAST

  J. Calmard

  (sanctuary, asylum), the designation of cer­tain sanctuaries in Iran that are considered inviolable and were often used by people seeking refuge from prosecution.

• BASṬĀM, BASṬĀMĪ

  cross-reference

  See BESṬĀM, BESṬĀMĪ FAMILY.

• BASTANEGĀR

  J. During

  a gūša in the instrumental repertory (radīf) of classical Persian music.

• BASTŪR

  A. Tafażżolī

  (Mid. Pers. Bastwar, Av. Bastauuairi), a hero of the Iranian national epic, son of Zarēr, King Goštāsp’s brother.

• BĀṬĀS

  R. M. Boehmer

  a village in Iraq, Arbīl province. The nearby rock relief, no longer in good preservation, may  depict Izates II, the king of Adiabene (ca. 36-62 A.D.), who was converted to Judaism. He is likely to have ordered the carving after the unexpected retreat of the Parthian king of kings, Vologases I.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• BĀṬEN

  B. Radtke

  (inner, hidden), the opposite of ẓāher (outer, visible). Both terms can be predicated of living beings. Most frequently, however, they are associated with the concept ʿelm (knowledge).

• BĀṬENĪYA

  H. Halm

  a generic term for all groups and sects which distinguished the bāṭen (inner, hidden) and the ẓāher (outer, visible) of the Koran and the Islamic law (Šarīʿa).

• BATHHOUSES

  W. Floor, W. Kleiss

  In 1890 there were 72 bathhouses in Isfahan, which were of different quality and cleanliness; this is possibly an estimate, because only 31 public baths have been identified as remaining historical monuments. However, around 1920 there were some 85 bathhouse keepers.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• BĀTMAN

  Yu. Bregel

  a measure of weight, the same as mann but more common in Central Asia, especially in modern times. There was a great variety of bātmans in different regions and for weighing different goods.

• BATRAKATAŠ

  H. Koch

  place name, apparently the same as Pasargadae, which appears on the Elamite fortification tablets found at Persepolis.

• BATS

  A. F. DeBlase

  (Pers. šabpara, mūš(-e)kūr; Ar. ḵoffāš). All but two Iranian bat species fall into one of three geographic groups in Iran. Rousettus aegyptiacus is known from Baluchistan, Qešm island, and three sites near Jahrom in Fārs. Records indicate that it ranges across southern Iran wherever dates and other fruits are grown.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• BAṬṬAI YAZDĀNĪ

  W. Madelung

  the 5th-century founder or reformer of the Kantheans, a sect related to the Mandeans.

• BATTLE-AXES in Eastern Iran

  Boris A. Litvinsky

  Battle-axes made of bronze appeared in Eastern Iran during the Bronze Age. One such object comes from a burial at the Sapalli-tepa settlement in southern Uzbekistan.

• BAUR, FERDINAND CHRISTIAN

  W. Sundermann

  (1792-1860), German theologian and scholar of Manicheism. Most important was Baur’s view of Manicheism, as a religion born at the watershed of the ancient and Christian worlds.

• BAUSANI, ALESSANDRO

  Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti

  (1921-1988), prolific Italian orientalist in several fields: Persian literature, Islam, linguistics, the history of Islamic science, Urdu, Indonesian, and other Islamic literatures.