Table of Contents

• BĀMĪA

  H. Aʿlam, N. Ramazani

  (or bāmīā), okra, the edible unripe seed-pods of Hibiscus esculentus of the Malvaceae or mallows. i. The plant. ii. In cooking. iii. The sweet.  It was introduced into the culinary art of Persians by Arabs from Baghdad in the 19th century.

• BĀMĪĀN

  Multiple Authors

  town and province in central Afghanistan. Bāmīān’s position midway between Balḵ and Peshawar at the approach to the most difficult passes and the resultant opportunities to purvey provisions and accommodation for caravans explain why it became a particularly important stopping place.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• BAMPŪR

  B. de Cardi, ʿA.-A. Saʿīdī Sīrjānī

  i. Prehistoric Site. ii. In Modern Times. Bampūr is a baḵš and qaṣaba (borough) in the šahrestān of Īrānšahr in the province of Balūčestān o Sīstān. The plain of Bampūr is encircled by several high mountains.

• BAMPUR ia. PREHISTORIC SITE (Continued)

  Daniel T. Potts

  Since Beatrice de Cardi’s excavations in 1966 (de Cardi, 1968; idem, 1970) no new work has taken place there. Nevertheless, objects recovered at Bampur in the 1960s can now be better dated and understood, thanks to discoveries in recent years at sites in Central Asia, the Indo-Iranian borderlands, and southeastern Arabia..

• BĀMŠĀD

  A. Tafażżolī

  named as a musician at the court of the Sasanian king Ḵosrow II Parvēz (r. 591-628).

• BĀMŠĀD newspaper

  N. Parvīn

  a Persian newspaper and a news and public affairs magazine published in Tehran, 1956-68.

• BAN-e SORMA

  L. Vanden Berghe

  a necropolis of the Early Bronze Age, excavated in 1967 by the Belgian Mission in Iran. By analogy with the funeral furnishings from the Old Elamite period at Susa IV, the  tombs must be situated in the Early Dynastic III period, about 2600-2400 B.C. 

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• BĀNA

  ʿA. Mardūḵ

  a šahrestān in the province of Kurdistan, located in a mountainous, well-forested region of western Iran (lat 35°59′ N,  long 45°53′ E).

• BANAFŠA

  H. Aʿlam

  “violet,” common name for the genus Viola L. in New Persian. From certain botanical features of violas there have developed some violet-based similes and metaphors in classical Persian literature.

• BANĀʾĪ HERAVĪ

  Z. Safa

  (1453-1512), KAMĀL-AL-DĪN ŠĪR-ʿALĪ, noted poet at various courts of Persia and Transoxania.