Table of Contents

  • BĪĀR

    C. Edmund Bosworth

    (from Ar. plur. of beʾr “well, spring”), a small settlement of medieval Islamic times on the northern fringe or the Dašt-e Kavīr, modern Bīārjomand.

  • BĪBĪ KHANOM MOSQUE

    Bernard O’Kane

    named after Bībī Khanom, otherwise known as Sarāy-Molk Khanom, chief wife of Tīmūr (r. 7/1370-1405).

  • BĪBĪ ŠAHRBĀNŪ

    Mary Boyce

    the dedication of a Moslem shrine on a hillside by Ray to the south of Tehran. The legend attached to it is that of Šahrbānū, a daughter of the last Sasanian king, Yazdegerd III (r. 632-51).

  • BĪBĪ ZAYNAB, MAUSOLEUM OF

    Bernard O’Kane

    named after Bībī Zaynab, its legendary occupant, together with her mother Oljā Aīm, the wet nurse of Tīmūr (r. 1370-1405). It is in the Šāh-e Zenda necropolis in Samarkand.

  • BIBLE

    Multiple Authors

    This series of articles covers various aspects of the Bible, as pertaining to Iran and Iranian lands.

  • BIBLE i. As a Source for Median and Achaemenid History

    M. A. Dandamayev

    The old biblical texts arose in various historic periods. Except for some parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel, composed in Aramaic, all these texts are written in Hebrew.

  • BIBLE ii. Persian Elements in the Bible

    Morton Smith

    Identification of Persian elements in the Bible is difficult because: (1) nobody knows just what was “Persian” when the biblical books were being written. (2) many things then “Persian” were also elements of other cultures.

  • BIBLE iii. Chronology of Selected Persian Translations of Parts or the Whole of the Bible

    Kenneth J. Thomas and Fereydun Vahman

    The following selection of translations, for which there are existing manuscripts, represents the diversity of translators as well as versions of particular historical significance or usage.

  • BIBLE iv. Middle Persian Translations

    Shaul Shaked

    The only extant Middle Persian Bible version is represented by fragments of a translation of the Psalms. The Christians of Iran were dependent largely on the Syriac versions of the Bible, but the activity of creating new versions in the current vernacular must have been part of the missionary effort.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.

  • BIBLE v. Sogdian Translations

    Nicholas Sims-Williams

    The following manuscripts containing biblical texts in Sogdian have been made known. None of them survives in anything like complete form, and some are mere fragments.

  • BIBLE vi. Judeo-Persian Translations

    Jes P. Asmussen

    Judeo-Persian or Jewish-Persian is the common designation for, Persian written with Hebrew characters. Among the earliest and most important Judeo-Persian texts are the Bible translations.

  • BIBLE vii. Persian Translations of the Bible

    Kenneth J. Thomas and Fereydun Vahman

    The Pentateuch, the books of the prophets, and the writings (Heb. ketūbīm), including the Psalms, from the Hebrew scriptures, collectively known as the Old Testament, and the Gospels and other writings in Greek, collectively known as the New Testament, have all been translated into Persian.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.

  • BIBLE viii. Translations into other Modern Iranian Languages

    Kenneth J. Thomas

    John Leyden, a gifted Scottish linguist and poet who went to Calcutta in 1803 as a surgeon’s assistant for the East India Company and subsequently became a professor at the College of Fort William, was involved in translating the Gospels into a number of languages, including both Pashto and Bal­uchi.

  • BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND CATALOGUES

    Multiple Authors

    i. In the West. ii. In Iran. This series of articles covers the catalogues of manuscripts and bibliographies of printed works on Iran compiled by scholars in Iran, Europe (including Russia) and North America.

  • BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND CATALOGUES i. In the West

    J. T. P. de Bruijn

    European interest in Iranian bibliography was awakened in the 16th and early 17th centuries, when manuscripts were brought to the West in ever-increasing numbers and became much sought after by humanists engaged in Oriental studies.

  • BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND CATALOGUES ii. In Iran

    Aḥmad Monzawī and ʿAlī Naqī Monzawī

    Persian-language catalogues of manuscripts preserved in libraries in Iran and elsewhere range from detailed works in book form to articles in journals and short lists published separately or as supplements to other publications.

  • BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND CATALOGUES ii. In Iran (continued)

    Aḥmad Monzawī and ʿAlī Naqī Monzawī

    fehrest (lit. list, index).  The word has now generally been superseded in Persian by ketāb-šenāsī.

  • BĪČAGĀN LAKE

    cross-reference

    See BAḴTAGĀN LAKE.

  • BICKERMAN, ELIAS JOSEPH

    Muhammed A. Dandamayev

    (1897-1981), a leading scholar of Greco-Roman history and the Hellenistic world, whose research interests extended to Judaism and some aspects of Iranian history.

  • BICKNELL, HERMAN

    Michael C. Hillmann

    (1830-1875), a translator of Ḥāfeẓ. Some of his metered and rhymed translations replicate, or at least giving the impression of, Persian monorhyme patterns.