Table of Contents

  • BĪṬARAF

    Nassereddin Parvin

    (The impartial), a news and political affairs journal published in Persian and French in Tehran (1913-14).

  • BĪŽAN

    Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh

    in the traditional history, son of Gīv by Rostam’s daughter Bānū Gošasp; he figures prominently in the Šāh-nāma as a hero in Kay Ḵosrow’s reign.

  • BĪŽAN-NAMA

    William Hanaway, Jr.

    an epic poem of about 1,900 lines relating the adventures of the legendary hero Bīžan son of Gīv.

  • BLACK SEA

    Rüdiger Schmitt

    an almost entirely landlocked sea (lat 40°55’ to 46°32’ N, long 27°27’ to 41°42’ E). Its surface is more than 423,000 km2, and its maximum depth is 2,244 m. In this article only the Achaemenid period is considered.

  • BLACK SHEEP DYNASTY

    Forthcoming

    Forthcoming online.

  • BLEEDING

    Cross-Reference

    See BLOODLETTING.

  • BLOCHET (Gabriel Joseph) EDGARD

    Francis Richard

    French orientalist (1870-1937). His published works include editions and catalogues of manuscripts in Arabic and Turkish, but his main focus was the Iranian world.

  • BLOCHMANN, HEINRICH FERDINAND

    J. T. P. de Bruijn

    (also Henry), a German orientalist and scholar of Persian language and literature who spent most of his career in India (1838-1878).

  • BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICES IN IRAN

    Ali Ameri

    A centralized, state-funded organization was established in 1974 for the recruitment of safe, voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors and the subsequent collection, testing, processing, and distribution of blood and blood products to hospitals.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • BLOODLETTING

    Willem Floor

    (Ar.-Pers. ḥejāmat, faṣd; Pers. ragzanī, ḵūn gereftan), a common medical treatment throughout Iranian history, though applied only in exceptional circumstances by modern medical practi­tioners.

  • BOAR

    Paul Joslin

    (Sus scrofa, Pers. gorāz). The wild boar is found in a broad cross-section of habitats and has a range that extends over much of Europe and Asia.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • BOARD GAMES in pre-Islamic Persia

    Ulrich Schädler and Anne-Elizabeth Dunn-Vaturi

    Aside from chess and backgammon, due to the perishable material such as textile, leather, and wood used in making the artifacts, as well as because often the games were simply drawn on the ground, evidence is lacking in most cases, but many of them are still played nowadays.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • BOČĀQČĪ

    Pierre Oberling

    a Turkic tribe of Sīrjān in Kermān province.

  • BODHISATTVA

    Werner Sundermann

    in the Middle Iranian languages. The Sanskrit word Bodhisat(t)va, literally a being (blessed with) understanding, designates someone des­tined for Buddhahood later in life or in a future existence.

  • BŌĒ

    Marie Louise Chaumont

    (Gk. Boēs), the name of two of Kavād’s (r. 488-­96 and 498-531) generals.

  • BOḠĀ

    Cross-Reference

    See BŪQĀ.

  • BOḠRĀ KHAN

    C. Edmund Bosworth

    ABŪ MŪSĀ HĀRŪN, the first Qarakhanid khan to invade the Samanid emirate from the steppes to the north in the 990s.

  • BOHLŪL

    L. P. Elwell-Sutton

    a weekly comic illustrated paper, published in Tehran from 1911.

  • BOHLŪL, ABŪ WOHAYB

    Ulrich Marzolph

    (d. ca. 805), b. ʿAmr b. Moḡīra Majnūn Kūfī, variously cited in later Persian literature as Bohlūl-e majnūn (Bohlūl the fool) or Bohlūl-e dānā (Bohlūl the wise), the archetype of the "wise fool"  genre.

  • BOHRĀS

    cross-reference

     See ISMAʿILISM xvi. MODERN ISMAʿILI COMMUNITIES.