Table of Contents

• BOWAYHIDS

  cross-reference

  See BUYIDS.

• BOXTREE

  Hūšang Aʿlam

  Buxus L. spp., šemšād, common name for numerous species of evergreen shrubs or trees of the family Buxaceae. The species B. sempervirens grows wild in lowland or plain forests of the Caspian provinces.

• BOYCE, MARY

  John Hinnells

  (1920-2006), scholar of Zoroastrianism and its relevant languages, and Professor of Iranian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London. In addition to her own contribution, Boyce was an outstanding teacher and supervised the research of many who went on to hold professorships.

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• BOYEKAN

  Marie Louise Chaumont

  the name of a mec naxarar “great satrap,” defeated and killed at Ṭʿawrēš (Tabrīz) by the Armenian general Vasak under Šāpūr II (r. 309-79).

• BOYLE, JOHN ANDREW

  Peter Jackson

  (1916-78), British orientalist, will perhaps best remembered for his work on the Mongol period of Iranian history.

• BOYŪTĀT-E SALṬANATĪ

  Birgitt Hoffmann

  (lit. royal houses), in the Safavid period (1501-1732) departments and production workshops within the royal household serving primarily the needs of the court.

• BOZ

  Jean-Pierre Digard

  the domestic goat. The earliest evidence for domestication of the goat has been found in Iran (ca. 10,000 B.C.), as have the largest number of prehistoric sites (ca. 7000 B.C.) showing traces of the systematic breeding of this animal.

• BOZBĀŠ

  Mohammad R. Ghanoonparvar

  Azeri Turkish name for an Iranian dish usually called ābgūšt-e sabzī (green vegetable stew).

• BOZGŪŠ

  Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh

  the traditional reading of the name of a mythical tribe in Māzandarān mentioned in the Šāh-nāma.

• BOZKAŠĪ

  G. Whitney Azoy

  (lit. “goat-dragging”), an equestrian folk game played by Turkic groups in Central Asia. Its origins are obscure; quite probably the game first developed as a recreational extension of livestock raiding.

• BOZORG

  Jean During

  one of the modes in traditional Iranian and Arabic music, mentioned for the first time by Ṣafī-al-Dīn ʿOrmavī among the twelve šodūd, later on called maqāmāt.

• BOZORG, MĪRZĀ

  cross-reference

  See QĀʾEMMAQĀM, MĪRZĀ BOZORG.

• BOZORG-OMĪD, KĪĀ

  Wilferd Madelung

  the second Ismaʿili ruler of Alamūt (1124-38). He was of Deylami origin from the region of Rūdbār.

• BOZORGĀN

  Aḥmad Tafażżolī

  the third class-rank of the four or five divisions of the early Sasanian aristocracy, namely šahryār “landholders,” wispuhr “princes” or members of the royal house, wuzurg “grandees,” āzād “nobles,”  and kadag-xwadāy “householders.”

• BOZORGMEHR-E BOḴTAGĀN

  Djalal Khaleghi Motlagh

  identified in literature and legend as a vizier of Ḵosrow I Anōšīravān (r. 531-78). According to Persian and Arabic sources, he was characterized by ex­ceptional wisdom and sage counsels.

• BOZPĀR

  Louis Vanden Berghe

  a valley situated about 100 km southwest of Kāzerūn and 11 km by donkey path through the mountains from Sar Mašhad, Fārs. The most important ruin in the Bozpār valley is the building known locally as Gūr-e Doḵtar.

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• BOZPAYIT

  James R. Russell

  Middle Persian name, attested only in Armenian, of a Zoroastrian school or body of religious teaching in the Sasanian period.

• BRAHM

  Werner Sundermann

  “manner, fashion, costume,” Middle Persian word used in connection with human beings, referring either to mode of behavior or to outward appearance.

• BRĀHMĪ

  Douglas A. Hitch

  Indian script used for a variety of languages in Chinese Turkestan, including Iranian languages. From the Tarim Basin (Xinjiang, China) we have first-millennium documents in Brāhmī script in several Iranian languages.

• BRAHUI

  Josef Elfenbein

  (Brāhūī, Brāhōī), the name of a tribal group living principally in Pakistani Baluchistan and of a Dravidian language spoken mainly by Brahui tribesmen.

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