Table of Contents

  • BELL, GERTRUDE Margaret Lowthian

    G. Michael Wickens

    (1868-1926), British traveler, private scholar, archeolo­gist, sometime government servant, and a translator of Ḥāfeẓ.

  • BELLES LETTRES i. SASANIAN IRAN

    Werner Sundermann

    Belles lettres, that is, entertaining works, are not lacking in Sasanian Iran but can by no means match with their development in New Persian literature, both for quality and quantity.

  • BELLEW, HENRY WALTER

    D. Neil MacKenzie

    (1834-92), surgeon and amateur orientalist. Throughout his service he took a lively interest in the languages and ethnography of the peoples within his charge.

  • BELOVED

    J. T. P. de Bruijn

    (maʿšūq in Arabic and Persian), together with Lover (ʿāšeq) and Love (ʿešq), making the three concepts that dominate the semantic field of eroticism in Persian literature and mysticism.

  • BELOWHAR O BŪDĀSAF

    Cross-Reference

    See BARLAAM AND IOSAPH.

  • BELQĪS

    Ḡolām-Ḥosayn Yūsofī

    the queen of Sheba (Sabā), whose meetings with Solomon (Solaymān) are a favorite theme in Persian and Arabic literature.

  • BELTS

    Multiple Authors

    (Mid. Pers, kamar, NPers. kamar-band). Investigation of representations of belts in Iran between the fall of the Achaemenid dynasty in the 4th century BC and the coming of Islam reveals that they were almost exclusively male accessories. Depictions of females wearing belts are rare.

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  • BĒMA

    Werner Sundermann

    the chief festival of the Manicheans. The Greek word bēma meant “platform,” “stage,” or “judge’s seat.” 

  • BENDŌY

    Cross-Reference

    See BESṬĀM O BENDŌY.

  • BENFEY, THEODOR

    Thomas Oberlies

    German comparative philologist with a focus on Indian languages. His path-breaking research on the Pañcatantra made him one of the pioneers of comparative folklore studies.

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