Table of Contents

• FISH iv. FISH AS FOOD

  NAJMIEH BATMANGLIJ

  Although fish is the main source of animal protein along the northern and southern coasts of Persia, it is not much eaten in the rest of the country but in a smoked form as a delicacy traditionally served with rice and fresh herbs on the first day of the new year at the end of the zodiacal month of Pisces.

• FISHERIES

  Houshang Alam

  There was no real fishing organization in Persia until the second half of the 19th century when Russian subjects, encouraged and backed by the Tsarist Russia’s expansionist policy, becameinncreasingly involved in coastal and fluvial fishing activities in the Caspian provinces of Persia.

• FITZGERALD, EDWARD

  Dick Davis

  (1809-1883),  British translator of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (by far the most famous translation ever made from Persian verse into English), as well as Jāmī’s Salāmān o Absāl and ʿAṭṭār’s Manṭeq al-ṭayr.

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• FLAGS

  Multiple Authors

  This article is meant to supplement earlier entries on Iranian vexillology (see ʿALAM VA ʿALĀMAT, BANNERS, and DERAFŠ).

• FLAGS i. Of Persia

  A. Shapur Shahbazi

  The earliest-known representation of lion and sun as a banner device is a miniature painting illustrating a copy, dated 1423, of the Šāh-nāma of Šams-al-Dīn Kāšānī—an epic composition on the Mongol conquest. A similar early depiction is on a large, double-paged miniature dated ca. 1460.

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• FLAGS ii. Of Afghanistan

  Habib Borjian

  Nāder Shah’s (1929-33) policy of moderate reforms was reflected in the flag he reportedly used when he seized power—the tricolor flag introduced by Amān-Allāh; it was soon modified as a bound sheaf of wheat circling a stylized mosque, which recalls the mausoleum of Aḥmad Shah Dorrānī.

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• FLAGS iii. of Tajikistan

  Habib Borjian

  On 28 April 1929, the constitution of the Tajik ASSR adopted a state arms and flag. The arms consisted of a hammer (bālḡa) and local sickle (dās) symbol against a star, which depicts a blue sky brightened by golden rays of sun rising above snowy mountains. The star is encircled on each side by wreaths of wheat and cotton.

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• FLANDIN AND COSTE

  Jean Calmard

  Eugène Flandin was the son of Jean-Baptiste Flandin, an intendant in Napoléon’s armies. Little is known about his mother Marie-Agnès Durand. Eugène’s early years were linked with his father’s tumultuous career. He was only two years old when his family returned from Naples, where his father had been assigned since 1807, serving with Murat.

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• FLANDIN, Eugène Napoléon Jean-Baptiste

  Cross-Reference

  (1809-1889), French orientalist, painter, archeologist, and politician, famous for the illustrated account of his travels in Persia. See FLANDIN AND COSTE.

• FLOODS

  Eckart Ehlers, Charles Melville

  (sayl, sayl-āb) in Persia. i. Geographical survey. ii. Historical survey. Surplus or deficit of water, mainly caused by Persia’s topography, undergoes seasonal variations with decisively stronger precipitation during the winter months, which explains why floods occur predominantly during these periods.

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• FLORA

  Multiple Authors

  i. Historical Background. ii. In Persia. iii. In Afghanistan

• FLORA i. Historical Background

  Karl Hummel

  The indigenous knowledge of plants in Persia had a long standing tradition before the country’s flora was explored by Europeans, who were eventually joined in modern scientific botany by Persian botanists.

• FLORA ii. IN PERSIA

  Wolfgang Frey, Harald Kürschner, Wilfried Probst

  With approximately six thousand recorded species of ferns and flowering plants, Persia harbors one of the richest floras of the Near Eastern countries, ranging from subtropical forests to dry-adapted woodlands, dwarf shrubs and thorn cushion formations, and semidesert shrublands.

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• FLORA iii. In Afghanistan

  Cross-Reference

  See AFGHANISTAN ii. Flora.

• FLORA IRANICA

  Wolfgang Frey

  a monumental work on the plants of Persia. Edited by Karl Heinz Rechinger of Vienna since 1963, Flora Iranica now consists of some 172 fascicles and is nearly complete. Only two spermatophyte families, the Cyperaceae and the Rubiaceae, are as yet lacking

• FLORENCE

  Cross-Reference

  See ŠAH-NĀMA MANUSCRIPTS.

• FLOWERS

  Cross-Reference

  See GOL.

• FLOYER, ERNEST AYSCOGHE

  Josef Elfenbein

  Floyer became the first station chief at Jāsk in 1870, although he was only seventeen, and served until 1877. Goldsmid encouraged his station and substation staff to explore their surroundings, and Floyer was one of those who responded, taking a long leave of absence in 1876-77.

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• FLÜGEL, GUSTAV LEBERECHT

  Gerd Gropp

  (b. 18 February 1802, Bautzen; d. 5 July 1870, Dresden), German orientalist.

• FLURY, SAMUEL

  Jens Kröger

  (1874-1935) pioneer of Islamic paleographical studies. Although Flury was primarily interested in problems of the development of Kufic script, much of his specific research was focused on monuments in Persia.

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• FOʾĀDI BOŠRUʾI, ḤASAN

  Fereydun Vahman

  (1899-1936), historian, philologist, educator, and head of Bahai schools in Iran and Turkmenistan.

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• FOḠĀN

  Cross-reference

  See AŠRAF-ʿALĪ KHAN FOḠĀN.

• FŌLĀDĪ

  Cross-Reference

  Buddhist cave site in Afghanistan. See AFGHANISTAN viii.

• FOLK POETRY

  Philip G. Kreyenbroek

  in Iranian languages. The term ‘folk poetry’ can be properly used for texts which have some characteristics marking them as poetry and belong to the tradition of the common people, as against the dominant ‘polite’ literary cult

• FOLKLORE STUDIES

  Multiple Authors

  aims to provide a summary of folklore studies made in or about the Iranian world. It encompasses a wide field of varying notions, ranging from popular beliefs and customs to myths, legends and other genres of oral literature.

• FOLKLORE STUDIES i. OF PERSIA

  Ulrich Marzolph

  The term folklore denotes, in a very broad sense, the traditional cultural expression of any notable group of people, not necessarily belonging to a specific social stratum.

• FOLKLORE STUDIES ii. OF AFGHANISTAN

  Margaret A. Mills and Abdul Ali Ahrary

  Folklore may be defined as roughly comprising the oral-traditional component of culture, complementary or competitive with an official, canonical “written” culture, but this definition presents certain problems.

• FOLŪS

  Cross-reference

  See CASSIA.

• FONDOQESTĀN

  B. A. Litvinskiĭ

  (FONDUKISTAN), early medieval settlement and Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan, in the province of Parvān (Parwan). The site is usually dated to the 7th century CE on the evidence of artistic style and numismatic finds, the oldest of which is from 689 C.E. However, the shape and the decorations of the stupa suggest that the complex can be even earlier.

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• FOOD

  Cross-reference

  See COOKING.

• FOOTBALL

  Houchang Chehabi

  (soccer). The game of football was introduced to Persia in the first two decades of the 20th century by British residents and American missionaries. 

• FOQAHA

  Cross-Reference

  plural of faqih “Islamic jurist.” See  FEQH.

• FOQQĀʿ

  Sayyed Mohammad Dabirsiaghi

  Early dictionaries describe foqqāʿ as a kind of barley wine or beer, but the semantic range later expanded to include juices from dried raisins, fruits, honey, and other ingredients.Both Persian and Arabic literature abound with references to foqqāʿ.

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• FORĀT

  Cross-reference

  See EUPHRATES.

• FORĀT B. EBRĀHĪM

  Meir M. Bar-Asher

  Shiʿite(most probably Imami) Koran commentator and Hadith scholar. The dates of his birth and death are unknown, but the time he flourished can be estimated by the dates of the scholars whom he quoted or who transmitted Hadith on his authority.

• FORĀT MAYSĀN

  Cross-reference

  See BAHMAN ARDAŠĪR.

• FOREIGN AFFAIRS

  Willem Floor

  administration and ministry of foreign affairs.

• FOREIGN EXCHANGE

  Cross-reference

  See ECONOMY.

• FOREIGN POLICY

  Cross-Reference

  See FOREIGN AFFAIRS; ANGLO-IRANIAN RELATIONS; ANGLO-PERSIAN AGREEMENT of 1919; ANGLO-PERSIAN WAR; ANGLO-RUSSIAN CONVENTION of 1907; and under individual countries and treaties.

• FORESTS AND FORESTRY

  Multiple Authors

  i. Forests and Forestry in Persia. ii. Forests and Forestry in Afghanistan.

• FORESTS AND FORESTRY i. In Persia

  Eckart Ehlers

  Less than 2 percent of Persia is covered by forests, while another 8 to 9 percent may be regarded as depleted former forest areas. Altogether, 150-160,000 km² are, or have been, densely forested areas.

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• FORESTS AND FORESTRY ii. In Afghanistan

  Cross-Reference

  See AFGHANISTAN xiii.

• FORGERIES

  Multiple Authors

  of art objects and manuscripts. i. Introduction. ii. Of Pre-Islamic Art Objects. iii. Of Islamic Art. iv. Of Manuscripts.

• FORGERIES i. INTRODUCTION

  Abolala Soudavar

  Early in the Islamic era, Abū Rayḥān Bīrūnī described in his al-Aṯār al-bāqīa how emergent Islamic rulers of Persia had forged their lineage and invented connections with previous dynasties in order to affirm their own legitimacy.

• FORGERIES ii. OF PRE-ISLAMIC ART OBJECTS

  Oscar White Muscarella

  Two kinds of forgeries affect the study of ancient Iranian artifacts: the modern creation of an object falsely presented as an ancient artifact, and the assertion that an unexcavated object comes from a specifically named site, thereby effectively forging its provenience.

• FORGERIES iii. OF ISLAMIC ART

  Sheila S. Blair

  Medieval Arabic and Persian literature contain numerous anecdotes about the forging of manuscripts, but it was only in the late 19th century that forging Persian works of Islamic art became a widespread phenomenon.

• FORGERIES iv. OF ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPTS

  Francis Richard

  Manuscripts in Arabic script have been forged or tampered with to enhance the value of a manuscript and to prove its antiquity.

• FORṢAT-AL-DAWLA

  Manouchehr Kasheff

  (1854-1920), pen name of the poet, scholar, and artist Mīrzā Moḥammad-Naṣīr Ḥosaynī Šīrāzī. In 1908 he was appointed the first director of the Shiraz branch of the Department of Education. In Fārs he arranged for the establishment of modern schools and for the education of tribal children.

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• FORSTER, GEORGE

  Michael J. Franklin

  (1752-91), an East India Company civil servant, traveller, writer, and diplomatist.

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• FORTIFICATIONS

  Wolfram Kleiss

  The present article deals with the fortified passages and defenses that are implied under the term bārū. Certain passes in Persia still feature barriers going back to the Achaemenid period. 

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