Table of Contents

  • HEPHTHALITES

    A. D. H. Bivar

    (Arabic Hayṭāl, pl. Hayāṭela), a people who formed apparently the second wave of “Hunnish” tribal invaders to impinge on the Iranian and Indian worlds from the mid-fourth century CE.

  • HERACLEIDES OF CYME

    J. Wiesehöfer

    (fl. ca. 350 BCE), Greek author of a “Persian History” (Persika) in five books, which survives only in a few fragments.

  • HERACLEITUS OF EPHESUS

    J. Wiesehöfer

    (fl. ca. 500 BCE), Greek philosopher traditionally credited as the first to have written on the magi.

  • HERACLES

    Albert de Jong

    Heracles entered many other religions of the ancient world. He was adopted into the Roman pantheon in an early stage of its development and was identified—both as a “translation” and in the development of cultic practices—with the Phoenician god Melqart and the Babylonian god Nergal, as well as with Zoroastrian Verethraghna.

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  • HERACLIUS

    cross-reference

    See ḴOSROW II

  • HERAT

    Multiple Authors

    ancient city and province in northwestern Afghanistan. OVERVIEW of the entry: i. Geography. ii. History, Pre-Islamic Period. iii. History, Medieval Period. iv. Topography and urbanism. v. Local histories. vi. The Herat question. vii. The Herat frontier, 19th and 20th centuries.

  • HERAT i. GEOGRAPHY

    Arash Khazeni and EIr

    The province of Herat constitutes roughly the northern one-third of the western lowlands of Afghanistan, bordering on Persia and comprising the eastern extensions of the province of Khorasan.

  • HERAT ii. HISTORY, PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD

    W. J. Vogelsang

    The present town of Herat dates back to ancient times, but its exact age remains unknown. In Achaemenid times (ca. 550-330 BCE), the surrounding district was known as Haraiva.

  • HERAT iii. HISTORY, MEDIEVAL PERIOD

    Maria Szuppe

    When the Arab armies appeared in Khorasan in the 650s, Herat was counted among the twelve capital towns of the Sasanian empire.

  • HERAT iv. TOPOGRAPHY AND URBANISM

    Maria Szuppe

    In the medieval period, Herat, together with Nišāpur, Marv, and Balḵ, was one of the four main urban centers of the eastern Iranian world. In contrast to some other ancient towns, Herat has existed on the same location since its foundation.

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  • HERAT v. LOCAL HISTORIES

    Jürgen Paul

    Local histories of Herāt belong to three distinct literary genres: the biographical dictionary, the dynastic history, and the guide for pilgrims.

  • HERAT vi. THE HERAT QUESTION

    Abbas Amanat

    From the middle of the 18th century, following Nāder Shah’s assassination in 1747, Herat became the focus of a century-long power struggle and regional rivalry.

  • HERAT vii. THE HERAT FRONTIER IN THE LATTER HALF OF 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES

    Arash Khazeni

    In the latter half of the 19th century, following the settlement of the Khorasan frontier with Persia in 1857, the rulers of Kabul, with British support, sought to make Herat a part of the Afghan state.

  • HERAUS

    D. W. Mac Dowall

    Central Asian clan chief of the Kushans, one of the five constituent tribes of the Yuezhi confederacy in the early first century CE. He struck tetradrachms and obols in relatively good silver.

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  • HERBARIUMS

    cross-reference

    See BOTANICAL STUDIES iii.

  • HĒRBED

    Philip G. Kreyenbroek

    a Zoroastrian priestly title, at present used for a “priest in minor orders,” that is, a man of priestly family who has undergone the initiatory Nāwar ceremony and is qualified to officiate at lower rituals.

  • HĒRBEDESTĀN

    Firoze M. Kotwal

    (school for priests, religious school), a Middle Persian term designating (1) Zoroastrian priestly studies and (2) an Avestan/Pahlavi text found together with the Nērangestān manuscripts.

  • HERBELOT de MOLAINVILLE, BARTHÉLEMY D’

    Moti Gharib Shojania

    (1625-95), one of the first orientalists to produce a systematic survey and alphabetized account of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish literature with dictionaries for each language.

  • HERBERT, THOMAS

    R. W. Ferrier

    (1606-1682), Sir, author of the first English account of Persia, having accompanied the royal embassy from King Charles I to the Safavid Shah ʿAbbās I in 1626-29.

  • HERBERT, THOMAS (2)

    John Butler

    Herbert traveled to Persia and India as a very junior member of an embassy under Sir Dodmore Cotton sent by King Charles I to Shah Abbas I in 1627 to establish formal trade and diplomatic relations with Persia.

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