Table of Contents

• HEDAYAT, SADEQ vi. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

  EIr

  This article contains a selected bibliography of the works of Sadeq Hedayat.

• HEDGEHOG

  Steven C. Anderson

  (ḵār-pošt, juja-tiḡi, čula), member of the Erinaceinae sub-family of the Erinaceidae family of insectivores; animals the size of a small rabbit. The various species of hedgehogs are found in deciduous woodlands, cultivated fields, and desert regions. 

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• HEDIN, SVEN

  Håkan Wahlquist

  Swedish explorer of, and prolific writer on, Central Asia and Persia (1865-1952).

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• ḤEFẒ AL-ṢEḤḤA

  Nasseredin Parvin

  the first Iranian medical journal, published as a  monthly during 1906.

• HEGEL, GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH

  M. Azadpour

  German idealist philosopher (1770-1831). Hegel based his discussion of pre-Islamic Persia on two main sources: 1. ancient Greek sources on Persia, such as Herodotus; 2. A. H. Anquetil-Duperron’s pioneering work, Le Zend-Avesta (1771).

• ḤEJĀB

  cross-reference

  See ČĀDOR (2).

• ḤEJĀZ

  Jean During

  in Persian music, an important modal type (šāh-guša) of the Persian radif.

• ḤEJĀZI, MOḤAMMAD MOṬIʿ-AL-DAWLA

  M. Ghanoonparvar

  novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, translator, government official, and member of the Senate (1901-1974)—one of a small group of Persians with Western-style education in the early twentieth century who displayed a sense of responsibility and mission to change and modernize Persia.

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• ḤEJLA

  Jean Calmard

  a bridal chamber (ḥejla-ye ʿarusi), generally in the shape of a curtained canopy, built by a ḥejla-sāz.

• ḤEKMAT

  Nasseredin Parvin

  the first Persian-language newspaper to be published in an Arab country,  published in Cairo, 1892-1911.

• ḤEKMAT BEY

  Tahsin Yazici

  ʿĀREF, Ottoman šayḵ-al-eslām (supreme authority in religious matters) 1845-54, poet in Turkish, Arabic, and Persian.

• HEKMAT, ʿALI-AṢḠAR

  EIr, with an initial contribution by Abbas Milani

  man of letters, university professor, cabinet minister, and the chief architect of the modernization of the educational system under Reza Shah (1893-1980). Once Reza Shah decided to unveil Persian women, he placed Hekmat in charge of mapping out a plan of action, which included co-education in the first four years of elementary school.

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• HEKMAT, REŻĀ SARDĀR FĀḴER

  Abbas Milani

  Hekmat was a staunch critic of the infamous 1919 agreement between Persia and Britain and joined forces with the anti-British Tangestāni movement. Because of these activities, ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Mirzā Farmānfarmā, the powerful governor of Fārs, confiscated Ḥekmat’s properties.

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• HEKMAT, ŠAMSI MORĀDPUR

  Houman Sarshar

  Hekmat, as the honorary treasurer of the High Council of Women’s Organization of Iran, she represented Iran in various international conferences on the status of women and was instrumental in organizing ten daycare centers and orphanages throughout the country.

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• HELĀLI ASTARĀBĀDI JAGATĀʾI

  Michele Bernardini

  Mawlānā Badr-al-Din (Nur-al-Din) accomplished Persian poet of Turkish origin (1470-1529).

• HELIOCLES I

  Osmund Bopearachchi

  the last Greek king to reign in Bactria (ca. 145-130 BCE), known only through his monolingual coins. His power, in contrast to that of his Greco-Bactrian predecessors, was limited to the south and southwest territories of Bactria.

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• HELL

  Multiple Authors

  This entry will treat the concept of hell in the Iranian culture under two rubrics.

• HELL i. IN ZOROASTRIANISM

  Philippe Gignoux

  Hell is not explicitly mentioned in the Gathas. There are only allusions, where it is said that the soul and the daēnā of the wicked will be guests in the “house of falsehood.”

• HELL ii. Islamic Period

  Mahmoud Omidsalar

  Duzaḵ and jahannam are the terms commonly used in Persian for hell.

• HELLANICUS OF LESBOS

  J. Wiesehöfer

  a polyhistorian, probably younger than Herodotus but older than Thucydides (ca. 480-395 B.C.?), who was much read in the ancient world.

• HELLENISM

  Laurianne Martinez-Sève

  Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Achaemenid Empire between 334 and 324 and the submission of the East under Greek political control provided Hellenism with much greater significance. Greek culture became that of the rulers. Cultural exchange was, however, by no means one-sided.

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• HELLESPONT

  cross-reference

  See XERXES.

• ḤELLI, ḤASAN B. YUSOF B. MOṬAHHAR

  Sabine Schmidtke

  generally referred to, using his title, as “ʿAllāma Ḥelli,” prominent Imami theologian and jurist (1250-1325).

• ḤELLI, NAJM-AL-DIN ABU’L-QĀSEM JAʿFAR

  Etan Kohlberg

  known as Moḥaqqeq or Moḥaqqeq-e awwal, a leading jurist of the Twelver Shiʿite school of Ḥella (b. ca. 1205-06, d. 1277).

• HELMAND RIVER

  Multiple Authors

  the border river of Afghanistan and Persia. It originates in the mountains in the Hazārajāt (q.v) and flows into the Sistān in southeastern Persia and finally drains into the Hāmun Lake.

• HELMAND RIVER i. GEOGRAPHY

  M. Jamil Hanifi and EIr

  At approximately 1,300 km, the Helmand River is the longest river in Afghanistan. Originating from the Koh-e Bābā heights of the Hindu Kush mountain range (about 40 km west of Kabul), the Helmand receives five tributaries—Kajrud (Kudrud), Arḡandāb, Terin, Arḡastān, and Tarnak.

• HELMAND RIVER ii. IN ZOROASTRIAN TRADITION

  Gherardo Gnoli

  According to Avestan geography, the region of the Haētumant River extends in a southwest direction from the point of confluence of the Arḡandāb with the Helmand.

• HELMAND RIVER iii. IN THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

  C. Edmund Bosworth

  The early Islamic geographers refer variously to the Helmand River as Hendmand, Hilmand, Hirmid, Hidmand, Hermand, or Hirmand, the usual name in Persian down to the present time.

• HELMAND RIVER iv. IN THE LATE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES

  Arash Khazeni

  The late 19th and 20th centuries saw a number of colonial and national schemes, including boundary commisions and large-scale irrigation projects, that aimed to demarcate the Iran-Afghan borderlands.

• HELMET

  Multiple Authors

  OVERVIEW of the entry: i. In Pre-Islamic Iran. ii. In the Islamic period.

• HELMET i. In Pre-Islamic Iran

  B. A. Litvinsky

  The Iranian tradition of helmet making is very old. Elam produced hemispherical bronze helmets with decorative figures that can be dated to the 14th century BCE.  Bronze and iron helmets from the 9th-8th centuries have been found at western Iranian sites (Ḥasanlu, Mārlik, Safidrud). 

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• HELMET ii. In the Islamic Period

  M. V. Gorelik

  By the time the Muslims conquered the Iranian world (the territory now occupied by Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Azerbaijan), two helmet types were already known: egg-shaped and conical.

• ḤELMI, RAFIQ

  Joyce Blau

  Kurdish historian, poet, and political activist (1898-1960).

• ḤELYAT AL-MOTTAQIN

  Hamid Algar

  (“The Adornment of the Godfearing”), a compendious work that has remained highly popular, on recommended customs, norms, and modes of behavior.

• HEMIN MOKRIĀNI

  Joyce Blau

  the pen name of Sayyed Moḥammad Amini Šayḵ-al-Eslām Mokri, Kurdish poet and journalist (1921-1986).

• HEMP

  cross-reference

  See BANG.

• HENDAVĀNA

  cross-reference

  See WATERMELON.

• HENDUŠĀH B. SANJAR

  C. Edmund Bosworth

  B. ʿABD-ALLAH SAḤEBI KIRANI, author of a Persian history  Tajāreb al-salaf (fl. first half of the 8th/14th century).

• HENNA

  Hušang ʿAlam

  (Pers. ḥanā, Ar. ḥennāʾ), a russet or orange dye obtained from the pulverized leaves of the henna plant, Lawsonia alba Lam. (= L. inermis/spinosa L.; fam. Lythraceae).

• HENNING, WALTER BRUNO

  Werner Sundermann

  The emphasis on the philological character of Henning’s work is justified not only because all his discoveries were made through deductions from or new interpretations of original sources, but also because his working system kept astonishingly aloof from theorems regarding contemporary linguistics, the philosophy of history, ethnology, and comparative religion.

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• 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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• HERDS and FLOCKS

  J.-P. Digard and M.-H. Papoli Yazdi

  In the Iranian world, domestic herbivores have long been raised exclusively on natural grazing, as it is still true in many places, especially among the nomadic tribes.

• HERMAEUS

  cross-reference

  See INDO-GREEK DYNASTY.

• HERMAS, THE SHEPHERD OF

  Werner Sundermann

  title of an early Christian paraenetic apocalypse composed in Greek by a certain Hermas, who presents himself as an emancipated slave and then a Roman businessman.

• HERMELIN, AXEL ERIC

  Bo Utas

  (1860-1944), Swedish author and prolific translator of Persian works of literature.

• HERMENEUTICS

  B. Todd Lawson

  of pre-modern Islamic and Shiʿite exegesis, the principles and methods, or philosophy, of scriptural interpretation, as distinct from the act of interpretation.

• HERMES

  Albert de Jong

  Hermes was identified with the Roman god Mercury, god of commerce and trade, and came to be symbolized with the moneybag. In Egypt, he was identified with the god Thoth; he was the source of a large number of writings outlining the ways in which the soul could be released from the bonds of matter.

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• HERMIAS

  cross-reference

  See ḴOSROW I, forthcoming online.

• HERMIPPUS OF SMYRNA

  J. Wiesehöfer

  third-century BCE Greek grammarian who wrote on “Zoroaster’s writings.”

• HERMITAGE MUSEUM

  B. I. Marshak and A. B. Nikitin, Anatol Ivanov

  The State Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg, Russia, possesses some of the richest collections of Persian art.

• HERMITAGE MUSEUM i. COLLECTION OF THE PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD

  B. I. Marshak and A. B. Nikitin

  Among the most ancient objects of Iranian art in the Hermitage collection are 55 Elamite painted vessels of the late 4th-3rd millennium BCE.

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• HERMITAGE MUSEUM ii. COLLECTION OF THE ISLAMIC PERIOD

  Anatol Ivanov

  Persian art from the advent of Islam until the beginning of the 20th century is well represented in the State Hermitage Museum. However, not all periods in this 1400-year time-span are represented equally well, because of the way the collection developed.

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• HERODIAN

  Philip Huyse

  (fl. shortly before 250 CE), historian, probably a native of Syria, who wrote a Greek history of the Roman emperors from the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 CE to the accession of Gordian III in 238.

• HERODOTUS

  Robert Rollinger

  author of the Histories, the first monumental Greek work in prose which is still extant (5th cent. BCE).

• HERODOTUS i. INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORIES

  Robert Rollinger

  Philologists of Hellenistic times divided Herodotus’s opus magnum into nine books and subdivided these into chapters.

• HERODOTUS ii. THE HISTORIES AS A SOURCE FOR PERSIA AND PERSIANS

  Robert Rollinger

  An evaluation of Herodotus’s treatment of Persia and the Persians is a difficult task. The subject is not limited to a specific logos but is ubiquitous in the Histories.

• HERODOTUS iii. DEFINING THE PERSIANS

  Robert Rollinger

  In the Histories the Persians are sometimes not exactly distinguishable from other peoples of their empire, especially when the Greeks’ opponents are simply qualified as “Persians.” The Persians generally are run together with the Medes.

• HERODOTUS iv. CYRUS ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS

  Robert Rollinger

  The historical past takes on clearer outline beginning with the figure of Cyrus the Great. With him the Persians too are introduced into world history.

• HERODOTUS v. CAMBYSES ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS

  Robert Rollinger

  Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, is first described by Herodotus at a time when his father’s reign was already about to end.

• HERODOTUS vi. DARIUS ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS

  Robert Rollinger

  Herodotus connects the beginning of Darius’s reign with a deep break in the history of Persian royalty. He describes the rule of the Magus and palace administrator Patizeithes as an attempt at usurpation.

• HERODOTUS vii. XERXES ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS

  Robert Rollinger

  The young king inherited a solid empire, which was greater than any before in history. The subsequent great war of the years 480 and 479 Herodotus describes as an immense struggle, to which he devotes a third of his work.

• HERODOTUS viii. MARDONIUS ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS

  Robert Rollinger

  After Xerxes’ retreat, Mardonius prepared his offensive on land. He also wanted the higher powers to be on his side.

• HERODOTUS ix. TIGRANES AND THE BATTLE OF MYCALE

  Robert Rollinger

  After Salamis, the escaped Persian fleet for a while ceased playing any further part. During the winter it was anchored in part at Cyme, and in part before Samos.

• HERODOTUS x. ARTAYCTES AND THE FINALE

  Robert Rollinger

  After the battle of Mycale, the Greeks advanced as far as the Hellespont, where they found that Xerxes’ bridge was already destroyed.

• HERODOTUS xi. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Robert Rollinger

  This article constitutes a selected biography of Herodotus.

• HERON

  Cross-Reference

  See BŪTĪMĀR.

• HERON-ALLEN, EDWARD

  Joan Navarre

  Although Heron-Allen did not have a full formal education, his intellectual curiosity and passion for learning never waned, as illustrated by the long list of hobbies and interests in his entry in Who’s Who.

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• HERTEL, JOHANNES

  Almut Hintze

  Hertel’s lasting contributions to scholarship are his earlier works on Sanskrit narrative literature and its transmission. They culminated in the publication of a four-volume edition of the Pañcatantra in the Harvard Oriental Series, vols. 11-14 (1908-15). After his appointment to the Indology chair in Leipzig, he turned to Vedic studies and, from 1924, to Avestan.

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• HERZEGOVINA

  cross-reference

  See BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA.

• HERZFELD, ERNST

  Multiple Authors

  Herzfeld is known as an archeologist, philologist, and polyhistor, one of the towering figures in ancient Near Eastern and Iranian studies during the first half of the 20th century. To him we owe many decisive contributions to Islamic, Sasanian, and Prehistoric archeology and history of Iran, Iraq, and Syria. He was the first professor for Near Eastern archeology in the world.

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• HERZFELD, ERNST i. LIFE AND WORK

  Stefan R. Hauser

  (1879-1948). In retrospect, Herzfeld was one of the last examples of the all-encompassing, erudite learning of the 19th century humanistic cultural tradition. Herzfeld combined a wide array of talents and interests. 

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• HERZFELD, ERNST ii. HERZFELD AND PASARGADAE

  David Stronach

  Ernst Herzfeld probably devoted more attention to the study of Achaemenid Iran than to any other single topic. His name will always be associated with Pasargadae, the dynastic seat of Cyrus II (the Great), the founder of the Achaemenid Empire.

• HERZFELD, ERNST iii. HERZFELD AND PERSEPOLIS

  Hubertus von Gall

  Herzfeld first visited Persepolis in November 1905 during his return from the Assur excavation. He returned to Persepolis during his expedition to Persia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, which lasted from February 1923 to October 1925.

• HERZFELD, ERNST iv. HERZFELD AND THE PAIKULI INSCRIPTION

  Prods Oktor Skjærvø

  The monument at Paikuli (Pāikūlī) lies on the Iraqi side of the border with Iran on a north-south line drawn from Solaimānīya in Iraq to Qaṣr-e Šīrīn in Persia on the ancient road from Ctesiphon to Azerbaijan.

• HERZFELD, ERNST v. HERZFELD AND THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT IRAN

  Josef Wiesehöfer

  Herzfeld’s classical education, giving him familiarity with Greek and Latin literature, and his training in Oriental philology as well as in archeology and architectural techniques proved of great benefit in his study of pre-Islamic Iranian history and culture.

• ḤESĀBI, MAḤMUD

  Hessamaddin Arfaei and Fariborz Majidi

  Mahmud Hesabi worked as an electrical engineer in the Paris railway system. In the meantime, he continued his studies in physics at Paris University, Sorbonne under the noted physicist Aimé Cotton and obtained his doctorate in 1927. His dissertation was on Sensibilité des cellules photoélectriques.

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• ḤESĀR (1)

  Yuri Bregel

  region in the eastern part of Transoxania, in the upper course of the Sorḵān Daryā (medieval Čaḡānrud) and the Kāfernehān.

• ḤEṢĀR (2)

  Jean During

  in Persian music, an important section (šāh-guša) in the Persian and Azeri radifs, its name probably originating from the town in Tajikistan.

• ḤEṢĀR, TEPE

  Cross-Reference

  (Tappa Ḥeṣār), prehistoric site located just south of Dāmḡān in northeastern Persia. See TEPE HISSAR.

• ḤESBA

  cross-reference

  See MOḤTASEB.

• HESIOD

  Rüdiger Schmitt

  (Gk. Hēsíodos), Greek epic poet (fl. ca. 700 BCE). By mentioning for the first time the Scythians, Hesiod belongs to the Greek authorities for Iranian matters.