Table of Contents

• 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.