Table of Contents

• IRONSIDE, WILLIAM EDMUND

  Denis Wright

  , Field Marshall, 1st Baron Ironside of Archangel and Ironside (1880-1959), noted for his important role as commander of British forces in Persia in 1920-21.

• ʿISĀ B. ṢAHĀRBOḴT

  L. Richter-Bernburg

  medical author of the third/ninth century, from Gondēšāpur. descendant of an apparently Nestorian Christian Syro-Persian family.

• ʿISĀ B. YAḤYĀ MASIḤI JORJĀNI

  David Pingree

  , Abu Sahl, physician, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer (d. after 925). Little is securely known about the life of this Christian scholar.

• ISAAC

  Sebastian Brock

  bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and Catholicos of the Church of the East (399-410). Isaac is said to have come from Kashgar.

• ISAIAH, BOOK OF

  Shaul Shaked

  one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, traditionally arranged among those of the latter Prophets.

• ISARDĀS NĀGAR

  Mario Casari

  (or Išwar Das, 1655-1749),  Hindu historian writing in Persian, author of  Fotuḥāt-e ʿālamgiri, a contemporary account of the reign of Awrangzēb.

• ISFAHAN

  Multiple Authors

  ancient province and old city in central Iran. Isfahan city has served as one of the most important urban centers on the Iranian Plateau since ancient times.

• ISFAHAN i. GEOGRAPHY

  EIr, Xavier de Planhol

  (1) Geography of the province. (2) Geography of the oasis. Isfahan Province is situated in central Persia between the massive central Zagros mountain range and the great desert.

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• ISFAHAN ii. HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

  Xavier de Planhol

  The Isfahan oasis, as a prosperous area of agricultural life, eventually fostered the foundation of a major city—one whose strategic location helped it to dominate the entire area of Iran.

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• ISFAHAN iii. POPULATION

  Heidi Walcher, Habibollah Zanjani

  Isfahan’s population size from the Safavid through the Qajar periods, as reported by European travelers and diplomats, remained largely a matter of speculation.

• ISFAHAN iii. POPULATION (1) The Qajar Period

  Heidi Walcher

  Population figures for the Qajar period diverge drastically and are largely based on conjecture by European diplomats.

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• ISFAHAN iii. POPULATION (2) Isfahan Province

  Habibollah Zanjani

  In 2001, the province (ostān) of Isfahan comprised 19 sub-provinces (šahrestāns), 83 towns in 43 districts (baḵš), and 2,514 rural settlements in 121 sub-districts (dehestāns).

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• ISFAHAN iii. POPULATION (3) Isfahan City

  Habibollah Zanjani

  The city of Isfahan is the capital of Isfahan Province (ostān) and Sub-province (šahrestān) and the center of the Isfahan comprehensive regional planning complex.

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• ISFAHAN iv. PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD

  J. Hansman and EIr

  The Arab geographers  report that the Sasanian city of Isfahan comprised two adjoining towns: Jayy, the fortified town and province center and, two miles (mil) away, Yahudiya, a Jewish settlement.

• ISFAHAN v. LOCAL HISTORIOGRAPHY

  JÜRGEN PAUL

  Isfahan is exceptional in the number and variety of works of local historiography; no other Persian city has attracted nearly as many such works.

• ISFAHAN vi. MEDIEVAL PERIOD

  Hossein Kamaly

  The history of Isfahan prior to the city’s efflorescence in the 17th century often traced alternating cycles of urbanization and de-urbanization.

• ISFAHAN vii. SAFAVID PERIOD

  Masashi Haneda and Rudi Matthee

  Isfahan came under Safavid rule in 1503 following Shah Esmāʿil’s defeat of Solṭān Morād, the Āq Qoyunlu ruler of Erāq-e ʿAjam, near Hamadān.

• ISFAHAN viii. QAJAR PERIOD

  Heidi Walcher

  The historical changes affecting the Isfahan of this period included loss of its status as the royal capital and its transformation into a major provincial city.

• Isfahan ix. THE PAHLAVI PERIOD AND THE POST-REVOLUTION ERA

  Habib Borjian

  In the process of consolidating his power in Isfahan, Reza Shah managed to constrain two powerful social groups: the Shiʿite clergy and the Baḵtiāri tribesmen.

• ISFAHAN x. MONUMENTS

  Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

  According to the French traveler Jean Chardin, in the late 17th century Isfahan housed some 162 mosques, 48 theological colleges (madrasa), 1,802 caravansaries, and 273 bathhouses.

• Isfahan x. MONUMENTS (1) A Historical Survey

  Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

   Isfahan’s monuments developed, in the Islamic era: first, in the early medieval period under the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate and Buyid patronage. Many of the extant monuments of Isfahan, however, date to two periods in history when the city served as the capital of the ruling dynasties of the Great Saljuqs (1040-1194) and the Safavids (1501-1722).

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• Isfahan x. Monuments (2) Palaces

  Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

  None of the royal palaces and pavilions of Isfahan built prior to the 17th century is extant. In contrast, of all the monuments of Isfahan, Safavid palaces represent the most coherent group of buildings to have survived from a single period.

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• Isfahan x. Monuments (3) Mosques

  Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

  Isfahan is known historically for its large number of mosques. According to Abu Noʿaym of Isfahan, the first large mosque in Isfahan was built during the Caliphate of Imam ʿAli b. Abi Ṭāleb (r. 656-61). The French traveler Jean Chardin counted 162 mosques during his travels to Isfahan in the middle of the 17th century.

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• Isfahan x. Monuments (4) Madrasas

  Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

  In Isfahan, as elsewhere in Persia, the earliest madrasas were established to spread and solidify Sunni orthodoxy.

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• Isfahan x. Monuments (5) Bridges

  Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

  On the southern edge of the city of Isfahan lies the Zāyandarud River, the unnavigable river that has been the major source of water in the region since the earliest settlements in its environs. Until the transfer of the Safavid capital to Isfahan in the late 16th century, the river was well outside the city walls.

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• Isfahan x. Monuments (6) Bibliography

  Sussan Babaie with Robert Haug

• Isfahan xi. SCHOOL OF PAINTING AND CALLIGRAPHY

  Massumeh Farhad

  The “Isfahan” school of painting and calligraphy generally refers to works of art associated with the city from about 1597-98, when it was chosen as the Safavid capital, until the Afghan invasion of 1722. In the second half of the 17th century, many Isfahani artists  began experimenting with Europeanized pictorial concepts, such as modeling and shading—the second phase of the “Isfahan” school of painting.

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• Isfahan xii. BAZAAR: PLAN AND FUNCTION

  Willem Floor

  The bazaar of Isfahan is one of the best-preserved examples of the kind of large, enclosed, and covered bazaar complex that was typical of most cities in the Muslim world prior to the 20th century. The oldest areas of the present-day bazaar date from the early 17th century; its first stone was laid in 1603.

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• Isfahan xiii. CRAFTS

  Habib Borjian and EIr

  Isfahan has maintained its position as a major center for traditional crafts in Persia. The crafts of Isfahan encompass textiles, carpets, metalwork, woodwork, ceramics, painting, and inlay works of various kind. The work is carried out in different settings including small industrial and bazaar workshops, in the homes of craftsmen and women, and in rural cottage industries.

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• Isfahan xiv. MODERN ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES

  Habib Borjian

  This sub-section is divided into the following parts: (1) Modern Economy of the Province; (2) Industries of Isfahan City.

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• Isfahan xiv. MODERN ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES (1) The Province

  Habib Borjian

  On the whole Isfahan is an average province within Persia in terms of general economic indices.

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• Isfahan xiv. MODERN ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES (2) Isfahan City

  Habib Borjian

  The stagnation experienced after the fall of the Safavids was even more marked in the 19th century, owing to European competition that had rendered many local industries practically extinct.

• Isfahan xv. EDUCATION AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS

  Maryam Borjian and Habib Borjian

  Isfahan is distinguished among Persian cities not only for its size, centrality, position in a riverain plain, and numerous historical monuments, but also for the idiosyncratic characteristic of its inhabitants.

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• Isfahan xvi. FOLKLORE AND LEGEND

  Mahmoud Omidsalar

  Systematic collection of the folklore of Isfahan is mostly due to Amirqoli Amini, whose first publication was a collection of Persian dicta entitled hazār o yak soḵan.

• Isfahan xvii. ARMENIAN COMMUNITY

  Cross-Reference

  See JULFA.

• Isfahan xviii. JEWISH COMMUNITY

  Amnon Netzer

  The beginning of the Jewish settlement in Isfahan is mixed with legends, but there are fragmentary source materials that enable us to reconstruct the major historical events concerning it.

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• Isfahan xix. JEWISH DIALECT

  Donald Stilo

  The dialect spoken by the Jews of Isfahan belongs to the Central Dialect group. The original speech form of the city of Isfahan was probably very similar to it.

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• Isfahan xx. GEOGRAPHY OF THE MEDIAN DIALECTS OF ISFAHAN

  Habib Borjian

  The continuum of Central Plateau Dialects appears along a northwest-souteast axis traversing the modern provinces of Hamadān, Markazi, Isfahan, and Yazd, that is, the area of Ancient Media Major.

• Isfahan xxi. PROVINCIAL DIALECTS

  Donald Stilo

  The Iranian languages of Isfahan Province are of three basic types: Northwest Iranian dialects belonging to the Central Plateau Dialect group, and two different types of Southwest Iranian  languages: slightly divergent dialects of Persian, but intelligible to the standard language, and  large pockets of Lori.

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• Isfahan xxii. GAZI DIALECT

  Donald Stilo

  spoken in the city of Gaz in the district of Borḵᵛār, belonging to the Central Plateau Dialect group ( of Northwestern Iranian languages.

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• Isfahan Mode

  Cross-Reference

  a dastgāh in Persian music. See BAYĀT-E EṢFAHĀN.

• ISFAHAN SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY

  Sajjad H. Rizvi

  term coined to describe a philosophical and mystical movement patronized by the court of Shah ʿAbbās I (r. 1588-1629), centered in the new Safavid capital of Isfahan.

• ISIDORUS OF CHARAX

  Rüdiger Schmitt

  author of the Stathmoì Parthikoí (in Latin Mansiones Parthicae) “Parthian Stations,” which is the only Greek text preserved at all of the genre of the itinerary or route description.

• IŠKATA

  Rüdiger Schmitt

  in the Avesta the name of a mountain and of the land (situated in the Hindu Kush region) which is dominated by this mountain.

• ISLAM AKHUN

  Ursula Sims-Williams

  (Eslām-āḵūn), treasure-seeker and swindler active in Khotan and neighboring areas between 1894 and 1901, best known, however, as an adept forger of manuscripts and block prints. He was eventually unmasked by Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943) in 1901.

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• ISLAM IN IRAN i - iv

  Multiple Authors

  The following series of articles provide an overview of some historical, contemporary, and especially political aspects of the topic that are of special interest and relevance in the world today.

• ISLAM IN IRAN v. MESSIANIC ISLAM IN IRAN

  Abbas Amanat

  Messianism is one of the most powerful, diverse and enduring expressions of Islam in Iran throughout its long history.

• ISLAM IN IRAN vi. THE CONCEPT OF MAHDI IN SUNNI ISLAM

  Said Amir Arjomand

  The Savior is a descendant of the Prophet whose expected return to rule the world will restore justice, peace, and true religion.

• ISLAM IN IRAN vii. THE CONCEPT OF MAHDI IN TWELVER SHIʿISM

  Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi

  Mahdism in Twelver Shiʿism inherited many of its elements from previous religious trends.

• ISLAM IN IRAN viii. THE OCCULTATION OF MAHDI

  cross-reference

  See ḠAYBA.