Table of Contents

• IBEX, PERSIAN

  Eskandar Firouz, D. T. Potts

  Capra aegagrus, also called Persian Wild Goat, in Persian pāzan. It is regarded as the ancestor of the domestic goat. Formerly it was numerous, found in almost all of Persia’s mountainous areas with rugged cliffs.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ʿID-E FEṬR

  cross-reference

  See FASTING.

• ʿID-E ḠADIR

  cross-reference

  See ḠADĪR ḴOMM.

• ʿID-E MEHREGĀN

  cross-reference

  See MEHREGĀN.

• ʿID-E NIMA-YE ŠAʿBĀN

  Cross-Reference

  See Islam In Iran vii.

• ʿID-E NOWRUZ

  cross-reference

  See NOWRUZ.

• ʿID-E QORBĀN

  cross-reference

  See PILGRIMAGE, forthcoming online.

• IDA

  Inna N. Medvedskaya

  a land and a city, part of Inner Zamua, located in the area of the southwest shore of Lake Urmia, mentioned in Neo-Assyrian sources dating to the 9th century BCE.

• IḎEH

  Kaveh Ehsani

  town and county in northeast Khuzestan Province. Iḏa is located 20 km east of the Kārun River, in a small oval shaped valley, flanked by part of the Zagros range.

• IDEOGRAPHIC WRITING

  N. Sims-Williams, D. Testen

  the representation of language by means of “ideograms,” that is, symbols representing “ideas,” rather than (or usually side by side with) symbols which represent sounds. i. Terminology and conventions. ii. Ideographic writing in the Ancient Near East.

• IGDIR

  Pierre Oberling

  a Turkic tribe in Persia and Anatolia. It was one of the 24 original Oghuz tribes.  Like other tribes that migrated to the Middle East in Saljuqid times, it has become widely scattered.

• IGNATIUS OF JESUS

  Paola Orsatti

  (Ignazio di Gesù, 1596-1667), an Italian missionary in Persia and a scholar of the Persian language, renowned mainly for his studies on religion and on the customs of the Mandaeans.

• IHĀM

  N. Chalisova

  literally meaning “making one suppose,” a term applied to a rhetorical figure (badiʿ), a kind of play on words based on a single word with a double meaning.

• IJEL

  John Woods

  Timurid prince (1394-1415), the fourth son of Mirānšāh b. Timur. Was named by the conqueror after one of his ancestors.

• IJI, ʿAŻOD-AL-DIN

  Cross-Reference

  See ʿAŻOD-AL-DIN IJI.

• IL-ARSLĀN

  C. Edmund Bosworth

  Chorasmian king of the line of Anuštegin Ḡarčaʾi (r. 1156-72). He was the son and successor of ʿAlāʾ-Din Atsïz b. Moḥammad, , who had skillfully preserved the autonomy of Chorasmia.

• IL-KHANIDS

  Multiple Authors

  the Mongol dynasty in Persia and the surrounding countries, from about 1260 until about 1335. The dynasty was founded by Holāgu/Hülegü Khan, the grandson of Čengiz Khan.

• IL-KHANIDS i. DYNASTIC HISTORY

  REUVEN AMITAI

  The first part of this entry will be a short survey of the reigns of the various Il-khans. The second part will review some of the salient characteristics and institutions of the state they ruled.

• IL-KHANIDS ii. Architecture

  Sheila S. Blair

  The architecture produced during the period of Il-khanid rule in Persia and Iraq is notable for its mammoth size, soaring height, sparkling color, and ingenious methods of covering space.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• IL-KHANIDS iii. Book Illustration

  Stefano Carboni

  The Il-khanid period (ca. 1260-ca. 1335) is no doubt the historical moment during which the art of painting, in particular in illustrated manuscripts, witnessed a dramatic increase in number, subject matter, artistic output, and patronage. The late 13th century and especially the first quarter of the 14th can be regarded as perhaps the most important formative period in the history of Persian painting, an epoch of great changes.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• IL-KHANIDS iv. Ceramics

  Peter Morgan

  This entry deals with glazed wares and tiles of the so-called “Sultanabad” (Solṭānābād) group, lajvardina (< Pers. lājvard “lapis lazuli”) wares, and luster wares produced in the Il-khanid period. The period extends from the fall of Baghdad in 1258 to the last dated luster tiles made in 1339.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ILAK-KHANIDS

  Michal Biran

  (or Qara-khanids), the first Muslim Turkic dynasty that ruled in Central Asia from the Tarim basin to the Oxus river, from the mid-late 10th century until the beginning of the 13th.

• ILĀM i. GEOGRAPHY - ii.

  M. Rezazadeh Shafarudi

  a province, sub-province, and town in western Iran. OVERVIEW of the entry: i. Geography.  ii. History: see LORESTĀN ii.  iii. Population.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ILĀM iii. POPULATION

  Habibollah Zanjani

  According to the first national census of 1956, the present province (ostān) of Ilām used to be a sub-province (šahrestān) of the province of Kermānšāhān.

• ILĀQ

  Boris A. Litvinsky

  medieval name of an area in what is now Uzbekistan, to the south of Tashkent along the middle reaches of the Syr Darya (Jaxartes) river.

• ILĀQI, SAYYED ŠARAF-AL-ZAMĀN

  Lutz Richter-Bernburg

  follower of Avicenna and author in medicine, science, and philosophy (d. 1141).

• ILBĀRS KHAN

  Yuri Bregel

  name of two rulers of Ḵᵛārazm in the 16th and 18th centuries: (1) Ilbārs Khan b. Buräkä (or Bürgä), from the ʿArab-šāhi (q.v.) branch of the Jochids, was the founder of the dynasty which ruled Ḵᵛārazm from 1511 to the end of the 17th century.

• ILČI

  cross-reference

  See ELČI.

• ILDEGOZIDS

  cross-reference

  See ATĀBAKĀN-E ĀḎARBĀYJĀN.

• ILEDONG

  Mauro Maggi

  site in Central Asia of uncertain location, source of a number of Khotanese fragments.

• ILLUMINATIONISM

  Hossein Ziai

  or Illuminationist philosophy, first introduced in the 12th century as a complete, reconstructed system distinct both from the Peripatetic philosophy  of Avicenna and from theological philosophy.

• IMĀMIYA

  Cross-reference

  See SHIʿITE DOCTRINE; SHIʿITE DOCTRINE ii. Hierarchy in the Imamiyya.

• IMMORTALS

  Rüdiger Schmitt

  (Gk. athánatoi), name of a corps of 10,000 Persian élite infantry soldiers in Herodotus, in connection with Xerxes’ campaign against Greece in 480–479 BCE.

• IMPERIAL BANK OF PERSIA

  Cross-Reference

  See Supplement.

• INĀLU

  cross-reference

  See ḴAMSA.

• ÏNĀNČ ḴĀTUN

  C. Edmund Bosworth

  wife of the Atābeg Jahān-Pahlavān Moḥammad (r. 1175-86), the Eldigüzid (or Ildegizid) ruler in Arrān, most of Azerbaijan, and then Jebāl.

• INCEST AND INBREEDING

  Geert Jan Van Gelder

  Incest and inbreeding are two different but related aspects of marriage and human reproduction.

• INDIA

  Multiple Authors

  This series of entries covers Indian history and its relations with Iran.

• INDIA i. Introduction

  Christopher J. Brunner

  This entry presents a series of survey articles on selected areas of interaction and mutual influence between the two culture areas, including overviews of the enormous body of literature produced in India in the Persian language.

• INDIA ii. Historical Geography

  Pierfrancesco Callieri

  The geographical borders between the Iranian plateau and the Indian subcontinent are well defined by features, such as mountain ranges, which represent the western limits of the Indus River valley.

• INDIA iii. RELATIONS: ACHAEMENID PERIOD

  Pierfrancesco Callieri

  The conquest by Darius I of the territories of the Indian subcontinent west of the Indus for the first time created a clear relationship between India and Iran.

• INDIA iv. RELATIONS: SELEUCID, PARTHIAN, SASANIAN PERIODS

  Pierfrancesco Callieri

  Seleucus I (d. 281 BCE) led an expedition to India (Matelli, 1987) ca. 305 B.C.E. It ended, however, with the cession of  territories to a new Indian king, Candragupta Maurya.

• INDIA v. RELATIONS: MEDIEVAL PERIOD TO THE 13TH CENTURY

  C. Edmund Bosworth

  The first political and military footholds of the Muslims in the subcontinent proper were in Sind, and at Multan in the middle Indus valley, secured in the early 8th century.

• INDIA vi. Political and Cultural Relations (13th-18th centuries)

  Richard M. Eaton

  Relations between peoples of the Iranian plateau and India were extensive and uninterrupted between the 13th and 18th centuries. Migration, commerce, and politics all led to a range of cross-regional influences.

• INDIA vii. RELATIONS: THE AFSHARID AND ZAND PERIODS

  Mansour Bonakdarian

   The invasion of the Persian capital (Isfahan) by Ḡilzai Afghan forces in 1722 and the collapse of Safavid central authority had a marked impact on Indo-Persian relations,

• INDIA viii. RELATIONS: QAJAR PERIOD, THE 19TH CENTURY

  Mansour Bonakdarian

   By the time of Āqā Moḥammad Khan’s founding of the Qajar dynasty in 1796, Persia’s diplomatic relations with the Mughal empire and other territories in the Indian subcontinent were gradually passing under the supervision of British authorities in India.

• INDIA ix. RELATIONS: QAJAR PERIOD, EARLY 20TH CENTURY

  Mansour Bonakdarian

  The contributions made by various non-Iranian individuals and groups to the constitutional/ nationalist cause in Persia have long been acknowledged in the historiography of the revolution.

• INDIA x. RELATIONS: PAHLAVI PERIOD

  Cross-Reference

  Iranian-Indian relations during the Pahlavi period will be discussed in a future online entry.

• INDIA xi. RELATIONS: ISLAMIC REPUBLIC

  Cross-Reference

  See Supplement.

• INDIA xii. ISLAMIC DYNASTIES OF

  Cross-Reference

  See under individual dynasties.

• INDIA xiii. INDO-IRANIAN COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

  Scott C. Levi

  Since antiquity merchants have used both caravan and maritime routes to transport commodities between India and Persia.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• INDIA xiv. Persian Literature in India

  Mario Casari

  The amount of Persian literature composed in the Indian subcontinent up to the 19th century is larger than that produced in Iran proper during the same period.

• INDIA xv. Persian Correspondence Literature

  cross-reference

  See CORRESPONDENCE iv.

• INDIA xvi. INDO-PERSIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

  Stephen F. Dale

  Historical works in Persian began to appear in India in the era of the Delhi Sultanate during the late 13th to 14th centuries.

• INDIA xvii. PERSIAN PRESS IN

  cross-reference

  See INDIA viii and INDIA ix. See also CONSTITUTIONAL REVOLUTION vi and ḤABL AL-MATIN.

• INDIA xviii. PERSIAN ELEMENTS IN INDIAN LANGUAGES

  Christopher Shackle

  Some Persian elements are present in most of the modern languages of the subcontinent of South Asia, as a consequence of the prolonged cultivation of Persian associated with pre-modern Indo-Muslim culture.

• INDIA xix. INDIAN LITERARY INFLUENCES ON PERSIAN LITERATURE

  Cross-Reference

  Iranian-Indian literary influences on Persian literature will be discussed in a future online entry.

• INDIA xx. PERSIAN INFLUENCES ON INDIAN PAINTING

  Barbara Schmitz

  Between about 1300 and 1600, Persian painting styles had a sustained impact on the Indian art at the Sultanate and Mughal courts as well as on Hindu painting styles. The earliest dated manuscripts from the subcontinent that rely on Persian models for some of their motifs are from the late 14th century.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• INDIA xxi. INDIAN INFLUENCES ON PERSIAN PAINTING

  Barbara Schmitz

  During the 17th century, the flow of artistic influences between Persia and India reversed. Paintings and drawings in the developed Mughal style of the first quarter of the century were imported to the courts and bazaars of Isfahan.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• INDIA xxii. PERSIAN INFLUENCE ON INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

  cross-reference

  See DECCAN ii; DELHI SULTANATE ii; GARDEN iii; HYDERABAD ii.

• INDIA xxiii. INDIAN INFLUENCE ON PERSIAN CINEMA

  cross-reference

  See x, above.

• INDIA xxiv. PERSIAN CALLIGRAPHY IN

  Cross-Reference

  Forthcoming.

• INDIA xxv. MUTUAL MYSTICAL INFLUENCES

  cross-reference

  See under SUFISM.

• INDIA xxvi. MUTUAL MUSICAL INFLUENCES

  cross-reference

    See under MUSIC.

• INDIA xxvii. MUTUAL SCIENTIFIC INFLUENCES

  cross-reference

  See under SCIENCE.

• INDIA xxviii. IRANIAN IMMIGRANTS IN INDIA

  Masashi Haneda

  Although emigration from the Iranian plateau to the Indian subcontinent is not a phenomenon specific to any particular period, the trend does seem to have grown after the foundation of Muslim governments on the subcontinent.

• INDIA xxix. SHIʿITE COMMUNITIES IN

  Cross-Reference

  See CONVERSION iii. TO IMAMI SHI'ISM IN INDIA.

• INDIA xxx. INDIAN MERCHANTS IN CENTRAL ASIA AND IRAN

  Scott C. Levi

  The Indian merchant diaspora in Central Asia and Persia emerged in the mid-16th century and remained active for over four centuries.

• INDIA xxxi. INDIAN MERCHANTS IN 19TH-CENTURY AFGHANISTAN

  Shah Mahmoud Hanifi

  Indian communities in Afghanistan performed an array of commercial functions in both the private and state sectors that served to integrate the Afghan economy and link it to surrounding markets in Central and South Asia.

• INDIA xxxii. PARSI COMMUNITIES

  Cross-Reference

   See PARSI COMMUNITIES i. and PARSI COMMUNITIES ii.

• INDIA xxxiii. INDO-MUSLIM PHYSICIANS

  Fabrizio Speziale

  Medicine constitutes the scientific field on which the largest corpus of works has been composed in Muslim India.

• INDIAN OCEAN

  D. T. Potts

  This entry will deal with the role of Indian Ocean in international trade in the following periods:

  i. Pre-Islamic period. ii. Islamic Period. See Supplement.

• INDIGO

  Carol Bier

  (Pers. nil), the common name of a broad genus, Indigofera, with numerous species. Many tribal groups in Persia have relied on the use of indigo to achieve a stable blue color for the wool of carpets and kilims.

• INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY

  Michael Rubin

  (IETC), a telegraph company that controlled telegraph wires between Tehran and the Russian border and onward through Russia and Germany to London.

• INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT

  Michael Rubin

  (IETD), a branch of the British Government of India, based in London, which managed a series of telegraph lines in Iran.

• INDO-GREEK DYNASTY

  Osmund Bopearachchi

  Greco-Bactrian kings who ruled over the region south of the Hindu Kush in the second and first century B.C.E.

• INDO-IRANIAN FRONTIER LANGUAGES

  Elena Bashir

  This article surveys Indo-Iranian frontier languages the territory of present-day Pakistan, which have been under the cultural and linguistic influence of successive stages of the Persian language since the time of the Achaemenid Empire.

• INDO-IRANIAN LANGUAGES

  cross-reference

  See IRAN vi. IRANIAN LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS.

• INDO-IRANIAN RELIGION

  Gherardo Gnoli

  Indo-Iranian comparative studies enable us to distinguish a fund of religious concepts, beliefs, and practices that are common to ancient Iran and ancient India.

• INDO-PARTHIAN DYNASTY

  Christine Fröhlich

  rulers over a large part of northwestern India from Seistan (portions of the present-day border provinces of that name of Iran and of Afghanistan) to Sindh on the Indus river at the beginning of the 1st century C.E.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• INDO-SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

  R. C. Senior

  from Maues, the first (Indo-)Scythian king of India (ca. 120-85 BCE) to the mid-1st century CE. When precisely and under what circumstances Maues arrived in India is uncertain, but the expulsion of the Scythian (Saka/Sai) peoples from Central Asia is referred to in the Han Shu, where the cause given is their confrontation with the Ta Yüeh-chih, themselves undergoing an enforced migration.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• INDRA

  W. W. Malandra

  the name of a minor demon (daēwa) in the Avesta, In sharp contrast to the Indra of the Ṛgveda [RV], the most celebrated god (devá) of the Vedic pantheon.

• INDUS RIVER

  cross-reference

  See INDIA ii.

• INDUSTRIALIZATION

  Hassan Hakimian, M. Karshenas and H. Hakimian, Parvin Alizadeh

  : the foundation and development of modern industries in 20th-century Iran. Although generally characterized as an oil economy, Iran has a relatively rich history of industrialization going back to the early 20th century.

• INDUSTRIALIZATION i. THE REZA SHAH PERIOD AND ITS AFTERMATH, 1925-53

  Hassan Hakimian

  Prior to the 1920s, traditional crafts dominated the industrial scene in Iran; and, despite a growing interest in industrial modernization after the 1870s, the role of industry remained very limited.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• INDUSTRIALIZATION ii. THE MOHAMMAD REZA SHAH PERIOD, 1953-79

  M. Karshenas and H. Hakimian

  After the 1953 coup and the resumption of concessionary oil agreements in 1954, revenues from the oil sector grew at an unprecedented pace.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• INDUSTRIALIZATION iii. THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD, 1979-2000

  Parvin Alizadeh

  The first phase spans the 1980s covering the period from the 1979 Revolution to the end of the 1980s (including the war with Iraq during 1980-88).

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• INDUSTRY, TRADITIONAL

  cross-reference

  See CRAFTS.

• INFLUENZA

  A. A. Afkhami

  In Persia, the first established evidence of influenza’s visitation dates back to the summer of 1833, when it erupted with great virulence in Tehran.

• INHERITANCE

  Multiple Authors

  i. Sasanian period. ii. Islamic period.

• INHERITANCE i. SASANIAN PERIOD

  Maria Macuch

  Our main source on jurisprudence during the Sasanian period is the Lawbook Hazār dādestān “One Thousand Judgements” of the 7th century.

• INHERITANCE ii. ISLAMIC PERIOD

  Agostino Cilardo

  In the pre-Islamic period, the Arab family was socially and politically composed of males (ʿaṣaba), namely those who were able to fight and defend the common property.

• INJU

  Cross-Reference

  See ḴĀLEṢA.

• INJU DYNASTY

  John Limbert

  (ca. 1325-53), one of the minor dynasties that controlled Persia following the collapse of the Il-Khanid state.

• INOSTRANTSEV, KONSTANTIN ALEXANDROVICH

  Aliy I. Kolesnikov

  (1876-1941), Russian orientalist and historian of culture, best known abroad as the author of Sasanidskie et’udy (Etudes sassanides).

• INSCRIPTIONS

  cross-reference

  See EPIGRAPHY.

• INSECTIVORES

  Steven C. Anderson

  members of the mammalian order, small animals with several conservative anatomical characteristics. They retain five digits on all limbs and walk or run with soles and heels on the ground (plantigrade). Three families are represented in Persia and Afghanistan: hedgehogs, family Erinaceidae; moles, family Talpidae; and shrews, family Soricidae.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• INSECTS

  Steven C. Anderson

  The insects of Persia and Afghanistan belong to the Palearctic fauna, although in the eastern and southeastern parts of the region there are representatives of the Oriental fauna characteristic of the Indian subcontinent.

• INSTITUT PASTEUR

  Amir A. Afkhami

  the institute for bacteriology and vaccination founded by the Persian government in 1921 as a branch of Institut Pasteur of Paris. The idea of establishing an institute for microbiological research and immunology in Iran was conceived in the aftermath of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic in Persia which killed hundreds of thousands of the country’s approximately ten million population.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• INSTITUTE FOR IRANIAN PHILOLOGY

  Claus V. Pedersen

  (INSTITUT FOR IRANSK FILOLOGI), University of Copenhagen. i. Forerunners. ii. History. Although the Institute was founded only in 1961, it has a long prehistory, since it is the natural culmination of about 200 years of Iranian studies in the Kingdom of Denmark.

• INSTITUTE OF ISMAILI STUDIES

  Paul E. Walker

  founded in 1977 by H. H. Prince Karim Aga Khan, a gathering point for the Ismaili community’s interest in its own history and in its relationship with the larger world of Islamic scholarship and contemporary thought.

• INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES AND RESEARCH

  Kazem Izadi

  (MOʾASSESA-YE MOṬĀLEʿĀT WA TAḤQIQĀT-E EJTEMĀʿI), an academic body established in 1958 at the University of Tehran for research, counseling, education, and publication.

• INTAPHERNES

  cross-reference

  See VINDAFARNĀ.

• INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS

  Steven C. Anderson

  IN IRAN, AFGHANISTAN, AND NEIGHBORING CENTRAL ASIA. This category includes all animals without a vertebral column. Thus it is a term of convenience that, though widely used, has little biological meaning.

• INVESTITURE

  Maria Brosius, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, Jenny Rose

  the ceremonies and symbolic actions used to assert the assumption of rulership and to elicit affirmation of it. i. The Achaemenid period. ii. The Parthian period. iii. The Sasanian period.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• IONIAN REVOLT

  E. Badian

  the unsuccessful uprising of the Greek cities of Asia Minor against Achaemenid control, 499-493 BCE. The main and almost the only source for the Revolt is Herodotus of Halicarnassus. The revolt of the Ionians and of some Aeolians joining them had clearly not been a spontaneous rising. Dislike of Persian rule does seem, at this time, to have been universal among the western subjects.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• IQĀʿ

  Gen'ichi Tsuge

  (pl. iqāʿāt), an Arabic term used in texts on music to denote rhythmic mode (or cycle) or rhythmic pattern.

• IQĀN

  cross-reference

  See KETĀB-E IQĀN.

• IQBAL, MUHAMMAD

  Annemarie Schimmel

  spiritual father of Pakistan and leading Persian and Urdu poet of India in the first half of the 20th century (1877-1938). He was well versed in the various fields of European philosophy and thought. He was equally well read in the Eastern tradition, and special mention should be made of his analysis of Persian thought in his thesis of 1907.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• IRAJ

  A. Shapur Shahbazi

  the youngest son of Ferēdun and the eponymous hero of the Iranians in their traditional history.

• IRAJ MIRZĀ

  Behrooz Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari

  , JALĀL-AL-MAMĀLEK, a major Persian poet and satirist of the early 20th century and one of the most popular poets of the late Qajar period (1874-1926). His intimate, idiomatic mode of expression and almost conversational tone initiated an entirely new trend in Persian poetry, which some critics have referred to as “the journalistic style.”

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• IRAN

  Multiple Authors

  The following sub-entries will provide an overview of the unifying factors which constitute Iran through time and across space, while also showing the complexity and heterogeneity of the components of Iranian culture.

• IRAN i. LANDS OF IRAN

  Xavier de Planhol

  This article intends to examine the relationship between Iranian culture and its natural environment.

• IRAN ii. IRANIAN HISTORY (1) Pre-Islamic Times

  Ehsan Yarshater

  This section provides a concise introduction to the history of Iran from its beginnings to modern times. The generally recognized periods of the country’s history are reviewed, and some of the major motifs or themes in the politics or culture of the various periods are discussed.

• IRAN ii. IRANIAN HISTORY (2) Islamic period (page 1)

  Ehsan Yarshater

  Iran in the Islamic Period (651-1980s). This section of Persian history begins with the conquest by Muslim Arabs and the introduction of Islam to Persia, the gradual conversion of the Persians to the faith of the conquerors, and some 200 years of Arab rule.

• IRAN ii. IRANIAN HISTORY (2) Islamic period (page 2)

  Ehsan Yarshater

  Formation of local dynasties. The Taherids (821-73). The first of these dynasties came into being when Ṭāher b. Ḥosayn was appointed the governor of Khorasan with full power.

• IRAN ii. IRANIAN HISTORY (2) Islamic period (page 3)

  Ehsan Yarshater

  The Saljuqids (1040-1194). The plains of Central Asia, northwestern China, and western Siberia were breeding grounds for nomadic people, who kept multiplying and searching for new pastures.

• IRAN ii. IRANIAN HISTORY (2) Islamic period (page 4)

  Ehsan Yarshater

  The Safavids (1501-1722). The advent of the Safavids constitutes one of the major turning points in Persian history.

• IRAN ii. IRANIAN HISTORY (2) Islamic period (page 5)

  Ehsan Yarshater

  The Qajar dynasty (1779-1924). The Qajar were a Turkmen tribe who first settled during the Mongol period in the vicinity of Armenia and were among the seven Qezelbāš tribes that supported the Safavids.

• IRAN ii. IRANIAN HISTORY (2) Islamic period (page 6)

  Ehsan Yarshater

  Moḥammad Reza Shah (1941-79). The long history of Russian and British interventions in Persian affairs had fostered widespread resentment against the two great powers.

• IRAN ii. IRANIAN HISTORY (3) Chronological Table

  Ehsan Yarshater

  A chronological table of events. This records major happenings of Iranian pre-history and history from the most ancient times to 2005.

• IRAN ii. IRANIAN HISTORY (4) Index of Proper Names

  Ehsan Yarshater

  Index of proper names that occur in the chronological table.

• IRAN iii. TRADITIONAL HISTORY

  Ehsan Yarshater

  Before assimilating the results of European research on Persian history, the Iranians were in possession of a historical tradition that combined a mixture of myth, legend, and factual history.

• IRAN iv. MYTHS AND LEGENDS

  John R. Hinnells

  In the study of religion, myths are seen as narratives which encapsulate fundamental truths about the nature of existence, god(s), God(s), the universe. They explain the origin of the world or of a tribe or of a ritual.

• IRAN v. PEOPLES OF IRAN (1) A General Survey

  R. N. Frye

  The term “Iranian” may be understood in two ways. It is, first of all, a linguistic classification, intended to designate any society which inherited or adopted, and transmitted, an Iranian language.

• IRAN v. PEOPLES OF IRAN (2) Pre-Islamic

  C. J. Brunner

  This survey focuses on the early phase of the Iranian-speaking peoples’ presence on the plateau, during the early state-building phase.

• IRAN v. PEOPLES OF IRAN (3). Islamic Period

  cross-reference

  See Supplement.

• IRAN vi. IRANIAN LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS

  Prods Oktor Skjærvø

  The term “Iranian language” is applied to any language which is descended from a proto-Iranian parent language (unattested by texts) spoken, presumably, in Central Asia in the late 3rd to early 2nd millennium BCE.

• IRAN vi. IRANIAN LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS (1) Earliest Evidence

  Prods Oktor Skjærvø

  The Indo-Aryan and Iranian tribes separated about 2000 BCE., but attempts to correlate the proto-Indo-Iranians with archeological sites are all problematic.

• IRAN vi. IRANIAN LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS (2) Documentation

  Prods Oktor Skjærvø

  Iranian languages are known from roughly three periods, commonly termed Old, Middle, and New (Modern).

• IRAN vi. IRANIAN LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS (3) Writing Systems

  Prods Oktor Skjærvø

  Writing systems for Iranian languages include cuneiform (Old Persian); scripts descended from “imperial” Aramaic, two Syriac scripts, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Cyrillic, Georgian, and Latin.

• IRAN vii. NON-IRANIAN LANGUAGES (1) Overview

  Gernot Windfuhr

  This entry will discuss the non-Iranian languages spoken in Iran in the course of its history as the result of various peoples settling in parts of Iran and interacting with Iranian-speaking peoples who began to migrate to Iranian territories at the beginning of second millennium BCE. The entry includes linguistic sketches of languages or dialects.

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• IRAN vii. NON-IRANIAN LANGUAGES (2) In Pre-Islamic Iran

  Gernot Windfuhr

  Of the three known pre-Islamic languages (Urartian, Kassite, and Elamite), only Urartian and Elamite are fairly well known.

• IRAN vii. NON-IRANIAN LANGUAGES (3) Elamite

  Gernot Windfuhr

  Elamite was spoken in the southern Zagros regions, which correspond to the ancient cultural-political entities of Elam and Anshan, and expanded into Akkadian-speaking Susiana.

• IRAN vii. NON-IRANIAN LANGUAGES (4) Urartian

  Gernot Windfuhr

  Urartian was most likely the dominant vernacular around Lake Van and the upper Zab valley. It was written from the late ninth to seventh century BCE in the empire of Urartu.

• IRAN vii. NON-IRANIAN LANGUAGES (5) Kassite

  Gernot Windfuhr

  The Kassites, Akkadian Kaššu, were mountain tribes probably somewhere in the central Zagros who ruled Babylon from the sixteenth to the middle of the twelfth century BCE.

• IRAN vii. NON-IRANIAN LANGUAGES (6) in Islamic Iran

  Gernot Windfuhr

  The non-Iranian languages spoken today in Iran include members of the following language families: (1) Altaic, (2) Afro-Asiatic Semitic, (3) Indo-European, (4) Caucasian (5) Dravidian.

• IRAN vii. NON-IRANIAN LANGUAGES (7) Turkic Languages

  Gernot Windfuhr

  In Iran, there are two distinct branches of Turkic: Oghuz Turkic languages and dialects that represent the southwestern branch of Turkic, and Khalaj, which presents a tiny branch of its own.

• IRAN vii. NON-IRANIAN LANGUAGES (8) Semitic Languages

  Gernot Windfuhr

   First Aramaic and then Arabic had considerable contact with Iranian languages. Their impact differs.

• IRAN vii. NON-IRANIAN LANGUAGES (9) Arabic

  Gernot Windfuhr

  Most extensive was the Arab settlement in eastern Iran and Greater Khorasan (including northwestern Afghanistan, and Central Asia, including Marv and Bukhara).

• IRAN vii. NON-IRANIAN LANGUAGES (10). Aramaic

  Gernot Windfuhr

  Speakers of North-Eastern Aramaic have been in contact with Iranian languages in the western regions of the plateau and on the western side of the Zagros for some 3,000 years -- with Jewish settlement from Mesopotamia documented since the eighth century BCE, Christian emigration begun during the Parthian period, and the Mandaeans, settled in southeastern Mesopotamia and adjacent Khuzestan  by the 3rd century CE. 

• IRAN viii. PERSIAN LITERATURE (1) Pre-Islamic

  Philip Huyse

  Iranian “literature” was for a long time essentially of oral nature as far as composition, performance, and transmission are concerned.

• IRAN viii. PERSIAN LITERATURE (2) Classical

  CHARLES-HENRI DE FOUCHÉCOUR

  We will pay special attention to the early formation and origins of different literary genres in Persian works, even though the very notion of literary genres is somewhat arbitrary and a subject of continuing debate.

• IRAN viii. PERSIAN LITERATURE (3) Modern

  Cross-Reference

  See FICTION.

• IRAN ix. RELIGIONS IN IRAN (1) Pre-Islamic (1.1) Overview

  Philip G. Kreyenbroek

  From the 2nd millennium BCE until Islam became dominant in Iran, a remarkable number of religious traditions existed there.

• IRAN ix. RELIGIONS IN IRAN (1) Pre-Islamic (1.2) Manicheism

  Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst and Philip G. Kreyenbroek

  Called after the founding prophet Mani (216-74 or 277), Manicheism was a syncretistic religion that, combining elements of the various religions current in Mesopotamia and the Iranian plateau at the time, claimed to be the ultimate religion.

• IRAN ix. RELIGIONS IN IRAN (2) Islam in Iran (2.1) The Advent of Islam

  Hamid Algar

  Persian acquaintance with Islam began already in the time of the Prophet. Well known is the case of Salmān-e Fārsi, the Persian companion of the Prophet around whom many legends have been spun.

• IRAN ix. RELIGIONS IN IRAN (2) Islam in Iran (2.2) Mongol and Timurid Periods

  Hamid Algar

  It is sometimes assumed that the general predominance of Sunnism in Persia was significantly weakened by the destruction of the ʿAbbasid caliphate by the Mongols in 1258.

• IRAN ix. RELIGIONS IN IRAN (2) Islam in Iran (2.3) Shiʿism in Iran Since the Safavids

  Hamid Algar

  The Safavids originated as a hereditary lineage of Sufi shaikhs centered on Ardabil, Shafeʿite in school and probably Kurdish in origin. Their immediate following was concentrated in Azerbaijan.

• IRAN xi. MUSIC

  Bruno Nettl

• IRAN AND THE CAUCASUS

  Victoria Arakelova

  the annual international academic journal of the Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies, Yerevan (CCIS), founded in 1997.

• IRAN LEAGUE

  Kaikhusroo M. JamaspAsa

  organization established in 1922 by prominent Parsis with the aim of reviving and strengthening cultural and other ties between the Parsis of India and Iran.

• IRAN NAMEH

  Abbas Milani

  the oldest post-Islamic Revolution scholarly journal published since 1982 by the Iranian Diaspora.

• IRAN NATIONAL COMPANY

  Parviz Alizadeh

  established in August 1962, the single pioneer of the automotive industry in Iran, assembling and manufacturing various motor vehicles and their spare parts.

• IRĀN newspapers

  Nassereddin Parvin

  title of five newspapers, of which four were published in Persia and one in Baghdad, Iraq.

• IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIRS

  Malcolm Byrne

  the linkage in the mid-1980s of two separate and distinct U.S. covert operations in Iran and Central America.

• IRĀN-E JAVĀN

  Nassereddin Parvin

  weekly paper published in Tehran from 5 Esfand 1305 to 28 Bahman 1306 Š. (25 February 1926-17 February 1927) as the organ of an association with the same name (Anjomān-e Irān-e javān).

• IRĀN-E JAVĀN, ANJOMAN-E

  Jamšid Behnām

  (The society of young Iran), a society founded in January 1921 by a number of young intellectuals who had received their higher education in Europe.

• IRAN-E KABIR

  Nassereddin Parvin

  periodical published in the city of Rašt by the political activist Grigor Yaqikiān, 1929-30.

• IRĀN-E MĀ

  Nassereddin Parvin

  a political newspaper published in Tehran, 1943-60, with long interruptions. It was an influential liberal paper with nationalistic orientations.

• IRĀN-E NOW

  Nassereddin Parvin

  title of two political newspapers published in Tehran during the second and third decades of the 20th century.

• IRAN-IRAQ WAR

  cross-reference

  See IRAQ vii.

• IRAN-NAMEH

  Vahe Boyajian

  journal of Oriental studies, founded in Yerevan, Armenia, in May 1993 as a scholarly monthly publication in the Armenian language.

• IRAN. JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF PERSIAN STUDIES

  C. Edmund Bosworth and Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis

  The British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS) was inaugurated in December 1961 in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s official visit to Iran in March of that year.

• IRĀN/LA REVUE IRAN

  Nassereddin Parvin

  the first philatelic magazine ever published in Persia; it was published from Mehr 1302 to Bahman 1311 Š. (September 1923-February 1933) as the organ of Kolub-e bayn-al-melali-e Irān, a society founded by Naṣr-Allāh Falsafi (q.

• IRANI, DINSHAH JIJIBHOY

  Kaikhusroo M. JamaspAsa

  Parsi lawyer and scholar (1881-1938). He served the Parsi community in many capacities. He was one of the founders of the Parsi Statistical Bureau, gave thrust to the move for the increase of housing accommodation for poor Parsis of Bombay, and was an ardent supporter of the Fasli (Faṣli) movement for revision of the Parsi calendar.

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• IRANIAN IDENTITY

  Multiple Authors

  collective feeling by Iranian peoples of belonging to the historic lands of Iran. This sense of identity, defined both historically and territorially, evolved from a common historical experience and cultural tradition.

• IRANIAN IDENTITY i. PERSPECTIVES

  Ahmad Ashraf

  Perspectives on Iranian identity have been influenced by competing views on the origins of nations.

• IRANIAN IDENTITY ii. PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD

  Gherardo Gnoli

  The idea of Iran as a religious, cultural, and ethnic reality goes back as far as the end of the 6th century BCE.

• IRANIAN IDENTITY iii. MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC PERIOD

  Ahmad Ashraf

  following the cultural shock and the crisis of identity that occurred in the first century after the fall of the Sasanids, the urban literati of Persian origin began to reconstruct the cultural idea of Iran within the Islamic society.

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• IRANIAN IDENTITY iv. 19TH-20TH CENTURIES

  Ahmad Ashraf

  Comparative historians of nationalism acknowledge that Iran was among the few nations that experienced the era of nationalism with a deep historical root and experience of recurrent construction of its own pre-modern identity.

• IRANIAN IDENTITY v. POST-REVOLUTIONARY ERA

  Cross-Reference

  Iranian identity during the post-revolutionary era will be discussed in a future online entry.

• IRANIAN STUDIES

  Cross-Reference

  See under the names of individual countries and universities.

• IRANIAN STUDIES, SOCIETY FOR

  Cross-Reference

  See SOCIETY FOR IRANIAN STUDIES.

• IRĀNŠĀH

  Mary Boyce and Firoze Kotwal

  term now used by the Parsis as the name of their oldest sacred fire, the Ātaš Bahrām established originally at Sanjān and now installed at Udwada, both in Gujarat.

• IRĀNŠĀH, BAHĀʾ-AL-DAWLA

  cross-reference

  See SALJUQS OF KERMAN.

• IRĀNŠAHR (1)

  cross-reference

  See ĒRĀN, ĒRĀNŠAHR.

• IRĀNŠAHR (2)

  EIr

  city, formerly Fahraj, and sub-province (šahrestān) in the province of Sistān and Baluchistan.

• IRĀNŠAHR (3)

  Manouchehr Kasheff

  an encyclopedic collection of articles published under the auspices of the UNESCO National Commission in Iran. The ambitious idea, as presented in the preface of the first volume, was to produce a highly reliable condensed, but comprehensive, sourcebook covering every aspect of the history, culture, and civilization of Iran from ancient times to 1960.

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• IRĀNŠAHR (4)

  Jamshid Behnam

  monthly Persian journal, published in forty-eight issues in Berlin by Ḥosayn Kāẓemzāda Irānšahr,  June 1922 to February 1927. Two principal tendencies can be distinguished in these articles:  a strong interest in ancient Persia and its language and culture, and belief in the potency of a nationalistic spirit.

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• IRĀNŠAHR, ḤOSAYN KĀẒEMZĀDA

  Jamshid Behnam

  (1884-1962), ardent Iranian nationalist active during the First World War, prolific author on political, religious, and educational subjects, and publisher of the journal Irānšahr 1922-27; he resided in Berlin 1917-36, in Switzerland thereafter.

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• IRĀNŠAHRI

  Daryoush Kargar and EIr

  , ABU’L-ʿABBĀS MOḤAMMAD b. Moḥammad (fl. 2nd half 9th cent.), mathematician, natural scientist, historian of religion, astronomer, philosopher, and author.

• IRĀNŠĀN B. ABI’L-ḴAYR

  cross-reference

  See KUŠ-NĀMA.

• IRANSHENASI

  Abbas Milani

  a journal of Iranian studies, began publication under the editorship of Jalāl Matini and with the help of generous Iranians who have been willing to subsidize it since the spring of 1989, when its first issue was published.

• IRANZAMIN, TEHRAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

  J. Richard Irvine

  (Irānzamin, Madrasa-ye Baynalmelali-e Tehrān), a combined Iranian and American international school founded in 1967.

• IRAQ

  Multiple Authors

  the southern part of Mesopotamia, known in the early Islamic period as del-e Irānšahr (lit. “the heart of the kingdom of Iran”), served as the central province of the Sasanian empire as well as that of the ʿAbbasid caliphate.

• IRAQ i. IN THE LATE SASANID AND EARLY ISLAMIC ERAS

  Michael Morony

  The late Sasanid era. The late Sasanid winter capital was located at the urban complex on the Tigris river called “the cities” (al-Madāʾen) by the Arabs that included Ctesiphon, Aspānpur, Veh-Antioḵ-e Ḵosrow, and Veh-Ardašir.

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• IRAQ ii - iii. FROM THE MONGOLS TO THE SAFAVIDS

  ʿAbbās Zaryāb

  The Mongol capture of Baghdad in 1258 came at a time when Persian influence was on the rise but the city as a whole in decline.

• IRAQ iv. RELATIONS IN THE SAFAVID PERIOD

  Rudi Matthee

  Iraq was frequently the scene and the object of the intermittent wars the Ottomans and the Safavids fought in the 16th and early 17nth century.

• IRAQ v. AFSHARIDS TO THE END OF THE QAJARS

  Ernest Tucker

  The collapse of the Safavid dynasty in the 1720s ushered in a new round of conflict in Iraq that would continue through the first half of the 18th century.

• IRAQ vi. PAHLAVI PERIOD, 1921-79

  Mohsen M. Milani

  Relations between Iran and Iraq underwent three different phases between 1921, when Britain installed Faysal Ibn Hossein as king of a newly formed nation-state of Iraq and 1979, when the Pahlavi dynasty was swept away by revolution.

• IRAQ vii. IRAN-IRAQ WAR

  Saskia M. Gieling

  The war between Iran and Iraq commenced with the Iraqi invasion of Iran on 22 September 1980, and ended with the bilateral acceptance of the UN Security Council Resolution 598 on 20 July 1988.

• IRAQ viii. THE SHIʿITE SHRINE CITIES OF IRAQ

  cross-reference

  See ʿATABĀT.

• IRAQ ix. IRANIAN COMMUNITY IN IRAQ

  cross-reference

  See DIASPORA vi.

• IRAQ x. SHIʿITES OF IRAQ

  Meir Litvak

  Iraq was the cradle of Shiʿism, where it evolved as a political and religious movement, yet, Shiʿites became a majority there only during the 19th century.

• IRAQ xi. SHIʿITE SEMINARIES

  Meir Litvak

  The communities of learning in the shrine cities of Najaf and Karbalā emerged as the most important centers of Twelver Shiʿite learning during the 19th century.

• IRAQ xii. PERSIAN SCHOOLS IN IRAQ

  Eqbal Yaghmaʾi

  At the time of the 1905-11 Constitutional Revolution in Persia, local committees in Iraq created Persian-language schools with the backing of the leading, progressive religious scholars.

• IRAQ xiii. PERSIAN NEWSPAPERS IN IRAQ: 1909-22

  Nassereddin Parvin

  The publication of Persian-language newspapers in Iraq began with the implementation of the 1909 Ottoman Constitutional Law.

• IRON AGE

  Oscar White Muscarella

  In Iran the term Iron Age is employed to identify a cultural change that occurred centuries earlier than the time accorded its use elsewhere in the Near East, and not to acknowledge the introduction of a new metal technology.

• IRON IN EASTERN IRAN

  B. A. Litvinsky

  Ancient iron objects in Central Asia were found for the first time at the southern mound of Anau (Turkmenistan) in 1904; these should be dated to the 9th-8th centuries BCE.

• 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.

• ISLAM IN IRAN ix. THE DEPUTIES OF MAHDI

  Verena Klemm

  according to Twelver Shiʿite tradition, the four intermediaries between the Hidden Imam and the faithful during his “Minor Occultation,” 874-941 CE.

• ISLAM IN IRAN x. THE ROOTS OF POLITICAL SHIʿISMs

  Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi

  By “political Shiʿism” we mean here the politicization of theological and legal doctrines of Twelver Shiʿism among some thinkers, in order to make of these doctrines an ideology of legitimization of religious authority and power.

• ISLAM IN IRAN xi. JIHAD IN ISLAM

  David Cook

  The term jihad (Ar. jehād “struggle, striving”) occurs (either in its root or derivatives) about forty times in the Qurʾān with the secondary, but dominant, meaning of “regulated warfare with divine sanction.”

• ISLAM IN IRAN xii. MARTYRDOM IN ISLAM

  Cross-Reference

  Forthcoming online.

• ISLAM IN IRAN xiii. ISLAMIC POLITICAL MOVEMENTS IN 20TH CENTURY IRAN

  Ahmad Ashraf

  New Islamic political movements first emerged in the Near East, the Indian Subcontinent, and Indonesia in the middle of the 19th century.

• ISLAM IN IRAN xiv - xviii

  Cross-Reference

• ISMAʿILISM

  Multiple Authors

  a major Shiʿite Muslim community. The Ismaʿilis have had a long and eventful history dating back to the middle of the 2nd/8th century when the Emāmi Shiʿis split into several groups.

• ISMAʿILISM i. ISMAʿILI STUDIES

  Farhad Daftary

  In its modern and scientific form, dating to the 1930s, Ismaʿili studies represents one of the newest fields of Islamic studies.

• ISMAʿILISM ii. ISMAʿILI HISTORIOGRAPHY

  Farhad Daftary

  The general lack of Ismaʿili interest in historiography is well attested by the fact that only a few works of historical nature have been found in the rich corpus of Ismaʿili literature.

• ISMAʿILISM iii. ISMAʿILI HISTORY

  Farhad Daftary

  On the death of Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq in 148/765 his followers from among the Imami Shiʿites split into six groups, of which two may be identified as proto-Ismaʿilis or earliest Ismaʿilis.

• ISMAʿILISM iv - x

  cross-reference

• ISMAʿILISM xi. ISMAʿILI JURISPRUDENCE

  Ismail K. Poonawala

  The Ismaʿili system of jurisprudence was founded after the establishment of the Fatimid dynasty in North Africa.

• ISMAʿILISM xii. ISMAʿILI HADITH

  Cross-Reference

  See HADITH iii.

• ISMAʿILISM xiii. ISMAʿILI LITERATURE IN PERSIAN AND ARABIC

  Ismail K. Poonawala

  Ismaʿili literature (all the written products of scholarly disciplines delineated by learning, religion, and science) refers to the literary production of more than a millennium.

• ISMAʿILISM xiv. ISMAʿILISM IN GINĀN LITERATURE

  Ali Sultaan Ali Asani

  Nezāri Ismaʿili texts from the Indian Subcontinent exhibit an adaptive response to the region’s complex religious, literary, and cultural environment.

• ISMAʿILISM xv. NEZĀRI ISMAʿILI MONUMENTS

  Peter Willey

  The principal monuments of the Nezāri Ismaʿili state, which also defined and defended its boundaries, were the exceptionally well-constructed and provisioned castles.

• ISMAʿILISM xvi. MODERN ISMAʿILI COMMUNITIES

  Azim Nanji and Zulfikar Hirji

  The Ismaʿilis consist of two main branches—the Nezāri Ismaʿilis and the Mustaʿlian Ṭayyebi Ismaʿilis. Both have their roots in the Fatimid period of Ismaʿili history.

• ISMAʿILISM xvii. THE IMAMATE IN ISMAʿILISM

  Azim Nanji

  in common with all major Shiʿite groups, the Ismaʿilis believe that the Imamate is a divinely sanctioned and guided institution.

• ISRĀʾILIYĀT

  Cross-Reference

  See QEṢAṢ AL-ANBIĀʾ.

• ISRAEL

  Multiple Authors

  : relations with Iran. OVERVIEW of the entry: i. Diplomatic and political relations. ii. The Jewish Persian community: forthcoming. iii. Iranian Studies in Israel: forthcoming. iv. Persian art collections in Israel: forthcoming.

• ISRAEL i. RELATIONS WITH IRAN

  David Menashri, Trita Parsi

  The relationship between Israel and Iran has, since the very inception of the Jewish state in 1948, been a complex function of Iran’s geo-strategic imperatives as a non-Arab, non-Sunni state.

• ISRAEL ii. JEWISH PERSIAN COMMUNITY

  David Yeroushalmi

  Jews of Persian origin and their descendants who live in the State of Israel and constitute an integral and active part of its general population.

• ISRAEL iii. IRANIAN STUDIES

  Shaul Shaked

  A department of Iranian Studies was only formally established in Israel in 1970, but scholars working in Israel have been interested in aspects of Iranian history and culture since long before that date.

• ISRAEL iv. PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS

  RACHEL MILSTEIN

  Persian art in most of the Israeli collections represent the entire history of Iran, with a strong emphasis on the Islamic period, and including Judaic-Persian ethnography. The following article is arranged in a chronological

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ITALY

  Multiple Authors

  : relations with Iran. Overview of the entry. i. Introduction. ii. Diplomatic and commercial relations. iii. Cultural relations. iv. Travel accounts. v. Iranian Studies, pre-Islamic. vi. Excavations in Iran. vii. Iranian Studies, Islamic period. viii. Persian manuscripts. ix. Persian art collections. x. Lirica Persica. xi. Translations of Persian works into Italian. xii. Translations of Italian works into Persian. xiii. Iranians in Italy. xiv. Current centers of Iranian Studies in Italy. xv. IsMEO

• Italy i. INTRODUCTION

  Carlo G. Cereti

  Direct relations between the Italian peninsula and the Iranian plateau date at least from the Parthian period,  when the border between the Arsacids and the Roman Empire was set on the Euphrates.

• Italy ii. DIPLOMATIC AND COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

  Mario Casari

  A privileged relationship between Iran and Italy dates back to the age of the ancient Roman and Persian empires. Despite their ever-changing internal affairs, the two political centers of Europe and Asia, throughout the entire ancient time, experienced long lasting contacts.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• Italy iii. CULTURAL RELATIONS

  Mario Casari

  during the Middle Ages, when Italy and Persia were not clearly definable cultural entities, the translated works of significant Persian literature had a great influence on Italian and European culture.

• Italy iv. TRAVEL ACCOUNTS

  Michele Bernardini, Anna Vanzan

  Italian travel accounts represent a major source for the history of Iran, especially that of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

• Italy v. IRANIAN STUDIES, PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD

  Carlo G. Cereti

  Although Italian contacts with Iran date from ancient times, scientific interest in pre-Islamic Iran cannot be traced earlier than the second half of the eighteenth century.

• Italy vi. ITALIAN EXCAVATIONS IN IRAN

  Pierfrancesco Callieri, Bruno Genito

  From the early 20th century on, Italians participated in the scholarly investigation of ancient Iran, but direct involvement in field archeology dates from relatively recent times.

• Italy vii. IRANIAN STUDIES, ISLAMIC PERIOD

  Mario Casari

  The earliest known references to Persia by Italian writers are gleaned from numerous notes in the oldest medieval travel accounts, dating from the 13th century onwards.

• Italy viii. PERSIAN MANUSCRIPTS

  Paola Orsatti

  Italy houses 439 Persian manuscripts in two public archives and thirty public libraries located in fifteen different cities.

• Italy ix. PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS

  M. V. Fontana

  ix. PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS Since the Middle Ages, Italians have been some of the greatest collectors of Islamic art in Europe. The Islamic market that Italy drew on was very large, and some of the most opulent works were imported from Persia.

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• Italy x. LIRICA PERSICA

  Daniela Meneghini

  a project set up in 1989 by the School of Persian Literary Studies at Venice University to create a database for Persian lyric verse.

• Italy xi. TRANSLATIONS OF PERSIAN WORKS INTO ITALIAN

  Mario Casari

  The period of Italian translations of Persian literary works from the Islamic era began, and not by accident, in the post-Risorgimento (Italian unification) age (1880s) with epic poetry. In fact, apart from the appearance of occasional literary passages, the first truly representative translation is the monumental version of the Šāh-nāma by Italo Pizzi (1886-88).

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• Italy xii. TRANSLATIONS OF ITALIAN WORKS INTO PERSIAN

  MARIO CASARI

  Two texts by Italian authors appear to be the first known translations of European literary works into Persian carried out in the modern age.

• Italy xiii. IRANIANS IN ITALY

  Mario Casari

  The presence of Persians in Italy has always been fragmentary and discontinuous, which never led to any extended, cohesive social groups of permanent residents.

• Italy xiv. CURRENT CENTERS OF IRANIAN STUDIES IN ITALY

  Carlo G. Cereti

  Studies on subjects related to the Iranian cultural world can boast an ancient tradition in Italy, but not as an independent field of study at academic level. Things have considerably changed in recent times.

• Italy xv. IsMEO

  Antonio Panaino

  acronym for the Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (‘Italian Institute for Middle and Far East’), founded in 1933.

• IVANOV, PAVEL PETROVICH

  Yuri Bregel

  (1893-1942), scholar in Central Asian studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies (Institut Vostokovedeniya) of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. His book Arkhiv khivinskikh khanov XIX v. (1940) contains detailed description of 137 documents, mostly tax registers (daftars), written in Čaḡatay.

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• IVANOW, VLADIMIR ALEKSEEVICH

  Farhad Daftary

  (1886-1970), Russian orientalist and leading pioneer in modern Ismaʿili studies. In November 1920 Ivanow went to India in the company of an Anglo-Indian force. In 1928 Ivanow went to Persia to collect manuscripts for the Asiatic Society, as he had done frequently in India, and made the first of several visits to Alamut and other Ismaʿili strongholds.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• IVORY

  Oscar White Muscarella

  AND ITS USE IN PRE-ISLAMIC IRAN. Prior to the 1st millennium BCE ivories are not commonly documented from excavations in Iran.

• I~ CAPTIONS OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  Cross-Reference

  list of all the figure and plate images in the letter I entries.