Table of Contents

• KIDARITES

  Frantz Grenet

  a dynasty which ruled Tukharistan and later Gandhāra, probably also part of Sogdiana; the initial date is disputed (ca 390 CE for some modern authors, ca. 420-430 for others).

• KIEFFER, CHARLES MARTIN

  Daniel Septfonds

  (1923-2015), French linguist and ethnographer of Afghanistan.

• KILIZU

  Antonio Invernizzi

  capital of the Assyrian province of the same name, near the mound Qaṣr Šemāmok in northern Mesopotamia, where a Parthian necropolis was brought to light.

• KIMIĀ

  Pierre Lory

  “Alchemy.” Externally, the purpose of alchemy was the conversion of base metals like lead into silver or gold by means of long and complicated operations leading to the production of a mysterious substance, the ‘philosopher’s stone,’ able to operate the transmutation. 

• KING OF THE BENIGHTED

  NASRIN RAHIMIEH & DANIEL RAFINEJAD

  As Milani describes in his afterword to the English translation, Golshiri incrementally sent handwritten pages of the manuscript to Milani in California in the guise of personal letters, “to avoid the ever-watchful gaze of the Islamic censors.”

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• Kingship ii. Parthian Period

  Edward Dąbrowa

  Parthian kingship started with the Arsacids monarchy and was an original form of Oriental kingship. The royal ideology was created by combining elements of different provenance; Greek elements were systematically removed or relegated to be replaced by Iranian traditions.

• ḴIRI

  Ahmad Aryavand and Bahram Grami

  wallflower, a widely cultivated, sweet-smelling, ornamental plant of the mustard family, which often grows on old walls, rocks, and quarries, particularly limestone.

• KIRSTE, Johann Ferdinand Otto

  Michaela Zinko

  Johann Kirste received his primary and secondary education in Graz, and after graduating from high school (Gymnasium) in 1870, he enrolled at the University of Graz to study Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit with Karl Schenkl. From 1872 until 1874, in the traditional manner of the time, Kirste studied at several German universities to broaden his training.

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• KISH ISLAND

  D. T. Potts

  (Ar. Qeys), small island in the lower Persian Gulf, noted for its palm gardens.

• KOBRAWIYA i. THE EPONYM

  Hamid Algar

  Abu’l-Jannāb Aḥmad b.ʿOmar Najm-al-Din Kobrā, eponym of the Kobrawiya, was born in Ḵᵛārazm in 1145 or possibly a decade later.

• KOBRAWIYA ii. THE ORDER

  Hamid Algar

  The crystallization of a given line of Sufi tradition as an “order” should not be understood as imposing on all the spiritual descendants of the eponym a definitive and permanently binding choice of methods and emphases.

• ḴODĀYDĀDZĀDA, BĀBĀ-YUNOS

  Habib Borjian

  (b. ca. 1870-75, d. 1945), Tajik folk poet and singer. His exceptional skill in singing the Guruḡli stories on the dotār (a long-neck lute) won him great reputation throughout Tajikistan. According to his biographer, his performance would take hours from evening to dawn, with only short breaks to relax and eat, for several nights in a row. 

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• KOFRI

  Aḥmad Golčin Maʿāni

  pen name of the poet-calligrapher MAWLĀNĀ AMIR-ḤOSAYN TORBATI (d. 1607).

• KOFRI, Moḥammad Kermānšāhi

  Shireen Mahdavi

  (1829-1908), physician and surgeon, the son of Pir Moḥammad Zāreʿ, a merchant.

• KOH-I-NOOR

  Iradj Amini

  (Kuh-e Nur; lit. “Mountain of Light”), the most celebrated diamond in the world, with rich legendary and historical associations.

• ḴOʾI, MIRZĀ ʿALIQOLI

  Ulrich Marzolph

  (1815-ca. 1856), the most prolific illustrator of Persian lithographed books in the Qajar period. Educated in Tabriz, he published an edition of the Ḵamsa‑ye Neẓāmi.

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• ḴOJANDIS OF ISFAHAN

  David Durand-Guédy

  a prominent family of Šāfeʿi ulema, who were settled in Isfahan by the Saljuq grand vizier Neẓām-al-Molk.  They turned into the most important family and political actor in that city during the Saljuq period and continued to play a significant role up to the Mongol invasion.

• ḴOJESTĀNI, Aḥmad b. ʿAbd-Allāh

  C. Edmund Bosworth

  (d. 882), commander of the Taherids in Khorasan, and after the Ṣaffarid occupation of Nishapur in 873, a contender for power.

• KOJUR

  Multiple Authors

  historical district in the central Alborz, northwestern Māzandarān.  i. Historical geography.  ii. Language and culture.

• KOJUR i. Historical Geography

  Habib Borjian

  The historical district of Kojur covers roughly a quadrangle bounded by the Caspian Sea on the north, the Čālus River on the west, Nur valley on the south, and Suledeh valley on the east. 

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