Table of Contents

• MĀ WARĀʾ AL-NAHR

  C. Edmund Bosworth

  the classical designation for Transoxania or Transoxiana. It was defined by the early Arabic historians and geographers as the lands under Muslim control lying to the north of the middle and upper Oxus or Āmu Daryā.

• MAʿĀYEB AL-REJĀL

  Afsaneh Najmabadi

  a treatise written in 1894 by Bibi Ḵānom Estarābādi/Astarābādi as a counterargument to the anonymous Taʾdib al-neswān/Taʾdib al-nesāʾ, a tract on how to discipline women, published in the mid-19th century.

• MACHALSKI, FRANCISZEK

  Anna Krasnowolska

  (1904-1979), Polish Iranist. Some of his best papers are devoted to cultural and political life in Pahlavi Persia.

• MACKENZIE, DAVID NEIL

  Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst

  (1926-2001), distinguished British scholar of Middle and Modern Iranian languages with an impressive record of publications.

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• MADĀʾEN

  Michael Morony

  the Sasanian metropolitan area of several contiguous cities, on both sides of the Tigris and connected by floating bridges, about 35 km southeast of Abbasid Baghdad.

• MADĀR AL-AFĀŻEL

  Solomon Bayevsky

  dictionary of the Persian language compiled in 1001/1593 by the poet and historian Allāh-dād Fayżī b. Asad al-ʿOlamāʾ ʿAli-šir Serhendi.

• MĀDAR-E SOLAYMĀN

  Cross-Reference

  "Solaymān's mother," local name of the tomb of Cyrus. See CYRUS v. The Tomb of Cyrus. 

• MĀDAYĀN Ī HAZĀR DĀDESTĀN

  Maria Macuch

  (Book of a Thousand Judgements), Pahlavi Law-Book from the late Sasanian period (first half of the seventh century).

• MĀDDA TĀRIḴ

  Paul Losensky

  chronogram poem, a poetic genre characterized by the inclusion of the year in which an event occurred.

• MAFĀTIḤ AL-ʿOLUM

  George Saliba

  Keys to sciences), a book in which key terms used by various classes of scholars, artisans, state officials, etc. are explained.

• MAGI

  Muhammad A. Dandamayev

  the only recorded designation of priests of all western Iranians during the Median, Achaemenid, Parthian (mgw), and Sasanian periods.

• MAGIC i. MAGICAL ELEMENTS IN THE AVESTA AND NĒRANG LITERATURE

  Antonio Panaino

  The presence of magical elements in the strict sense  in Avestan literature has been considered rare.

• MAGIC ii. IN LITERATURE AND FOLKLORE IN THE ISLAMIC PERIOD

  Mahmud Omidsalar

  Magic can be briefly described as the art of influencing the course of events by the occult control of natural phenomena through the application of ritual observances acquired through a study of esoteric and often closely guarded corpus of knowledge and traditions.

• MAGOPHONIA

  Muhammad A. Dandamayev

  An appropriate Iranian word for magophonia is the Sogdian mwγzt- (killing of the Magi).

• MAḤALLĀTI, Moḥammad

  Javad Golmohammadi

  a master calligrapher of the Timurid period, known only through three surviving works on wood and stone (a cetanoph, a door, and a stone plaque), which reflect the stylistic influence of the Timurid prince and master calligrapher Ḡiāṯ-al-Din Bāysonqor (d. 1493).

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• MAHĀRLU LAKE

  Karāmat-Allāh Afsar

  a picturesque, rather extensive body of water to the southeast of Shiraz.

• MAḤFEL-E RUḤĀNI

  Moojan Momen

  current designation of the Bahai governing councils elected at local and national level.

• MAHJUB, MOHAMMAD JA’FAR

  Mahmoud Omidsalar

  prominent scholar of Persian literature, essayist, translator, university teacher, and one of the founders of the discipline of folklore in Iran.

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• MAḤJUBI, Morteżā

  Morteżā Ḥoseyni Dehkordi and EIr

  (1900-1965), composer and pianist,  noted for his use of the piano to perform traditional Iranian music.

• MAḤJUBI, Reżā

  Morteżā Ḥoseyni Dehkordi and EIr

  (1898-1954) composer and violinist, brother of Morteżā.