Table of Contents

  • POLOW

    Cross-Reference

    See  BERENJ “rice” i. In Iran, sec. “Rice in the Iranian diet. ”

  • PONTUS

    Brian McGing

    Greek “sea,” generally taken in the ancient world to refer to the Black Sea; also applied to the Hellenistic kingdom of the Mithridatid rulers that emerged in northern Asia Minor at the end of the 4th century BCE.

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  • POPE, ARTHUR UPHAM

    Noel Siver

    Pope was born on February 7, 1881 in Phenix, Rhode Island where his father Louis Pope was a minister in a local church. He was raised in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Descended from English Puritans who had settled in the Boston area in 1634 Pope remained proud of his New England roots throughout his life.

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  • PORTUGAL i. RELATIONS WITH PERSIA IN THE EARLY MODERN AGE (1500-1750)

    Joao Teles e Cunha

    Portuguese-Persian relations had some importance for both countries during the early Modern Age, coinciding with the rise and fall of the Safavids.

  • Poseidon: in Bactria

    Frank Holt

    Poseidon in Bactria presents the unusual pairing of an Hellenic sea-god with landlocked Central Asia.

  • POŠT-E KUH

    Ernie Haerinck and Bruno Overlaet

    The exploration of Pošt-e Kuh started relatively late in comparison with other regions of Persia and the Near East. Until about 1929, the quasi-autonomous governors (wāli) of Pošt-e Kuh ruled over this region. Major Henry C. Rawlinson was the first European to explore the region.

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  • POSTERS

    Christiane Gruber

    in Iran.

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  • PREHISTORY OF IRAN: ARTIFICIAL CRANIAL MODIFICATIONS

    Aurelie Daems and Karina Croucher

    Cranial modification is one of the most obvious examples we have from the archaeological record of the active manipulation of the body during life, with implications in terms of the reflection of identity and identity construction.

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  • PROCOPIUS

    Henning Börm

    of Caesarea, Greek historian (born ca. 500, died ca. 560). His description of Sasanian internal affairs and Persian-Roman relations is in part highly useful and reliable, and he is a primary source for the way the elite of the Later Roman Empire looked on the Persians.

  • PROSODY

    Multiple Authors

    systems, styles, and theories of versification in the Iranian world.

  • PROSODY i. Remnants of Proto-Indo-European Poetic Craft in Iranian 

    Rüdiger Schmitt

    reconstructions of a special poetic language assumed for the Proto-Indo-Europeans and their reflections in other ancient Indo-European languages including Iranian.

  • PROSODY iii. MIDDLE PERSIAN

    Gilbert Lazard

    There are remnants left of pre-Islamic poetry within western Middle Iranian languages: fragments of Manichean religious hymns, some poems preserved in the literature of Pahlavi, and poetical pieces in New Persian not following the rules of classical versification.

  • PROSODY iv. New Persian

    Cross-Reference

    The study of poetic metre and of the art of versification, including rhyme, stanzaic forms, and the quantity and stress of syllables. See ʿARUŻ.

  • PROTOTHYES

    Rüdiger Schmitt

    according to Herodotus 1.103.3 the father of the Scythian king Madýēs, who is said to have gone into battle against the Medes.

  • PSALMS, BOOK OF

    Cross-Reference

    in Iran and Central Asia. See the following entries:

    BIBLE, with multiple sub-articles on translations into Iranian languages, from pre-Islamic times to the present.

    PAHLAVI PSALTER.

    JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES OF IRAN ix. Judeo-Persian Literature.

  • PUNJABI

    Christopher Shackle

    Indo-Aryan language of the Punjab with about 26 million speakers in India and more than 60 million in Pakistan.

  • PUR BAHĀʾ JĀMI, TĀJ-AL-DIN

    George Lane

    poet, pun master, satirist, and often scathing social commentator.

  • PURDĀWUD, EBRĀHIM

    Cross-Reference

    (1885-­1968), pioneer of studies in the religious and cultural history of Iran. See

    HISTORIOGRAPHY ix. Pahlavi Period (2) Specific Topics (b) Purdawud.

  • PURSIŠNĪHĀ

    Mahnaz Moazami

    a collection of 59 questions and answers in Avestan and Middle Persian relating to matters of Zoroastrian religion

  • PUYANDA, Moḥammad-Jaʿfar

    Jalil Doostkhah

    (1954-1998), scholar and translator of literary texts and sociological studies. He never joined any political organization or party, but was a diligent defender of democracy and freedom of speech and belief.

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