Table of Contents

• PLANTAIN

  Cross-Reference

  See BĀRHANG.

• PLUM

  Cross-Reference

  See ĀLŪČA.

• POLAK, Jakob Eduard

  Christoph Werner

  (1818-1891), Austrian physician and writer who was instrumental in establishing modern medicine in Iran. 

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• POLAND ii. PERSIAN ART AND ARTIFACTS IN POLISH COLLECTIONS

  Beata Biedrońska-Słota, Dorota Malarczyk, and Barbara Mękarska

  Persian art has been present in Poland since medieval times. Among the objects—bought or brought back as war booty, like carpets, textiles, tents, richly ornamented weaponry, gold products—illuminated Persian manuscripts were also to be found. The majority of the collections were originally created by aristocratic and noble families of the former Polish Commonwealth.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• POLEMICS i. BETWEEN SHIʿITES AND JEWS

  Daniel Tsadik

  Twelver (Eṯnā ʿAšari Emāmi) Shiʿite polemics refer here to arguments gleaned from compositions written by Shiʿites.

• POLO, MARCO

  Michele Bernardini

  (1254-1324), Venetian merchant and traveler (b. Venice or Curzola, 1254; d. Venice, 8 January 1324), whose travel accounts gained worldwide fame and whose description of the countries he visited between 1271 and 1298 represents a primary geographical and historical source concerning Asia during the Mongol domination.

• PONTUS

  Brian McGing

  a Greek word meaning “sea,” generally taken in the ancient world to refer to the Black Sea— Pontos Euxeinos, or Axeinos (Strabo 1.2.10 C21).

• POPE, ARTHUR UPHAM

  Noel Siver

  (1881-1969), American educator, author, and ardent advocate of Persian art and architecture.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• 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.

• POŠT-E KUH

  Ernie Haerinck and Bruno Overlaet

  the most western part of the historical Luristan (Lorestān) tribal area in the Zagros.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• PREHISTORY OF IRAN: ARTIFICIAL CRANIAL MODIFICATIONS

  Aurelie Daems and Karina Croucher

  Cranial modification is caused during infancy through the shaping of a baby’s head whilst it is still malleable. Such shaping can be caused by both intentional and unintentional means.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• 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 i. 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 ii. 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. 

  See also BALUCHISTAN iiia. Baluchi Poetry.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.