Table of Contents

  • ṢABĀ, ABU’l-ḤASAN

    Hormoz Farhat

    Born into an aristocratic and affluent family, Abu’l-Ḥasan had the good fortune of being raised in an environment fostering love of music and arts. He descended from a long line of court physicians, known for their artistic talents.

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  • SABALĀN MOUNTAIN

    Eckart Ehlers

    Kuh-e-Sabalān; 4,740 m), the highest and spatially most extended volcano in northwestern Iran.

  • ṢĀBER

    Hasan Javadi

    (1862-1911), MIRZĀ ʿALI-AKBAR ṬĀHERZĀDA, famous Azerbaijani satirist and poet.

  • SABET, HABIB

    Moojan Momen

    (1903-1990), Bahai entrepreneur and industrialist, who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the wealthiest and most influential men in Iran in the late Pahlavi period.

  • SABKŠENĀSI

    Matthew Smith

    the title of a book by Malek al-Šoʿarā Moḥammad Taqi Bahār first published in 1942.

  • ŠĀBUHRAGĀN

    Christiane Reck

    (Šāpurāḵān, Šāburāḵān, Šāburḵān), one of the books written by Mani (216-274/7 CE), founder of the Manichean religion, in which he summarized his teaching systematically.

  • ṢĀBUN

    Cross-Reference

    "soap." See SOAP.

  • SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST

    Carlo G. Cereti

    general title of a set of 50 volumes published between 1879 and 1910, all translated into English by some of the leading scholars of the time under the supervision of Friederich Max Müller.

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  • SACRIFICE i. IN ZOROASTRIANISM

    William W. Malandra

    At least since the publication of the seminal essay by Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss much of the discussion has been devoted to a search for what essentially defines sacrifice.

  • SADA FESTIVAL

    Anna Krasnowolska

    the most important Iranian winter festival, celebrated by kindling fires.

  • ṢADĀ-YE EṢFAHĀN

    Nassereddin Parvin

    weekly newspaper published in Isfahan (6 March 1921 to April/May 1944, with lengthy interruptions). 

  • SADEQI, BAHRAM

    Saeed Honarmand

    Sadeqi started writing poetry and prose at a young age and was still in high school when his poems, under the pseudonym “Ṣahbā Meqdāri,” appeared in literary journals of the period. Although well-versed in classical Persian literature and familiar with Persian prosody, he adhered to a free and independent mode of expression.

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  • SAʿDI

    Paul Losensky

    Persian poet and prose writer (b. Shiraz, ca. 1210; d. Shiraz, d. 1291 or 1292), widely recognized as one of the greatest masters of the classical literary tradition.

  • ṢADR

    Willem Floor

    Arabic term used in the Iranian lands mainly to denote an outstanding person (scholar or otherwise); hence it was also applied as a personal title.

  • SADR, BEHJAT

    Hengameh Fouladvand

    pioneer modernist painter and educator, notable in the development of Iranian modern art movement.

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  • ṢADR-AL-DIN ŠIRĀZI

    Cross-Reference

    See MOLLĀ ṢADRĀ ŠIRĀZI.

  • ṢĀʾEB TABRIZI

    Paul E. Losensky

    (ca. 1592-1676), MIRZĀ M0ḤAMMAD ʿALI, celebrated Persian poet of the later Safavid period, was born in Tabriz and died in Isfahan.

  • SA'EDI, Gholam-Hosayn

    Faridoun Farrokh and Houra Yavari

    (1936-1985), writer, editor, and dramatist; an influential figure in popularizing the theater as an art form, as well as a medium of political and social expression in contemporary Iran.

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  • ŠAFAQ

    Nasserddin Parvin

    a newspaper published in Tabriz, 3 October 1910 to 18 December 1911. It was an organ of the Democrat Party (Ḥezb-e demokrāt), with a strong nationalist orientation.

  • SAFAVID DYNASTY

    Rudi Matthee

    Originating from a mystical order at the turn of the 14th century, the Safavids ruled Persia from 1501 to 1722. 

  • SAFAVID DYNASTY (cont.)

    Rudi Matthee

    Annotated bibliography.

  • SAFFARIDS

    C. Edmund Bosworth

    a dynasty of medieval Islamic eastern Iran which ruled from 247/861 to 393/1003.  From a base in their home province of Sistān, the first Saffarids built up a vast if transient military empire, at one point invading Iraq and threatening Baghdad.  

  • SAFIDRUD

    Eckart Ehlers

    With a length of 670 km the Safidrud is the second largest river of Iran.  Its headwaters are located in the Zagros ranges of northwestern Iran in the province of Kordestān.  Originating in the mountain range of the Kuh-e Čehel Čašma, the headwater region is moist and rainy.

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  • SAFINA-YE ḴOŠGU

    Stefano Pello

    An important Indo-Persian taḏkera (collection of biographical notices of poets with anthologies of their verse) of the 18th century, by Bindrāban Dās Ḵošgu.

  • SAFINE-YE SOLAYMANI

    M. Ismail Marcinkowski

    (“Ship of Solayman”), a Persian travel account of an embassy sent by the Safavid ruler Shah Solayman (r. 1666-94) to Siam in the year 1685.

  • ṢAFJĀHĪ DYNASTY

    Cross-Reference

    See DECCAN.

  • ŠAFT

    Marcel Bazin

    district and small town in southwestern Gilān.

  • SAGDID

    Cross-Reference

    in Zoroastrian practice, a purificatory ritual, involving a dog, before a body is carried away to be exposed; see DOG ii. In Zoroastrianism.

  • ŠĀH ḴALIL-ALLĀH

    Farhad Daftary

    the forty-fifth imam of the Qāsemšāhi branch of Nezāri Ismaʿilis in the 18th century.

  • ŠĀH ṬĀHER ḤOSAYNI DAKKANI

    Farhad Daftary

    (1480-90s-1549), thirty-first and the most famous imam of the Moḥammadšāhi (or Moʾmeni) branch of the Nezāri Ismaʿilis. A resident of Deccan, Šāh Ṭāher was a learned theologian, poet, literary stylist, and an accomplished diplomat who rendered valuable services to the Neẓāmšāhi dynasty of Aḥmadnagar.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA iv. Illustrations

    Marianna Shreve Simpson

    It is within the medieval arts of the object, and particularly on portable ceramic and metalwork vessels made in Persia and neighboring regions during the 12th and 13th centuries, that the early history and iconography of Šāh-nāma imagery can be most fully appreciated.

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  • ŠĀH-NĀMA v. ARABIC WORDS

    John Perry

    Moïnfar calculates that the Šāh-nāma contains 706 words of Arabic origin, occurring a total of 8,938 times. The 100 words occurring most frequently account for 60 percent of all occurrences.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA — EXCURSUS

    Amin Banani

    Essay: “Reflections on Re-reading the Iliad and the Shahnameh” by Amin Banani.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA vi. The Šāh-nāma as a Source for Popular Narratives

    Julia Rubanovich

    Šāh-nāma has been the source for different versions of the stories, such as the ones published in Eskandar-nāma and Dārāb-nāma, narrated by storytellers in public. The voluminous works with branching plots, relate the heroic-romantic adventures of their eponymous heroes, often with a religious, Islamic emphasis.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS i. INTO TURKISH

    Osman G. Özgüdenli

    Turks have been influenced by the Šāh-nāma since the advent of the Saljuqs in Persia. Their last prince in Persia, Ṭoḡrel III, recited verses from the Šāh-nāma while swinging his mace in battle.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS ii. INTO GEORGIAN

    Jamshid Sh. Giunashvili

    was translated, not only to satisfy the literary and aesthetic needs of readers and listeners, but also to inspire the young with the spirit of heroism and Georgian patriotism.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS iii. INTO ENGLISH

    Parvin Loloi

    Ferdowsi’s epic, the Šāh-nāma, was first introduced to English readers by Sir William Jones, who in his many essays on Oriental poetry, compared Ferdowsi to Homer.

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  • ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS xiii. INTO POLISH

    Anna Krasnowolska

    The first, brief mention of Ferdowsi in Polish was made by Ignacy Krasicki (1735-1801) in his work on poets and poetry, and he included in his collection of Oriental tales two passages originating from the Šāh-nāma.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS xiv. INTO RUSSIAN

    Natalia Chalisova

    The first translation of the Šāh-nāma into Russian dates from 1849, when V. Zhukovski (d. 1852) wrote his poem Rustem and Zorab.

  • ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS xv. INTO JAPANESE

    Hashem Rajabzadeh

    After ʿOmar Ḵayyām, whose Robāʿiyāt was introduced to Japanese readers around the turn of the 20th century, Ferdowsi was the first Persian poet to attract the attention of Japanese writers.

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  • ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS xvi. INTO SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES

    Claus V. Pedersen

    among the works of classical Persian literature, Ferdowsi’s Šāh-nāma is the one best known in the Scandinavian countries.

  • SAḤĀB, ʿAbbās

    Firouz Firooznia

    Saḥāb made about seven hundred maps and atlases, many hand-drafted, originals of which are kept in the SGDI’s library. He closely supervised every project from the start to the end. Saḥāb’s devotion to his work and his love for the field made him travel to hundreds of settlement of Iran, sometimes on foot, to collect data.

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  • SAHAND MOUNTAIN

    Eckart Ehlers

    (Kuh-e Sahand), With 3710 m the third of the great volcanoes in the volcano province of Eastern Anatolia and Northwestern Iran, the other two being Ararat and Sabalān.

  • ṢĀḤEB EBN ʿABBĀD, ESMĀʿIL

    Maurice Pomerantz

    vizier and belletrist.

  • ṢAḤIFA AL-SAJJĀDIYA, AL-

    Louis Medoff

    celebrated collection of supplicatory prayers attributed to Imam Sajjād, the fourth Imam of the Imami Shiʿites; an important source of Shiʿite piety, its prestige is reflected in its honorific titles.

  • ŠĀHIN

    Evelin Grassi

    Šams-al-Din Maḵdum (b. Bukhara, 1859; d. Qarši 1894), Bukharan Tajik poet and satirist.

  • ŠAHNĀZI, ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn

    Morteżā Ḥoseyni Dehkordi

    (1905-1948) musician and performer of the tār (a plucked long-necked lute).

  • ŠAHNĀZI, ʿAli Akbar

    Morteżā Ḥoseyni Dehkordi

    (1897-1984), master musician, renowned teacher, and composer of Persian classical music.

  • ŠAHRBĀNU

    Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi

    (lit. “Lady of the Land,” i.e., of Persia), said to be the daughter of Yazdegerd III (r. 632-51), the last Sasanian king.

  • ŠAHRESTĀN YAZDEGERD

    Murtazali Gadjiev

    a Sasanian city-fortress built by Yazdegerd II (r. 439-57 CE).

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