ii. In Old and Middle Iranian The old IE. term for the heavenly gods, the cognate of OInd. devá-, Lat….

i. Baat in Iranian Sources Baat is the name of a disciple of Mani mentioned several times in the Coptic…

i. TERMINOLOGY AND CONVENTIONS Human language can be reduced to writing in two basic ways, by the use of symbols…

KUSHAN DYNASTY ii. Inscriptions of the Kushans The inscriptions issued by the Kushan rulers or in areas under their rule…

EḴŠĪD, Arabo-Persian form of a Sogdian royal title attested in Sogdian script as (ʾ)xšyδ (more anciently and more commonly written…

BARŠABBĀ, legendary bishop of Marv and founder of the Christian church in eastern Iran. The only completely preserved versions of…

BACTRIAN LANGUAGE, the Iranian language of ancient Bactria (northern Afghanistan), attested by coins, seals, and inscriptions of the Kushan period…

BĀBAY OF NISIBIS (BĀBAY BAR NṢIBNĀYE), also known as Bābay the Less, Christian Syriac writer who flourished about the beginning…

APOSTOLIC CANONS, fragmentary Christian Sogdian text. The early Christian Church possessed many collections of “canons” (regulations governing the conduct of…

APOPHTHEGMATA PATRUM (Maxims of the fathers), Graeco-Latin name customarily used to refer to a species of Christian literature consisting of…

ANCIENT LETTERS, name conventionally applied to a group of Sogdian paper documents; discovered in 1907 by Sir Aurel Stein. They…

ABBĀ (“Father”) ISAIAH, late 4th century A.D., author of Christian ascetical texts; from these it appears that he was a…

IDEOGRAPHIC WRITING, the representation of language by means of “ideograms,” i.e. symbols representing “ideas,” rather than (or usually side by side…

CHRISTIANITY iv. Christian Literature in Middle Iranian Languages Middle Persian. When the Christian church in Persia made itself formally independent…

CHRISTIANITY iii. In Central Asia And Chinese Turkestan The main early centers of Syriac-speaking Christians were Edessa (modern Urfa in…

BIBLE v. Sogdian Translations of the Bible The following manuscripts containing biblical texts in Sogdian have been made known. None…

EVAGRIUS PONTICUS (346-399 C.E.), prolific author of Christian literature in Greek. After passing the first part of his career as…

EUSTATHIUS, ACTS OF, Christian martyrological text, of which versions survive in many languages, including Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Armenian. Several…

EUGENIUS (MĀRAWGEN), legendary Christian saint traditionally credited with the introduction of Egyptian monasticism into Mesopotamia and Persia. Part of a…

EPHESUS, SEVEN SLEEPERS OF, Christian legend attested by texts in many languages. A page of the manuscript C2 (preserved in…

EASTERN IRANIAN LANGUAGES, term used to refer to a group of Iranian languages most of which are or were spoken…

DEYLAMJOHN OF (Yoḥannān Daylomāyā, d. 120/738), Eastern Syrian saint and founder of monasteries in Fārs. In addition to the brief…

DĀNĪĀL-E NABĪ, the Old Testament prophet Daniel, in the Persian tradition. i. In the biblical and popular traditions. ii. In…

DĀDIŠOʿ QAṬRĀYĀ (late 7th century CE), Nestorian author of ascetic literature in Syriac. Presumably a native of Qaṭar, as his…

CYRIACUS AND JULITTA, ACTS OF, Chris­tian martyrological text. The Greek original is lost, but versions survive in several languages, including…

CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM IRANI­CARUM (C.I.I.), an association devoted to the col­lection and publication of Iranian inscriptions and documents. The C.I.I. was…

BULAYÏQ, town in eastern Turkestan, modern Chinese Sinkiang, situated about ten km north of Turfan in the foothills of the…

KĒD, Pahlavi and Bactrian word with meanings ranging from “soothsayer” to “priest,” probably derived from OIran. *kaita-, Avestan kaēta-. The…

KADAGISTĀN, an eastern province of the Sasanian empire. The clearest evidence for the existence of such a province is provided…

JAḠATU, an archaeological site in Ḡazni province, Afghanistan, situated about 20 km north of Ḡazni (lat 33°47′N, long 68°22′E) on the…

KANJAKI or Kančaki, language mentioned in the 11th-century Turkish lexicon of Maḥmud al-Kāšḡari (tr. Dankoff and Kelly, I, p. 84)…