AMĪRḴĪZĪ, ESMĀʿĪL, Iranian man of letters, poet, and political activist, born in the Amīrḵīz quarter of Tabrīz, Ḏu’l-ḥeǰǰa, 1294/December, 1877. As a young man he worked as a merchant, following his father, Moḥammad-Taqī; at the same time he joined the liberals (āzādīḵᵛāhān). In 1323/1906 he worked for a society which promoted the production and consumption of Iranian products; in 1325/1907 he visited Marāḡa and Ardabīl to organize local political associations (anǰomans) and put an end to the disturbances in Ardabīl. A committed constitutionalist, he was chosen to represent Ardabīl in the provincial anǰoman of Azarbaijan. When the rebellion against Moḥammad-ʿAlī Shah broke out at Tabrīz he was asked by Sattār Khan, the leader of the rebellion, to serve as his advisor. He accompanied Sattār Khan on a mission to Ardabīl, and served as a liaison with the anǰoman. Amīrḵīzī became a member of the newly-founded Democrat Party at Tabrīz in 1328/1910 and played an important part in the resistance against the presence of Russian troops in Azarbaijan in 1330/1911-12, until he was forced to flee to Istanbul. In 1916 he went to Berlin and joined the Iranian nationalist group, which, under the leadership of Ḥ. Taqīzāda, opposed the Russians and the British; at the request of this group he traveled to Baghdad and Kermānšāh. After the fall of Baghdad to the British and the cessation of the activities of the insurgent nationalists who had moved to Kermānšāh, he went to Istanbul for two years, returning in 1337/1918 to his native city. He wrote for the newspaper Tabrīz and taught literature at the Moḥammadīya school from 1298 Š./1919 onward. He was one of the ten members of the executive committee of Shaikh Moḥammad Khan Ḵīābānī’s Democrat Party of Tabrīz, but after the defeat of the party’s rebellion and the death of its leader in September, 1920, he withdrew from politics. As an employee of the Ministry of Education he was principal of the Moḥammadīya (later Ferdowsī) school until 1313 Š./1934, principal of the Dār al-Fonūn school until 1321 Š./1942, and head of the Azarbaijan education department until 1325 Š./1946. He was reappointed principal of the Dār al-Fonūn school, and retired in 1328 Š./1949. He died in Tehran in 1344 Š./1965. An expert in metrics (ʿarūż), he was well known in Azarbaijan as a poet with the pen-name Honar. His published works are as follows: Qeṭʿāt-e montaḵaba, 3 vols., Tabrīz, 1310-12 Š./1931-33 (2nd ed., 1314/1925); Būstān (of Saʿdī, ed.), 2nd ed., Tabrīz, 1312 Š./1933; and Qīām-e Āḏarbāyǰān va Sattār Ḵān, Tehran, 1339 Š./1960.