Table of Contents
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ĒLTOTMEŠ, ŠAMS-AL-DĪN
Peter Jackson
(d. 1236), first Sultan of Delhi.
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ELWELL-SUTTON, LAURENCE PAUL
C. Edmund Bosworth
Elwell-Sutton’s interests and publications in Persian studies fall into five categories: Persian language; Persian literature; modern Persian history and politics; Persian folklore; and Islamic science. His Colloquial Persian and Elementary Persian Grammar have remained in print as standard works.
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ELYĀSIDS
Cross-Reference
See ĀL-E ELYĀS.
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ELYMAIS
John F. Hansman
semi-independent state frequently subject to Parthian domination, which existed between the second century B.C.E. and the early third century C. E. in the territories of Ḵūzestān, in southwestern Persia.
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ʿEMĀD ḤASANĪ, MĪR, ʿEMĀD-AL-MOLK
Kambiz Eslami
b. Ebrāhīm (ca. 1554-1615), calligrapher. His rendition of nastaʿlīq, with smooth lines, many curves, very occasional diacritical marks, symmetry of letters and words, and usually excellent choice of decorations surrounding the words, had widespread appeal.
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ʿEMĀD-AL-DAWLA
C. Edmund Bosworth
b. Būya b. Fanā-Ḵosrow, the eldest of three brothers who came to power in western Persia during the tenth century as military adventurers and founded the Buyid dynasty.
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ʿEMĀD-al-DAWLA, Mīrzā MOḤAMMAD-ṬĀHER
Kathryn Babayan
WAḤĪD QAZVĪNĪ (ca. 1615-1701), poet and Safavid court historiographer for nearly three decades (1645-74).
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ʿEMĀD-AL-DĪN ʿALĪ FAQĪH KERMĀNĪ
J. T. P. de Bruijn
mystic and poet of the 14th century who used ʿEmād or, more rarely, ʿEmād-e Faqīh, as a pen name.
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ʿEMĀD-AL-DĪN KĀTEB, ABŪ ʿABD-ALLĀH MOḤAMMAD
Donald S. Richards
b. Moḥammad b. Ḥāmed EṢFAHĀNĪ, an eminent 12th-century government servant and man of letters, born in Isfahan in 1125.
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ʿEMĀD-AL-DĪN MAḤMŪD
Emilie Savage-Smith
b. Serāj-al-Dīn Masʿūd ŠĪRĀZĪ, the most prominent member of a 16th-century family of physicians in Shiraz.
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ʿEMĀD-AL-DĪN MARZBĀN, ABŪ KĀLĪJĀR
C. Edmund Bosworth
b. Solṭān-al-Dawla Abū Šojāʿ (1009-48), amir of the Buyid dynasty in the period of that family’s decadence and incipient disintegration, being the last effective ruler of the line.
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ʿEMĀD-AL-ESLĀM
Maria E. Subtelny
b. Moḥammad ʿAtīq-Allāh (1470-1506), a vizier of the Timurid Sultan Ḥosayn Bāyqarā, executed in Herat in 1498.
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ʿEMĀD-AL-KOTTĀB, MOḤAMMAD-ḤOSAYN SAYFĪ QAZVĪNĪ
ʿAbd-Allāh Forādi
(b. Qazvīn, 16 April 1866; d. Tehran, 17 July 1936), calligrapher.
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ʿEMĀDĪ RĀZĪ
Taqi Pūr-Nāmdārīān
poet of the first half of the 12th century.
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EMĀM
Cross-Reference
(Imam), see SHIʿITE DOCTRINE; ČAHĀRDAH MAʿSŪM.
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EMĀM ṢĀḤEB
Mehrdad Shokouhi
two archeological sites in Afghanistan: (1) a village near the south bank of the Amū Daryā, about 50 km north of Qondūz, (2) a village in the Jōzjān region, south of the river Balḵāb, halfway between Balḵ and Āqča.
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EMĀM-AL-ḤARAMAYN
Cross-Reference
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EMĀM-E ḠĀʾEB
Cross-Reference
"The Hidden Imam." See ḠAYBA and ISLAM IN IRAN vii. THE CONCEPT OF MAHDI IN TWELVER SHIʿISM.
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EMĀM-E JOMʿA
Hamid Algar
leader of the congregational prayer performed at midday on Fridays.
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EMĀM-E ZAMĀN
Cross-Reference
Mahdi or "The Hidden Imam." See ḠAYBA and ISLAM IN IRAN vii. THE CONCEPT OF MAHDI IN TWELVER SHIʿISM.
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ʿEMĀMA
Cross-Reference
the turban. See ʿAMĀMA.
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EMĀMA
Cross-Reference
(Imamate), see SHIʿITE DOCTRINE.
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EMĀMĪ HERĀVĪ, RAŻĪ-AL-DĪN ABŪ ʿABD-ALLĀH MOḤAMMAD
J. T. P. de Bruijn
b. Abī Bakr b. ʿOṯmān (b. in Herat; d. in Isfahan, 1287), Persian poet of the Mongol period also noted for his learning.
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EMĀMĪ, JAMĀL
Fakhreddin Azimi
(b. 1901, Koy; d. 1966, Paris), politician.
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EMAMI, KARIM
ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Āzarang and EIr
Emami took an early interest in contemporary Persian art and literature. In 1959, before starting his career as a journalist and translator, he worked as a photographer and filmmaker at the film studio of Ebrāhim Golestān (b. 1922), modernist writer and director.
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EMĀMĪ, Sayyed ḤASAN
Cyrus Mir
(1903-1981), Friday prayer leader of Tehran from 1947 to 1978. He studied traditional Islamic sciences in Tehran and continental law in Lausanne, Switzerland. Upon completing his doctorate, he returned to Iran and worked as a judge in the Ministry of Justice. He was regarded as a member of the shah’s inner circle.
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EMĀMĪYA
Cross-Reference
See SHIʿITE DOCTRINE; SHIʿITE DOCTRINE ii. Hierarchy in the Imamiyya.
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EMĀMQOLĪ KHAN
Roger M. Savory
son of the celebrated Georgian ḡolām Allāhverdī Khan; governor-general (beglarbeg) of Fārs in the early 17th century.
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EMĀMVERDĪ MĪRZĀ ĪL-ḴĀNĪ
Ḥosayn Maḥbūbī Ardakānī
(b. 9 March 1796), the twelfth son of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah Qajar; his mother was Begom Jān Qazvīnī.
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EMĀMZĀDA
Multiple Authors
a shrine believed to be the tomb of a descendent of a Shiʿite Imam. such structures are also known as āstāna (lit., threshold), marqad (resting place, mausoleum), boqʿa (revered site), rawża (garden/tomb), gonbad (dome), mašhad (place of martyrdom), maqām (site/abode), qadamgāh (stepping place), and torbat (dust, grave).
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EMĀMZĀDA i. Function and devotional practice
Hamid Algar
"Sites where divine favor and blessing occur, where mercy and grace descend; they are a refuge for the distressed, a shelter for the despondent, a haven for the oppressed, and a place of consolation for weary hearts, and will ever remain so until resurrection.”
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EMĀMZĀDA ii. Forms, decorations, and other characteristics
PARVĪZ VARJĀVAND
The identity of the people interred in emāmzādas and the exact location where they are entombed are often moot questions, as in most cases there are no historical documents authenticating the claims for these shrines.
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EMĀMZĀDA iii. Number, distribution, and important examples
PARVĪZ VARJĀVAND
Information and statistics regarding the number and distribution of emāmzādas in Persia vary from one source to another.
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EMBROIDERY
Cross-Reference
See CLOTHING.
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EMDĀD-ALLĀH ḤĀJĪ
Barbara D. Metcalf
(b. Thana Bhawan, India, 1817, d. Mecca, 1899), spiritual guide and scholar.
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ĒMĒD Ī AŠAWAHIŠTĀN
Mansour Shaki
(Exposition [of Zoroastrian doctrines] by Ēmēd, son of Ašawahišt), a major 10th-century Pahlavi work comprising forty-four questions (pursišn).
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EMERSON, RALPH WALDO
John D. Yohannan
(b. 25 May 1803, Boston; d. 27 April 1882, Concord), distinguished American transcendentalist, philosopher, and poet.
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EMIGRATION
Cross-Reference
See HUMAN MIGRATION.
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EMĪN YOMNĪ, MEḤMED
Tahsın Yazici
Moḥammad Amīn (b. Solaymānīya in Persia, 1845, d. Istanbul, 5 April 1924), Turkish poet and man of letters who also wrote in Persian.
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EMIR
Cross-Reference
See AMIR.
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EMIRATES OF THE PERSIAN GULF
Cross-Reference
See UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.
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EMLĀ BOḴĀRĀʾĪ, MOḤAMMAD
Jirí Bečka
b. ʿAlāʾ-al-Dīn (b. 1688, Sangārak, Afghanistan; d. 1749, Bukhara), Sufi poet of Arab descent.
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EMMERICK, RONALD ERIC
Mauro Maggi
(1937-2001), distinguished Australian scholar of the ancient civilizations and languages of Iran, India, and Tibet.
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EMPLOYMENT
M. Amani
economic activity in which one engages and employs his or her time and energy. One of the major factors contributing to the growth of services is the considerable number of people working for the government.
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EMRĀNĪ
David Yeroushalmi
the name or most likely the penname (taḵalloṣ) of the fifteenth century Jewish-Persian poet of Isfahan and Kāšān.
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EMTĪĀZĀT
Cross-Reference
See CONCESSIONS.
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EN ISLAM IRANIEN, ASPECTS SPIRITUELS ET PHILOSOPHIQUES
Daryush Shayegan
(4 vols., Paris, 1971-73), the magnum opus of Henry Corbin, consisting of essays summarizing most of the major themes that defined his scholarly career and revealing his intellectual grasp of Persian philosophical thought.
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ENAMEL
EIr, Layla S. Diba
a heat-fused glass paste colored by metal oxides and used to decorate metal surfaces. Enamel was associated with lapidary, glassworking, and goldmithing crafts and was probably used primarily in place of precious stones before the 17th century.
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ʿENĀYAT, ḤAMĪD
Ahmad Ashraf
(1932-82), political scientist and translator.
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ʿENĀYAT-ALLĀH
Sheila S. Blair
Timurid builder or tile maker of the 15th century.
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ʿENĀYAT-ALLĀH KANBO
Iqtidar Husain Siddiqi
(b. Burhanpur, 31 August 1608; d. Delhi, 23 September 1671), Sufi and scholar, descendant of an old respected Lahore family that had converted to Islam in Punjab.
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA IRANICA
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ISLAM
Elton L. Daniel
a reference work of fundamental importance on topics dealing, according to its self-description, with “the geography, ethnography and biography of the Muhammadan peoples.”
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF TAJIKISTAN
Cross-Reference
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ENCYCLOPAEDIAS, PERSIAN
Živa Vesel and Hūšang Aʿlam
OVERVIEW of the entry: i. Premodern, ii. Modern.
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ENDOWMENT
Cross-Reference
On charitable endowments (waqf), at present see AMLĀK, ḴĀṢṢA.
Regarding institutions, see CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONS. See under individual entries, such as BONYĀD-E FARHANG-E ĪRĀN; BONYĀD-E ŠAHĪD; BONYĀD-E ŠĀH-NĀMA-YE FERDOWSĪ.
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ENGLAND
Cross-Reference
See GREAT BRITAIN.
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ENGLISH i. Persian Elements in English
D. N. Mackenzie
OVERVIEW of the entry: i. Persian elements in English. ii. Persian influences in English and American literature. iii. Translations of classical Persian literature. iv. Translations of modern Persian literature. v. i. Translations of English literature into Persian.
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ENGLISH ii. Persian Influences in English and American Literature
John D. Yohannan
Although academic Persian studies may be said to have begun in England in the early 17th century, it was not until the late 18th century that the Persian poets began to be read in English translations.
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ENGLISH iii. Translations Of Classical Persian Literature
Michael Beard
fall initially into two categories. There is a group of texts whose purpose is to convey the information of the original in discrete units, most useful with prose or narrative poetry and not necessarily “literary.” There are other translations designed to carry over the formal elements of a literary text.
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ENGLISH iv. Translations Of Modern Persian Literature
Michael Beard
Modernist literature in Persia can be said to develop gradually throughout the 19th century, but for English readers it begins abruptly, shortly after the Constitutional revolution, with the translations of Edward Browne.
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ENGLISH v. Translation Of English Literature into Persian
Karīm Emāmi
The first texts translated from English into Persian were diplomatic exchanges and bilateral treaties.
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ENJAVĪ ŠĪRĀZĪ, SAYYED ABU’L-QĀSEM
Ulrich Marzolph
(b. Shiraz, 1921; d. Tehran, 16 September 1993), eminent Persian folklorist.
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ENJĪL
Cross-Reference
See BIBLE.
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ENJŪ
Cross-Reference
See INJU DYNASTY.
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ENOCH
Cross-Reference
See AḴNŪḴ.
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ENOCH, BOOKS OF
J. C. Reeves
attributed to the seventh antediluvian biblical patriarch Enoch (Genesis 5.21-24), which show Iranian influence.
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ENQELĀB-E ESLĀMĪ
Cross-Reference
See REVOLUTION OF 1978-79.
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ENQELĀB-E ESLĀMĪ NEWSPAPER
Nassereddin Parvin
a newspaper published by Abu’l-Ḥasan Banī-Ṣadr and supporting his political views.
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ENQELĀB-E MAŠṞUṬĪYĀ
Cross-Reference
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ENQELĀB-E SAFĪD
Cross-Reference
See WHITE REVOLUTION.
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ENŠĀʾ
Jürgen Paul
lit. "composition"; the process of creating or composing something as well as the result of this process and the rules of the art; it denotes a genre of prose literature, copies, drafts, or specimens of official and private correspondence.
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ENŠĀʾ-ALLĀH KHĀN, SAYYED
M. Asif Naim Siddiqui
(b. Moršedābād, 1756; d. Lucknow, 1818), Urdu-Persian poet and writer.
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ENSĀN-E KĀMEL
Gerhard Böwering
lit. "the Perfect Human Being"; a key idea in the philosophy and ethics of Islamic mysticism.
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ENTEBĀH
L. P. ELWELL-SUTTON
lit. “Awakening”; a Persian newspaper published in Karbalā, Iraq, in 1914 by Mīrzā ʿAlī Āqā Šīrāzī Labīb-al-Molk, editor of Moẓaffarī published in Būšehr and Mecca.
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ENTEẒĀM, ʿABD-ALLĀH and NAṢR-ALLĀH
Fakhreddin Azimi
two brothers active in 20th-century Persian politics. ʿAbd-Allāh (1895-1983), as a career diplomat, served in various posts, including minister of foreign affairs. Naṣr-Allāh (1899-1980) held a series of ministerial posts under Moḥammad Reżā Shah, including the ambassadorship to the United States.
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ĖNTSIKLOPEDIYAI SOVETII TOJIK
H. Borjian
(Tajik Soviet Encyclopedia), the first general encyclopedia of Tajikistan, published in the Tajik Persian language and Cyrillic alphabet (8 vols., Dushanbe, 1978-88).
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Eskandar Firouz, Daniel Balland
efforts to protect natural resources, wildlife, and ecosystems and to control pollution. In Persia conservation consciousness began, as it so often does, with concern for wildlife.
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ENZELI
Cross-Reference
See ANZALĪ.
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EPHESUS, SEVEN SLEEPERS OF
Nicholas Sims-Williams
Christian legend attested by texts in many languages.
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EPHRAIM KHAN
Cross-Reference
See EPʿREM KHAN.
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EPICS
François de Blois
narrative poems of legendary and heroic content.
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EPIDEMICS
Cross-Reference
See PLAGUES.
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EPIGRAM
J. T. P. de Bruijn
originally a Greek word meaning “inscription” and denoting in Western literatures a genre of short poems characterized by their contents and style rather than by a specific prosodic form.
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EPIGRAPHY
Multiple Authors
the study of inscriptions, particularly their collection, decipherment, interpretation, dating, and classification.
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EPIGRAPHY i. Old Persian and Middle Iranian epigraphy
Helmut Humbach
Iranian epigraphy of the pre-Islamic period covers mainly inscriptions in the Old and Middle Iranian languages. Old and Middle Persian inscriptions span by far the longest period of time, from the Bīsotūn inscription until the early Islamic period.
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EPIGRAPHY ii. Greek inscriptions from ancient Iran
Philip Huyse
In April 1815 the Prussian Akademie der Wissenschaften in Berlin enthusiastically accepted the proposal by August Boeckh to produce a comprehensive thesaurus of inscriptions that would include all Greek inscriptional material published to date.
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EPIGRAPHY iii. Arabic inscriptions in Persia
Sheila S. Blair
In Persia, as in other Islamic lands, Arabic was the basic language for religious texts on buildings and objects. In the early Islamic period these texts were usually written in some variant of the angular script known as Kufic. From the 12th century inscriptions in Persian became more common.
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EPIGRAPHY iv. Safavid and later inscriptions
Sussan Babaie
The principal characteristic of epigraphy in Persia after the advent of the Safavids (1501) is the emphasis on Persian poetry and pious Shiʿite texts with an iconographic potency and deliberate frequency hitherto unknown. Arabic remained the language of koranic and Hadith quotations while Persian became increasingly prominent.
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EPIGRAPHY v. Inscriptions from the Indian subcontinent
Ziyaud-Din A. Desai
The systematic survey and study of Perso-Arabic epigraphy of the Indian subcontinent is not even half a century old.
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EPIPHANIUS
Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin
(b. Eleutheropolis, Judaea, ca. 315; d. Constantia, Cyprus), bishop of Constantia on Cyprus, founded on the remains of Salamis.
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EPISCOPAL
Hassan B. Dehqani-Tafti
a diocese of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, one of thirty-seven independent churches of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
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EPISTLES OF MANI
Cross-Reference
See MANICHEISM.
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EPISTOLARY STYLE
Cross-Reference
See CORRESPONDENCE.
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EPʿREM KHAN
Aram Arkun
Pers. Yeprem/Efrem (1868-1912), Armenian revolutionary and important military leader of the Constitutional Revolution. He uneasily reconciled his beliefs with his position as police chief of Tehran, resigning and returning to office several times. On 24 December 1911, he shut down the parliament to comply with a Russian ultimatum, and this marked the close of Persia’s Constitutional Revolution.
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EQBĀL
Cross-Reference
a newspaper. See EḤTĪĀJ.
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EQBĀL ĀḎAR, ABU’L-ḤASAN KHAN QAZVĪNĪ
Moḥammad-Taqī Masʿudiya
or EQBĀL-AL-SOLṬĀN (b. Alvand, near Qazvīn, ca. 1869; d. Tabrīz, probably 1973), singer of Persian traditional music.
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EQBĀL ĀŠTĪĀNĪ, ʿABBĀS
Īraj Afšār
During his years at Dār al-fonūn, Eqbāl came to know such litterati as Moḥammad-ʿAlī Forūḡī, Abu’l-Ḥasan Forūḡī, Mortażā Najmābādī, ʿAbd-al-ʿAẓīm Qarīb, Ḡolām-Ḥosayn Rahnemā, and ʿAbd-al-Razzāq Bōḡāyerī, under whose influence he embarked on a career of scholarship that continued until his death.
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EQBĀL LĀHŪRĪ, MOḤAMMAD
Cross-Reference
See IQBAL, MUHAMMAD.
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EQBĀL PUBLISHERS
Cross-Reference
See PUBLISHERS.