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BĪT RAMATIYA, a place name mentioned only once in the cuneiform sources during Sargon II’s sixth campaign (716 B.C.). In one text it is given as Bīt Ramatiya, while a parallel text gives the spelling Bīt Ramatua. Only a general location can be suggested for Bīt Ramatiya, which is also…

BĪTĀB, ʿABD-AL-ḤAQQ b. Mollā ʿAbd-al-Aḥmad ʿAṭṭār, scholar and poet laureate (malek al-šoʿarāʾ) of Afghanistan, b. Kabul 1262 Š./1883, d. there 1347 Š./1968. He was a pious, retiring, and modest man, whose home became a center for poets and scholars seeking the benefit of his erudition. ʿAbd-al-Ḥaqq spent most of his…

BĪṬARAF (The impartial), a news and political affairs journal published in Persian and French in Tehran (1913-14). Bīṭaraf began as a bilingual Tehran weekly at the beginning of 1331/January, 1913. It later was published two and finally three times weekly. After the publication of the sixtieth issue in Šaʿbān, 1332/July,…

BĪŽAN, son of Gīv by Rostam’s daughter Bānū Gošasp, figures prominently in the Šāh-nāma as a hero in Kay Ḵosrow’s reign. He played an important part in all the wars of the time. Among his chief exploits were the vanquishing and killing of Ferōd, a son of Sīāvoš (Šāh-nāma, Moscow,…

BĪŽAN-NAMA, an epic poem of ca. 1,900 lines relating the adventures of the legendary hero Bīžan son of Gīv. Two closely related manuscripts are known: Brit. Mus. Suppl. no. 199, 18th century, and Ethé, Bodleian Cat. no. 1979, undated. The manuscripts are anonymous, but on the basis of a statement…

BLACK SEA, an almost entirely landlocked sea situated between 46° 32’ and 40° 55’ north latitude and 27° 27’ and 41° 42’ east longitude. Its surface is more than 423,000 km2, and its maximum depth is 2,244 m. In this article only the Achaemenid period is considered. Although the modern…

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BLOCHET (Gabriel Joseph) EDGARD, French orientalist, born at Bourges on December 12, 1870. He attended L’Ecole des Langues Orientales in Paris, where he received a diploma in Arabic; he also received a diploma from L’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and later lectured there (from 1895 to 1901). In 1895 he…

BLOCHMANN, HEINRICH (Henry) FERDINAND, a German Orientalist and scholar of Persian language and literature who spent most of his career in India. He was born on 8 January 1838 in Dresden, the son of the owner of a printing workshop. From 1855 to 1857 he studied Oriental languages at the…

BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICES IN IRAN. A centralized, state-funded organization was established in 1974 for the recruitment of safe, voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors and the subsequent collection, testing, processing, and distribution of blood and blood products to hospitals. The project was initiated and founded by Dr. Fereydoun Ala and established by…

BLOODLETTING (Ar.-Pers. ḥejāmat, faṣd; Pers. ragzanī, ḵūn gereftan), a common medical treatment throughout Iranian history, though applied only in exceptional circumstances by modern medical practi­tioners. According to ancient medical theory, probably of Greek origin but adopted by the ancient Iranians and later by Muslims, blood was produced in the veins….

BOAR (Sus scrofa, Pers. gorāz). The wild boar is found in a broad cross section of habitats and has a range that extends over much of Europe and Asia including Java, Sumatra, Japan, and Taiwan. Its distribution also includes parts of North Africa. In the drier parts of its range…

BOARD GAMES IN PRE-ISLAMIC PERSIA In contrast to the extensive literature describing the role of ancient Persia in the transmission of the games of chess and backgammon, our knowledge of other board games remains scanty. The study of ancient games relies on archeological material which is supplemented by data from…

BOČĀQČĪ, a Turkic tribe of Sīrjān in Kermān province. Its name in Turkish means both “knife-maker” and “quarrelsome.” The latter meaning is probably the intended one, for tribal names meaning “quarrelsome” and “angry” are common (see Németh, p. 36). Very little is known about the origin and early history of…