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CARROT, the taproot of Daucus L. subspp., etc. (family Umbelliferae), traditionally called gazar (arabicized as jazar) or zardak (lit. “the little yellow one”), and later also havīj in Persian (see below). Indigenous “carrots”—wild or cultivated. Several species and/or varieties of Daucus, etc., in Persia have been reported by modern botanists….

THE CARTER ADMINISTRATION (1977-81): POLICY TOWARD PERSIA. When the administration of President Jimmy Carter (Figure 1) took office in January 1977, United States foreign relations overall were remarkably stable. A modus vivendi had been established with the Soviet Union, and the Soviet-American cold war, the primary source of disturbance of…

CARUS, Imperator Caesar MARCUS AURELIUS (Augustus), Roman emperor (r. 282-83). A professional soldier, probably from Narbo (Narbona) in southern Gaul (rather than from Narona in Illyricum, a tradition found in Historia Augusta: Vita Cari 4.5), Carus was appointed pretorian prefect in 276 by Emperor Probus. After the murder of Probus…

ČARZA, village in the mountainous area of the Upper Ṭārom district (baḵš) in the šahrestān of Zanjān, at 49°1′ E, 36°52′ N, 42 km north of the district center, Sīrdān (Razmārā, Farhang II, p. 78). In 1344 Š./1965, when the writer visited the area, Čarza consisted of thirty-eight households (36…

CASARTELLI, LOUIS CHARLES (b. Manchester, 14 November 1852, to a Lombard family settled in England; d. Manchester, 18 January 1925), scholar of ancient Iranian languages and religions and particularly of Pahlavi literature. His doctoral dissertation at the University of Louvain, La philosophie religieuse du Mazdéisme sous les Sassanides (see below)…

CASES, forms and uses, in Iranian languages and dialects. General observations. The term case is used on at least three linguistics levels. It refers to: 1. the semantic role of a noun (phrase) relative to another noun (phrase) and/or to the verb, such as agent, patient, experiencer, and possessor; 2….

ČAŠM-PEZEŠKĪ, ophthalmology. In ancient Persia and the first two centuries of Islam. Although no direct information about eye therapy in pre-Islamic Persia has come down, in the Dēnkard ophthalmologists (dīdbān) are mentioned as professional specialists (Dēnkard 8.38.12 from the Sagādum, ed. Madan, II, p. 756 line 9; ed. Dresden, p….

ČAŠM-ZAḴM (lit. “a blow by the eye”), the evil eye (čašm also occurs alone with the same meaning; cf. čašm-e bad, čašm-e šūr, čašm-e ḥasūd “envious eye”; naẓar zadan or čašmzadan “to inflict with the evil eye”; MPers. duščašmīh or sūr-čašmīh), the supposed power of an individual to cause harm,…

ČAŠMA (spring). Although mainly characterized by dry and arid climatic conditions, Iran and Afghanistan, as well as wide parts of Central Asia, have a great variety of natural springs, especially in mountainous areas and along tectonic thrusts. On the whole, springs are of such a variety of forms that it…

ČAŠMA(-YE) ʿALĪ, lit. “fountain of ʿAlī,” the name for various natural springs in Iran, the two best-known of which are located near Dāmḡān and Ray respectively. Čašma ʿAlī near Dāmḡān. A rather large fresh-water spring is located at the base of a hill about 24 km north of Dāmḡān. The…

ČAŠMHĀYAŠ (1952; tr. by John O’Kane as Her Eyes, 1989), a novel considered by many critics as the most important contribution of the noted Persian novelist, Bozorg Alavi (1904-1997), to modern Persian fiction (Mirʿābedini, I, p. 151; Dastḡeyb, p. 115; Kasmāʾi, p. 87).  The novel unfolds in 1938 with the…

ČĀŠNĪGĪR, literally “taster” (Pers. čāšnī “taste”), the official who at the court of Turkish dynasties in Iran and elsewhere, from the Saljuq period onwards, had the responsibility of tasting the ruler’s food and drink in order to ensure that it was not poisoned. Under the Saljuqs, the čāšnīgīr was one…

CASPIAN GATES, an ancient toponym identifying a ground-level pass that runs east and west through a southern spur of the Alborz Mountains in north central Iran. In 330 b.c. Alexander the Great pursued the last Achaemenid king Darius III through the Caspian Gates, which were described by Arrian (Anabasis 3.20)…