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CITIES vi. Urban Informal Settlements in Modern Iran Urban informal settlements are associated with informal land transactions, uncertain housing tenure, insufficient access to urban and socioeconomic services, makeshift or nonstandard construction, and various aspects of poverty. This article discusses the development of informal settlements in Iran and the evolution of…

CITIZENSHIP i. In the Achaemenid period. ii. In the Sasanian period. iii. In modern times (Qajar and Pahlavi periods).

CITRUS FRUITS (Pers. morakkabāt). As far as Persia is concerned, only the citrus trees and fruits of the genus Citrus L. (family Rutaceae, subfamily Aurantioideae) need be considered. Only the following three species and one hybrid of citrus fruits are mentioned in classical sources: Citrus medica L., Citrus aurantium L.,…

CITY COUNCILS (anjoman-e šahr) in Persia. The origins of municipalities. Until the late 13th/early 20th century most cities were run by ward (maḥalla) leaders and other prominent local personalities (see cities iii. administration and social organization), who would gather to consider action whenever a communal need arose: organizing a public…

CIVIL CODE (qānūn-e madanī) of Persia, a series of regulations controlling all civic and social relations between individuals in the various circumstances of their lives. The basic text is the law of 1307 Š./1928, according to which the Civil Code is divided into three parts: Title I on property, Title…

*ČIΘRAFARNAH (Elamite Zi-ut-ra-bar-na, Assyrian Ši-dir-pa-ar-na/ni, Gk. Tetraphérnēs), Iranian personal name meaning “with shining splendor” (Iran. farnah-), also attested in a variant with the first element Persianized, *Čiçafarnah- (Gk. Tissaphérnēs, S(e)isiphérnēs, Aramaic Ššprn, Lycian Kizzaprñna, Zisaprñna; see Iranisches Personennamenbuch V/4, pp. 22, 28; Schmitt, pp. 83-84; Hinz and Koch, p. 1306)….

CLASS SYSTEM (ṭabaqāt-e ejtemāʿī), a generic term referring to various types of social group, including castes, estates, status groups, and occupational categories. i. In the Avesta. ii. In the Median and Achaemenid periods. iii. In the Parthian and Sasanian periods. iv. Classes in medieval Islamic Persia. v. Classes in the Qajar…

CLASS SYSTEM i. In the Avesta The evidence for the existence of a highly developed class structure in the community in which the Avestan texts were composed is very slight, and the available information must be culled from sources chronologically as far apart as the Avesta itself (ca. 1200-600 B.C.E.?)…

CLASS SYSTEM ii. In the Median and Achaemenid Periods The almost complete lack of Persian written material from the Achaemenid period makes it difficult to know how the Persians conceived of their society. There are strong grounds for supposing that, for some purposes at least, they still defined it in…

CLASS SYSTEM iii. In the Parthian and Sasanian Periods Parthian period The scant and fragmentary information available on the Parthian period does not permit a comprehensive descrip­tion of social structure; in fact, the vast but decentralized empire encompassed a variety of social structures. In Mesopotamia there were city-states with substantial…

CLASS SYSTEM iv. Classes In Medieval Islamic Persia Little evidence survives to show how a new social order replaced the old Sasanian class system during the early Islamic era. A new social stratification and conception of inequality seems to have gradually emerged under the influence of: (1) Islamic ideals of…

CLASS SYSTEM v. Classes in the Qajar Period In Persia under the Qajars (1210-1344/1796-1925) there continued to be a fundamental division between a narrow stratum of courtiers, state officials, tribal leaders, religious notables, landlords and great merchants at the top and the vast majority of peasants, tribespeople, and laborers in…

CLASS SYSTEM vi. Classes in the Pahlavi Period Under Pahlavi rule (1304-58 Š./1925-79) Persia be­came a powerful centralized state with a sprawling public sector that by 1355 Š./1976 employed one-third of the urban work force. In that period the economy, particularly the service sector, grew steadily and was absorbed into…