Explore Iranica

ĀBYĀRĪ, “irrigation” in Iran. Introduction. Although dry farming is important in Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and Khorasan, as well as some other districts, a large proportion of Iran’s agriculture has always depended upon irrigation. Approximately half the annual grain crop, and an overwhelming proportion of other crops, are irrigated. With the exception…

ABZARĪ, ḴᵛĀJA ʿAMĪD-AL-DĪN ASʿAD B. NAṢR B. JAHŠĪĀR B. . . . FARROḴĀN ANṢĀRĪ FĀLĪ, poet and the vizier of the Salghurid Atabeg of Fārs Saʿd b. Zangī (594-623/1197-1226). Ebn Fowatī calls him ʿAmīd-al-molk Abū Ḡānem Abu’l-Moẓaffar (Qazvīnī’s note to Šadd al-ezār, p. 521). He was probably a native of…

ABZŌN, Middle Persian term meaning “prosperity, increase” in Zoroastrianism. The Avestan word spənta (usually translated as “holy” or “bountiful”) implies increase and abundance. It is generally translated into Pahlavi by aβzōnīk, “increasing, prosperous.” The rendering of spənta by aβzōnīk looks to the result of the activity of the being who…

Ab~ ENTRIES: CAPTIONS OF ILLUSTRATIONS Entry Image Caption ĀB iii. The hydrology and water resources of the Iranian plateau   Figure 1. Major topographical features of Iran. ĀB iii. Figure 2. Annual precipitation of Iran. ĀB iii. Figure 3. Major drainage basins of Iran. ĀB iii. Figure 4. Annual water…

ĀBƎRƎT (Phl. ĀBURD, ĀB-BURDĀR), one of the eight Zoroastrian priests (ratu) necessary for the performance of the yasna ritual. As the name indicates, it was his function to bring (bar) the water (āp) for the ritual. The office of the water-bringer also bore the title dānuwāza, “bearing river (water).” According…

AČAṘEAN, HRAČʾEAY YAKOBI, Armenian linguist, born 8 March 1876 (O. S.; 20 March N. S.) at Constantinople. He studied general linguistics and Indo-European at the Sorbonne under Antoine Meillet, was elected a member of the Société de Linguistique de Paris in 1897, and in 1898 attended Heinrich Hübschmann’s lectures at…

ACHAEMENES (Greek Achaiménēs), Old Persian proper name Haxāmaniš, traditionally derived from haxā- “friend” and manah “thinking power” (but see Achaemenid Dynasty). 1. The eponymous founder of the Persian royal house, the Achaemenids. According to the Behistun inscription of Darius I (I.6 and A.8) and Herodotus (7.11; cf. also 3.75), Achaemenes…

ACHAEMENID DYNASTY, from the Persian clan of the same name, ruled ca. 700 to 330 B.C. i. The clan and dynasty. ii. The empire. iii. Culture. i. The Clan and Dynasty The Latin form Achaemenidae is borrowed from Greek Achaimenidai, the regular patronymic of the proper name Achaiménēs, Lat. Achaemenes…

ACHAEMENID GLAZED BRICK DECORATION The Achaemenid cities of Persepolis, Pasargadae and Susa were constructed of stone foundations, embellished by sculpted stone bas-reliefs carved onto interior and exterior walls, door panels, gateways, and stairways. Hundreds were preserved in situ at Persepolis, far less at the other two cities.  Their presence (as…

ACHAEMENID RELIGION. The sources are threefold: Greek writings, Achaemenid monuments and artifacts, and texts from Persia in Old Persian, Elamite, and Aramaic. The Greek writings establish with all reasonable clarity that the later Achaemenids were Zoroastrians; but the religion of the early kings has been much debated. The question of…

ACHAEMENID ROYAL COMMUNICATION, the spreading of every kind of information and decision-making needed for governmental control. Under this topic can be subsumed the royal agenda, political objectives, ideological and legitimizing strategies, and orders and messages to subordinates and the general population. Personal communication. The starting point of royal communication was…

ACHAEMENID SATRAPIES, the administrative units of the Achaemenid empire. In modern research the use of the term satrapy follows that of the word satrapeia (satrapēiē) in Greek sources. In the extant Old Persian (OP) texts, there is no word that is an equivalent to satrapy with regard to both etymology…

ACHAEMENID TAXATION,  a most important component of the Achaemenid state administration. According to Herodotus (3.89), in the Persian empire under Cyrus II and Cambyses subjects were obliged to deliver only gifts, and regular taxes were first assessed under Darius I (r. 522-486 BCE). However, in the Achaemenid empire state taxes…

Visual representations of Achaemenid kings, while indebted to established Mesopotamian iconographic conventions, betray distinct understandings of sovereignty. Royal reliefs, glyptic and molded bricks are highly modeled, a trait that has been attributed to the influence of Greek carvers but could readily have been a further development of Late Babylonian stylistic…

ACHMA (a Turkish word meaning “opening”), a town in the Domoko (Dumaqu) oasis near Khotan, so named with reference to the local springs. In its vicinity M. A. Stein (q.v.) found substantial remains of a Buddhist settlement (Serindia, Oxford, 1921, I, pp. 199, 211; Ancient Khotan, Oxford, 1907, p. 468),…