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DARYĀBEYGĪ (sea lord), originally an Ottoman naval title dating from the 15th century (Lewis, p. 165). In Persia it was first adopted in the 18th century, when Nāder Shah Afšār (1148-60/1736-47) built his fleet. The naval commander in chief bore the title daryābeygī or occasionally sardār or sardār-e banāder (Estarābādī,…

DARYĀČA.For individual lakes, see entries under the names.

DĀRZĪN, a village (29° 11´ N, 58° 09´E) on the road between Kermān and Bam on the site of a large early medieval town recorded as Dayr-e Wazīn (or Dīrūzīn), Dārjīn, Dāržīn, and Dārčīn and described as having a fine congregational mosque and many orchards (e.g., Ebn Ḵordāḏbeh, pp. 49,…

“DĀŠ ĀKOL” (translated as “Dash Akol” by Richard Arnt and Mansur Ekhtiar, 1979), one of the eleven stories in Se qaṭra ḵun  (Three drops of blood, Tehran, 1932), the first collection of short stories by the eminent fiction writer Sadeq Hedayat (HEDAYAT, SADEQ, 1903-1951). ‘Kol’ evokes association with ‘kolu,’ a respected…

DASĀTĪN (Ar. pl. of Pers. dastān), the term for modes in early musical theory, translated into Arabic as aṣābeʿ (fingers) and sometimes also as mawājeb “obligations, laws.” It originally referred to the eight fundamental octave scales attributed to the Sasanian musician Bārbad; as each note is played on a specific…

DASĀTĪR, the most important tract of the Āḏar Kayvānī sect, almost certainly the work of its founder, Āḏar Kayvān (see ĀẔAR KAYVĀN). The book, written in an invented language, is about supposedly ancient Iranian prophets and includes accounts of events that have no historical basis. It is divided into two…

DASCYLIUM, Achaemenid satrapy in northwestern Anatolia (Herodotus, 3.120.2; cf. Thucydides 1.129.1: tḕn Daskulitìn satrapeían; OPers. tayaiy drayahyā; DB 1.15; Kent, Old Persian, p. 117), part of the Persian empire until the 330s B.C.E. The borders varied, extending as far south as the Mysian plain and the southern Troad and east…

DAŠLĪ (Dashly), oasis situated south of the Āmū Daryā, on the desert plain of northern Afghanistan, ancient Bactria, now in the province of Jūzjān ca 35 km northeast of Āqča (Ball, I, p. 84-85 nos. 256-59). Forty-one archeological sites, representing occupations from the Bronze Age to the Kushan period, have…

DAŠNAK (Pers. Dāšnāk), short name for Hay Yełapʿoxakan Dašnakcʿutʿiwn (Armenian revolutionary federation [A.R.F.]) or its members. The A.R.F. was founded in Tiflis in 1890 by Russian Armenian intellectuals, including Kʿristapʿor Mikʿayēlean (1859-1905) and Simon Zawarean (1866-1913), soon joined by Stepʿan Zōrean (Ṙostom; 1867-1919). By 1905 it had become the most…

DAŠT (plain, open ground) ,Persian term for a very specific type of landscape. In scientific geographical literature it is applied to the extended gravel piedmonts and plains that are almost ubiquitous in arid central Persia. Sloping down from the upper reaches of the mountains and highlands, dašt areas are built…

DAŠT-E ARŽAN (also Arjan, Arzan, lit., “plain of the mountain or bitter almond”; Forṣat Šīrāzī, p. 275), a mountain basin ca. 14 x 5-6 km (Manouchehr Kasheff, personal communication) situated 1,500 m above sea level on the road from Shiraz to Kāzerūn. Located on the elevated plain is a small…