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ADMINISTRATION in Iran. vii. The Pahlavi Period (1925-79) The constitution of 1906 and the supplementary laws of 1907 provided the juridical foundation for a legal-rational state within which the legislature was empowered to establish and modify the administration. The authority of the state was divided into three continuously functioning branches:…

ADRAPANA, the third station from the western border of “Upper Media” recorded by Isidore of Charax in the 1st century A.D. (Parthian Stations 6, ed. and tr. W. H. Schoff, Philadelphia, 1914, pp. 6-7, 28). It was a royal residence (basíleia) and had been destroyed by Tigranes the Great of…

ADRĀVVŪN, Gujarati term for the Parsi betrothal ceremony (in Persian nāmzadī). Matches are generally arranged by the parents with the consent of the marriage partners, although now the latter often make their own selection after consulting the parents. For the betrothal, the solemn celebration of the marriage contract, an auspicious…

ADUKANAIŠA (a-du-u-k-n-i-š-), name of the first month (March-April) of the Old Persian calendar (see Kent, Old Persian, p. 161a), equivalent to Akkadian Nisannu and Elamite Zikli (several attestations in the Persepolis tablets; see R. T. Hallock, Persepolis Fortification Tablets, Chicago, 1969, pp. 74, 774b). The Old Persian name, whose reading…

ĀDUR (and ādar) Middle Persian word for “fire;” the Avestan form is ātar (of unknown derivation), and the late form is arabicized in New Persian as āẕar. The Middle Persian by-form ātaxš (NPers. ātaš) represents the old nom. sing. form of the word, with intervocalic -t- irregularly preserved. There is…

ĀDUR BURZĒN-MIHR, an Ātaš Bahrām (see Ātaš), i.e., a Zoroastrian sacred fire of the highest grade. The tradition of its foundation is lost in antiquity, but if it is correct that the temple cult of fire was first established in the late 5th or early 4th century B.C., its installation…

ĀDUR FARNBĀG, an Ātaš Bahrām (see Ātaš), that is, a Zoroastrian sacred fire of the highest grade, held to be one of the three great fires of ancient Iran, existing since creation (see further under Ādur Burzēn-Mihr). The Middle Iranian name Farnbāg, presumably that of the fire’s unknown but historical…

ĀDUR GUŠNASP, an Ātaš Bahrām (see Ātaš), that is, a Zoroastrian sacred fire of the highest grade, held to be one of the three great fires of ancient Iran, existing since creation (see further under Ādur Burzēn-Mihr). The name Gušnasp, presumed to be that of the fire’s unknown founder, means…

ĀDUR NARSEH, son of the Sasanian king Hormizd II (A.D. 302-09) and ruler for several months after his father. It is inferred from Byzantine historians (see Justi, Namenbuch, p. 3; Nöldeke, Geschichte der Perser, p. 51, n. 3) that Hormizd II had two sons, Hormizd and Ādur Narseh, by his…

ĀDUR-ANĀHĪD, 3rd century A.D. Sasanian “queen of queens.” The name is probably a compound of two associated deities, Fire and Anāhitā, and so falls into a category of proper names well documented from Sasanian times, but clarified only recently. Previously it was taken to mean “Fire of Anāhitā.” The name…

ĀDUR-BŌZĒD, a Sasanian mobad of mobads (mowbedān mowbed) or high priest. He is mentioned in Middle Persian sources with two others who held this title, Ādurfarnbaḡ and Hūdād (Dēnkard II, p. 573.23f.; The Epistles of Manushchihar, ed. B. N. Dhabhar, Bombay 1912, p. 47.2), and with Ādurbād, son of Zardušt…

ĀDURBĀD ĒMĒDĀN, second author of the 9th century A.D. Zoroastrian compilation, Dēnkard. He gives an account of his activity at the end of Dēnkard 3 (ed. Madan, p. 406.11ff.). When the first author, Ādurfarnbag ī Farroxzādān, died, the text passed into the care of the latter’s son, Zardušt. But a…

ĀDURBĀD Ī MAHRSPANDĀN (“Ādurbād, son of Mahrspand”), Zoroastrian mobad of mobads (mowbedān mowbed) or high priest in the reign of the Sasanian king Šāpūr II (A.D. 309-79). The Pahlavi Bundahišn (p. 237.2) traces Ādurbād’s lineage back to the legendary Dūrsarw, son of Manūčihr; similarly Bīrūnī’s al-Āṯār al-bāqīa mentions him as…

ĀDURFARNBAG Ī FARROXZĀDĀN (Pārsī: Ādar-farrāʾ Farroḵzādān), first author of the 9th century A.D. Zoroastrian compilation, the Dēnkard. He is referred to there as leader of the Wehdēns (those of the Good Religion, i.e., Zoroastrianism); hence he is usually identified with the officially recognized leader of the orthodox Zoroastrian community who…