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ECONOMY xi. IN MODERN AFGHANISTAN Introduction. Attempts at modernization in Afghanistan in such spheres as land tenure, taxation, currency, and trade were made in the 19th century by various governments and with different degrees of success. (For historical background on these reforms, see the relevant chapters of Ali; Ḡobār; Kakar;…

ECONOMY   xii. IN TAJIKISTAN Before its incorporation into the Soviet Union the territory of Tajikistan constituted the eastern part of the Bukharan emirate, with an economy based on agriculture and animal husbandry, as well as on such highly skilled local manufacturing as silk weaving, pottery, and leatherwork. The Russian…

EDEB (Pers. and Ar. Adab), pen name of the Kurdish poet ʿAbd-Allāh Beg b. Aḥmad Beg Bābāmīrī Miṣbāḥ-al-Dīwān (b. Armanī Bolāḡī, a village northeast of Būkān in western Azerbaijan, 1277/1860, d. ca. 1297 Š./1918). He was born into a family of landed nobility that traced its descent from the local…

EDESSA (Aram. and Syr. Urhai/Orhāi; Ar. Rohāʾ), now Urfa in southeastern Turkey, former capital of ancient Osrhoene (Figure 1). It is situated on a limestone ridge, an extension of the ancient Mount Masius in the Taurus mountains of southern Anatolia, where the east-west highway from Zeugma (in the vicinity of…

EDITING (Pers. vīrāyeš, a neologism; Ar.-Pers. tahḏīb, tanqīḥ, now obsolete; rarely pīrāyeš, pardāḵt), the techniques of preparing a text for publication, now widely practiced at the major publishing houses in Persia. Persian editing techniques are modeled on those of the West and were first systematically introduced in the 1950s, when…

EDMONDS, C. J. [Cecil John] (1889-1979), British political officer and orientalist (Figure 1). The son of a British missionary, Edmonds was born in Japan, where he stayed up to the age of eight. He was educated in England at Bedford and Christ’s Hospital public schools and finally studied oriental languages…

EDUCATION (Pers. āmūzeš o parvareš; earlier Ar. Per. taʿlīm o tarbīat) in Iranian-speaking areas.   1. Ancient and Traditional i. In the Achaemenid period. ii. In the Parthian and Sasanian periods. iii. The traditional elementary school. (maktab) iv. The medieval madrasa. v. The madrasa in Shiʿite Persia. vi. The madrasa…

EDUCATION i. IN THE ACHAEMENID PERIOD Little is known of the training of children during the Achaemenid period. In two Elamite documents from Persepolis drafted in the 23rd regnal year of Darius I (499 B.C.E.) “Persian boys (who) are copying texts” are mentioned (Hallock, nos. 871, 1137); the texts in…

EDUCATION ii. IN THE PARTHIAN AND SASANIAN PERIODS No concrete evidence on education in Parthian times has survived. It may be postulated, however, that it was similar to education in the Sasanian period. Information about the latter period is confined mainly to education of princes, the nobility, the clergy, and…

EDUCATION iii. THE TRADITIONAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (MAKTAB)   Before the establishment of a modern educational system in Persia in the early 20th century children received their early and intermediate education in the maktab (or maktab-ḵāna, lit., “place of writing”) under the tutelage of an āḵūnd, mulla (clerical teacher), or moʿallem…

EDUCATION iv. THE MEDIEVAL MADRASA In the Middle Ages the madrasa (lit., “place to study” Ar. darasa “to study”; for discussion of darasa as a technical term meaning “to study jurisprudence” and darrasa meaning “to teach jurisprudence,” see Makdisi, 1961, pp. 10-11) was a college for the professional study of…

EDUCATION v.  THE MADRASA IN SHIʿITE PERSIA Foundation and expansion. After the introduction of the institutionalized madrasa by Neẓām-al-Molk in the late 11th century (see iv, above) Shiʿite madrasas were also founded in Persia and Iraq. For example, by the mid-13th century madrasas had been established in such Persian cities…

EDUCATION vi.  THE MADRASA IN SUNNI KURDISTAN Preparation for the madrasa. Until the mid-20th century the pursuit of education in Kurdistan was possible only through mosques, as only mullas were literate. Concomitant with their function as places of worship, mosques served as social centers and as rest houses for travelers…

EDUCATION vii.  GENERAL SURVEY OF MODERN EDUCATION A modern system of national education emerged in Persia in the 1920s and 1930s, after the Pahlavi state had been founded; during this period the influence of the religious establishment was minimized, and the government gained control over schools, expanding enrollment at all…

EDUCATION viii. NURSERY SCHOOLS AND KINDERGARTENS The beginnings of formalized preschool education in Persia can be traced back to about 1270/1891, when Armenians in Jolfā, near Isfahan, founded a kindergarten, which continues to function today. By 1298/1919 there were a few kindergartens in Tehran and other cities, primarily founded by…