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ESKANDAR BEG TORKAMĀN MONŠĪ, author of Tārīḵ-e ʿālamārā-ye ʿabbāsī (q.v.), a history of the reign of Shah ʿAbbās I. Internal evidence indicates that Eskandar Beg was born in 968/1560 or 969/1561: He was twenty-six years old when he fought on the side of Ḥamza Mīrzā at the battle of Ṣāʾen…

ESKANDAR SOLṬĀN b. ʿOmar Šayḵ b. Tīmūr (786-818/1384-1415), Timurid prince who ruled a succession of cities in western Persia between 805/1403 and 817/1415 but is remembered mostly for his cultural patronage. Born at Ūzgand in Farḡāna on 3 Rabīʿ I 786/25 April 1384, he was the second of four sons…

ESKANDAR-NĀMA, Alexander the Great and the adventure tale about him known generically as the Alexander romance. Eskandar -nāmaexists in many versions in Persian, popular and courtly, and in prose and poetry. The background of the tale and the major Persian versions will be discussed here. Development of the Alexander Romance….

ESKANDAR-NĀMA OF NEẒĀMĪ, the poetical version of the life of Alexander by the great 12th century narrative poet Neẓāmī Ganjavī (535-605/1141-1209). It consists of two formally independent works, both in rhymed couplets and in the motaqāreb meter (see ʿARŪŻ) of the Šāh-nāma. The first part is generally known as Šaraf-nāma,…

ESKANDARĪ, ĪRAJ (b. Tehran, 1907, d. Leipzig, 10 Ordībehešt 1372 Š./30 April 1985; Figure 1), prominent leader of the Tudeh Party (q.v.; see also COMMUNISM ii-iii). Raised in a family that was active in politics and strongly supported constitutional government, he was politicized from an early age. His father, Mīrzā…

ESKANDARĪ, MOḤTARAM, a pioneer advocate of women’s rights in Persia (1274-1303 Š./1895-1925; Figure 1) and the founder and leader of the first women’s association in Persia, namely Jamʿīyat-e taraqqī-e neswān, later Jamʿīyat-e neswān-e waṭanḵᵛāh (Society of Patriotic Women). She was born into a liberal family, whose members were actively involved…

ESKANDARĪ, SOLAYMĀN (MOḤSEN) MĪRZĀ, constitutionalist, civil servant, statesman, and socialist leader (b. ca. 1254 Š./1875, d. 1322 Š./1944, Figure 1). Born to a Qajar family Solaymān Mīrzā came into prominence after his brother Yaḥyā Mīrzā died of wounds suffered during the bombardment of the Majles by Moḥammad- ʿAlī Shah in…

EŠKĀŠ(E)M (called Sekāšem, Sekīmešt, and Eskīmešt by early geographers), a settlement in medieval Badaḵšān in northeastern Afghanistan (q.v.), now in the modern Afghan province of Eškāšem (lat. 36° 43′ N., long. 71° 34′ E.; not to be confused with Eškameš, further to the west in the Qondoz or Qaṭaḡan district…

EŠKĀŠ(E)MĪ (Ishkashmi), one of the so-called “Pamir group” of the Eastern Iranian languages (q.v.). It is spoken in a few villages of the region of Eškāšem straddling the upper reaches of the Panj, where the river makes a ninety-degree turn from west to north (the “Oxus bend”). On the right…

ESKENĀS (bank note, paper currency). The word eskenās (bank note) has most probably entered Persian in the early 19th century during the reign of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah Qajar (Moṣāhab, I, p. 141) and is derived from the Russian word assigunos, which itself comes from the French paper money “assignat,” issued during…

EṢLĀḤH, title of six Persian-language newspapers, three of which deserve notice.   1. A government news weekly published in Ḵānābād, the capital of the Afghan province of Qaṭaḡan, beginning 29 Dalw 1300 Š./18 February 1921 and ceasing publication shortly after Jadī 1301 Š./January 1923 (Āhang, p. 162, wrongly assumes that…