Explore Iranica

FLAGS i. OF PERSIA “National flags” symbolizing political entities began to evolve from religious or military applications of dynastic “emblems” (also called “badges” or “devices”) with the Crusaders and more systematically with the rise of European states and their overseas expansion in the 16th century (Siegel, pp. 17-136, Pl. 17)….

 FLAGS ii. OF AFGHANISTAN The Kingdom of Afghanistan. Almost nothing is known about the flags of Afghanistan during the reign of the Sadōzay dynasty and the early decades of the Moḥammadzay dynasty. Traditionally, nonstandard flags of different colors were used in wars. In the reign of Amir Dōst Moḥammad (1819-63)…

FLAGS  iii. OF TAJIKISTAN Before the establishment of Tajikistan. The royal standard labeled “drapeau nationale Boukhare” in a frontispiece of La voix de la Boukharie opprimée by Said Alim Khan (Amir Sayyed ʿĀlem Khan, Paris, 1929) is considered to be the state flag of the Bukharan emirate (see BUKHARA iv)….

FLANDIN AND COSTE, a French painter and an architect renowned for their outstanding illustrated account of their travels in Persia during 1839-41. Flandin, Eugène Napoléon Jean-Baptiste (b. Naples, 15 August 1809; d. Tours, 29 September 1889), French orientalist, painter, archeologist, and politician (Plate I). Flandin’s archeological drawings and some of…

FLOODS (sayl, sayl-āb) in Persia. i. Geographical Survey. ii. Historical Survey.   i. GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY A common saying holds that probably more people died in deserts by being drowned than by thirst. Such a statement indicates that even in extremely dry environments flooding is a major factor not only in…

FLORA i. Historical Background. ii. In Persia. iii. In Afghanistan. See Afghanistan ii. Flora.

FLORA  i. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The indigenous knowledge of plants in Persia had a long standing tradition before the country’s flora was explored by Europeans, who were eventually joined in modern scientific botany by Persian botanists. Traditional knowledge of plants was augmented through trade relations and scholarly exchange with other countries,…

FLORA ii. IN PERSIA With approximately six thousand recorded species of ferns and flowering plants, Persia harbors one of the richest floras of the Near Eastern countries, which is surprising, given that more than two-thirds of the country’s surface consists of deserts, semideserts, and steppes. Equally surprising is the great…

FLORA IRANICA, amonumental work on the plants of Persia. Edited by Karl Heinz Rechinger of Vienna since 1963, Flora Iranica now consists of some 172 fascicles and is nearly complete. Only two spermatophyte families, the Cyperaceae and the Rubiaceae, are as yet lacking; the Fabaceae with the extensive genera Astragalus…

FLOYER, ERNEST AYSCOGHE (b. Lincolnshire, England, 1852; d. Cairo, Egypt, 1903), explorer, writer, and the first station chief of the Indo-European Telegraph Line at Jāsk (FIGURE 1). After the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58, the need for swifter communication between London and India was strongly felt. Efforts began in 1859 to establish direct telegraphic…

FLÜGEL,GUSTAV LEBERECHT (b. 18 February 1802, Bautzen; d. 5 July 1870, Dresden), German Orientalist. Flügel studied theology and Orientalistics in Leipzig from 1821 to 1824 with, among others, Ernst Friedrich Karl Rosenmüller. A stipend from the imperial court enabled him to take up residence in Vienna from 1827-29, where he…