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GABRIELI, FRANCESCO, Italian Arabist and orientalist (b. Rome, 27 April 1904; d. Rome, 13 December 1996; Figure 1), who contributed to the study of Persian literature. His first contact with Arabic literature was through his father Giuseppe, who was the librarian of the Accademia dei Lincei and collaborated with Leone…

GAČ-BORĪ, plasterwork or stucco. Gypsum plaster has been used as a building material in Persia for more than 2,500 years. Originally it may have been applied as a rendering to mud brick walls to protect them from the weather, but it was soon exploited for its decorative effects, as it…

GAČSAR, a village in the Karaj district, situated at an altitude of 2,210 m at 110 km northwest of Tehran and 7 km south of the Kandavān Tunnel on the main road to the Caspian coast. It had a population of about 166 in 1365 Š./1986. Its farmlands on both…

GAČSĀRĀN, town and oilfield in the province of Ḵūzestān, southwestern Persia. Gačsārān, located in the arid foothills of the Zagros, approximately 70 to 80 km southeast of Behbahān, owes its growth to the discovery of oil, which was found there in 1928. Gačsārān subsequently developed into one of the most…

GÄDIATỊ (SEḰAYỊ FỊRT) COMAQ (Rus: ComakGadiev; b. 14 January 1883, d. 24 October 1931), Ossetic writer. Comaq was born in South Ossetia as the son of Gädiatị Seḱa. He studied for some years at the historical-philological faculty of the University of Dorpat, Estonia, but returned to the Caucasus during the…

ḠADĪR ḴOMM (lit. “pool of Ḵomm”), the name of a pool near a small oasis along the caravan route between the cities of Mecca and Medina, near an area currently known as Joḥfa. According to Shiʿites, this is the site at which the Prophet Moḥammad announced the authority of ʿAlī…

ḠAFFĀRI QAZVINI, AḤMAD (احمد غفاری قزوینی, b. Qazvin; d. Debal, Sindh, 975/1568), 16th-century Persian scribe and historian who authored two universal histories and dedicated them to Shah Ṭahmāsp Ṣafavi (r. 1524-76).      Life.  Aḥmad Ḡaffāri came from a family of scholars and bureaucrats in Qazvin. They were descendants of the…

ḠAFFĀRĪ, ḠOLĀM-ḤOSAYN KHAN Amīn-e Ḵalwat (b. Tehran, 5 Moḥarram 1276/5 August 1859, d. 8 Farvardīn 1326 Š./28 March 1947; Figure 1), Qajar official from the time of Nāṣer-al-Dīn Shah to the time of Aḥmad Shah. He was the son of Mīrzā Hāšem Khan Amīn-al-Dawla and the nephew of Farroḵ Khan…