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ḠARČESTĀN, name of a region in early Islamic times, situated to the north of the upper Harīrūd and the Paropamisus range and on the head waters of the Moṟḡāb. To its west was Bāḏḡīs and to its northeast Gūzgān. Ḡarčestān thus corresponds to the region known at present as Fīrūzkūh and forms…

GARDANE MISSION (1807-09), a diplomatic and military project between France and Persia which represented Napoleon’s last attempt to realize his Oriental ambitions. From late 1795, Persia became part of French projects against British India (Greaves, p. 375). Napoleon had viewed his Egyptian campaign (1798-99) as a foothold to launch a…

GARDEN (bāḡ), referring to a garden estate, intended primarily for pleasure rather than permanent residence or production of crops, formally laid out, usually incorporating architectural elements, such as ornamental pools, gate-houses, and pavilions. Numerous gardens mentioned in historical texts are designated by name, either of the founder, or of the…

GARDEN i. ACHAEMENID PERIOD Since the first millenium B.C.E., the garden has been an integral part of Persian architecture, be it imperial or vernacular. In addition to written historical references, archaeological evidence of Achaemenid gardens exists at Pasargadae, Persepolis, Susa, and other sites (Xenophon, Oeconomicus 4.20-25; Arrian, Anabasis 5.29.4-5; Sāmī,…

GARDEN  ii. ISLAMIC PERIOD Donald Wilber’s study of the Persian garden remains the most comprehensive (1979a), to which should be added the articles by Ettinghausen and Pinder-Wilson in the proceedings of the Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium on the Islamic Garden (eds., Macdougall and Ettinghausen). Much of the detail found in these…

GARDEN iii. INFLUENCE OF PERSIAN GARDENS IN INDIA Landscape architecture has a long history in the Indian subcontinent. An indigenous garden tradition is referred to in the plays of Kālidāsa (5th century; Raghuvaṃśa, act 14.30; Kumārasambhava, act 6.46) and Śūdraka (6th century; Mṛcchakaṭika, acts 5-6, 8), Kādambarī of Bāṇabhaṭṭ (7th….

GARDEN iv. BOTANICAL GARDENS In Persia there are only three botanical gardens (bāḡ-e gīāh-šenāsī) in the exact scientific sense of this term. These rather new establishments are described below in chronological order. Other major attempts or projects to establish such gardens will be mentioned subsequently. The botanical garden of the…

GARDEN vi. IN PERSIAN ART The garden as an artifice has inspired other forms of art, particularly poetry, painting, and the decorative arts. As with poetry, reference to the garden and its vegetation may recreate the garden in another form, use the garden as a setting, or allude to elements…

GARDĪZ (Gardēz), a city in the Solaymān Mountains of eastern Afghanistan, 122 km south of Kabul. i. Geography and History. ii. Monuments. See Supplement. i. GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY Gardīz is the capital of the province of Paktīā and serves as the summer residence of the provincial governor, who resides in…

GARDĪZĪ, ABŪ SAʿĪD ʿABD-al-ḤAYY b. Żaḥḥāk b. Maḥmūd, Persian historian of the early 5th/11th century whose exact dates of birth and death are unknown. His life is almost wholly obscure, although his nesba implies a connection with Gardīz (q.v.) in eastern Afghanistan, and the name Zahāk/Żaḥḥāk seems to have been…