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GENDER RELATIONS in Persia i. In modern Persia. ii. In the Islamic Republic.   i. IN MODERN PERSIA. Gender relations, a culturally and historically defined system that regulates male/female interactions, has been central to the discourses of modernity and counter modernity in contemporary Persia. The concept of gender, however, is…

GENDER RELATIONS ii. IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC Gender relations in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) are contentious and volatile. It is difficult to provide a single, comprehensive explanation of the ideology of gender in Islam or the Islamic Republic. Even in religious circles, interpretations of “women in Islam” have…

GENIE (Ar. andPers. jenn; incorrect plural, ajenna, used in Persian), name of a cathegory of supernatural beings believed to have been created from smokeless fire (Koran 55:14; El-Shamy, Motif A2905.1, “Jinn created from fire”) and to be living invisibly side-by-side the visible creation. They are repeatedly mentioned in the Koran,…

GENOA, an important port city in Liguria, in northwestern Italy, which during the Middle Ages played a significant role between Europe and the East, including Persia (PLATE I). Genoa was sacked by Muslim raiders from North Africa in 935 but became an economic and commercial power during the First Crusade…

GEOGRAPHY of Persia and Afghanistan. For physical geography see Supplement and under individual areas, countries, and provinces (e.g., AFGHANISTAN i; AZERBAIJAN i; CENTRAL ASIA i; etc.) See also ĀB, CLIMATE, GEOLOGY, HYDROLOGY. i. Evolution of geographical knowledge. ii. Human geography. iii. Political geography. iv. Cartography of Persia.  

GEOGRAPHY of Persia and Afghanistan. i. EVOLUTION OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE The concept of Iran and ancient Iranian geography (Justi; Spiegel, I, pp. 188-243 and especially pp. 210-12; Herzfeld, pp. 671-720; Gnoli, 1980, 1989). The concept of Iran was an ethnic one to start with. It was “the land of the…

Geography ii. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY The primordial component of the land of Iran, since it was a sedentary world as opposed to the nomadic Tūrān, must have been situated above the level of the internal steppes and deserts, in the highland river valleys having both arable alluvial soils and plenty of…

Geography iii. POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY The significant Persian-speaking areas of the world are divided today into three states. One of them, Tajikistan, is very recent. It corresponds with the part of the Iranian world that was annexed as a result of the Russian colonial expansion in Central Asia in the late…

GEOGRAPHY iv. CARTOGRAPHY OF PERSIA The equivalent terms for carte and map in pre-modern Persian and Arabic were ṣūrat (configuration) and occasionally šakl (form), rasm (drawing), or naqš (painting, figure). In contemporary Persian naqša denotes map, while ḵarīṭa in contemporary Arabic and harita in modern Turkish (< Gk xarti) is...

GEOLOGY. This article is concerned with those aspects of the geology of Persia that are of immediate economic and cultural significance for the country and its inhabitants. The focus will therefore be on three aspects: (1) geological structure and orohydrographic differentiation of Persia; (2) geology and natural hazards; (3) geology…

GEORGIA (Pers. Gorjestān; Ar. al-Korj). i. The land and the people ii. History of Perso-Georgian relations iii. Georgian art and archeology as related to Persia iv. Literary contacts with Persia v. Iranian elements in Georgian language vi. Iranian studies, Iranian manuscripts, and art collections in Georgia vii. Georgians in the…

GEORGIA i. THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE Located at the eastern tip of the Black Sea to the south of the Caucasus Mountains, Georgia experienced continuous, decisive, political relations and cultural contacts with Persia from the Achaemenid period until the early 19th century (Figure 1). Sakartvelo, or land of the…

GEORGIA ii. HISTORY OF IRANIAN-GEORGIAN RELATIONS Between the Achaemenid era and the beginning of the 19th century, Persia played a significant and at times decisive role in the history of the Georgian people. The Persian presence helped to shape political institutions, modified social structure and land holding, and enriched literature…