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JUB-E GOWHAR, an archeological site in the Eyvān plain, Ilām province (Poštkuh, Lorestān). A total of sixty-six tombs of a partially plundered graveyard were excavated at Jub-e Gowhar in 1977 by the Belgian Archeological Mission in Iran, directed by Louis Vanden Berghe (q.v.). The Mission excavated fifty-six stone lined tombs…

JUBAN, village (“Jubon” in Razmārā, Farhang II, p. 71) and excavation site in the western part of the Sepid-rud valley in Gilan Province. It is located 54 km south of Rasht, 4 km south of Kalvarz, and 12 km from Rudbār. A small river divides the village and runs deep…

JUDAKI, a small Lor tribe of the Ḵorramābād region in western Persia. It forms part of the Bālā Gariva group of tribes, which inhabits the mountainous region between the Kaškān and Dez rivers, and which also includes the Bayrānavand (q.v.), Dirakvand (q.v.), Pāpi, and Sagvand tribes. According to the British…

This entry will be divided into the following sub-entries: i. Introduction. ii. The Achaemenid period. iii. The Parthian and Sasanian periods. iv. Medieval to the late 18th century. v.Qajar period:   (1) Communities.   (2) Conversion. vi. The Pahlavi Era (1925-79). vii. The Islamic Republic. viii. Judeo-Persian language. ix. Judeo-Persian literature. x….

JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES OF IRAN i. INTRODUCTION Jewish communities have been living upon the Persian plateau since ca. 721 BCE, when King Sargon II (r. 721-705 BCE) relocated large communities of conquered Israelites “in the cities of the Medes” (western and northern regions of present-day Persia; 2 Kings 17:6; 18:10-11). The…

JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES OF IRAN ii. THE ACHAEMENID PERIOD Early history. The most significant chapter in the story of Jews and Judaism in Persia began 15 March 597 BCE, when King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylonia conquered Jerusalem and carried away as captives 10,000 Jews from Jerusalem and Judah, including King Jehoiachin…

JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES OF IRAN iii. THE PARTHIAN AND SASANIAN PERIODS After the fall of the kingdom of Judah to the Babylonians in 586 BCE, large numbers of Jews were deported to Babylon, in keeping with common ancient Near Eastern custom (cf. DEPORTATION i). When the Achaemenid king Cyrus II (see…

JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES OF IRAN iv. MEDIEVAL TO THE LATE 18TH CENTURY Over a millennium-long social and cultural history of Iranian Jewry in the Middle Ages (ca. 636-1736), accounting for about a third of this community’s ancient sojourn in Iran, cannot be fully recounted as the scarcity of evidence leaves many…

JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES OF IRAN ix. Judeo-Persian Literature Introduction. Several hundred years before the emergence of a Persian Jewish literature, and prior even to the emergence of classical Persian literature, Persian documents and stone inscriptions were being written in Hebrew script. These are of historical importance for the light they shed…

JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES OF IRAN v. QAJAR PERIOD (1786-1925) This entry will be divided into two separate sections: (1) Communities. (2) Conversion.   (1) COMMUNITIES The socio-economic and legal status of the Jews of Iran in early Qajar times was, to an extent, a continuation of the legacy of Safavid times….

JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES OF IRAN v. Qajar Period (1786-1925) (2) Conversion of Jews In the latter part of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries there occurred a relatively widespread mass movement of Persian Jews to the Bahai community; the latter predominantly consisted of Shiʿite converts. Estimates by…

JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES OF IRAN vi. The Pahlavi Era (1925-1979) UNDER REZA SHAH (1925-41) Reza Shah’s (r. 1925-41) rise to power ushered in a new era for the Iranian people. The shah was not motivated by a positive attitude towards religious minorities (except Zoroastrians), but all minorities indirectly benefited from his…

JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES OF IRAN viii. Judeo-Persian Language Judeo-Persian language, a term (abbrev.: JP) referring to a group of very similar, usually mutually comprehensible, dialects of Persian, spoken or written by Jews in greater Iran over a period of more than a millennium. JEWISH LANGUAGES IN GENERAL Jewish languages and dialects…