Explore Iranica

LION RUGS (gabba-ye širi), a group of Persian rugs with the image of the lion as the main motif (see also GABBA). Although in the past lion rugs were made in most parts of Iran, the majority of the existing lion rugs are the work of Baḵtiāri and Qashqāʾi [Qašqāʾi]…

LION TOMBSTONES (šir-e sangi; or bardšir, “stone lion” in Lori), a type of tombstone in the form of a lion, found mostly on the graves of Lor and Qašqāʾi nomads in the west, southwest, and parts of southern Persia. These stylized, sculptured lions stare out from isolated Baḵtiāri graveyards in…

LITERACY CORPS (Sepāh-e dāneš), educational program implemented in Iran in the framework of the White Revolution (1963-79) during the reign of Muhammad-Reza Pahlavi (1941-79). Suggested by the Kennedy administration as an alternative to red revolutions and as a condition to U.S. aid, the White Revolution aimed at propelling Iran onto…

LITHOGRAPHY (Pers. čāp-e sangi, planographic printmaking technique, invented by Alois Senefelder (b. Prague, 1771; d. Munich, 1834) at the end of the 18th century and introduced to Persia through Russia in the early decades of the 19th century. i. IN PERSIA The first lithographic printing press was brought to Persia…

LITHOGRAPHY ii. IN INDIA From the 19th century to the first decade of the 20th, India was at the hub of a great expansion in lithographic printing. The success of this particular type of printing was largely due to the fact that the same procedure could be applied to all…

LITHOGRAPHY iii. IN CENTRAL ASIA (1881-1918) Lithographic book printing began in Central Asia in the late 19th century in several regions: in the khanate of Khiva as of 1874 (in Turkic languages only), in Turkistan in Tashkent as of 1881, and in the khanate of Bukhara from 1901 onwards. The…

LITHOGRAPHY iv. LITHOGRAPHED ILLUSTRATIONS Lithographic illustration is a particular art form that was practiced in Persia for about a century, from 1850, when lithographic printing was first introduced to Persia, to about 1950. Lithographic illustration relies on the experience of refined illustration and illumination as previously applied in Persian manuscripts…

LIZARDS,  reptiles belonging to the order Squamata; a large and widespread group of animals exhibiting a generalized tetrapod body plan, although many aspects of this plan have been lost or modified in various groups.  “Lizard” is a colloquial term for these reptiles that are members of a larger evolutionary group…

LOCKHART, LAURENCE (b. London, 9 July, 1890; d. Barrington, 3 May 1975; Figure 1), scholar and photographer of Iran, employee of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.  Life.  Lockhart spent much of his childhood in South Africa, where his father was working in the mining industry.  When he returned home to attend…

LOCKS AND LOCKSMITHS IN IRAN. Locks have been made in Iran since at least the second millennium BCE. The most ancient lock, dating to the 13th century BCE, was excavated at the ziggurat of Choga Zanbil (see ČOḠĀ ZANBIL) in Khuzestan. This lock consisted of a bolt and a tumbler…

LOCUST (in modern taxonomy, Pers. malaḵ-e mohājer), the term used for any gregarious, short-horned grasshopper (Bei-Bienko and Mishchenko, Part 1, p. 35). The generic Persian term malaḵ (vs. Mid. Pers. mayg in the Pahlavi Vendidad (q.v.); Av. maδaxa-) is regarded as a borrowing from an Eastern Iranian language (cf. Pashto…

LOMMEL, HERMAN, German scholar of Indo-European, chiefly Indo-Iranian studies, and also of religious studies (b. Erlangen, 7 July, 1885; d. Prien-on-the-Chiemsee in Bavaria, 5 October, 1968).  He was the son of the physicist Eugen Lommel (1837–99). He started his studies of comparative philology, Indology, and Iranian studies at Munich University…

LORI LANGUAGE, the language of one of Iran’s major ethnic groups, spoken by five million people over the length of the Zagros range, forming a linguistic continuum between Kurdish and Persian. (See also BAḴTIĀRI TRIBE ii. Baḵtiāri dialect; BOIR AḤMADI ii. The dialect; DEZFUL ii. Dezfuli and Šuštari; FĀRS viii. Dialects; GIŌNI.)…

LORI LANGUAGE i. Lori Dialects These are spoken by both settled and migratory folk over a large area of western Iran, including parts of Hamadan Province (at least from Nehāvand southward) through Lorestān to Khuzestan, Čahār Maḥāl and Baḵtiāri, Kohgiluya and Boir Aḥmadi, and Fārs. They belong, together with Persian,…

LORI LANGUAGE ii. Sociolinguistic Status of Lori The array of related dialects collectively known as Lori (autonym: lurī) is spoken among the Lori and Baḵtiāri peoples of the Zagros mountains of western and southwestern Iran and surrounding areas. Linguistically, these varieties form a continuum between Kurdish and the Southwest Iranian…