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MARKWART, JOSEF (Marquart until 1922), German historian and orientalist, specialist in historical geography (b. Reichenbach near Spaichingen [Württemberg], 9 December 1864; d. Berlin, 4 February 1930; Figure 1, Figure 2). Life. The son of a peasant farmer, Markwart enrolled in Tübingen University to study Catholic theology, but he soon changed…

MĀRLIK, an elite burial ground of the late 2nd-early 1st millennium BCE in the western Caspian basin. Mārlik (called so for the abundance of snakes in the area) or Čerāḡ-ʿAli Teppa (named after the owner of the field) is one of the five natural mounds with archaeological remains, the other…

MARR, NIKOLAĭ YAKOVLEVICH, Russian philologist and archeologist, the founder of the “New Linguistic Doctrine” (ca. 1864-1934; FIGURE 1). N. J. Marr was born in Kutaisi, Georgia, between 1863 and 1865, of a Scottish father and a Georgian mother. After attending the gymnasium in Kutaisi, he entered the Department of Oriental…

MARRIAGE i. THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT IN THE PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD  The use of a formal, written agreement as part of the process of establishing a marriage bond between two families is documented in both eastern and western Iranian practice. The several surviving examples of such contracts in Middle Iranian languages are…

MARRIAGE ii. Next-Of -Kin Marriage In Zoroastrianism In Zoroastrian Middle Persian (Pahlavi) texts, the term xwēdōdah (Av. xᵛaētuuadaθa) is said to refer to marital unions of father and daughter, mother and son, or brother and sister (next-of-kin or close-kin marriage, nuclear family incest), and to be one of the most…

Marsiye Ḵāni title Marsiye Ḵāni genre/topic Marṯīa language Persian performer Bāqer Ārāmi instrument Voice composer   author/poet   first line of poem Agar sobhe qiyāmat rā šabi… recorded by   place of recording   date of recording   duration 4:54 source Regional Music of Iran. Šarve ḵāni in Bušehr. Mahoor…

MARTYRS, BABI (Bābi), adherents of the Babi religion who were killed for their faith (see BABISM) during the period up to about 1866 when the Bahai faith emerged. Bahai martyrs are not included here although Bahais were commonly called ‘Bābis’ until the middle of the 20th century. Instances. The challenging and…

MARTYRS, CHRISTIAN: accounts of Christian martyrs during the Sasanian era and later in the medieval Islamic period. THE SASANIAN PERIOD Since Georg Hoffmann’s Auszügeaus syrischen Akten persischer Märtyrer (1880), Paul Peeters’ various studies (1925), and Gernot Wiessner’s published dissertation (1967), modern scholars have recognized the historical value of the surviving…

MARYAMKHANOM, thirty-ninth wife of Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah Qajar (r. 1797-1834), mother of Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana and Maḥmud Mirzā (qqv.). Maryam Khanom was from Māzandarān and of Jewish origin, and had previously been married to Āḡā Moḥammad Khan Qajar (r. 1789-97) (Ażod-al-Dawla, p. 33; Lesān-al-Molk, I, p. 5; Ḵāvari, II, p. 986; Bāmdād, IV,…

MARZBĀN-NĀMA, an early 13th-century prose work in Persian consisting of various didactic stories and fables used as illustrations of morality and right conduct. Background and genealogy.  Marzbān-nāma was written during the years 607-22/1210-25 by the translator/author Saʿd-al-Din Varāvini under the patronage of the vizier Abu’l-Qāsem Hārun, who was in service…

MĀSĀL, small town and sub-provincial district (šahrestān) in the western part of Gilān Province.  The town is located at lat 37°22′ N, long 49°02′ E.  The district corresponds to the two traditional districts of Māsāl and Šāndarman that resulted from the division of the large district of Gaskar at the…

MAŠHAD-E ARDAHĀL (or Ardahār), district and settlement near Kashan, significant for its shrine and conservative traditions. The district of Ardahāl lies on the eastern foothills of the Karkas Mountains, on the road from Kashan to Delijān.  It is a fertile valley 2 miles wide and 10 miles long, dotted with…

MASHAYEKHI, MEHRDAD (مهرداد مشایخی, Mehrdād Mašāyeḵi, b. Tehran, 16 Mordād 1332 Š./ 7 August 1953; d. Fairfax, Virginia, 13 Mehr 1390 Š./ 5 October 2011), scholar, public intellectual, political activist (Figure 1). Mehrdad Mashayekhi was the eldest child of Morteżā Mašāyeḵi and Āriandoḵt Āriānpur. His father is a pediatric doctor who…

MASISTES, Greek rendering (Masístēs) of an Old Iranian name *Masišta- (reflected also in Bab. Ma-si-iš-tu4) based on the superlative YAv. masišta-, OPers. maθišta- “greatest, supreme”; originally the name may have been a title (cf. OPers. maθišta pasā tanūm “the greatest after myself [the king]”); but, equally  well, the basic meaning…

MASJED-E SANGI, a rock-cut mosque near the ancient site of Dārābgerd. The site, also known as the Qaṣr-e Doḵtar or Caravanserai, is a rock-cut mosque, carved into the cliff that raises the geological terrace of the present town of Dārāb (ca. 6 km northwest) above the northeastern rim of the…