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PEUCESTAS, officer under Alexander the Great on his campaign in Asia. First heard of in 326 BCE as a trierarch of the fleet on the Hydaspes River (Arrian, Indica 18.6), he attained prominence when he entered the city of the Malli with Alexander and saved his life when Alexander had…

PEYK-E SAʿĀDAT-E NESWĀN, a magazine published every alternate month in Rašt from Ābān 1306 until Dey 1309 Š. (October 1927-December 1930), with a one-year interruption. Altogether eight issues were published. The owner and the chief editor was Rowšanak Nawʿdust (b. Rašt, 1898; d. Rašt, 1957), who had also founded a…

PEYMĀN, a periodical published in Tehran by Aḥmad Kasravi (1890-1945), the celebrated historian of the Constitutional Revolution, with Reżā Solṭānzāda as its chief editor beginning with issues 11-12 of the fifth year. Peymān first came out as a biweekly magazine on 1 Āḏar 1312 Š/22 November 1933 and then, starting…

PHILATELY i. The Postage Stamps of Iran. Both a utensil to indicate a paid postage fee on mail matters and a medium of official self-representation, stamps have been used in Iran since the 19th century. Pers. tambr “stamp” is from French timbre. The early stamps (1868-1906). The introduction of postage…

PHILATELY vi (3) vi. Postal History (3) Censorship of Mail in Persia The postal service is a government institution whose very nature entails facilitating communication among its citizens, and between its citizens and those living in other countries. As such, in times of national upheaval or crisis, postal matter inevitably…

PHOENIX MOSQUE, also known as the Phoenix Temple（鳳凰寺), a historical monument built in 1281 in Hangzhou (lat 30°15′ N, long 120°10′ E), Zhejiang Province, on the coastal area of China.  In the long history of Hangzhou, China’s showpiece resort on its east coast, two episodes drastically changed the historical fortunes…

PHRAORTES (from the Old Iranian Fravartish), the second king of the Median dynasty. All information about him is from Herodotus. According to him (1.102), Phraortes was the son of Deioces and united all Median tribes into a single state. He also subjugated the Persians and began to conquer other nations of…

PHRATAPHERNES (Old Ir. *Frāda-farnah, Avestan Frādat ̰.xᵛarənah, Yt. 13.128 “furthering Farrah” [see Schmitt]), a member of the highest Persian aristocracy at the end of the Achaemenid period. He probably belonged to one of the Six Families that had helped Darius I gain the throne. Perhaps he was a descendant of Intaphernes…

PIANO IN PERSIAN MUSIC. The first piano known to have arrived in Persia was a gift from Napoleon Bonaparte to Fatḥ ʿAli Shah (q.v. Ḵāleqi, pp.157-8). This was a small 5-octave instrument and must have been hopelessly out of tune by its arrival in Tehran; it is unlikely that it…

PILARAM, FARAMARZ (Farāmarz Pilārām, b. Tehran, 21 Farvardin 1316 Š./10 April 1937; d. Maḥmud Abād, Māzandarān, Šahrivar 1362 Š./September 1983), modernist artist, educator and among the founders of the Saqqā-ḵāna School of Art (FIGURE 1, FIGURE 2, FIGURE 3). LIFE The son of Aṣḡar Pilārām and Ṭubā Āqābeyg, Faramarz grew…

PIR-E ZAN, a calendar-related legend about an Old Woman who personifies winter.  Besides Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, the legend is widespread all over southern Europe and the Balkans (from Portugal to Bulgaria), as well as in Turkey, Arab Near East, and North Africa (from Morocco to Egypt).  With some…

PÎREMÊRD (Pers. Piremard “old man”; b. Solaymāniya, 1867; d. Solaymāniya, 19 June 1950), pen-name of Tawfiq, son of Maḥmud, son of Ḥamza (in Kurdish: Tewfîq kurî Mehmûd ʿAḡa kurî Hemze ʿAḡa), Kurdish writer, journalist, and public intellectual. A leading poet of his time, he made indispensable contributions to the development…

PIŠ-PARDA (lit. in front of the curtain), a short comedy sketch, musical number, or dance performed before the main theatrical performance, or in an intermission between acts of a performance. The term appears to be of some antiquity, predating Western cultural contact with Iran, but carrying over into modern times….

Pišrow in Bayāte Tork title Pišrow in Bayāte Tork genre/topic Dawr moḵammas, Pišrow in Bayāte Tork language   performer Sa’id Nāyeb Moḥammadi, ʿud Eḥsān Ḍabihifar, kamānča and alto kamānča Ehsān Emāmi, tār Ḥamid Qanbari, dāyere instrument ʿUd; Kamānča; alto Kamānča; Tār; Dāyere composer  Sāsān Fātemi author/poet   first line of…