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Poseidon: in Bactria Poseidon in Bactria presents the unusual pairing of an Hellenic sea-god with landlocked Central Asia. From the time of Alexander the Great’s invasion, the worship of various Greek deities spread through the region (Plutarch, De Alexandri Fortuna aut Virtute 328D; Curtius 8.2.6 and 32; Arrian 4.8.1-2; Pliny…

POŠT-E KUH, the most western part of the historical Luristan (Lorestān) tribal area in the Zagros (map, FIGURE 1). Luristan is divided into two geographical areas by the Kabirkuh mountain ridge, the last major ridge before the Mesopotamian lowland when seen from the Iranian plateau. The western part was called…

POSTERS IN IRAN. Posters have been produced in Iran since the beginning of the 20th century. During the early 1900s, the art of poster making was intimately associated with the history of cinematography (see CINEMA). Beyond film screenings and advertising, posters also promoted a wide range of cultural activities, such…

Prayer at the end of work title Prayer at the end of work genre/topic Work song of rice farmers language Ṭālešī performer  Woman from Ṭaleš instrument Voice composer   author/poet   first line of poem   recorded by Ārmin Faridi-Haftkhāni place of recording   date of recording   duration 0:29…

PREHISTORY OF IRAN ARTIFICIAL CRANIAL MODIFICATIONS Cranial modification is caused during infancy through the shaping of a baby’s head whilst it is still malleable. Such shaping can be caused by both intentional and unintentional means, using objects such as bandages or textiles, wooden boards, or even simply massaging the head,…

PROCOPIUS, Greek (Byzantine) historian (b. Caesarea Maritima [Palestine], ca. 500 CE; d. Constantinople? ca. 560), author of a major source of information for Byzantine-Iranian relations in the 6th century CE.  After completing his legal studies, Procopius joined the imperial service and in 527 was appointed counselor and secretary (assessor) of the…

PROSODY, systems, styles, and theories of versification in the Iranian world. i. Remnants of Proto-Indo-European Poetic Craft in Iranian. ii. Poetic Aspects of the Avestan Texts. iii. Middle Persian. iv. New Persian.

PROSODY i. Remnants of Proto-Indo-European Poetic Craft in Iranian Although some kind of poetic tradition seems to be attested among all human beings and thus in all probability is a universal phenomenon, the existence of poetry and of a special poetic language is commonly assumed for the Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE), even…

PROSODY iii. MIDDLE PERSIAN Pre-Islamic Iran certainly cultivated poetry. The Parthian minstrels (gōsān) enjoyed great fame (Boyce, 1957), and Ebn-al-Moqaffaʿ, in his famous statement about the languages of Iran, presents Parthian (pahlavi) as the language of “royal sessions,” i.e., probably court entertainments, while considering Middle Persian (pārsi) as the language…

PROTOTHYES (Gk. Protothýēs, not Prōto°, as it is often found in older editions, since this form is attested only in one late manuscript), according to Herodotus 1.103.3 the father of the Scythian king Madýēs, who is said to have gone into battle against the Medes; the otherwise unattested name without…

PUNJABI, Indo-Aryan language of the Punjab with about 26 million speakers in India and more than 60 million in Pakistan. Persian has long had a major linguistic and literary influence on Punjabi, as might be expected from the location in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent of the Punjab, the…

PUR(-E) BAHĀʾ JĀMI, TĀJ-AL-DIN (born in Jām, Khorasan; d. ca. 1284?), poet, pun master, satirist, and often scathing social commentator.  Very little biographical detail is recorded for him; he is known simply by his pen name (taḵalloṣ) Pur Bahāʾ, in reference to his father’s name, Bahāʾ-al-Din (Minorsky, 1964a, p. 295)….