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ŠARAFĀBĀD, the name of a village and an adjacent ancient settlement called Tepe Šarafābād in Southwest Iran (FIGURE 1). Geographical and ecological setting. The modern village Šarafābād, which was destroyed during the 1980s, was located 12 km south-southwest of Dezful in Khuzistan Province in an intensely cultivated area. The traditional…

SARBEDĀRS (lit. “Head givers”), a religious movement in northern Khorāsān and eastern Māzandarān that led to the establishment of a dynasty of local rulers based in Sabzevār in the district of Bayhaq, northeastern Iran.  “Sarbedār” is the name given to the leaders and adherents of the small independent state. It…

SARGOḎAŠTE-E SAYYEDNĀ (The life-story of our master), title of an anonymous Persian work containing the biography of Ḥasan-e Ṣabbāḥ (d. 518/1124), the founder of the Nezāri Ismaʿili state of Persia (see ISMAʿILISM iii. ISMAʿILI HISTORY) centered at the mountain fortress of Alamut.  This biography (sargoḏašt), the first part of which…

ŠARḤ-e TAʿARROF, an extensive commentary in Persian on Abu Bakr Moḥammad Kalābāḏi’s well-known Sufi manual Ketāb al-Taʿarrof le-maḏhab ahl al-taṣawwuf, written by Abu Ebrāhim Esmāʿil b. Moḥammad b. ʿAbd-Allāh al-Mostamli of Bukhara (d. 434/1042-3), most probably a disciple of Kalābāḏi himself. Known also as Nur al-moridin wa fażiḥat al-moddaʿin (Light…

ŠARIF KHAN, Moḥammad (d. ca 1807), a physician at the court of the Mughal emperor, Shah ʿĀlam II (r. 1760-1806), author, and the eponymous founder of the Šarifi family, distinguished as the leading physicians of the yunāni medicine in Colonial India. He descended from a family of theologians and physicians…

ŠARQ, a literary journal published in Tehran by Moḥammad Ramażāni (1904-67), the owner of the publishing firm Kolāla-ye ḵāvar. Some of the celebrated literary figures of the time were among the editors of the journal. The first issue appeared in Šahrivar 1303/August-September 1924, and the next, in far fewer pages,…

SASANIAN COINAGE. The coinage of the Sasanian empire (ca. 224-651 CE) is not only the most important primary source for its monetary and economic history, but is also of greatest importance for history and art history. Only through the evidence of the royal portraits on the coins, does it become…

SASANIAN DYNASTY, the last Persian lineage of rulers to achieve hegemony over much of Western Asia before Islam, ruled 224 CE–650 CE. Rise of the Sasanian empire. The overthrow of the Arsacid royal house in 224 CE and the establishment of the Sasanian dynasty was the outcome of the simultaneous…

SASANIAN ROCK RELIEFS. Little of the written record of the Sasanian period has survived: it consists in the main of a few inscriptions carved on rocks or buildings, some ostraca, usually economic, and some seals and bullae. As a result the information provided by the two primary sources, the coins…

SASANIAN TEXTILES AN ICONOGRAPHICAL APPROACH Classical, Islamic, and Chinese sources celebrate Sasanian textiles as a very precious commodity, but no specific descriptions of them are given. Most studies of Sasanian textile art are originally based on these sources and on examining the reliefs of the larger grotto at Tāq-e Bostān,…

SASANIAN WALL PAINTING Murals found on sites within the territory of the Sasanian Empire (224- 650 CE; see SASANIAN DYNASTY) are considered Sasanian. While their main function is decorative, their secondary function can be derived from location, theme, and dimension, and is important because it reflects a world-view. Wall paintings…

SATASPES, Greek rendering of the name OIran. (non-Persian) *Satāspa- “having hundred (or better: hundreds of) horses,” as it is also reflected in Assyr. Šatašpa, Elam. Šá-ad-da-áš/iš-ba, Šá-da-áš-ba (Hallock, p. 752), and later is attested in Sogd. stʾsp /Satāsp/ (cf. Schmitt, pp. 320 f.). Sataspes was an Achaemenid, the son of…

SATI BIK (Sati Beg), of the Il-Khanid dynasty (739/1338-9) was the daughter of the Il-Khan Öljeitü (Uljāytu) by his wife Eltüzmiš (Kāšāni, p. 7). She was married by her half-brother, the Il-Khan Abu Saʿid Bahādor Khan, in 719/1319 to the powerful amir Čobān (Čupān) as a reward for his service…

SATTĀR KHAN (b. Janali village, Azerbaijan, 1868; d. Tehran, November 9, 1914), later known as “Sardār-e Melli” (The People’s Commander), one of the most popular heroes from Tabriz who defended the town during the Lesser Autocracy (estebdād-e ṣaḡir) in 1908-09 (FIGURE 1). He was the third son of Hīājj Hīasan…

SAVDO (Sawdā), ABDULQODIRHOJAI (ʿAbd-al-Qāder Ḵˇāja; عبدالقادر خواجه سودا, b., Bukhara, 1823-24; d. 1873: drowned in the Vaḵšāb River and buried in Bukhara), Tajik lyric and satirical poet. Information about Savdo’s life and career is relatively sparse.  What we have comes mainly from a study of the contents of his poems…