Explore Iranica

  SCHMIDT, HANNS-PETER (b. Berlin, 1930; d. Dana Point, Calif., 31 July 2017; Figure 1), a German Indo-Iranist who mainly worked on the Vedas and the Gathas of Zoroaster, as well as Indian mythology and the Zoroastrian religion. In 1957, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg in…

SCYTHIAN LANGUAGE. The language of the Scythians, which is not attested by authentic continuous texts, but only in a quite fragmentary manner indirectly and chiefly by a variety of names, is one of the idioms spoken by the nomadic tribes of the Eurasian steppelands along the northern edge of the…

SCYTHIANS, a nomadic people of Iranian origin who flourished in the steppe lands north of the Black Sea during the 7th-4th centuries BCE (Figure 1). For related groups in Central Asia and India, see SAKAS IN AFGHANISTAN and INDO-SCYTHIAN DYNASTY. See also ASB ii. AMONG THE SCYTHIANS; CLOTHING vii. OF…

“SE QAṬRA ḴUN” (1932, translated by Brian Spooner as “Three Drops of Blood,” 1979), a highly acclaimed short story by Ṣādeq Hedāyat (HEDAYAT, SADEQ, 1903-1951), first appeared in a collection of the same title. In contrast with the linear timeline often found in  Hedayat’s stories of social realism the boundaries…

SEALS AND SEALINGS IN THE EASTERN IRANIAN LANDS. An overview of Eastern Iranian seals encompasses a vast geographical area, from the eastern borders of the Iranian plateau in present day Afghanistan to the northwest of the Indian subcontinent, where in successive periods Iranian dynasties created kingdoms of great political importance;…

SEBEOS, a seventh-century Armenian historian.    Armenia may have been partitioned between the great powers in late antiquity. A Mediterranean religion may have infiltrated its ruling classes on either side of the artificial political divide, together with a sedimentary deposit of Greco-Roman culture. But it was to Iran that most Armenians…

SEBÜKTEGIN, ABU MANṢUR NĀṢER-AL-DIN Wa’l-DAWLA, a slave commander of the Samanids (q.v.) and the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty in eastern Afghanistan. The Turkish name Sebüktegin means “beloved prince,” but the second element (tegin “prince”) had declined in status from Orkhon Turkish times, becoming part of the onomastic of Turkish slave…

Segāh Yatim title Segāh Yatim genre/topic Mugam Segāh language   performer ‘Ali Salimi instrument Tār composer   author/poet   first line of poem   recorded by   place of recording   date of recording   duration 4 :15 source Azerbaijani Music. Tār Ostād Ali Salimi. Mahoor Institute of Culture and Art,…

ŠEHĀB-AL-DIN ŠĀH ḤOSAYNI, a Nezāri Ismaʿili high dignitary (pir) and author (b. Iraq, or probably Maḥallāt, ca. 1268/1851; d. Poona, India, Ṣafar 1302/December 1884).  Šehāb-al-Din Šāh, also known as Pir Ḵalil-Allāh, was the eldest son of Āqā ʿAlišāh, Āqā Khan II (1246-1302/1830-85), the forty-seventh imam of the Nezāri Ismaʿilis, and…

SELEUCID ECONOMY The Seleucid empire extended at its peak from the Mediterranean to the borders of India, enduring from 312 to 129 BCE, after which it gradually broke up until its final submission to Rome in 64 BCE. In its vast area existed regions with quite different physical characteristics and…

SELEUCID EMPIRE, founded in 312/311 BCE by Seleucus I Nicator (Figure 1), formerly a general in the army of Alexander the Great. Adopting the titles “King of Asia” and “Great King,” the Macedonian rulers of the Seleucid dynasty laid claim to the territory of the former Achaemenid empire during the Hellenistic…

SELEUCID ERA, the first system of continuous year numbering, introduced in the Middle East by the Seleucids, and the direct forerunner of the Christian, Islamic, and Jewish years. As the formal time reckoning system of the Seleucid empire, the era was adopted throughout the Middle East. Sometimes known as the…

Seleucus (Greek: Seleukos), name of seven kings of the Seleucid empire. Four of them ruled over Iran: Seleucus I Nicator Seleucus II Callinicus  Seleucus III Soter  Seleucus IV Philopator   SELEUCUS I Nicator (r. 312-281 BCE; Figure 1), the founder of the Seleucid empire, who succeeded in re-uniting the greater part…