Explore Iranica

TEHRĀNI, Ḥosayn (b. Tehran, 1290 S3./1911, d. Tehran 1362 S3./1973) well-known master performer of the tonbak (Persian drum, also called tombak, dombak, and żarb). Ḥosayn’s father was an enthusiast of music and had close association with many musicians. Ḥosayn was thus fostered in an artistic environment and developed an interest…

TEKIŠ B. IL ARSLĀN, ʿAlāʾ-al-Donyā wa’l-Din Abu’l-Moẓaffar (r. 1172-1200; for his full name, see Ebn al-Aṯir XI, p. 377; for the meaning of tekiš Turk. “he who strikes in battle,” see Bayur), a ruler of the branch of Khwarazmshahs who descended from the Great Saljuq slave commander (ḡolām) Anuštigin Ḡarča’i…

TELEGRAPH i. FIRST TELEGRAPH LINES IN PERSIA Electric telegraph was first introduced in Persia by one of the leading reformists of the Qajar period, the Armenian Mirzā Malkom Khan (1833/34-1908). In 1851, upon completing his higher education in Paris, he returned to Tehran soon after the foundation of the Dār…

TENTS in Iran i. General Survey ii. Variety, Construction, and Use

TENTS in Iran i. General Survey Čādor “tent,” is a portable dwelling characteristic of certain nomad groups. It consists of a canopy of cloth or skin supported by upright posts and anchored to the ground by means of pegs and ropes. The word čādor refers to both the canopy and…

TENTS in Iran ii. Variety, Construction, and Use Both of the basic tent types used by nomads elsewhere in the Middle East are present in Iran and Afghanistan: the black, goat-hair tent and the felt tent. However, whereas the black tent, typical of the Persian-speaking tribes, is also used by…

TEPE HISSAR (Tappa Ḥeṣār), prehistoric site located just south of Dāmḡān in northeastern Persia. To the north lie valleys rich in flint, lead, wood, fruit, deer, stag, boar, fish and fowl; to the south, the periphery of the great desert (kavir), with known occurrences of copper, gold, turquoise, semi-arid fauna,…

TEPE YAHYA (Tappe Yaḥyā), archeological site in the Soḡun valley (lat 28°20′N, long 56°52′E), Kerman province, ca. 220 km south of Kerman and 130 km north of the Straits of Hormuz. The site is a mound (tepe), 19.8 m. high, 187 m. in diameter at the base, and was discovered…

TERKEN (or TORKĀN) ḴĀTUN, the title of the wife of the Khwarazmshah Tekiš b. Il-Arslān (r. 1172-1200) and mother of ʿAlāʾ-al-Din Moḥammad (r. 1200-20). Terken Ḵātun (cf. Bosworth, “Terken Khātūn”) belonged to the Qanğlı group of Turks, apparently part of the Qıpčaq confederation that at this time controlled the steppes…

TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN IRAN. Textile production in Iran dates back to the 10th millennium BCE, and much of the output of Persia’s weavers has rightly been hailed as masterworks. The first European-style factories in Persia were established in the 1850s and were among the first establishments in the country to…

THAILAND-IRAN RELATIONS. Iran’s cultural and trade relations with Southeast Asia date back far into the pre-Islamic period. With regard to the Sasanid and the early Islamic periods, the studies by Colless and Tibbetts (see bibliography) are essential. However, official diplomatic relations between the two regions, exemplified by the exchange of…

THEOPHYLACT SIMOCATTA (fl. 620s), Greek historian and author of Histories, a work mainly concerned with late sixth-century Byzantine warfare in the Balkans and against Persia. Theophylact is the last in the long line of Greek historians stretching back over a millennium to Herodotus who composed grand narratives of military and…

TIGRAN II, THE GREAT, king of Armenia (r. 95-55 BCE). Tigran (Tigranes) II was the most distinguished member of the so-called Artašēsid/Artaxiad dynasty (see ARTAXIAS I), which has now been identified as a branch of the earlier Eruandid dynasty of Iranian origin attested as ruling in Armenia from at least…