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TURNIP (Pers. šalḡam; Arabicized šaljam), Brassica rapa L. vars., a biennial shrub of the Cruciferae family with edible fleshy thick root, hairy rosette leaves, grape inflorescence and siliques fruits (Moẓaffariān, p. 179; Ṭabāṭabāʾi, I, p. 560; Zargarī, Ⅰ, p. 236, uses Brassica napus [see below] for turnip). Ian Hedge and…

ṬUSI, NASIR-AL-DIN Abu Jaʿfar Moḥammad (b. Ṭus, 17 February 1201/d. Baghdad, 25 June 1274), celebrated polymath and vizier, whose significant works in literary, theological and scientific disciplines later earned him the title of Moʿallem-al-ṯāleṯ, i.e., the third teacher, following Aristotle and Fārābi. i. Biography. ii. As a Mathematician and Astronomer.

ṬUSI, NAṢIR-AL-DIN i. Biography Abu Jaʿfar Moḥammad Ḵᵛāja Naṣir-al-Din Ṭusi (b. Ṭus, 11 Jomādā I 597/17 February 1201; d. Baghdad, 18 Ḏu’l-Ḥejja 672/25 June 1274), was a philosopher, physician, astronomer, vizier of the founder of the Il-Khanid dynasty, Hulāgu (Hülegü) Khan (r. 1256-65), and the chronographer of the succeeding Il-Khan,…

ṬUSI, NASIR-AL-DIN ii. As a Mathematician and Astronomer Naṣir-al-Din Ṭusi participated in the whole spectrum of mathematical sciences that were known in antiquity: from elementary works on arithmetic to the more advanced works on geometry, and to what we would now call mathematical geography and spherical trigonometry (which were then…

T~ ENTRIES: CAPTIONS OF ILLUSTRATIONS Entry Image Caption TABRIZv. The city in the 19th century Figure 1. “A courtyard adjoining the bazaar.” (Jackson, photograph following p. 46) TABRIZ x. Monuments x(1). The Blue Mosque Figure 1. Tabriz, Blue Mosque, map. Line drawing after material in the Miraṯ-e Farhangi Archives, Tabriz….

ULUḠZĀDA, SĀTIM (Sotim Uluḡzoda in Tajik orthography; b. 1 September 1911 in the village of Varzik, in present-day Uzbekistan; d. 1997, Dushanbe), Tajik novelist, dramatist, and critic. Born into a family of poor peasants and orphaned at ten, he was cared for and educated by the state. In 1929 he…

URARTU IN IRAN. The territory of the ancient kingdom of Urartu extended over the modern frontiers of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and the Republic of Armenia. Its center was the Armenian highland between Lake Van, Lake Urmia, and Lake Sevan. Urartu extended from the Euphrates in the west 850 km to…

URDU, the national language (qaumī zabān) of Pakistan and one of the fifteen officially recognized languages of India. It is spoken, according to recent censuses made in India and Pakistan, by an estimated 53 million people in the South Asian subcontinent (Schmidt, 2004, p. 288). To this we may add…

URGUT (Urḡūt), 39°24′8″ N, 67°14′35″ E, a town ca. 30 km southeast of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, containing monuments of historical, archeological, and epigraphic significance (FIGURE 1, FIGURE 2). Present-day Urgut is a large town (population ca. 50,000) and center of a county (tuman) in Samarkand province (viloyat/velāyat). It is situated on…

URMIA ORTHODOKSETA “Orthodox Urmia” (Russ. Pravoslavnaya Urmia; Figure 1), a monthly periodical published in Urmia by the Russian Orthodox Church Mission from 1904 to 1914, with one interruption. Publication ceased in 1914 due to World War I. The Mission had been active in Urmia, and attracting converts among the Assyrians, since…

Urmia, Lake, called Lake (Daryāča-ye) Reżāʾiya in the Pahlavi period, a salt lake in northwest Iran separating the provinces of West Azerbaijan (Aḏarbāyjan-e Ḡarbi) and East Azerbaijan (Aḏarbāyjan-e Šarqi). Lake Urmia is the largest lake in the Middle East and the second largest salt lake on earth.  It is located…

URSHAN, ANDREŌS BAR DĀWĪD (Andrew David), Assyrian evangelist and author (1884-1967; Figure 1), born in the village of Ābājālui, near Urmia (Razmārā, p. 1), to Šamāšāʾ (deacon) Dāwīd Bar Urshan and his wife Nassimo.  Andreōs attended the American Presbyterian College of Urmia, where he had a ‘born again’ experience in…

U~ ENTRIES: CAPTIONS OF ILLUSTRATIONS Entry Image Caption URARTU Figure 1. Map of Urartian places in Iranian Azerbaijan (Drawing by W. Kleiss). URARTU Figure 2. Ground plans of Urartian castles: a. “Elder Urartian” castle of the 9th century B.C.E., Qalʿa Siāh; b. “Younger Urartian” castle of the 7th century B.C.E.,…

VAEΘĀ, a short Avestan text with Pahlavi translation; each Avestan sentence is followed by its Pahlavi translation and sometimes with additional explanatory glosses. Vaeθā took its name from the first words of the text: vaeθā daēniiå māzdaiiasnōiš ahurahē mazda mraōt̰  “the knowledge of the Mazdayasnian religion, Ahura Mazdā said.” The…