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ʿABBĀS B. ḤOSAYN ŠĪRĀZĪ, ABU’L-FAŻL, Buyid vizier, d. 362/973. He first appears after the death of Mohallabī, the Shiʿi vizier of Moʿezz-al-dawla, as chief of the dīwān al-nafaqāt, the bureau of expenditures. He was subsequently charged with the functions, but not the title, of the vizierate jointly with Ebn Fasānǰos…

ʿABBĀS B. REŻĀ-QOLĪ KHAN NŪRĪ, calligrapher and civil servant, b. at Tāker-e Nūr in Māzandarān, d. 1255/1839-40 and buried in Naǰaf. According to one account, he joined the entourage of Emām-verdī Mīrzā b. Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah, under whose protection he achieved fame and wealth, including sumptuous residences in Tehran and Tāker….

ʿABBĀS B. ʿALĪ B. ABŪ ṬĀLEB, a half brother of Imam Ḥosayn who fought bravely at the battle of Karbalā. ʿAbbās was killed, according to most traditions, on the day of ʿĀšūrā (10 Moḥarram 61/10 October 680) while trying to bring back water from the Euphrates river to quench the…

ʿABBĀS I, styled “the Great,” king of Iran (996-1038/1588-1629) of the Safavid dynasty, third son and successor of Solṭān Moḥammad Shah. He was born on 1 Ramażān 978/27 January 1571, and died in Māzandarān on Jomādā I 1038/19 January 1629, after reigning for forty-two lunar and forty-one solar years. For…

ʿABBĀS II, Shah, seventh Safavid king, son of Shah Ṣafi I (r. 15 Ṣafar 1052-25 Rabiʿ I 1077/15 May 1642-25 September 1666).  Shah ʿAbbās II, known as Solṭān-Moḥammad Mirzā  prior to his enthronement, was born in Qazvin, most likely, as the Dutch report, on Monday 14 Ṣafar 1042/30 August 1632,…

ʿABBĀS III, son of Shah Ṭahmāsp II, roi fainéant of the Safavid dynasty. After the deposition of his father by Nāder Khan Afšār in Rabīʿ I, 1145/August, 1732, the eight-month-old ʿAbbās was invested as ʿAbbās III on 17 Rabīʿ I 1145/ 7 September 1732 (or possibly earlier). Nāder Khan, who…

ʿABBĀS MĪRZĀ, son of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah and father of the line of Qajar rulers from Moḥammad Shah on. He was born on 4 Ḏu’l-ḥeǰǰa 1203/26 August 1789 in the town of Navā, Māzandarān. His mother, Āsīya Ḵānom, was a daughter of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Khan Devellū; Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah had married her at the…

ʿABBĀS, ḤĀJĪ, a signature found on a number of pieces of metalwork from Iran; three different individuals or workshops should probably be distinguished. 1. A craftsman working in steel, who signs himself Ḥāǰī ʿAbbās, is known primarily from a dervish’s bowl in the collection of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan. A. Welsh…

ʿABBĀS-QOLĪ KHAN, Persian viceroy in eastern Georgia, 1099-1105/1688-94, under the Safavid shahs Solaymān and Solṭān Ḥosayn. ʿAbbās-qolī Khan’s ill-starred intervention in Georgian affairs arose from the Persian court’s desire to achieve direct control over the Georgian vassal provinces. This action involved a policy of divide and rule and the exploiting…

ʿABBĀS-QOLĪ MĪRZĀ, son of Ebrāhīm Khan Ẓahīr-al-dawla and, through his mother (the princess Dawlatgeldī, titled Navvāb-e motaʿālīa), a grandson of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah. When Ẓahīr-al-dawla, governor of Kermān since 1218/1803, went to Tehran in 1240/1824, he appointed ʿAbbās-qolī Mīrzā as his deputy in Kermān. The latter took precedence over governor’s own…

ʿABBĀSĀBĀD, fortress built in 1810 by ʿAbbās Mīrzā on the northern bank of the Araxes river. Erected at a place formerly called Yazdābād about six miles to the southwest of Naḵjavān city, the fortress commanded the passage of the Araxes and was of special strategic importance for the defense of the…

ʿABBĀSĀBĀD, flourishing caravan station of the Safavid period. It was located 92 km southeast of Varāmīn in the Sīāh-kūh, and it lay on the Safavid royal highway which led from Isfahan to the Safavid fortresses in Māzandarān. The itinerary was: Isfahan – Dombī – Čahārābād – Sardahān – Qaḷʿa-ye Sangī…

ʿABBĀSĪ, a name first applied to the principal gold and silver coins issued by the Safavid king ʿAbbās I (1581-1629); it continued in use until the beginning of the 20th century. The silver and gold coins of Safavid Persia bore no face values; they were very pure and passed by…

ʿABBĀSĪ GOJARĀTĪ, ʿABD-AL-LAṬĪF B. ʿABDALLĀH KABĪR (d. 1048/1638), Indian literary figure. He was first attached to the retinue of Laškar Khan Mašhadī in Kabul and then to the court of Shah Jahān (1628-58), where he exercised the functions of dīvān-e tan and was given the title ʿAqīda Khan. He added…