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ARAB-SASANIAN COINS. Arab-Sasanian is a term applied to several different coinages of early Islamic Iran which were issued under Arab authority using the design and inscriptions of the preceding Sasanian coinage. Most Arab-Sasanian coins (Plate II) are silver, known by their contemporaries as drahms (Mid. Pers.) or derhams (Ar.), both…

i. The Achaemenid province Arabāya ii. The Sasanians and Arabia

ARABIA i. The Achaemenid province Arabāya In the Bīsotūn (1.15) and several other Old Persian inscriptions (see Kent, Old Persian, pp. 169-70) that list provinces of the Achaemenid empire in a geographical sequence, Arabāya is placed after Babylonia and Assyria (i.e., Syria) and before Egypt. During the Achaemenid period the term Arabāya was not yet…

ARABIA ii. The Sasanians and Arabia Within a few years after the commencement of Ardašir I’s (r. ca. 224-242) program of conquest, the Sasanians undertook military engagements in both northeastern Arabia and Oman.  In the late Sasanian period, they conquered Yemen Aden  (see ABNĀʾ).  Generally, however, the Sasanians seem to…

ARABIC LANGUAGE i. Arabic elements in Persian ii. Iranian loanwords in Arabic iii. Arabic influences in Persian literature iv. Arabic literature in Iran v. Arabic Elements in Persian   (For Arabic in Afghanistan, see AFGHANISTAN v. LANGUAGES) See also under ʿARAB.

ARABIC LANGUAGE i. Arabic elements in Persian The profound influence of Arabic in Iran can be traced to its social, religious, and political significance in the wake of the Muslim conquest, when it became the language of the dominant class, the language of religion and government administration, and by extension,…

ARABIC LANGUAGE ii. Iranian Loanwords in Arabic Loanwords in Arabic, traditionally called moʿarrab (arabicized) or daḵīl (foreign words), include a considerable number of Iranian elements. Political relations between the Iranians and the Arabs go back to the Achaemenid period (5th century B.C.), when Arabia (Old Pers. Arabāya-) formed a satrapy…

ARABIC LANGUAGE iii. Arabic Influences in Persian Literature Any inquiry into the early development of Islamic Persian language and literature is faced with the same problem—the absence of contemporary material. We are not to suppose that Persian was not written down until the 3rd/9th century (from which period the earliest…

ARABIC LANGUAGE iv. Arabic Literature in Iran Arabic literature in Iran comprises the works of the early Arab conquerors and those of the Persians who wrote in Arabic. The latter, by far more numerous, ensured Iran a major role in the development of Arabic letters from the 2nd/8th century. Even…

ARABIC LANGUAGE v. ARABIC ELEMENTS IN PERSIAN Since the Arab conquest of Iran in the seventh century and the subsequent conversion of a majority of the population to Islam, Arabic, as the language of contact, of the Muslim scripture and liturgy, and of a large volume of wide-ranging scholarly literature…

ARACHNIDS, or ARACHNIDA, Pers. ʿankabūtīān. The largest chelicerate class of the invertebrate phylum Arthropoda; it includes such familiar, frequently encountered Iranian forms as the true spiders, ʿankabūt or tārtanak (Araneida); true scorpions, ʿaqrab or každom (Scorpionida); free-living and parasitic mites, hīra, and ticks, kana, mella, ḡarībgaz, or šabgaz (Acarina); and…

ARACHOSIA, province (satrapy) in the eastern part of the Achaemenid empire around modern Kandahār (southern Afghanistan), which was inhabited by the Iranian Arachosians or Arachoti. The Old Persian form of its name is Harauvatiš (h-r-u-v-t-i-); this form is the etymological equivalent of Vedic Sárasvatī- (fem., name of a river, properly…

ARĀK i. History. ii. Modern town and industry. iii. Basic population data, 1956-2011.   i. History Arāk was originally the popular name of Solṭānābād, a town in western Iran, but is now the official name as well. It lies at 49° 41’ east longitude and 34° 5’ north latitude, 284…