Explore Iranica

Ashraf, Ghodsieh or Ghodsia (Qodṣiya Maryam Ašraf; b. Majidābād, northeast of Tehran, 22 November 1889; d. Tehran, 16 April 1976), one of the first Iranian women who pursued higher education and obtained university degrees in the West, a Bahaʾi philanthropist, and an initiator and organizer of numerous educational and health…

AŠI, Avestan feminine noun meaning “thing attained, reward, share, portion, recompense” and, as a personification, the goddess “Reward, Fortune.” The word is an abstract noun from a root ar- (“to grant,” AirWb. col. 184) with suffix -ti, belonging to the group of Younger Avestan personified abstracts like Rāman (Joy, Peace),…

ĀSĪĀ (or āsīāb) “mill.” i. Mills in Iran. ii. Afghan variations.   i. Mills in Iran Before World War II most of the corn ground to produce the flour for the staple in the Iranian diet, bread, was processed by traditionally powered mills, principally watermills (āsīāb). Except in remote areas…

Asia Institute, The, founded in 1928 in New York City as the American Institute for Persian Art and Archaeology, incorporated 1930 in the state of New York; active in Shiraz 1965-79. In its affiliation, functions, and publications, the Institute has had a complicated and eventful career, illustrating some of the…

ASIA INSTITUTE, BULLETIN OF THE, underwent three transformations in its existence. It began as the Bulletin of the American Institute of Persian Art and Archaeology in July 1931, and the first issue was edited by Arthur Upham Pope, director of the Institute. The Bulletin (14x23cm) was at first concerned with…

ASIA MINOR, Irano-Anatolian relations. Cyrus the Great gave Iranians control over Anatolia. Settlement, some forced, continued until his House fell in the 330s; residence continued for longer still (into the fourth century A.D. in the west, beyond Sasanian times in the east). The Iranians left their imprint above all on the art…

Search terms:  انجمن آسیایی بنگال anjoman asiya e banegal  

ASII (or ASIANI), an ancient nomadic people of Central Asia, who about 130 B.C. put an end to Greek rule in Bactria. According to Strabo, Geography 11.8.2 (if the ms. tradition is trustworthy), Bactria (Bactrianē) was taken away from the Greeks by four nomadic peoples who came from the country…

ASINAEUS AND ANILAEUS, figure in Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities 18.310-79 (18.9.1-9), a section on “the Jews living in Mesopotamia and especially Babylonia” inserted between the death of the emperor Gaius in A.D. 41 and Josephus’ attack on him. The section is composite—310-13: an account of the Jews in Mesopotamia; 314-70: the…

ASĪR EṢFAHĀNĪ (or ŠAHRESTĀNĪ), MĪRZĀ JALĀL B. MĪRZĀ MOʾMEN, a poet of the 11th/17th century (d. 1049/1639). He was a leading sayyed of Šahrestān (a quarter of Isfahan) and was married to one of the shah’s daughters, Malek-al-nesāʾ Bīgom. He enjoyed the high esteem of the shah as well as…

ĀŠIRVĀD, “blessing, benediction” (Skt. āśīr-vāda) in Gujarati (called payvand-nāma in Persian), a set of prayers and admonitions recited by the two officiating Parsi priests in the Zoroastrian marriage ceremony. It follows the actual marriage vows (paymānī, consisting of the priests’ questions and the couple’s response), which are recited before the…

ASK SPRINGS (Figure 53). Situated at the foot of Damāvand (5,670 m) in the valley of the Harāz-rūd, Ask is one of a number of places in the Alborz where one finds thermal mineral springs (see Āb-e Garm). The town itself is 1,700m above sea level on the edge of…

Search terms:  آشک آباد  ashk abad  aashk aabaad  

Search terms:  اشکانیان ashkanian aashkaaniaan ashkaniyan  

AŠKAŠ, an Iranian hero in the reign of Kay Ḵosrow. According to Ferdowsī’s Šāh-nāma (Moscow ed., IV, p. 28, verses 318f., and V, p. 241, verses 108f.), he fought in Kay Ḵosrow’s campaigns to avenge Sīāvoš, conquering Kᵛārazm at the king’s command and forcing Afrāsīāb’s son Šīda to flee to…