Explore Iranica

ASSYRIA iii. Parthian Assur Assur, the old Assyrian metropolis, was once again to acquire a certain importance in the centuries of the pre-Christian era and the early part of the new millennium. In 141 B.C. the Parthian king Mithridates I conquered large parts of Mesopotamia, including probably Assyria. Although the…

ASSYRIANS IN IRAN i. The Assyrian community (Āšūrīān) in Iran. ii. Literature of the Assyrians in Iran. iii. Assyrian settlements outside of Iran.       Search terms:  آشوریان در ایران ashorian dar iran aashorian dar iran aashoorian dar iran  

ASSYRIANS IN IRAN i. The Assyrian community (Āšūrīān) in Iran The term “Assyrian.” Assyrians (Āšūrīs) is the term for the modern, East Syrian Christian communities in Iran. The ancient name “Assyrian,” derived from that of the god Aššur, designated the Semitic population of north Mesopotamia and their capital city. Even…

ASSYRIANS IN IRAN ii. Literature of the Assyrians in Iran The modern Syriac idiom of the East Syrian Christians (termed “Neusyrisch” or modern, vernacular, or colloquial Syriac by scholars) has come to be labeled by the people themselves as “Assyrian.” This misleading term is also applied to the literature, replacing the…

ASSYRIANS IN IRAN iii. Assyrian Settlements Outside of Iran The Assyrians of Iran are a fraction of the larger Assyrian nation with an estimated population of close to 1,500,000 people. Prior to World War I Assyrians were heavily concentrated in the border regions of present day Turkey, Iraq, and Iran…

ASTABED. The word astabid occurs in two Syriac texts as the title of a high-ranking Iranian officer and is applied to three different individuals: (1) the general Bōē, who was appointed by Kavād to arrange an armistice with the Roman general Celer but died in 505 before the negotiations were…

AŠTĀD (Mid. Pers.), Av. arštāt-, Old Iranian female deity of rectitude and justice. Arštāt in Avestan may be “justice” (I. Gershevitch, The Avestan Hymn to Mithra, Cambridge, 1959, pp. 197, 286f., 327), rather than “honesty” or “sincerity” (F. Justi, Namenbuch, p. 47; AirWb., col. 205; H. Lommel, Die Yäšt’s des…

AŠTĀD YAŠT, Yt. 18, though dedicated to Aštād, Av. Arštāt-, the goddess of rectitude (or justice, see Aštād), does not mention her. The yašt is quite short (only nine verses including the holy formulas), and can be divided into three parts: Verses 1-2 feature the Aryan Glory (airiianəm xᵛarəno), who…

ĀSTĀN-E QODS-E RAŻAWĪ, the complex of buildings surrounding the tomb of the Imam ʿAlī al-Reżā at Mašhad (the “shrine complex”). The pre-Mongol period. The city of Mašhad (Meshed), the present-day administrative capital of Khorasan, is a relatively recent foundation which grew up about the tomb with its important pilgrim traffic following the…

ĀSTĀNA, town and district in the province of Gilān. The town, also called Āstāna-ye ašrafiya, is located at lat 37°16′ N, long 49°57′ E, along the highway between Rasht and Lāhijān and approximately 2 miles to the east of its crossing of the Safidrud. Āstāna, although only a small community, is…

ASTARA, a town and sub-province in the province of Ardabil, on the Caspian coast (lat 38°26′ N, long 48°51′ E). This entry is divided into two articles: i. Town and sub-province. ii. Population, 1956-2011.   Search terms: آستارا astara aastaaraa aastara   

ĀSTĀRĀ i. Town and Sub-Province Since 1228/1813, when the treaty of Golestān fixed the frontier between Qajat Persia and the Russian empire on the Āstārā river, the town and district have been divided, the part south of that river belonging to Iran, the part north of it to the Russian empire, the…

ASTARA ii. Population, 1956-2011 This article deals with the following population characteristics of Astara city: population growth from 1956 to 2011, age structure, average household size, literacy rate, and economic activity status for 2006 and/or 2011 (different dates for the categories are determined by the availability of census data). Population…

ASTARĀBĀD (or ESTERĀBĀD), the older Islamic name for the modern town of Gorgān in northeastern Iran, and also the name of an administrative province in Qajar times. i. History ii. Monuments   i. History The district and province. This lies at the southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea, and is…

ASTARĀBĀD BAY, also known as Gorgān Bay or Ḵalīǰ-e Gorgān, is a lagoon in the extreme southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea. It is some 40 km long and only a few meters deep. It is separated from the Caspian Sea proper by the Mīānkāla peninsula, a narrow tongue of…