BARZĪN (from Pahlavi Burzēn), the name of several figures in the Šāh-nāma. Barzīn, a wealthy dehqān who lived at the…

BĀRMĀN, the son of Vīsa, one of the Turanian heroes mentioned in the Šāh-nāma as a member of the army…

BĀR (audience). The royal audience was one of the most important and enduring of the court ceremonies practiced in Iran….

BAHRĀM SĪĀVOŠĀN (i.e., Bahrām son of Sīāvoš) was a supporter of Bahrām Čōpīn or Čōbīn, the general in the reigns…

BAHRĀM B. MARDĀNŠĀH, a Zoroastrian priest (mōbed) of the town of Šāpūr in Fārs, mentioned in several Arabic and Persian…

BAHRĀM SON OF GŌDARZ, a hero in the reigns of Kay Kāōs and Kay Ḵosrow, renowned for his valiant service…

BAHMAN son of ESFANDĪĀR, a Kayanian king of Iran in the national epic. This king does not appear in the…

BĀDĀVARD (windfall), the name of one of the seven treasures of Ḵosrow Parvēz in the Šāh-nāma (Moscow ed., IX, p….

BABR-e BAYĀN (or babr, also called palangīna), the name of the coat which Rostam wore in combat. It was fire-proof,…

AŽDAHĀ “dragon,” various kinds of snake-like, mostly gigantic, monsters living in the air, on earth, or in the sea (also…

ĀZĀDSARV. Two bearers of this name are known. 1. A mōbad in the reign of Ḵosrow I Anōšīravān and one…

ĀZĀDA, name of a Roman slave-girl of Bahrām Gōr. According to Ferdowsī (Šāh-nāma [Moscow] VII, p. 273, vv. 153ff.) and…

ʿAYYŪQĪ, a poet of the fifth/eleventh century who versified the romance of Varqa o Golšāh. In it he gives his…

AWḤADĪ MARĀḠAʾĪ, SHAIKH AWḤAD-AL-DĪN (or ROKN-AL-DĪN) B. ḤOSAYN (born ca. 673/1274-75 in Marāḡa and died there in 738/1338), a poet…

AŠKAŠ, an Iranian hero in the reign of Kay Ḵosrow. According to Ferdowsī’s Šāh-nāma (Moscow ed., IV, p. 28, verses…

AŠKBŌS, a Turanian hero from Kašān or Košān in the story of “Kāmūs-e Kašānī,” Šāh-nāma (Moscow) IV, p. 194, vv….

ʿASJADĪ, ABŪ NAẒAR ʿABD-AL-ʿAZĪZ B. MANṢŪR MARVAZĪ, a poet of the first half of the 5th/11th century. Reżā-qolī Khan Hedāyat…

ASADĪ ṬŪSĪ, ʿALĪ B. AḤMAD, (b. ca. 390/999-1000, d. 465/1072-73), poet, linguist and copyist, from Ṭūs in Khorasan (see the…

ARMIN, the fourth son of Kay Qobād in certain texts of the Šāh-nāma (ed. Mohl, 11, v. 228; Borūḵīm, II,…

ARDAŠĪR, name of several figures in the Šāh-nāma. 1. The mōbad-e mōbadān (chief Zoroastrian priest-jurisconsult) in the reign of Pērōz…

ANŌŠAZĀD (in the Šāh-nāma, Nōšzād; the name means “son of the immortal”), a son of Ḵosrow I Anōšīravān and leader…

ANDARĪMĀN, the name of a number of Turanian heroes in the Šāh-nāma. (1) A companion of Sīāvoš in the game…

AMĪRAK ṬŪSĪ, 4th/10th century notable of the ʿAbd-al-Razzāqī family of Ṭūs, related to Abū Manṣūr Moḥammad b. ʿAbd-al-Razzāq (an earlier…

AMĪRAK BALʿAMĪ, name given to ABŪ ʿALĪ MOḤAMMAD (also called Baḷʿamī-e Kūček “the lesser, younger”), son of Abu’l-Fażl Moḥammad b….

AKVĀN-E DĪV, the demon Akvān, who was killed by Rostam. According to the Šāh-nāma (ed. Mohl, vol. 3, pp. 270ff.)…

AḴTAR, AḤMAD BEG GORJĪ, a poet of the era of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah Qāǰār (1212-50/1797-1834). Hedāyat (Maǰmaʿ al-foṣaḥāʾ I, pp. 154-55,…

AḠRĒRAṮ (Av. Aγraēraθa), Turanian warrior and brother of Afrāsīāb (in the older and more reliable copies of the Šāh-nāma, including…

ADAB i. Adab in Iran The term and its synonyms. Apart from a genre of literature (see section ii), adab…

ABŪ ṬĀHER ḴĀTŪNĪ, MOWAFFAQ-AL-DAWLA, officer, famous poet, and author in the reign of the Saljuq Sultan Moḥammad b. Malekšāh (498-511/1105-18)….

ABŪ MANṢŪR MOḤAMMAD B. ʿABD-AL-RAZZĀQ B. ʿABDALLĀH B. FARROḴ, a dehqān (landowner) of Ṭūs, official under the Samanids, and patron…

ABŪ ḤAFṢ SOḠDĪ, one of the so-called “first poets” in New Persian. The concept of “first poet,” however, is simplistic;…

ABŪ ʿALĪ MOḤAMMAD B. AḤMAD BALḴĪ, author of a Šāh-nāma, according to Bīrūnī (Āṯār al-bāqīa, pp. 99f.). Abū ʿAlī is…

ABU’L-ʿABBĀS B. ḤANŪD MARVAZĪ, Sufi, jurist, and traditionist, one of the first poets to write in New Persian. Soyūṭī (d….

ʿABBĀSĪ RABENJANĪ, ABU’L-ʿABBĀS (or ABŪ ʿABDALLĀH), a Samanid poet from Rabenǰān, a city near Samarqand, south of the Soḡd river….