iv. Armenian Aždahak Aždahak is the Armenian form, borrowed from Parthian (cf. Man. Parth. ʾjdhʾg), of the name of the Avestan…

ii. In Persian Literature In Persian literature the aždahā (also aždar, aždarha@, aždahāk, in modern East-Iranian dialects also aždār, etc.)…

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…

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

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

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,…

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)….

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

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

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….

The Bāysonḡorī Šāh-nāma manuscript was commissioned by the Timurid prince Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Bāysonḡor b. Šāhroḵ (d. 837/1433) in 829/1426 and was…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BARMĀYA, the name of a cow associated with Ferēdūn and eventually killed by Żaḥḥāk. The form Barmāya is found only…

AZRAQĪ HERAVĪ, the pen-name of Abū Bakr b. Esmāʿīl Warrāq of Herat, a Persian poet of the 5th/11th century. His…

Reliefs on stone from the Achaemenid period, particularly the relief found at the treasury site at Persepolis in the excavations…

BOZORGMEHR-E BOḴTAGĀN, identified in literature and legend as a vizier of Ḵosrow I Anōšīravān (r. 531-78; Masʿūdī, Morūj, ed. Pellat,…

ABŪ MANṢŪR MAʿMARĪ, minister (dastūr) of Abū Manṣūr b. ʿAbd-al-Razzāq (d. 350/961), a military commander of Khorasan under the Samanids….

The distance in time and the paucity of primary sources from the pre-Islamic period make it hard to establish the…

CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS x. China in Medieval Persian Literature In medieval writings Čīn may mean either China proper or eastern Turkestan…

FERDOWSI ii. HAJW-NĀMA Hajw-nāma is the title of a verse lampoon of Sultan Maḥmūd of Ḡazna attributed to Ferdowsī. According…

FARŠĒDVARD, a Kayanian prince in the Iranian legendary history, son of Goštāsp and brother of Esfandīār (qq.v.). He is mentioned…

FARĪBORZ, son of Key Kāvūs. Ṭabarī (I, p. 605) and Balʿamī (ed. Bahār, I, p. 603) have recorded his name…

FARANGĪS, eldest daughter of Afrāsīāb and wife of Sīāvaḵš. In the Bundahišn (TD2, 35.21) her name is Vīspān-fryā. In Ṭabarī…

FARĀMARZ-NĀMA, a Persian epic recounting the adventures of the hero Farāmarz. According to the Tārīḵ-e Sīstān (p. 7) there was…

FARĀMARZ, son of Iran’s national hero Rostam (q.v.), and himself a renowned hero of the Iranian national epic. His adventures…

EROTIC LITERATURE, expressed in Persian by the neologism adabīyāt-e erotīk, is not a clearly defined genre since the concept of…

DERAFŠ-E KĀVĪĀN, the legendary royal standard of the Sasanian kings. In the Šāh-nāma (ed. Khaleghi-Motlagh, pp. 66-70, vv. 184 ff.)…

DAVĀZDAH ROḴ (Twelve combats), designation of a relatively long episode in the Šāh-nāma (2,500 verses; Moscow, V, pp. 86-234), in…

DAQĪQĪ, ABŪ MANṢŪR AḤMAD b. Aḥmad, one of the famous poets of the last years of the Samanid (204­-395/819-1005) dynasty….

BOZGŪŠ, the traditional reading of the name of a mythical tribe in Māzandarān (i.e., India, see Monchi-Zadeh, pp. 62ff.) mentioned…

BORZŪYA (also transcribed Burzōē), a physician of the time of Ḵosrow I (r. 531-79) and responsible for a translation of…

BORZMEHR (Pahlavi, lit. “deep affection”) one of the priests (mōbed) and scribes who served Ḵosrow I (r. 531-79). Borzmehr was…

BĪŽAN, son of Gīv by Rostam’s daughter Bānū Gošasp, figures prominently in the Šāh-nāma as a hero in Kay Ḵosrow’s…

 BEHZĀD, the name of the black horse belonging successively to Sīāvoš, Kay Ḵosrow, and Goštāsb. Like Raḵš, Rostam’s horse, Behzād…

FERDOWSI, ABU’L-QĀSEM (حکیم ابوالقاسم فردوسی) i. LIFE Life. Apart from his patronymic (konya), Abu’l-Qāsem, and his pen name (taḵallosá), Ferdowsī, nothing…

GOSTAHAM (< OI.*Vistaxma, "wielder of far-reaching power"; New. Pers. Gostaham, BestÂām; see Justi, Nāmenbuch, pp. 371-72), name of two heroes...

GOŠASB BĀNU, (or Bānu Gošasb) entitled savār (knight), Rostam’s daughter and the wife of Gēv (qq.v.). She is the heroine…

GORGIN, son of Milād, one of the heroes of the reigns of Kay Kāvus and Kay Ḵosrow (Šāh-nāma, ed. Khaleghi,…

GORDĀFARID, daughter of Gaždaham (q.v.), the castellan of Dež-e Sapid (q.v.), the Iranian fortress on the frontier with Turān. She…

GĒV, one of the foremost heroes of the national epic in the reigns of Kay Kāvūs and Kay Ḵosrow (qq.v.)….

GAŽDAHAM, an Iranian hero of Dež-e Safīd (q.v.), a fortress near the border seperating Iran from Tūrān, during the reigns…

FORŪD (or Ferōd), son of Sīāvaḵš and half brother of Kay Ḵosrow. His mother is Jarīra (according to the Šāh-nāma;…