BARBERRY (zerešk; Berberis spp., family Berberidaceae). Species of this genus are found in the northern, eastern, and southeastern highlands of…

Khotan was located along the route that is termed the southern Silk Road, which followed the southern rim of the…

KHOTAN (Hotan), a town (lat 37°06′ N, long 79°56′ E) and major oasis of the southern Tarim Basin in the…

i. In Old and Middle Iranian At the time of the Indo-Iranian unity, the Indo-Iranians must have imagined dragons restraining…

BAŠKARDI (Bašākerdī),collective designation for numerous dialects spoken in southeastern Iran from Bandar-e ʿAbbās eastward, forming a transition from the dialects…

BARSOM YAŠT, in the liturgical manuscripts of the Avesta the name of the second hād (chapter) of the Yasna. According…

BARIŠ NASK, one of the lost nasksof the Haδamąθra group (see AVESTA), analyzed in Dēnkard 8.9. According to the Persian…

BARDESANES (Syr. Bar Dayṣān, Ar. Ebn Dayṣān), gnostic thinker (154-222) who occupies a position between the Syriac gnostic systems of…

BAGĀN YAŠT (1) one of the dādīg (legal) nasks of the Avesta; (2) name of Y. 19-21 (see bag nask)….

BAG NASK, one of the Avestan nasks of the gāhānīg group, i.e., texts connected with the Gāθās, now lost almost…

ASWĀR (Middle Persian) “horseman,” Old Persian asabāra, Parthian (Nisa) ʾsbry, Persian savār and sovār. In Old Persian asabāra designated the…

AŠTĀD YAŠT, Yt. 18, though dedicated to Aštād, Av. Arštāt-, the goddess of rectitude (or justice, see Aštād), does not…

ĀSRĒŠTĀR, in Middle Persian Manichean texts a kind of demons, often associated with the mazans. As a class they do…

AŚOKA, Mauryan emperor of India (ca. 272-231 B.C.). i. The life and teaching of Aśoka. ii. Aśoka and Iran. iii….

ARD YAŠT, Middle Persian name of the Avestan hymn (Yašt 17) dedicated to Aši (q.v.). Other forms of the name…

AŠI, Avestan feminine noun meaning “thing attained, reward, share, portion, recompense” and, as a personification, the goddess “Reward, Fortune.” The…

AṦA, “truth” in Avestan, from Indo-Iranian *ṛtá-, a neuter noun having the same meaning. The word is attested in Old…

IRAN vi, continued (6) Old Iranian Languages Proto-Iranian split into at least four distinct dialect groups, characterized, among other things,…

KAYĀNIĀN  xiv. The Kayanids in Western Historiography   In Western historiography up into the 19th century, the historicity of the pre-Achaemenid…

KAYĀNIĀN xiii. Synchronism of the Kayanids and Near Eastern History The desire of the medieval historians to fit all the…

KAYĀNIĀN xii. The Kavian XˇARƎNAH The nature of the Avestan xᵛarənah and its three subtypes, the Aryan (airiiana), the “unseizable”…

KAYĀNIĀN xi. The Kayanids and the Kang-dez According to the Pahlavi texts (Dēnkard 7.1.38; Mēnōy xrad 26.57; Pahlavi Rivāyat 49.1;…

KAYĀNIĀN x. The End of the Kayanids In the Pahlavi texts. The Bundahišn (33.13-14) only records that, when Wahman, son…

KAYĀNIĀN ix. Kauui Vištāspa, Kay Wištāsp, Kay Beštāsb/Goštāsb The name Vištāspa presumably means “he who gives the horses free rein”…

KAYĀNIĀN viii. Kay Luhrāsp, Kay Lohrāsb In the Avesta, Vištāspa’s father is Auruuaṯ.aspa, who is mentioned only once, when Zarathustra…

The name Haosrauuah is a vriddi formation of *husrauuah “he who has good fame” and ought to mean “good fame”…

Siiāuuaršan, “the one with black stallions,” is listed in the Avesta in Yašt 13.132 as a kauui and the third…

KAYĀNIĀN v. Kauu i Usan, Kay-Us, Kay Kāvus With Kauui Usan (Usaδan), Pahlavi Kay Us (Kāy Us), Persian Kay Kāvus…

KAYĀNIĀN iv. “Minor” Kayanids The names. The names of the five minor kauuis in the Avesta and the Bundahišn are…

KAYĀNIĀN ii. The Kayanids as a Group References to the kauuis in the Avesta are found in the yašts in…

KAYĀNIĀN i. Kavi: Avestan kauui, Pahlavi kay Kavi is the Indo-Iranian term for “(visionary) poet.” The Avestan word is declined…

KAYĀNIĀN iii. Kauui Kauuāta, Kay Kawād, Kay Kobād (Qobād) Kauui Kauuāta (Figure 1) has no epithets in the Avesta to…

KARSĀSP, Av. Kərəsāspa, Pahlavi various forms (see below), Pers. Garšāsp (Garšāsb, Arabicized Karšāsf), Avestan dragon-slayer, son of Sāma, and eschatological…

KARTĪR (Kartēr, Kerdēr, Kerdīr, Kirdēr, Kirdīr), a prominent Zoroastrian priest  in the second half of the 3rd century CE. This…

MARRIAGE ii. Next-Of -Kin Marriage In Zoroastrianism In Zoroastrian Middle Persian (Pahlavi) texts, the term xwēdōdah (Av. xᵛaētuuadaθa) is said…

CLASS SYSTEM i. In the Avesta The evidence for the existence of a highly developed class structure in the community…

CHINESE TURKESTAN ii. In Pre-Islamic Times In antiquity the Tarim and Dzungar (Zungar, Jungar) basins lay at the crossroads of…

BUDDHISM iii. Buddhist Literature in Khotanese and Tumshuqese A substantial number of manuscripts and manuscript fragments have come to light…

BUN-XĀNAG, phrase occurring in the sentence AYK-t bwny BYTA ZNE ʾyw YHWWN (kū-t bun *xānag ēn ēw bawēd). In the…

JAMŠID i. MYTH OF JAMŠID In the Avesta (q.v.), several myths are associated with Yima. He ruled the world in…

IRAN vi, continued vi. (3) Writing Systems Writing systems for Iranian languages include cuneiform (Old Persian); scripts descended from “imperial”…

IRAN vi, continued vi(2) Documentation Iranian languages are known from roughly three periods, commonly termed Old, Middle, and New (Modern)….

IRAN vi, continued vi(1) Earliest Evidence Archeological identities of the proto-Indo-Iranians and proto-Iranians. The Indo-Aryan and Iranian tribes separated about…

IRAN vi. IRANIAN LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS Overview. vi(1). Earliest evidence. vi(2). Documentation. vi(3). Writing-systems. vi(4). Origins of the Iranian languages….

HOMOSEXUALITY i. IN ZOROASTRIANISM Zoroastrian literature contains discussions of personal relations only in legal contexts and is quite explicit with…

The monument at Paikuli (Pāikūlī), locally called bot-ḵāna “idol house” (Rawlinson apud Thomas, p. 57), lies on the Iraqi side…

KAYĀNIĀN  (Kayanids), in the early Persian epic tradition a dynasty that ruled Iran before the Achaemenids, all of whom bore…

IRAN vi, continued (5) Indo-Iranian  Several important linguistic changes took place between Indo-European and Indo-Iranian, the reconstructed common ancestor of…

IRAN vi, continued (4) Origins Of The Iranian Languages  General historical surveys of the Iranian languages are found in several…

KARSĪVAZ (Garsivaz), Av. Kərəsauuazdah; Pahl. Karsēwazd, in the old Iranian epic tradition the brother of Av. Fraŋrasiian, Pahl. Frāsiyāb (Frāsyāw, Afrāsiyāb)….