Encyclopaedia Iranica - Bahai Journal

Abstract:

Sorted, categorized collection of links to over 170 articles.

Notes:

The total Encyclopaedia Iranica currently consists of around 9,000 articles, and is not yet completed. Other articles, more directly related to the Bahá’í Faith, can be found elsewhere at Bahá’í Library Online.

Note that the column “Description and comments” is AI assisted (edited output of questions to ChatGPT 3.5 like “summarize text in maximum 25 words”). Without that it would have been much more time consuming to create. [A.B.]

See other Encyclopaedia Iranica articles on this site, and see About the Encyclopaedia Iranica.

Religion, philosophy, language, literature etc.

Article	Description and comments	Authors	Year
Rose and nightingale (gol-o-bolbol)	Literary and decorative metaphor in Persian literature, Sufi poetry, as well as the Bahá’í Faith	Layla S. Diba	2001
Rose (gol)	Same as above	Hušang Aʿ’lam	2001
Nightingale (bolbol)	Same as above	Hūšang Aʿ’lam, Jerome W. Clinton	1989
Beloved (ma’šūq)	Term occuring in Persian literature, Sufism and the Bahá’í Faith, with a variety of meanings.	J. T. P. de Bruijn	1989
Candle (šam’)	Metaphor	J. T. P. De Bruijn	1990
Color (rang)	Color symbolism in Persian literature and art	Annemarie Schimmel, Priscilla P. Soucek	1992
Simorg (simurgh)	Mythical bird	Hanns-Peter Schmidt	2002
Burial	Burial practices in Zoroastrianism, Islam and the Bahá’í Faith	Multiple authors	2000
Cemeteries	Cemeteries in Persian folklore	Mahmoud Omidsalar	1990
Camphor (kāfūr)	Essential oil used in Islamic funerary rituals	Hūšang A’lam	1990
Calendars	Various calendars	Antonio Panaino, Reza Abdollahy, Daniel Balland	1990
Seven (haft)	Cultural significance of the heptad in Persian history	A. Shapur Shahbazi	2002
Week (hafta)	History of the weekly calendar in Iran	Badri Gharib	2009
Festivals	Religious and communal festivals and commemorations	Multiple authors	1999
Nowruz	Persian New Year	Multiple authors	2000
Haft sin	Seven items beginning with the letter sin (S), a ritual of the Nowruz festival	A. Shapur Shahbazi	2002
Fasting	Fasting in Zoroastrianism, Manicheism, Islam and the Bahá’í Faith	Jamsheed K. Choksy, Denise Soufi	1999
Exegesis	Commentary on or interpretation of sacred texts	Multiple authors	1999
Hermeneutics	The development of Shi’ite exegetical methods over time	Todd Lawson	2003
Baten (hidden) and zaher (visible)	Concepts associated with knowledge (‘ilm) in Shi’ism and Sufism	B. Radtke	1988
Baqa (annihilation) and fana (subsistence)	Exploring the mystical experiences of Sufis	G. Böwering	1988
Cella (forty day period)	Term referring to any forty-day period	Mahmoud Omidsalar, Hamid Algar)	1990
Cosmogony and cosmology	The origin and structure of the universe in various religious traditions. For Shiism this includes elements like the divine throne and the pen.	Multiple authors	1993
Conversion	Aspects of religious conversion in Iranian history	Multiple authors	1993
Taqiya (dissimulation)	Concealing one’s true beliefs in times of imminent danger	Louis Medoff, Kamran Ekbal	2015, 2012
Islam in Iran	The advent and spread of Islam in Iran, messianism and millenarianism, jihad, and Islamic political movements	Multiple authors	2007
Hadith	Introducing Hadith literature, consisting of reports on the Prophet Muhammad’s actions and sayings.	Shahab Ahmed	2002
Shiite doctrine	Focusing on the Imams and a dualistic view.	Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi	2005
Hierarchy in the Imamiyya	Hierarchy involving believers, ulema (religious scholars), and internal ranking systems	Rainer Brunner	2010
Imamite-Sunnite relations	Relations in the 19th and 20th centuries	Rainer Brunner	2010
Imams in Twelver Shi’i Islam	Articles about each of the twelve Imams	Multiple authors	1985-2015
Imam Husayn	Third Imam	Wilferd Madelung, Jean Calmard, Peter Chelkowski	2004
Mahdi	Descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who is expected to return	Said Amir Arjomand, Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, Verena Klemm)	2007
Gayba	Occultation of the Hidden Imam	Said Amir Arjomand	2000
Raj’a (return)	Spiritual and eschatological interpretations in Shi’i Islam	Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi	2005
Eschatology	Final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity. In Zoroastrianism, Manicheism, Shi’i Islam, Bábí and Bahá’í Faits	Shaul Shaked, Werner Sundermann, Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, Stephen Lambden	1998
Apocalyptic	The development of End Time prophecies in Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Islam	Mary Boyce, I. K. Poonawala	1986
Dajjal	Evil figure in Islamic prophecies, who will pretend to be the promised Messiah, appearing before the Day of Judgment	Hamid Algar	1993
Ismailism	Prominent Shi’ite Muslim community	Multiple authors	2007
Ijtihad (ejtehad)	Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law	Aron Zysow	1998
Jurisprudence (fiqh)	Expressing God’s law (sharī’a) through exposition, analysis, and argument	Norman Calder	1999
Akbariya	School in Shi’ism, emphasizing Imams’ traditions as the main source of religious knowledge	E. Kohlberg	1984
Shaykhism	School of Twelver Shi’ism founded in the 19th century by Shaykh Aḥmad Aḥsā’i	Denis Hermann	2017
Fatima	Daughter of the Prophet Moḥammad	Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, Jean Calmard	1999
Angels (fereshteh)	Angels in Islam and Persian folklore. In supplement (not online?)		1999
Bada	Theological term referring to a divine change in decision or ruling based on new circumstance	Wilferd Madelung	1988
Cleansing	Cleansing practices in Islamic Persia	Hamid Algar	1992
Dhikr (dekr)	The remembrance of God through reciting His name, in Sufism and the Bábí and Bahá’í Faiths	Gerhard Böwering, Moojan Momen	1994
Dua (Doa; prayer)	Islamic prayer of invocation, supplication or request	Hamid Algar	1995
Halal (permissible) and haram (prohibited)	Islamic term for “permissible” and “forbidden” things	Dana al-Sajdi	2003
Iblis (Eblis)	Devil-ike figure in Islam; the symbolic and moral dimensions of Iblīs in Sufism	Hamid Algar	1996
Hell (duzak; jahannam)	Hell in Zoroastrianism and Islam	Philippe Gignoux, Mahmoud Omidsalar)	2003, 2000
Jinn (genie)	Supernatural beings from Islamic tradition, folklore beliefs in Persian tradition	Mahmoud Omidsalar	2000
Kidr (Kezr)	A prophet in Islamic tradition, influenced by diverse myths	Anna Krasnowolska	2009
Mi’raj (me’raj)	The Prophet Muhammad’s heavenly ascent, often associated with the night journey (isrā’)	Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi	2010
Christianity	Various aspects of Christianity in Persia	Multiple authors	1991
Bible	Persian translations of the Bible	Multiple authors	1989
Daniel (Dānīāl-e Nabī)	Biblical prophet, highlights prophetic elements and diverse traditions	Multiple authors	1993
Isaiah, Book of	Book of the Bible, containing prophecies	Shaul Shaked	2006
Joseph (Yusuf)	Joseph in Persian literature, Qur’anic exegesis, and Persian art	Multiple authors	2009
Gnosticism	Gnosticism had various forms in pre-Islamic Iran, blending influences from different religious traditions	Kurt Rudolph	2001
Dead Sea scrolls	Collection of manuscripts discovered at the Qumran Caves, in which a number of Iranian elements can be discerned	Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin)	1994
Judeo-Persian communities	Starting with the Babylonian exile until the present day; language, literature and music contributions, and Persian impact on Judaism	Multiple authors)	2009
Persian elements in the Talmud	Persian influences on Judaism through the Babylonian Talmud	Jacob Neusner	2005
Talmud (continued)	The impact of Middle Persian culture on Babylonian rabbinic Judaism	Yaakov Elman	2010
Zoroaster	Prophet of ancient Iran, whose religion became the dominant faith in Iran until the rise of Islam	Multiple authors	2000
Ahura Mazda	The one uncreated God in Zoroastrianism	Mary Boyce	1984
Dualism	Dualism in Zoroastrianism, and its influence on Judaism, early Christianity, Gnosticism, and Manicheism	Gherardo Gnoli	1996
Farrah (glory)	Term translating to “glory” in Iranian languages, linked to concepts like peace, and happiness; present in Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Manicheism	Gherardo Gnoli	1999
Fire (ātaš)	Concept in Zoroastrianism	Mary Boyce	1987
Water (Āb)	Concept in Zoroastrianism	Mary Boyce	1982
Saosyant	Saviour figure in Zoroastrian	William Malandra	2000
Hataria Manekji Limji	Parsi from India who served the Zoroastrian community in Iran from 1854 to 1890; Bahá’u’lláh sent several replies to his questions	Firoze M. Kotwal, Jamsheed K. Choksy, Christopher J. Brunner, and Mahnaz Moazami	2016
Pre-Islamic religions in Iran	Indo-Iranian practices and Zoroastrianism	Philip G. Kreyenbroek	2006
Indo-Iranian religion	Commonalities between ancient Iran and India	Gherardo Gnoli	2004
Magi	Priests of western Iranians during various historical periods	Muhammad A. Dandamayev	2000
Mandaeans	Ethno-religious group, followers of Mandaeism, a Gnostic and monotheistic religion with Greek, Iranian, and Jewish influences	Edmondo F. Lupieri	2008
Manicheism	Persian religion (former world religion) founded by the prophet Mani in the 3rd century CE	Werner Sundermann	2009
Mithraism	Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras	Roger Beck	2002
Hermes	Greek god; article explores Hermes’ influence in the Roman, Egyptian, and Iranian worlds	Albert de Jong	2003
Nosayris	Syncretistic sect close to Shi’ism, forming Syria’s largest minority	Meir M. Bar-Asher	2003
Sacred Books of the East	Collection of 50 volumes translated into English between 1879 and 1910 by leading scholars supervised by Friederich Max Müller	Carlo G. Cereti	2000
Alchemy (kimia)	The origins of alchemy, Persian influence and Islamic development; alchemy’s mysticism, medical applications, and lasting impact on Western science	Pierre Lory	2008
Philosophy (falsafa)	Mazdean philosophy blends Greek thought (mainly Peripatetic and Neo-Platonic) with Zoroastrianism, covering topics like Being, Time, Space, Movement, Nature, Man, the Prime Cause, influenced by diverse philosophical traditions	Mansour Shaki	1999
Aql	The term ” ‘aql” denotes intellect, crucial in Islamic philosophy, Sufism and literature	F. Rahman, W. C. Chittick	1986
Perfect Human Being (Insan-i-kamil)	Concept central in Islamic mysticism, originating with Ibn Arabi (1165 – 1240), embodying oneness with God, moral perfection, and cosmic significance. It evolved from diverse influences	Gerhard Böwering	1998
Irfan	Islamic theosophy, merging Sufi thought and Shi’ite philosophy,	Gerhard Böwering	1998
Evil	The concept of evil in Zoroastrianism and Shi’ism	Gherardo Gnoli, Etan Kohlberg	1998
Fatalism	Fatalism in Islamic philosophy and Persian literature, where destiny, predetermined by God, shapes human existence	‘Abd-al-Ḥosayn Zarrīnkūb	1999
Free will	Free will in Shi’ism	Multiple authors	2000
Farabi (c. 870 – 950)	Islamic philosopher and music theorist, who lived in Baghdad, Egypt and Damascus	Multiple authors	1999
Avicenna (c. 980 – 1037)	Persian polymath, physician and philosopher, who died in Hamadan	Multiple authors	1987
Illuminationism (falsafa-i-ishraqi)	Philosophical system introduced by Persian philosopher Sohravardi (Suhrawardi; 1155 – 1191)	Hossein Ziai	2004
Isfahan school of philosophy	Philosophical movement, emphasizing metaphysical speculation and mystical experience. Key figures include Shaikh Bahai (1547 – 1621), Mir Damad (c. 1561 – 1631) and Mulla Sadra (c. 1571 – 1640)	Sajjad H. Rizvi	2007
Mulla Sadra (c. 1571 – 1640)	Persian philosopher and theologian, who lived in Shiraz, Qazvin, Isfahan, Qum, Basra and Najaf	Sajjad H. Rizvi	2005
Hegel (1770 – 1831)	German philosopher, who wrote about Zoroastrian thought and Islamic Persian art	M. Azadpour	2003
Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)	German philosopher, who admired Persian culture	Daryoush Ashouri	2003
Conspiracy theories	Conspiracy theories in Persia	Ahmad Ashraf	1992
Aryans	Ancient peoples of India and Iran who spoke Aryan languages	R. Schmitt	1987
Persian language	Early New Persian’s emergence, dialects, and historical context, shaping literature, administration, and scholarship across Islamic civilization	Ludwig Paul	2000
Arabic language	Arabic influence on Persian, including loanwords and literary impact	Multiple authors	1986
Abjad	Term referring to the use of letters as numbers; originally used for numbering, it later found applications in religion, poetry, magic and numerology	G. Krotkoff	1982
Chronograms	Chronograms hide dates in Persian texts using letter values; they are solved through various methods	J. T. P. de Bruijn	1991
Codes (romuz)	Persian cryptography; codes served diplomatic, religious, and magical purposes	C. Edmund Bosworth	1992
Aramaic language	Overview of Aramaic language, covering its historical development, dialects, and influence on Iranian languages	F. Rosenthal, J. C. Greenfield, S. Shaked	1986
Syriac language	An ancient Aramaic dialect, was vital in Christian literature and translating Greek works, influencing Islamic and Western civilizations	Multiple authors	2015
Urdu language	Urdu, a major language in Pakistan and India, influenced by Persian, serves as a lingua franca for the Indian subcontinent. Its literature heavily borrows from Persian.	David Matthews	2005
Loanwords	Linguistic loanwords across languages, including Arabic, Persian, Greek, Mongolian, Ossetic, Sogdian, Syriac, and Turkic	Multiple authors	Multiple years
Persian literature	three main periods of Persian literature: Pre-Islamic, Classical, and Modern	Multiple authors	1999, 2006
Persian myths and legends	Myths and legends in Iranian culture; their role in conveying fundamental truths and shaping religious beliefs	John R. Hinnells	2004
Epics	Epics in Persian literature; explores various heroic epics and their characters, including Rostam and Bahman; the national epic Shahnameh (shah-nama), as well as romantic epics like Nizami’s works	François de Blois	1998
Fables	Persian fables, short stories often involving animals, gods, or inanimate objects, used to illustrate moral or ethical teachings; the adaptation of fables from various cultures into Persian storytelling traditions	Mahmoud and Teresa P. Omidsalar	1999
Gazal	A form of Persian lyric poetry, which has influenced Turkish and Urdu poetry	Multiple authors	2016
Rhetorical figures	Rhetorical figures in medieval Persian literature; the influence of Persian and Arabic traditions on each other’s poetic styles	Natalia Chalisova	2009
Metrical system (aruz)	Metrical system used in Arabic poetry; influenced Persian poetry	L. P. Elwell-Sutton	1986
Hagiographic literature	Hagiographic literature in Persia and Central Asia focuses on Sufi saints, emphasizing spiritual teachings and symbolic meanings over factual details	Jürgen Paul	2002
Historiography	Historiography of Iran, spanning from pre-Islamic to the 20th century, examining narrative evolution and Western influences	Multiple authors	2003
Omar Khayyam (1048 – 1131)	Persian polymath and poet from Nishapur	Multiple authors	2017
Sanai (1080 – 1131/1141)	Persian poet from Ghazni	J. T. P. de Bruijn	2012
Leyli and Majnun (Layli and Majnun)	A narrative poem by Nizami (1141 – 1209), composed in 1188	A. A. Seyed-Gohrab	2009
Attar (c. 1145 – 1221)	Persian poet and Sufi from Nishapur. Note: Bahá’u’lláh’s “Seven Valleys” follows the structure of the Persian poem “The Conference of the Birds”, with some variations	B. Reinert	1987
Rumi (1207 – 1273)	Sufi poet who died in Konya (present-day Turkey)	Multiple authors	2014
Sadi (Saadi; 1210 – c. 1291)	Persian poet from Shiraz	Paul Losensky	2000
Hafez (1315 – 1390)	Persian poet and mystic from Shiraz	Multiple authors	2002
Goethe (1749-1832)	German poet, inspired by Sadi	Hamid Tafazoli	2001
Calligraphy	History of Persian calligraphy	Golām-Ḥosayn Yūsofī)	1990
Paper	Paper, invented in China, spread to Iran and throughout Asia before the Islamic period. Its usage in the Iranian world before printing and its papermaking process are discussed.	Multiple authors	2017
Cut paper	Ornamental technique found in Persian manuscripts and bookbindings from the late 15th to the mid-17th centuries	Barbara Schmitz	1993
Pen (qalam)	Reed pen used in calligraphy; also bird quills are discussed	Sina Goudarzi, Bahram Grami	2016
Bookbinding 1	Bookbinding in Iran evolved with Persian designs, including blind tooling and Timurid innovations like sophisticated stamping and cutwork	Duncan Haldane	1989
Bookbinding 2	Bookbinding involves crafting covers for new books or repairing old ones. Persian bookbinders worked with leather, cloth, and various ornamentation techniques.	Iraj Afshar	2005
Lithography 1	Lithography in Persia began in 1821, expanding rapidly with private presses, contributing to diverse book production until the early 20th century	Olimpiada P. Shcheglova	2009
Lithography 2	In 19th-20th century India, lithography boomed, especially in Lucknow and Bombay, printing diverse Persian books. Educational and theological texts dominated production.	Olimpiada P. Shcheglova	2009
Evil eye (casm zakm)	Historical roots of the concept of the evil eye in various cultures, and preventive measures against harm	Ebrāhīm Šakūrzāda, Mahmoud Omidsalar	1990
Charms	Cultural and historical aspects of charms in Persian traditions	Mahmoud Omidsalar	1991
Dreams	In Persian tradition dreams shape destinies, holding cultural significance, and inspiring believers in Shi’ism.	Hossein Ziai	1995
Magic	Magic in literature and folklore during the Islamic period; challenges of defining magic and its connection to science and religion; the distinction between high magic, rooted in philosophical traditions, and folk magic, transmitted orally	Mahmud Omidsalar	2005
Astrology and astronomy	The development of astronomy and astrology in Iran, highlighting influences from Hellenistic, Indian, and Persian traditions	D. Pingree, C. J. Brunner	1987
Planets	Historical understanding and influence of planets	Antonio Panaino	2016
Zodiac	The historical development of the Zodiac, its association with astronomy, astrology, and its impact on Iranian calendars and cosmology	Antonio Panaino	2009
Henry Corbin (1903 – 1978)	French philosopher and orientalist, interpreter of the Persian role in the development of Islamic thought	Daryush Shayegan	1993
Aleksandr Tumanski (Alexander Tumansky) (1861 – 1920)	Russian orientalist who translated Persian literature and Bahá’í works, notably Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i-Aqdas (1899)	Jahangir Dorri	2009

Iran, Persian culture etc.

Article	Description and comments	Authors	Year
Iran	Geography, history, culture, people, languages, religions, art, music.	Multiple authors	2004
Iranian history: Chronological table	Timeline, including index of proper names	Ehsan Yarshater	2004
Boundaries	Boundaries of Iran with the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Turkey.	Multiple authors	1989
Isfahan
Shiraz
Tabriz
Tehran
Ctesiphon	Overview of the ancient city of Ctesiphon, situated on the Tigris near modern Baghdad	Jens Kröger	1993
Persepolis	Renowned archaeological site northeast of Shiraz, Iran; a center of power and culture, built by Achaemenid Persian kings	A. Shapur Shahbazi	2009
Kariz	Underground irrigation canals; their significance in agriculture and water management	Xavier de Planhol	2011
Ziggurat	Terraced temple-towers in Mesopotamia	Michael Herles	2000
Iranian identity	Iranian identity as a collective feeling of belonging to the historic lands of Iran, shaped by common historical experiences, cultural traditions, and mythologies shared among Iranian peoples	Multiple authors	2000
Human migration	Three types of human migration related to Iran: internal migration, immigration, and emigration	Mehdi Aman, Habibollah Zanjani	2004
Diaspora	Iranian diaspora across history and regions, including India, Southeast Asia, Ottoman Turkey, Iraq, and worldwide	Multiple authors	1995
Education	Education in Iranian-speaking regions, spanning ancient to modern times, covering traditional schools, modern education systems, and women’s education	Multiple authors	1997
Health	Health in Iran across historical periods: Pre-Islamic, Medieval, Qajar, and Pahlavi eras	Multiple authors	2003
Women in Shi’ism	Shi’ite ideology theoretically favors women, but societal norms often limit their rights. Modern debates engage Shi’ite thought, feminism, and societal shifts	Moojan Momen	2001
Cador	Traditional female garment in Iran, tracing back to pre-Islamic times	Bijan Gheiby, James R. Russell, Hamid Algar	1990
Gender relations	Gender relations in modern Persia; complex dynamics shaped by tradition, religion, and modernization	Farzaneh Milani	2000
Feminist movements	Persian feminist movements, spanning the late 19th to 20th century, addressing education, employment, suffrage, and family laws	Encyclopaedia Iranica, Janet Afary	1999
Class system in the Qajar period	The text outlines class systems across Persian history, including the Avesta, Achaemenid, Parthian, Sasanian, medieval Islamic, Qajar, and Pahlavi periods	Multiple authors	1991
Personal names	Iranian personal names, including Avestan, Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian	Rüdiger Schmitt	2005
Khanum (title)	General title of respect for women; formerly a title for elite women	C. Edmund Bosworth	2010
Khan (title)	Historical and social contexts of the title “Khan,” from its significance in Mongol and Safavid eras to its modern usage in Central Asia and India	Gene R. Garthwaite	2017
Household in the Qajar period	The Qajar household was patriarchal, with gender-segregated areas (biruni and andaruni). Women managed traditions, servants handled daily tasks, while men supervised and entertained guests.	Shireen Mahdavi	2009
Carpets	Persian carpets; materials, techniques, designs, regional variations, historical periods, Islamic Persia’s influence	Multiple authors	1990
Decoration	The significance of decoration in Islamic Persian art and architecture, its evolution over different historical periods, and its integration of diverse influences	Priscilla P. Soucek	1994
Etiquette	Evolution of Persian etiquette, rooted in Sasanian customs, shaped by Islamic dynasties, blending tradition with Islamic principles and Western influence	Multiple authors	1998
Ta’arof	Ta’arof encompasses linguistic deference and social gestures, emphasizing status differentials and hospitality, serving as a social lubricant with strategic implications	William Beeman	2017
Gift giving	An overview of gift giving in Persia, from pre-Islamic to early modern times	Multiple authors	2016
Humor	Humor in Persian culture, from classical to modern times, covering its diverse forms, social functions, and evolution under various influences	J. T. P. de Bruijn	2004
Mulla Nasreddin	A beloved figure in Persian and Middle Eastern folklore, is known for his wit and humor, often imparting lessons through his tales	Hasan Javadi	2009
Clothing	Overview of clothing in various periods and regions of Iran and neighboring areas, covering historical, cultural, and ethnic aspects	Multiple authors	1992
Turban (‘amama)	The cultural significance and historical evolution of the turban in Islamic societies, its symbolism and variations	H. Algar	1989
Pearl (marjan)	Pearls symbolized beauty, purity, and perfection, in historical texts and jewelry; diving techniques, pearling vessels, and seasonal activities	Brigitte Musche, Daniel T. Potts	2008
Silk (abrisam)	Etymology, trade, production, utilization in Iranian crafts and textiles	W. Eilers, M. Bazin and C. Bromberger, D. Thompson	1983
Rose water (golab)	Rose water from Persian roses, is used in cuisine, medicine, and religious rituals	Hušang A’lam	2001
Perfume (‘atr)	Ancient origins and diverse extraction methods	F. Aubaile-Sallenave	1987
Soap (sabun)	Soap production in Persia dates back to antiquity; modernization in the Qajar era led to industry growth	Willem Floor	2005
Cosmetics	Cosmetics in Persian tradition were used for beautification, especially for brides. Rituals included hair removal, henna, eyebrow dyeing, and applying kohl and rouge for weddings.	Multiple authors	1993
Henna	Origin, medical and cosmetic uses, cultural significance in wedding ceremonies, and historical practices across regions	Hušang ‘Alam	2003
Bathhouses	Historical, architectural, and social aspects of bathhouses in Iran, including their pre-Islamic origins, layout, staff, and cultural significance	W. Floor, W. Kleiss	1988
Coffeehouses (qahva kana)	The history of Persian coffeehouses, from centers of culture to decline due to social change and modernization	‘Alī Āl-e Dawūd	1992
Bazar	The origin of “bazar” as “market,” its functions, organization, and socio-economic roles	Multiple authors	1989
Caravan	Organized collective transports of people and goods, primarily using camels, for trade and pilgrimage; usage declined with the rise of modern transportation	Bert G. Fragner	1990
Caravansary	A caravansary, crucial for travelers, provided lodging along trade and pilgrimage routes. They varied in design and function, from fortified stops to luxurious inns, reflecting historical, architectural, and regional influences	Moḥammad-Yūsuf Kīānī, Wolfram Kleiss	1990
Garden (bag) – 1	Gardens, for pleasure, with ornamental layouts and architectural elements, influenced literature and art, notably in Persian culture and its impact on Indian gardens	Multiple authors	2000
Garden (bag) – 2	Etymology, general characteristics, and its role in Persian literature, symbolizing beauty, tranquility, and abundance	Multiple authors	1988
Desert	Overview of Iranian deserts, their characteristics, historical significance, human impact, and cultural perceptions	Brian Spooner	1994
Nomadism	Seasonal livestock herding by ethnic groups in Iran, sustaining livelihoods through traditional migration patterns	Eckart Ehlers	2011
Castles	Development of Iranian castles, architectural evolution, defensive strategies, and influences from various civilizations	Wolfram Kleiss	1990
Palace architecture	Iranian palace architecture, functional aspects, layout, and cultural continuity across historical periods, from Achaemenid to Safavid times	Dietrich Huff	2008
Courts and courtiers	Iranian court systems from ancient to modern times, including cultural elements like court poetry	Multiple authors	1993
Scribe (dabir)	The role of dabirs, secretaries and scribes, in pre-Islamic and Islamic periods, their functions and privileges	Aḥmad Tafazzoli, Hashem Rajabzadeh	1993
Harem	Housed wives and female associates in aristocratic families and royal quarters	Multiple authors	2003
Falcon (baz)	Bird of prey, which held cultural significance	Hūšang A’lam	1989
Falconry (bazdari)	Prestigious art and sport in Iran, flourishing in pre-Islamic and Islamic eras among rulers and aristocrats	Hūšang A’lam	1989
Banners (‘alam, derafs)	Banners guided troops amidst dust; their colors and emblems symbolized identity and authority, evolving from early to late medieval periods	A. S. Melikian-Chirvani	1988
Begging	Begging in early Islam, Sufism, and in later Iran	Multiple authors	1989
Darvis	The term “darvis” evolved from pre-Islamic asceticism to Islamic Sufism, signifying spiritual poverty and detachment, often involving mendicancy	Mansour Shaki, Hamid Algar)	1994
Games (bazi)	Games for small children; games for older children and adults; ceremonial games; theatrical games; games of intelligence	Fereydūn Vahman	1989
Farman	Decrees issued by rulers, their structure, typology, historical development, seals, and writing materials used	Bert G. Fragner	1999
Fatwa	Rulings on Islamic jurisprudence	Hamid Algar	1999
Weights and measures	Ancient Near Eastern standards for weight, capacity, and length; their evolution through pre-Islamic periods	A. D. H. Bivar	2000
Communication	Historical development of communication infrastructure in Persia, covering postal service, telegraph, telephone, press, radio, and television	Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi and ‘Alī Mohammadi	1992
Telegraph	Mirza Malkom Khan introduced telegraph to Persia in 1858, expanding to Tabriz by 1860, enabling swift communication within the country and beyond	Soli Shahvar	2009
Railroads	The first railway in Iran, built by a Belgian company, linked Tehran to Shah ‘Abd-al-‘Azim in 1888. Despite challenges like difficult terrain and local superstitions, it operated until 1962.	Soli Shahvar	2008
Lighting and heating	Iran’s historical lighting sources, transitioning from oils and candles to kerosene and gas	Willem Floor	2005
Edward Gibbon (1737 – 1794)	Gibbon’s “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” explores Persia’s relations with Byzantium, including military and diplomatic interactions. His conclusions remain relevant.	Michael Rogers	2001

Relations with other regions and countries

Source link

Religion, philosophy, language, literature etc.

Iran, Persian culture etc.

Relations with other regions and countries

Related Posts

Leave a Reply