Iranian Elements Research Articles

Muhtâr es-Sekafî Hareketinde Kabile Örgüsü ve Mevâlînin Rolü

Mukhtar b. Abu Ubayd as-Sekafî started a Kufa-centered movement against the Zubayris and Umayyads in 685-686 by claiming that he was commissioned by Muhammad B. Hanafiyah to “avenge the Prophet Husayn and protect the oppressed”. Mukhtar’s movement, which succeeded in a short time and took over Iraq, declined at the same pace and disappeared in a short period of one and a half years. In this article, the nature of the relationship developed by the tribes in Kufa and the Iranian people against this movement is examined. Umayyads's removal of Prophet Ali's children from power and discrimination against Iranian mawali increased the dissatisfaction of these two groups. Mukhtar designed his entire strategy to fight against his enemies through the supporters of Ali and the mawali. The rhetoric in his agenda, “to avenge Hussein and to protect the powerless,” appealed to both groups. At the beginning of the movement, Mukhtar received the greatest support from Arab tribes, the majority of whom were Yemenis. At first, the Iranian followers, initially who had taken a distant attitude towards Mukhtar, actively supported Mukhtar, convinced that thanks to this movement there could be an improvement in their socio-economic status and that they could be freed from the yoke of the Arab tribes. Mukhtar, who turned the martyrdom of Prophet Hussein in his favor with a subtle policy, managed to capture Iraq, Iraq-ı Ajam (Cibal) and the entire region of al-Jazira except Basra in a short time with the support of the Yemeni tribes and the mawali. This movement owes its first success to the Yemeni tribes in Kufa. The Yemenis, who saw the movement’s motor power throughout Mukhtar’s rebellion, played a major role in the success and failure of this movement. In the process, the presence and influence of the Iranian mawali in the movement has increased. Mukhtar’s high value for the mawali caused the Arab tribal leaders to distance themselves from him. Adnânî and Yemeni chieftains, who wanted to intervene before the threat of Mawali grew, organized a coup attempt against Mukhtar. With the coup, they wanted to take them to the old socio-economic order in Kufa. However, this coup attempt was abandoned by the opposition of the Yemeni Mezhic tribe, also led by Ibrahim b. al-Ashtar an-Nahaî. When the Kufa tribal chieftains, who had taken refuge in Basra after the failed coup attempt, provoked the Zubayris in Basra and the Mukhtar came face to face, Mukhtar’s movement was eliminated before it could proceed to the institutionalization stage. Just as the greatest share in the development and rise of the Mukhtar Movement belongs to the Yemeni tribes and the mawali, the greatest share in the decline of the movement belongs to the Yemeni tribes. The Iranian elements’ discomfort with Arab nationalism in the first century led them to enter into anti-Umayyad opposition movements. Knowing that the Mawali were disturbed by the Arabist attitudes of the Umayyads and the Arab chieftains, Mukhtar took advantage of the opportunity by developing discourses such as “equality”, “justice” and “protection of the oppressed” that would be pleasing to their ears. Due to his fierce need for the mawali, Mukhtar equated the mawali with the Arabs by putting his discourses into practice during his two-year rule. Mawali’s approach to the Mukhtar movement is “a tool that offers them the opportunity to live on an equal status with the Arabs.” Just as the Mukhtar uses the mawali to achieve his own political aims; the Mawali also used Mukhtar’s movement to break the shackles of bondage. The solidarity prevailed by the mutual “win & win” mentality does not make Mukhtar a tireless defender of his mawali rights, nor does it make the mawali a fierce supporter of Prophet Ali. In the developed relationship, the parties have different expectations and interests. In other words, not because the mawali was a Prophet Ali sympathizer, but because they used the Mukhtar movement as a stepping stone and united around the Mukhtar to raise his status. The injustices done by the Umayyads to the children of Prophet Ali made the supporters of Ali; the injustices that were seen by the Arabs brought the mawali closer to Mukhtar.

Античный портрет в трудах О. Ф. Вальдгауера и М. И. Ростовцева

The main trends of the Russian classical studies which developed and gained its international recognition in the early 20th century. They are presented by the works of Vasilii Latyshev, Vladislav Buzeskul, Mikhail Rostovtsev, and Thaddeus Zielinski. These were historical-philological and cultural-historical studies, as well as those of social history. History of the art of antiquity represented by the names of Oscar Waldhauer, Vladimir Malmberg, Boris Farmakovsky, and Mikhail Rostovtsev evolved from description of iconography to the research of historical and artistic problems. Russia, following European countries, demonstrated gradual separation of the history of ancient art as an independent discipline from archaeology, philology, and history. A good example of this process is the research of antique portraiture. This topic became one of the key ones for Oscar Waldhauer. A student of Adolf Furtwängler and Ludwig Curtius, the representatives of German school in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Hermitage scholar created his sculpture catalogue based on the method of “Kopienkritik”. This method, which up to now underlies the attribution of monuments, was substantially supplemented with his studies. Logic of the research led Waldhauer to Heinrich Wölfflin’s thesis about “the history of art without names”. In the essays on the history of portrait, Waldhauer was guided by the concept that the history of art presents the history of spirit, as well as the concept of “Kunstwollen”. It was adopted by him from the works of Franz Wickoff and Alois Riegl, art historians of the Vienna School. In Waldhauer’s understanding, portrait style is an expression of “spirit of the times”. While in Germany Ludwig Curtius and Hans Delbrück adhered to a physiognomic interpretation, those who followed the Vienna school came to a conclusion that portrait had never imitated the appearance of a model. The evolution of portrait is a subject to its own laws, autonomous from social development. Another significant contribution to the study of ancient portrait, undertaken in this period was Mikhail Rostovtsev’s work, dedicated to the bust of the Bosporan Queen Dynamis. M. Rostovtsev compared attributes and symbolic signs that cover the bust with the iconography of statues of Iranian gods and rulers originating from the Nemrud Dag mound. Identification of the monument was carried out thanks to its historical interpretation. M. Rostovtsev’s discovery of the dual nature of the Bosporan monarchy, which was a symbiosis of Greek and Iranian elements, is a brilliant analysis of various historical materials that laid grounds to defining the personage. General interest in the portraiture characteristic of historiography at the beginning of the 20th century, rethinking of concepts and the search for new methods lead to several discoveries. Later, Russian historiography followed a different autonomous path. While for Western European and Anglo-American science the 20th century became the “century of portraiture”, Soviet art history returned to this topic many years later, only in 1970–1980s.

Alessandro Bausani and ‘Muslim Languages’, Forty Years After

Abstract Resorting to personal memories from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the author, who defended in 1971 at the University of Rome a thesis entitled Iranian Elements in Brahui, under Prof. Bausani’s direction (later revised and published under the title Iranian lexical elements in Brāhūī [Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1979]), reconstructs the political and cultural climate in which – at the end of the 1970s – a major subject of enquiry was the problem of the nature of the national unity among the countries of the Arab world. At the urging of Biancamaria Scarcia, Bausani decided to publish at the Institute of Islamic Studies of the University of Rome a volume of historical and linguistic essays coordinated by himself and B. Scarcia (Mondo islamico tra interazione e acculturazione [Roma: Istituto di studi islamici, 1981]). In this volume, Bausani published an essay on the concept of ‘Islamic language’ that took stock of his previous proposals made over more than twenty years (starting with his speech at the 1966 Ravello conference on a comparative history of the Islamic literatures). The author demonstrates that notwithstanding his use of linguistic terminology, Bausani’s main interest has always been the investigation of the possibility of identifying minimum distinctive traits present in the different literary typologies of various countries of Islamic culture.

ROMAN NAMES IN OLBIAN PROSOPOGRAPHY

Prosopographical data is one of the most important sources for the study of ethnic structure of the Ancient Greek population in the Northern Pontic area. It should be noted that prosopography reflects mostly wealthier and usually socially privileged strata, the representatives of city elite and the officials whose names are recorded in epigraphic records. Roman names from Greek and Latin inscriptions of the first centuries AD in the lapidary epigraphy from Olbia are presented in the paper.
 The names are put in the order according not to their traditional classification but to another approach basing on the name structure. Consequently the Roman names are divided into three groups: 1 — names with Greek structure; 2 — names with Roman structure and 3 — those composed of a single name. Each group consists of subgroups in which the ethnic origin of name is determined. Greek names with Roman structure, Roman (Latin) names with Greek structure, as well as mixed names including the elements of various ethnic and linguistic origin fit into this classification well. According to the name structure it can be already suggested that the bearers of the names of first group did not have the Roman citizenship, while the names of the second group belonged to the Roman citizens. Having received the Roman citizenship the names of new citizens should have consisted of three or two parts, not always Latin, but the name structure had to become traditional Roman one. The classification proposed the possibility to understand fundamental Greek traditions and new phenomena in prosopography of the first centuries AD. The list of names with short information is presented in the Appendix.
 Nineteen Roman names with Greek structure (personal name and patronymic in the genitive case) and twenty four names with Roman structure are recorded in the Olbian lapidary epigraphy. They appeared in the city onomastics comparatively late: in the first half of the 2nd century.
 There are only four names with Roman elements in the group of names of Greek structure. They have mostly mixed nature and compound Greek and Roman, Greek, Roman and Iranian, Roman and Iranian elements.
 The group of names with Roman structure and Roman components contain mostly names consisting of two parts, peculiar for the Late Roman period onomastics. The subgroup of names with mixed elements contains the spesimens of two and three parts of Greek and Roman, Roman and Iranian and Roman and Thracian origin. It should be also noted that each single individual name cannot be considered the direct representation of ethnicity of its bearer.
 The third group of Roman prosopography in Olbia is represented by a single name. Such names do not clearly indicate the social position of their bearers: they could be either socially depended or full citizens.
 Consequently, there are 52 names with at least one Roman element. If we proceed from the fact that the Olbian onomastics of the first centuries AD is represented by 299 names, the Roman names make approximately 17.4 % and the people with Roman citizenship was approximately 8.4 % of general number of the Olbiopolites whose names are recorded in epigraphic monuments of Olbia.
 Unlike Chersonesos and Tyras the members of Olbian civic community rarely received the rights of Roman citizenship and the percentage of names with Roman elements was lower here. This fact indicates first of all a certain peculiarity of Roman-Olbian relations in the general Roman policy towards North Pontic region. This circumstance reasoned the later and relatively weak Roman provincial influence on the city population which reflected in the prosopographical material from Olbia.

Кочевой мир, греко-бактрийское царство и Китай: этнокультурная ситуация на юге Центральной Азии в III–II вв. до н.э.

After the dissolution of the Empire of Alexander of Macedon the layer of Hellenized aristocracy began to appear in Asia under the influence of mixed marriages and cultural syncretism. The announcement of the establishment of the independent state of Bactria made by Diodotus I triggered the appearance of a special culture, characterized by the mixture of Iranian, North Indian and Greek cultural elements. Ultimately, its subsequent spread to the East lead to influence on the China-dominated world. Based on all the mentioned above, the given article aspires to collect and analyze the data, primarily from narratives as sources and foreign literature, for the purpose of researching the processes that connected two ancient and very influential civilizations – Greece and China. The main stages of explicit and implicit relations between China and Hellenistic Bactria is defined. The role of nomad cultures in establishment of connections between West and East is determined and exemplified by the events of the 3rd century B.C. and the early 1st century B.C. Conditional character of the names, referred to nomad entities by ancient writers, is analyzed. We show the controversy of interpretation the given names with the ethnic groups in modern meaning as well as the range of sources on the relations between Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and China and their characteristics. Finally, we construe the equal role of nomads, Chinese and Hellenes in the described contacts of ancient societies.

The Staphylinidae of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (Coleoptera)

The previously largely neglected and poorly known staphylinid faunas of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are addressed. Based on a study of more than 31,000 Staphylinidae recently collected in various habitats and using different methods, and on a critical evaluation of previous literature records, a checklist of the faunas of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh is compiled. The fauna of Armenia currently includes 675, that of Nagorno-Karabakh 198 named species. Nevertheless, it is concluded that the species inventory of both regions, especially that of Nagorno-Karabakh, is still far from complete. As many as 262 and 183 species are reported from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, respectively, for the first time. A list of 99 species erroneously or doubtfully recorded from the study region is provided. A comparison with the species number and systematic composition of the faunas of other Caucasian countries and regions revealed that (a) their known diversities are significantly lower than should be expected and (b) a remarkably high proportion (nearly 40 %) of Aleocharinae in the faunas of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, with the genus Atheta Thomson, 1858 alone accounting for approximately 10 % of the total diversity in Armenia. The faunas of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are primarily composed of widespread species, many of them Caspian (Caucasian) and Iranian elements, and remarkably few endemics. Only 23 species, thirteen of the Aleocharinae (most of them belonging to the genus Geostiba Thomson, 1858), four of the Pselaphinae, five of Scydmaeninae, and one of Staphylininae are classified as regional endemics, and one species of Aleocharinae from the peak region of Mount Khustup is classified as a local endemic. The distribution of one addititional species is confined to South Armenia and adjacent parts of North Iran. A number of species is currently known only from Armenia, but of doubtful taxonomic status or unlikely to represent endemics. Records of some species in Armenia and/or Nagorno-Karabakh revealed some remarkably discontinuous distributions with gaps of up to approximately 2,800 km; three of these distributions are mapped. Fourteen species are newly described: Omalium kociani Zanetti spec. nov. (Armenia: Jermuk) of the Omaliinae, Proteinus baculatus Assing spec. nov. (Armenia; Northeast Turkey) of the Proteininae, Bryaxis armeniacus Brachat spec. nov. (Armenia: NW Hrazdan) and B. meghruicus Brachat spec. nov. (South Armenia: Meghru range) of the Pselaphinae, Atheta (Paralpinia) meghruica Assing spec. nov. (South Armenia: Meghru range), Bellatheta khustupica Assing spec. nov. (South Armenia: Mount Khustup), Calodera alticola Assing spec. nov. (Armenia: Mount Karkar), and Tachyusa unguis Assing spec. nov. (South Armenia) of the Aleocharinae, Anotylus hamatoides Schülke spec. nov. (Armenia) of the Oxytelinae, Euconnus (Tetramelus) longilaminatus Meybohm spec. nov. (North Armenia), E. (T.) tavushus Meybohm spec. nov. (North Armenia), E. (T.) karabakhus Meybohm spec. nov. (Nagorno-Karabakh), Neuraphes (Paraphes) gomarantsus Meybohm spec. nov. (South Armenia: Meghru range), and N. (P.) syunikus Meybohm spec. nov. (South Armenia) of the Scydmaeninae. Eight synonymies and one revalidation are established: Dialycera minuta Luze, 1906 = Phyllodrepa armena Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1959, syn. nov.; Mycetoporus silvaticus Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1962 = M. dispersus Schülke & Kocian, 2000, syn. nov.; Aleochara subtumida (Hochhuth, 1859) = Aleochara khnzoriani Amiryan, 1999, syn. nov.; Platystethus cephalotes Eppelsheim, 1878, revalidated (previously synonym of P. laevis Markel & Kiesenwetter, 1848) = P. oblongopunctatus Roubal, 1911, syn. nov.; Euconnus lalvarensis Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1964 = Euconnus pseudorobustus Franz, 1986, syn. nov.; Astenus rufopacus Reitter, 1909 = A. baali Coiffait, 1960, syn. nov.; Heterothops dissimilis (Gravenhorst, 1802) = H. armeniacus Coiffait, 1977, syn. nov.; Heterothops praevius Erichson, 1839 = Heterothops montanus Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1966, syn. nov.
 
 Taxonomic acts
 Omalium kociani Zanetti spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:5F24413E-6AB4-4D1C-B567-AB93C38380C9Proteinus baculatus Assing spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3DDB2D69-A000-4FFA-AAC7-48CE4BAB7020Bryaxis armeniacus Brachat spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:01F595CB-9F3B-4DEE-8A4D-C97F39DE26E1Bryaxis meghruicus Brachat spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:AA6E7E2A-4450-48E8-8048-8061C3C6DF5CAtheta (Paralpinia) meghruica Assing spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:4673F1AA-F8C1-4524-AFA3-99E4E7F502FFBellatheta khustupica Assing spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C342B3DE-9EE5-4950-85BD-817DBEE6FE3ECalodera alticola Assing spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3BF46F7B-FBDB-4F1B-B0D0-89D669B021C2Tachyusa unguis Assing spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A4B4E5C2-EEB2-4146-B6F2-27D5873D5AEBAnotylus hamatoides Schulke, spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:0167E052-EBAB-421A-BB72-39E33C1EDC97Euconnus (Tetramelus) longilaminatus Meybohm spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:96692EB3-A82F-4ADB -A278-EC1B64040C82Euconnus (Tetramelus) tavushus Meybohm spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:7F2BBD70-A7F8-4272-8195-02884B90F2DDEuconnus (Tetramelus) karabakhus Meybohm spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A60B66A1-20EB-4341-9950-B6485B1A3853Neuraphes (Paraphes) gomarantsus Meybohm spec. nov. – urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:102F7EEC-B2A5-458F-B271-E3582970195FNeuraphes (Paraphes) syunikus Meybohm spec. nov.– urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2972F28B-0968-4810-B9F5-471E93F97F43

Tarih'te Horasan'ın Yeri (İslâmiyet Dönemi)

Horasan, tarihte ayrı bir yere ve öneme sahiptir. Geniş bir coğrafyaya sahip olan büyük Horasan'ın, Ceyhun bölgesinden başlayan, Rey civarına kadar süren, İran'ın diğer yerlerine göre farklılıklar ve değişikler gösteren bir durumu vardır. Horasan'ın farklı ve kendine münhasır bir diğer özelliği de; buraların geniş ve düz bir coğrafyaya ve stratejik bir öneme sahip olması; şehirler, köyler ve ticari bölgeleri kapsamasıdır. Bu durum, özellikle İslâm sonrası İran tarihini ve kültürünü derinden etkilemiştir. Bu coğrafyada ilk olarak İranlı unsurların hilafete karşı isyanı gerçekleşti ve mezheple ilgili ayaklanmalar baş gösterdi. Bu nedenlerden dolayı her tarihçi, İslâm sonrası Horasan bölgesini dikkate almak durumundadır. İslam'ın kabulünden hemen sonra Horasan ve civarı sakinlerinin yaşam tarzlarında radikal değişiklikler yaşanmış; yeni bir ekonomik sınıf doğmuş ve Arapların bölgeye yerleşimi, Horasan bölgesinde yaşayan halkın, Araplık ve Perslik kültürü etkisinde kalmaları gibi sonuçlar ortaya çıkarmıştır. Böylesi bir ortamda ilmi araştırmaların, edebi ve kültürel eserlerin ortaya çıkışı da bir rastlantı değildir. Ancak, Horasan'da yaşayan insanlar gelenek, kültür ve dillerini korumaya çalışmışlardır.

On the Toponymy of the Iranian Azerbaijan

The article is a tentative classification of the toponymy of the Turkish speaking Iranian regions, now including Eastern and Western Azerbaijans, Ardabil, Zanjan and Ghazvin Provinces. Based on a comprehensive study the writer did, as of 2008, a database of 12,000 Iranian toponyms was collected from the series of volumes of Farhang-e joγrāfyāyīī-e īrān, (Iranian Geographical Encyclopedia), published by the Persian Army Survey (1949-1982). In addition, information was collected from local private libraries, and scattered articles from patriotic scholars like Ahmad Kasravi1. Finally, to update the data, due to the socio-political developments affecting the toponymy of the country during the recent years, several field studies were also done in the various provinces of Iran including Ardabil, Eastern and Western Azerbaijans, Kurdistan, Gilan, Mazandaran and Khorasan. The collected data were categorized from different aspects regarding the origin of the toponyms, their meanings, and their word formation procedures. This article aims to provide evidence that the original Iranian elements are present in the toponymy of Iran, including all Turkish speaking provinces, and that the linguistic shift from Persian to Turkish in the region, has by no means affected the ethnic Iranian characteristics and identity of its population, against all propaganda to impose Turkish origins and identity to the people of the region. The focus of the study was to locate the common Iranian topoformant suffixes found in the place names throughout the country. The article casts a particular look at the tentative etymology of a place name of the Iranian origin (Sām-aspī), attested in Ardabīl district.

Scalar differences: temporal rhythms and spatial patterns at Monjukli Depe, southern Turkmenistan

Abstract

ПРОБЛЕМАТИКА ИЗУЧЕНИЯ ГИДРОНИМИИ БАЛТИЙСКОГО ПРОИСХОЖДЕНИЯ НА ТЕРРИТОРИИ РОССИИ

В статье поднят широкий круг вопросов, связанных с отражением гидронимией России древнего присутствия балтов. Вся восточная половина обширного древнебалтийского этноисторического ареала приходилась на регионы Европейской России. Названия рек и озер – главный источник, позволяющий судить об их древнем расселении и некоторых особенностях их диалектного языка. Данная работа содержит обзор истории изучения гидронимии балтийского происхождения на территории России, включая критику отдельных предшествующих работ, и кратко освещает ряд вопросов, среди которых: 1) уточнение юго-восточных, восточных и особенно северо-восточных границ древнебалтийского ареала, 2) соотношение балтийского слоя с финским и иранским языковыми элементами, 3) отношение балтийской гидронимии к археологическим культурам, локализуемым в Европейской России, 4) оценка сравнительной плотности балтизмов по разным русским регионам, 5) оптимизация методики поиска и обоснования гидронимии балтийского происхождения. К статье приложены карты-схемы: 1) северо-восточного фланга ареала балтийской гидронимии, 2) максимального восточнославянского ареала балтийской гидронимии.

The Relationship between Privacy and Introversion in Traditional Houses

Spiritual principles governing Iran's traditional architecture have deep roots in the country's culture and thoughts. The principle of privacy and introversion as the most important principles governing all aspects of life has been beautifully rooted in the traditional architecture of Iran and had deep consequences in spatial organizing and the way of placing various functions. Involvement of Iranian elements with currents Islamic thought, culture and art have given a new face to Iranian arts. Iranian architecture after Islam has unique design, elegance and accuracy and Islamic outlook has left undeniable effects on its identity and shaping. The main issue being concerned in this study was privacy and introversion as one of the most significant features mentioned in the architectures alleged to Islam. This article aimed at providing a definition of privacy and introversion, and introducing their relations and influences in the organization of spatial- physical architecture of traditional houses.

Late Antique Iran and the Arabs: The Case of al-Hira

AbstractThis article reevaluates our evidence for the interaction of Arab and Iranian elements in the Arab frontier-state of al-Hira, a state in late antiquity, which can be seen as a paradigmatic “third space” of special cultural dynamics. First, it sums up our evidence about the political and commercial ties connecting the Lakhmid principality and the Sasanian Empire; next, it focuses on the possible agents of cultural exchange between the two; finally, we direct our attention to the cultural spheres themselves and the issue of where and how Iranian-Arab transculturation as a process can be detected in the Hiran context. The article argues for a cautious reassessment of the material in light of current research in cultural studies. This is significant in its wider historical perspective, as such a process might have prepared the path for later developments in Islamic times, when the apogee of Arab-Iranian interaction is supposed to have taken place, i.e., in Abbasid Iraq.

Yoichi Isahaya. The Modification of the Twelve-animal Cycle in the Cultural Sphere of Literary Persian: a Consideration of the Twelve-animal Cycle of the Timurid Period

This study of the cycle of twelve animal years draws on the example of the fusion of Turko-Mongol and Iranian elements following the Mongol invasion of the Iranian plateau in the 13th century. Introduced in Iran by the Ilkhanids, this calendar initially started at Lichun, as did the Chinese calendar. In later years however, the starting point was moved to the vernal equinox – the first day of the Iranian calendar. The author concludes from various sources that this change initially took place...

In the Name of the Fathers

Genealogy has always been a kingly preoccupation, especially in the Indic world where ksatriya status (whether genuine or fabricated) was a sine qua non for the exercise of legitimate power. It was no less true of the Turco-Mongol dynasty known as ‘Mughal’ which came to dominate vast expanses of the subcontinent from the sixteenth century onwards. True, the Mughals could boast of such illustrious ancestors as the world-conquerors Chingiz Khan and Timur. Yet, from the moment they set foot in India, they became aware of the limited legitimacy they would be able to derive from such genealogical credentials in a region where neither Chingiz Khan and his successors nor Timur had left very good memories. On the other hand, their descent from such famous figures constituted a real asset vis-à-vis their Ottoman, Safavid and Uzbek competitors and among the Turco-Mongol and Iranian elements of their nobility. The fact that the Mughals could afford neither to alienate their Indian subjects nor to dispense with the international prestige they derived from their lineage explains to a large extent the fluctuating genealogical strategies they adopted during the first century or so of their dominance.

The Iranian Elements in the Thracian Art First Millenium B.C.

Tracja i Iran to terytoria dość odległe od siebie, znajdujące się na dwóch kontynentach. W czasie gdy Trakowie na początku I tysiąclecia przed Chr. zamieszkiwali już północną część Półwyspu Bałkańskiego, plemiona irańskie dopiero osiedliły się na peryferiach świata asyrobabilońskiego. O ile bliskie kontakty w pierwszej połowie I tysiąclecia przed Chr. pomiędzy Tracją a Anatolią, Scytią i Grecją nie podlegają żadnej dyskusji, to o kontaktach z ludami irańskimi sprzed okresu wojen grecko-perskich, z archeologicznego punktu widzenia, niewiele możemy powiedzieć. Na gruncie sztuki trackiej wskazywano jedynie na fakt, że tak zwany styl zoomorficzny, który występował zarówno w sztuce trackiej, jak i scytyjskiej, swe analogie posiadał także w Mezopotamii. Do dnia dzisiejszego literatura fachowa dotycząca kontaktów tracko-irańskich w dziedzinie sztuki nie jest jeszcze zbyt obfita, a poszczególne hipotezy stawiają wiele znaków zapytania. Można jednak i należy się pokusić o wskazanie pewnych elementów w sztuce irańskiej, które odnajdujemy również i w sztuce trackiej, co też stało się przedmiotem niniejszego artykułu. Dla okresu przedachemenidzkiego szczególnie istotne są odkrycia dokonane w roku 1928 na terenie Iranu w regionie Luristan. Znaleziono tam dużą liczbę brązowych przedmiotów, które datuje się na pierwszą ćwierć I tysiąclecia przed Chr. Nie mniej ważne okazało się też odkrycie niezwykle bogatego skarbu w miejscowości Ziwyé (irański Kurdystan) zawierającego wiele przedmiotów wykonanych ze złota, srebra oraz kości słoniowej. Zarówno brązy z Luristanu, jak też niektóre przedmioty ze skarbu z Ziwyé – jak się okazało – mają swe bliższe lub dalsze paralele w Tracji, co świadczy o istnieniu pewnej, dużej obszarowo, wspólnocie kulturowej, która obejmowała tereny pomiędzy Tracją a Iranem. Związki tracko-irańskie na gruncie sztuki archeolodzy próbują rozpatrywać analizując wybrane kategorie wytworów, typu: siekiery kultowe, aplikacje zoomorficzne pochodzące z uprzęży końskiej, pektorały, rytony, aplikacje z tarcz z miejscowości Rozovec oraz Panagjuriszte, a także wskazując na pewne niewielkie podobieństwa, których można się doszukiwać w architekturze sepulkralnej. Reasumując rozważania dotyczące pewnych podobieństw (dokonanych na wybranych przykładach) niektórych wytworów luksusowych, jak też związków w architekturze sepulkralnej Iranu i Tracji, należy jednak na obecnym etapie badań zachować w wysuwaniu wniosków daleko idącą ostrożność.

Iranian Elements in Arabic the State of Research

AbstractThe article critically examines the extant literature on the problem of Iranian elements in Classical Arabic, classifying it into three categories: lexica, lexicological essays and notes, and general overviews. The last section of the paper discusses the phonetic peculiarities of the Iranian borrowings in Arabic.

The Median Empire reconsidered: a view from Kerkenes Dağ

SummaryThe city on the Kerkenes Dağ in central Anatolia is the largest pre-Hellenistic urban centre on the plateau (figs 1–2). It has plausibly been identified with a city of the Medes, called Pteria by Herodotus (1.76). If the identification is accepted, the city represents an expansion and imposition of Iranian power over the northern part of the central plateau. Kerkenes might thus provide evidence concerning the first sustained cultural, political and military contact between an Iranian imperial regime and Anatolian powers. Unique circumstances and developing technologies are providing an opportunity to map the city in great detail. The data base will enable analyses of the urban dynamics of an ancient city that, by combining Iranian, Anatolian and east Greek elements in centralised urban planning, were perhaps catalytic in the formation and development of the Achaemenid Empire.

Songs of divine love

Iranians are increasingly tuning in to the new wave of 'revolutionary' pop that combines state-of-the-art production techniques and western melodies with traditional Iranian elements and lyrics about divine love

Archaeological Investigations in Azerbaijan (1986-1990)1

AbstractArchaeologists in Azerbaijan have studied the period in the middle of the first millennium B.C. which laid the economic basis of later states in the area (e.g. Atropene and Caucasian Albania) and during which nomadic peoples became settled pastoralists and arable farmers. Their work has revealed the process of transformation of temporary camps into permanent settlements, confirming ancient references to ca. 30 cities in Albania, and indicates the emergence of a new culture integrating native and Iranian elements in the late 1 st mill. B.C. -early 1 st mill. A.D. Mediaeval archaeology still focusses on urban settlements, but the number of sites and the scale of investigations have increased considerably. Main concerns have been the process and problems of urbanisation and the development of crafts, trade and architecture, however use of modern scientific methods studying the mass of excavated material is expected to throw light on the genesis of the mediaeval town, its social structure.and typology and the social aspects of its craft industries.

The Iranian Elements in the Islamic Culture of India

The Iranian Elements in the Islamic Culture of India