مجله مطالعات ایرانی
پیاپی 20 (پاییز 1390)

This paper explored the conquest of the city of Qazvin and its physical-spatial changes in the Islamic era (first century to the early sixth century AH). According to available sources, although the details of how Qazvin was conquered by the Muslim were not clear enough, it seemed that it was not achieved at once and easily. Afterwards, Qazvin was considered as one of the most important bounds of Islam especially threatened by Dylmyan. The Efforts of caliphate to gain special status for this city by mentioning some hadiths and narratives about its habitation and defense were probably for this reason. It seemed the first significant step relating to Qazvin was the development of two cities with castles named Musa Medina and Mobarakeh Medina at a distance of less than a thousand meter from the city at the time of Abbasid caliphs. Perhaps, a milestone of events and developments influencing Qazvin was the travel of Harun al-Rashid that led to building of the Jameh Mosque, taking action to develop the city, and making an effort to construct the city rampart for which some endowed properties (Waqf) were allocated. Since then, Qazvin was considered as a valid and great city and its boundaries were gradually formed and defined which was led to the development of the city between the third and the sixth centuries A.H (completion of the rampart). During Seljukian dynasty (fifth and sixth century AH), particularly due to the progress of Ismaili sect in the area of Alamut, Qazvin was taken into consideration by the Seljuk Sultans. Consequently, several buildings were constructed at that special time.

History of Iran all over the Islamic period before the rullling of the Safavid dynasty, and for a short period in the time of Buwayhid dynasty didn’t experience a Shiite government. In fact, it can be said that after nine centuries since the arrival of Islam in Iran and the ruling of the Safavid, the revival of national identity and traditional values as well as Shi’a ruling and its association with Sufism and politics could be observed. The relationship between the Shiite and Iranian culture was very strong. During the Safavid, religion had an important role in the study of culture and art. Actually, ideological changes and social developments in the Safavid era influenced art too. therefore, in addition to people, Shiite artists tried to reflect Shiite elements, thought, and their devotion to the family of the Prophet, and especially to Imam Ali (peace be upon him) as well as issues in their arts such as Quranic verses, the divine names, prophetic traditions and narratives, the ascension of the Prophet, Shia Declaration of Faith, the fourteen innocents, poems about praising of Imams, specially Imam Ali and the loyalty and devotion to Him, the loneliness, thirst and innocence of Imam Hossein (peace be upon him) in verse, in prose or in metallic symbols of Ashura. The important point is that the relationship between art and religious laws at the time of Safavid was well founded. Literature, architecture and art in this era all represented Shiite elements which were the features of this age. This paper tried to reveal the aforementioned concepts and elements of the Shiite Safavid period with the approach to the art of carpet weaving, Persian painting (painting) and metal processing reflected in the art of this era.

Many researchers associated with the monuments, and ancient documents consider inscriptions as documents which can help considerably to explore and review social, economic, political, cultural, and artistic situations, and consequently to recognize national identity of communities. It could also be documented to resolve past ambiguities of human societies. Inscriptions establish a lasting identity for the history and culture of human societies. This paper was aimed at paving the way for achieving more comprehensive understanding of Islamic-national identity of Iranian during Ilkhani era by reading and reviewing the decorative Kofi and Sols inscriptions in the tomb monument Pirbakran. The method of this research was descriptive and analytical based on library, document and field studies of inscriptions on the tomb Pirbakran, 30 kilometers southwest of Isfahan. After a brief introduction of the building, the history of its construction, and the location of the Pirbakran tomb inscriptions were marked in its architecture map. Then by using imaging instruments (from 2006 to 2011), some examples of inscriptions were read and recorded. The results of this study revealed that "Pirbakran tomb inscriptions" contained extremely valuable concepts and contents which should be considered further as a valid cultural heritage to protect and develop the Iranian Islamic identity.

According to historical sources, Āzarbāyjān was considerd as a significant military base because of bordering the Christians Armenian (in the north) and Romans (in the west). It was also supposed as an important sanctuary because of the Āzargušnasp fire temple in Takht-e-Soleymān (ancient šīz) from the beginning of the Sasanian period. Takht-e-Soleymān is one of the favorite and considerable archaeological sites for archeologists which is in the northeast of Tekab and in the south of Urmia Lake with architectural relics from Sasanian and Achaemenid eras. Indeed, it is the biggest religious and political establishment of the late Sasanian period which has been explored and excavated. The ruins of Āzargušnasp fire temple are in an oval fortification with great gates related to Sasanian period and also Islamic periods.In the German and Swedish archaeologists’ excavations of Takht-e-Soleymān, great number of seal and clay sealing (a picture which is drown by seal on clay) were discovered from the late Sasanian period which have clarified the official status of that era, especially the name of the workers and high-ranking officials of that region, and even the type of the rank they held. This helps us increase our knowledge about the collections of names of that period. In addition, through ideogram pictures, the people’s beliefs in that time can be clarified. The discovery of the seal on which is the name of Āzargušnasp is an evidence to prove the name of Āzargušnasp for Takht-e-Soleymān. Finding the names of some mints on some coins of that period is the consequence of this great discovery.

Cultural, historical, and National identity are amongst the most significant factors of national identity that make societies and nations different from each other. Archaeology as one of the branches of anthropology can have an important role in amplifying national identity of the modern societies. Moreover, one of the most important subjects related to all factors of national identity from different sides is relics of a distinct nation with a special language, history and geography that represent the amount of talent and effort of the past generation and also reveal the long history of tendency toward socialization and national identity. Accordingly, archaeology with its social, cultural, political, and historical aspects is related with national identity. Having an old record of history, civilization, and culture, Iran as an ancient country, can enjoy its benefits in the development of national identity with the help of archeology. This paper was aimed at proving the fact that archaeology could amplify the political unity, national solidarity, and self-esteem as well as expanding the tourism to develop the economy of the country in several ways and thereby help increase the national identity in Iran.

Some parts of the story of “Siavash” in Shahnameh is similar to the story of “Lion and Cow” specially that part in which the Iranian prince arrived at Turan and then was killed by Garsivaz (Afrasiab’s brother). It is worth mentioning that the root of the story of Siavash is known to be related to the myth of Ishtar and Tamuz of Mesopotamian’s myths which is just related to the first parts of the story and was not included in this article. As it could be seen in the following, the scenes and dialogues of the story proceeded similarly but the differences such as symbolic characters in Kelileh va Demneh in comparison with Shahnameh could be studied. Therefore, it was not unusual to look for this part of the story of Siavash in the aforementioned story of Kelileh va Demneh. However, it was possible that these two stories were rooted in another older story. In this paper at first the roots of the stories were analyzed to have a precise comparison of them. After that the scenes, dialogues, and different characters of these two were compared and finally, the difference between the two stories were emphasized.

This article was aimed at investigating a newly found inscription of the Hajmad farm in the Morad Beyk valley of Hamadan which was written in Pahlavi script. The script of this inscription like the other Pahlavi Inscriptions of the kind (grave stones) belonged to the late Sassanian period and early Islamic period in Iran. The point that made this inscription distinguished from the other new Pahlavi inscriptions was the effect of the official Persian dialect (Farsi Dari) on the Pahlavi language and script used in this inscription. This fact gave this Pahlavi inscription a special significance from the linguistic evolution point of view.

Beyond all doubts, one of the principle goals of Islam from the very beginning was to administer justice. To achieve this goal, the primary foundation of an organization called tribunal court was established in the Islamic government and was evolved by the development of the Islamic civilization. Various institutions came into existence since the beginning of Islamic Era; a tribunal court is one of those that its structure, use, theoretical considerations, and changes during evolution seem not to be investigated appropriately.The prime purpose of the present study was to investigate its quantitative and qualitative changes in the earlier centuries of Islam and to analyze every part of this organization separately and precisely.

"Yakhchal" is a word meaning the pit in which the ice was stored. Not only was the design of "adobe Yakhchal" compatible with local climate, but also was a significant innovation which, by providing the ice during the cold period and storing it up to the climax of the warm period of the year, the climatic parameters and factors were to serve it as well. "Yakh chal" was formed under the influence of climate. Having cold winter with freezing temperature and hot summer is one of the climatic features of Iran Plateau. This feature accounted for making ice in winter and its consumption in summer. In this study, the architecture of "Yakhchal" was investigated in two separate sections: "ice making workshop" and "icebox". The first section was an open area designed for water freezing. The place of "ice making workshop" comprised two structures namely "Shadow wall" and "Land freezing". The second section, which was a roofed building, included two structures: "pit" and "Dome". The design of "Yakhchal" Was formed based on climatic conditions to control the sunlight angle and heat flux between the surface of the earth and atmosphere in microclimate scale. The design, with intensified winter freezing conditions and vertical angle adjustment of sun exposure in warm period of the year, contributed to microclimate change of "ice making workshop" and interior space of "icebox".

Wind in the epic of Shahname Ferdowsi has two roles and uses and it can be “evil” or “divine”. Evil winds in Shahname events are blowing against light, luminescence, innocence, and divine forces. Sometimes, these winds are the instruments of the evil which has been sent to Iranians with the sorcery of the enemies, and sometimes, enemies or demons disguise themselves as wind to deceive or hurt the heroes. The sudden and fast blowing winds are barriers on army’s advance. Occasionaly, they appear as icy and chilly winds which evil consequences are death and disease. The form and use of the evil winds in Shahname are similar to the devastating winds of the Iranian and other nations’ myths.

This paper was a report of the preliminary results of archaeological investigations of the settlement pattern of the Islamic period of the Tehran Plain which was trying to analyze the overall shape of the settlement of this plain as the most important center of social, historical and cultural change during different historical periods with emphasis on historical sources. Moreover, the vicissitudes of the city of Rey and its villages related to human factors such as political and religious disagreements or natural phenomena such as earthquake or drought were considered In addition, the relation between settlement patterns and economic and social interactions of the residents of the Tehran plain, from the archaeological perspective was clarified and consequently the pattern for social and economic relations of satellite suburbs of Tehran Plain with Rey was established. Finally, the mechanism of producing agricultural and industrial products in the Plain was considered and the way of trading and exchange of goods between rural and urban communities in Tehran Plain were studied.

Faramarznameh is one of the Iranian epical poems which is about Rostam's son called Faramarz whose story happened in India. The poem is composed of 1550 verses written by an anonymous poet probably from Fors Abad, Marv in the 5th century to narrate the quarrelsome and bravery of Faramerz. The poet considers himself as a sincere follower of Ferdowsi; however, Faramarznameh is not as impressive as Shahnameh. Faramarz’ fight like his father’s doesn’t have any national or heroic aspects and it was just for the rescue of the Indian king from his enemies. Nevertheless, this epical poem deserves its merits to be studied owing to its beautiful language and various thought patterns. The researchers tried to compare the different parts of Faramarznameh with Shahnameh and showed the various poetic dimensions of both works.

With the entrance of human into the neo-lithic era and the change in a means of livelihood from food gathering to food production through farming, the creation of artistic and symbolic works developed too. The consequence of a farming as a source of livelihood and the dependence of the man to the lands was fertility of the lands. The neo-lithic man was trying to find different ways to use and benefit more from the land and consequently develop the farming. Natural phenomena that affected his life seemed to be unpredictable, unpreventable and everlasting. Therefore, the neo-lithic human tried to enjoy the blessing of life and avoid its agonies with the help of his beliefs and ceremonies. In fact, being dependent to the surrounding environment and nature, the neo-lithic man always attempted to dominate the natural factors. Thus, creation of symbols and statuette were considered to achieve this goal. The creation of the female statuettes and exaggeration in presenting their fertility organs revealed the fact that these statuettes were used as symbols of reproductively and fertility to guarantee the products of farming and keep it safe against vagaries.

Fantasy and its dimensions in literature is one of the new objects of study in the area of Persian literature especially those works which are closely related to epics and myths. Fantasy of sorcery and witchcraft are of vital features of scary atmosphere. In this article, the similar and different use of this feature was attempted to be achieved in the two epics of Garshasb-nameh and Bahman-nameh. At first, a brief introduction about fantasy was tried to be given. Afterwards, the characteristic of Garshasb and Bahman in these two epic were analyzed. Finally, by giving some related evidence, the frequency of the use of sorcery was compared in these two collections.

Goddess is of great significance in various ancient cultures. The discovery of the Mud statuettes of the fertility goddess from different ancient areas denotes this subject. Anāhitā is one of the oldest Iranian goddess. The name of this goddess isnt in Gāhān but in late Avesta, the fifth Yašt belongs to Arədī Sūrā Anāhitā. Though Anāhitā has similar characteristics with Sarasvati, the Hindu goddess of wisdom, her characteristics in Ābān Yašt as well as relics such as her statues shows the great influence of Babylonian goddess, Ištar on characterization of Anāhitā in the Iranian mythologies. In this paper, according to mythological, historical and archaeological resources, similar characteristics between Anāhitā and Ištar and the influence of Ištar on the characteristics of Anāhitā were studied.