نشریه مطالعات ایرانشناسی
پیاپی 6 (پاییز 1396)

The Silk Road is a passage way for peace and world trade, a canal for exchange of ideas, thoughts, knowledge, and beliefs, and one of the largest networks of trade routes in the world. Passing through several vast countries, this road was the most precious link between different nations and lands of old times. It connected the civilizations of Iran, China, India, Mesopotamia, and Central Asia, which was a heavy historical load for several centuries. Presently, although the imposed borderlines have torn huge ancient countries apart, the cultures and rituals of all the new lands still have their roots in the same origin. The reason behind this oneness can be sought in the historical, political, social, and economic ties of such nations. The exchanges between China and Iran, and Iran and Rome through the Silk Road were not limited to a few material goods; rather, they included the products of both the minds and hands of the people of these countries. Such products ranged from natural and industrial goods to local handicrafts and national and heavenly customs and rituals, all demonstrating the value of a super highway connecting the East to the West. Today, a convergence among the countries of different regions in the world is necessary more than any other time. Thus any effort in order to establish different unities could pave the way for the opening of a highway that can consolidate the unity among nations.

Given its rich cultural dimension and influence over other arts, including painting, Iranian literature is one of the most distinctive contexts in the field of comparative literature. This field can explore the relationship between poetry and painting from two aspects: First, how an identical concept is manifested in both written and visual arts and, second, how written art or poetry could affect visual arts or painting. Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh is one of the cultural, mythological texts which goes beyond its initial coding system, becomes present in various epistemological and artistic realms, and affects them. One of the important themes in Iranian painting is the battle betweenDiv (Demon) and human beings. The present paper intends to investigate the form of Div in the painting schools of the Ilkhanid period to the end of the Qajar period and the reasons for differences in portraying it based on Paul Ricoeur’s theory. This study seeks to provide some answers to the following questions: 1) What are the formal characteristics and distinctive features of the image of Div in the different painting Schools between the Ilkhanid and the late Qajar periods? 2) How could the differences between the images of Div in the painting schools of the mentioned time interval be explained? The results of the study indicate that the images of Div in the paintings of this period have been drawn with animal features in the body of human beings. On the other hand, the existing differences in this regard originate initially in the metaphorical aspects of Shahnameh and then in the personal perception of painters and their understanding of the text, the artistic taste of their period and the school in which they have been trained, and the social, cultural, political, and gnostic conditions and necessities of their time. This study has been conducted following the descriptiveanalytic, comparative, and library methods.

The Iranian-Islamic life enjoys specific features, such as hospitality, which is a part of the oral and intangible culture of Iranian ethnic groups. The manifestations of this feature can be clearly witnessed in the literature, art, poetry, music, customs, and traditions of different regions of this land. The culture and literature of each Iranian ethnic group pay particular attention to guests, parties, and hospitality. This point has also attracted the attention of Iranologists, tourists, and world travelers and can be deemed as an influential cultural-social and economic-political element. Hence, the science-industry of tourism should pay great attention to the important theme of hospitality in order to promote successful business as the manifestation of the character of Iranians in the view of other nations all over the world. Iranians’ hospitality has been recognized as the most important attraction of this country in several travel accounts, documentaries, and interviews with tourists returning from Iran. Based on anthropological studies, the present paper has examined hospitality as one of the desirable and moral behaviors of Iranianpeople in the context of popular culture and intends to manifest its relationship with the process of attracting tourists in the light of ethnological elements.

When the name and description of a land appear in the works of one of the most famous poets of another land, it turns into an important and noteworthy occurrence. The description of Iran in the poems of Paul Fleming is an example in this regard. This famous poet of the German Baroque literary period (17th century) traveled to Iran in company with a trading embassy from a state in North Germany. During his stay in Iran, which lasted for 17 months, he tried to express some of his observations, the events which happened to him and his entourage during this time, and his own perception of the land of Iran in the mold of a number of ballads in German and Latin at the height his poetic taste and delicacy. In addition to frequent references to the name of Iran, the names of its cities, and its nature, he spoke of its historical ancient background and some distinguished Iranian figures in his poems. In this paper, the author has tried to explore and analyze the references to Iran in the lines of some of Fleming’s Latin ballads.

The construction of religious structures holds a particular place in the various branches of architecture. Upon the rise of Islam in Iran and the resulting changes in the ruling system and rituals, the functions and usage of buildings changed. Fars Province is one of the important regions in Iran which greatly benefitted from the arrival of Islam, and the Muslims living there employed many of the useful recommendations of Shar’ and the intellect in different aspects of their life. For example, they used the structure of fire temples to construct mosques and create a place for the gathering of Muslims. The present paper is intended to examine and analyze the process of changing the fire temples of Izadkhast and Estakhr into mosques during the early Islamic centuries in Fars with an emphasis on the architectural structure of the mosques and based on archeological proofs and documented evidence. This study was conducted following the descriptive-analytic and field methods. The required data were collected from library sources and also through field-based observation and investigation and use of maps and croquis. The results of this study indicate that the two mosques were the products of changing the functions of fire temples. Nevertheless, the space of the original structures underwent some qualitative and essential changes based on monotheistic beliefs. In fact, in the light of a minimum of physical alterations, a number of important qualitative changes were made to them in line with Islamic principles and beliefs. For example, the fire and hearth were removed from the center of the inner space of the building, and the Qibla angle was covered with a wall and the symbol of Qibla. Moreover, in order to make the spaces under the square domes more internal and exclude the attention to the outside, portals, porches, left-side corridors, inner yards, doors, and external walls were added to the main buildings,the main axes of whichwere in the direction of Qibla.

There are several rock inscriptions in Iran. Related Studies indicate that the carving of inscriptions on rocks have continued from prehistorical times until now. Several inscriptions have also been created during the Islamic period, some of which bear a date as well. A noticeable number of inscriptions on rocks are located along the roads in Central and Isfahan provinces, and the study of caravanserais and inns demonstrates that these roads were used in previous periods. In this study, while examining the contents of existing Islamic epigraphs and inscriptions, the writers have also dealt with the concept of carvan routes in relation to the roads near such works. In order to study the intended inscriptions, they have been divided into four groups, and each group has been introduced independently. The images of the caravans which have been carved on the rocks in the mentioned regions could indicate that the adjacent roads were used as caravan routes.

Upon the rise of the Safavid Dynasty, a centralized and pervasive government was developed in all cultural and geographical areas of Iran which, relying on the elements of Iranian identity, managed to put an end to a 900-year period of idle political and social identity. Similar to the Sassanids, the Safavid kings began creating some new traditions in order to institutionalize the values they believed in. As a result, they began disseminating them all over the land of Iran through creating certain networks and symbols, holding some special ceremonies and rituals, and designating a number of national and religions days such as Nowruz and Muharram, respectively. All this finally resulted in the development of an up-to-date and functional version of Iranian identity. The findings of this study indicate that the rise of the Safavid Dynasty in Iran not only enhanced the territorial integrity of the country but also led to the reproduction of a kind of new national identity which was, to a great extent, supported by the government. In this system, Shi’ism played a significant role in the formation of a distinctive identity as opposed to the perceptions of the most important foreign governments of that time, that is, the Ottomans and the Uzbeks.