فصلنامه پژوهش های تاریخی
سال سیزدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 50، تابستان 1400)

One of the famous personalities of the Safavid period was Mirza Aboutaleb Fendereski, who was contemporary with Shah Suleiman and Sultan Hussein. The similarity of the surname of Aboutaleb Fendereski with another scholar, Abolghasem Fendereski, has caused researchers to make a mistake in mentioning their works and circumstances. For example, they assume a relative relationship between the two or give wrong dates for the time of Aboutaleb Fendereski's death. Little is known about Aboutaleb Fendereski since his time. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the life and political and social atmosphere of the time of this great scholar and why historical sources are silent about him. The study was done using the content analysis method by reviewing, comparing, criticizing, and evaluating the historical data. The findings of the study showed that these two great scientists were certainly not father and son and probably did not have a kinship relationship. The Fenderesk family's conflicts with the government over financial issues have also caused the name of Aboutaleb Fendereski to be removed from the media of that time. The dates given in various sources for the time of his death are incorrect and his date of death is between 1107 and 1111 AH.

The art of historiography in China, like any other country, is influenced by the country's culture. In China, at least from centuries before Confucius, the tradition was the basis of popular culture, which naturally influenced the thoughts of Chinese historians. One of the most important traditions influencing the minds of Chinese historians was the traditional Chinese worldview, which survived for centuries. While other countries took their name from the tribes that inhabited their land, the Chinese had called their country Zhongguo (Middle land) since the early centuries of the first millennium BC. The emergence of this idea, which was originated from the cosmopolitan philosophy of ancient China, led the Chinese emperors to claim to be ‘Son of God’ and to consider the surrounding countries as barbarians and tax collectors who should “come and develop”. For example, the narrations of ancient Chinese historians about the Arsacid and Sasanids kings of Iran and West Asia emphasized that the kings of Iran always offered gifts to the Chinese emperors and even asked the emperor for help and guidance in the affairs of their country. Considering the importance of this claim, the present study intends to study the nature of the Iranian kings’ interaction with Chinese emperors in Chinese texts by reading, comparing, and analyzing reports of Chinese texts and examining the nature of this claim. The author of the present study assumes that the idea of Zhongguo was used by Chinese historians in their work ‘to offer’ gifts to Chinese emperors only to emphasize the central position of their emperors. The author believes that, according to the idea of the Middle Kingdom, the phrase ‘to offer gifts’ was deliberately used by Chinese historians, merely, to emphasize ‘the central position of their emperors’.

Symbols and archetypes are the most important structural elements of myths in different societies. They also play a significant role in the Iranian mythology. One of the mythical narrations quoted in Shahnameh and includs symbols and archetypes is the myth of 'Houshang's Battle with the Black Snake'. Despite the importance of this mythical narrative, not much research has been done in this area. Assessing the mythical roots, symbols, and archetypes in this narrative could be accompanied by investigating many historical mysteries of ancient Iranians. The present study was carried out in a descriptive-analytical manner and based on library data. The purpose was to analyze the myth of 'Houshang’s Battle with the Black Snake' using symbols and archetypes. The results showed that the black snake burning the world in this myth was a symbol of evil, destruction, and eternal disorder, which was opposed to Houshang as the symbol of goodness, justice, order, and prosperity. The result of such battle was the discovery of a demonic snake and fire and a celebration that was directly related to the superiority of the snake and the discovery of fire. In this myth, archetypes, such as the battle between the good and evil, the battle of the hero with snakes and dragons, the fire and drift of demons, celebrations, etc., could be observed and evaluated.

The goddess al-’Uzzā is one of the famous Arabian deities in the pre-Islamic era, whose name is also mentioned in the Qur'an (Najm:19). In some Islamic reports, the destruction of al-’Uzzā has been described in a wonderful way. While most of these traditions describe al-’Uzzā as an idol, in some of them, she appears in the form of a black woman with disheveled hair and is then killed by Muslim soldiers. The main questions of this study are as follows: What is the reason for this altered description and where is the origin of such a forgery? What are the Muslim authors’ reports trying to describe and how does this help to understand the values of deities in Islamic culture?

One of the main sources in the research done by Iranian and Turkish orientalists and scholars about the Hurufiya Sect and the thoughts of the head of this Sect, Mirza Fazlullah Estarabadi, is a treatise called "Khabnameh". Its author is Nasrullah Ibn Hassan Nafji, Fazlullah’s disciple and comrade during his stay in Isfahan. Also, another doctrinal text of the Hurufiya Sect is a text called "Makhzan al-Romuz" written by the same author in825  AH. These two texts are important sources for understanding the thoughts and teachings of the Hurufiya Sect. To this day, no information is available about this author and wherever his name has been mentioned, he has been known by his "Khabnameh". In this research, the manuscripts of these two important texts were introduced. Their copies are kept in libraries outside Iran: "Khabnameh" in Vatican Library and "Makhzan al-Romuz" in Rumi Library and Museum in Konya. In this study, in addition to introducing the two mentioned texts, we dealt with Nasrullah Ibn Hassan Nafji and his birthplace, while his name was found not to be mentioned in historical sources. In fact, we considered the various information that this reporter had provided in the field of geographical and social issues.

One of the plans of the Second Pahlavi Government was trying to create a cultural modernization based on Western patterns. One of the measures taken during this process was to change women’s lifestyles, especially their clothing and preening patterns. To this end, the ideological apparatuses of the Pahlavi government promoted new patterns of preening and fashion among various classes of the society. In the meantime, the media, especially the press, had a special role to play in promoting the models. One of the women's magazines in the 1950s that was active for weekly providing government-friendly templates was Etellat-e-Banovan (Women's Information). The purpose of this article was to study the components of this journal and the way of promoting its fashion and preening patterns from 1957 to 1961 by using a descriptive-analytical method. The findings showed that this magazine placed a special value on Western-style clothing and preening which was in line with the cultural policies of the Pahlavi government, especially in the area of women's clothing and preening patterns. However, although being aware of the consequences of this change of lifestyle and Iranian women’s modernization in the face of ethical and social crises, the magazine sought to familiarize Iranian women with Western-style self-realization and clothing, deeming it to be the correct and real concept of fashion and preening. They made women segregate from such principles as simplicity, modesty, dignity, chastity, and moderation.