پژوهشنامه تمدن ایرانی
سال چهارم شماره 2 (پیاپی 8، پاییز و زمستان 1401)

Mehr-Narseh is one of the most important personalities of the middle of the Sasanian era, which is famous for its important political responsibilities and the negative image of Zoroastrian texts; on the one hand, he was for the long time the third most powerful person of the Sasanian Empire and the great king of the three kingdoms, On the other hand, in religious texts, he is a hated person who has long been condemned for his sin or sins to serve as a slave in fire temples. This situation is clearly stated in Paragraph 49 of the 42 important texts of the Mādiān Hezārdādestān. In this present research, information is gathered in a library method and a descriptive analytical method is a kind of "content analysis". Finally, this article concludes that the cause of this contradiction should be sought in the Iranian historiography and the shadow of the Zoroastrian religious system, given the continued existence of this device after the collapse of the monarchy. Accordingly, in view of the power of the clergy at the end of the Sasanian era and the predominantly religious view of history at this time, Zoroastrian clergy made a major distortion of existing historical information and set up history according to his wishes and goals.

The main policy of Safavid’s dynasty was based on creating an interior sustainable space and showing the authority of governance in different social and political fields. Safavid kings formed one of the main signs of this saber rattling in the field of the construction and decoration of glorious buildings. Acquiring authority through the architecture of royal buildings leads in expanding numerous buildings in Isfahan and decorating them by different kinds of decorations and beautiful and expensive objects. Despite the palaces of Ottoman kings, Isfahan palaces were constructed in the main area of the city and in public vision and showed their beauty and magnificence to their audiences in their two interior and exterior parts. The current article has been conducted aiming the study and analysis of the role of creating authority of Isfahan palaces in two exterior and interior area and by descriptive-analytical method, as a documentary based study and by using library resources, which seeks the response of this question that what was the role of creating power and political authority in Safavid palaces in Isfahan? The findings of the research shows that the exterior parts which were observed by the public every day was in the line with stabilizing the public position and according to this issue that it was not possible for all people to visit the interior parts of royal buildings and only close people to royals and and foreign ambassadors and tourists could enter and observe these parts, so the parts related to the interior spaces and  paying much attention to their decorations have been done in order to show this authority to foreign ambassadors and tourists; And the Safavid showed a part of their royal power in this manner. This influence mostly led to the Safavid intentions, the result of which can be observed in the writings of these visitors.

Literary sources are one of the valuable sources that reflect the social, political and cultural citations of the poet's lifetime. Nasir Khusrau, as dissenter elite contrary to assenter elite of Saljuq reign, has a critical view on the socio-cultural situation of this period. Many historians of the Saljuq period, owing to the status quo, have mostly panegyrized the monarch and have not paid much attention to the social-cultural challenges and deficiencies of this period. However, on account his strong leaning towards Ismaili sect and accordingly having been antagonistic toward Saljuqs monarchy, he has related many of the incidents and problems that have been connived by historians. Although his disapproving statement and critical view cannot be verify quit, but such a viewpoint, collectively the panegyrist of the Saljuqs, can help to familiarize witch this period. He criticizes the rulers, judicial powers, and government officials of the saljuq monarchy and attentively considered issues including the anti-elite, brain drain, intellectuals misconducting, anti-philosophy, and sectarian violence. Analyzing and adapting these two disparate views and identifying the social-cultural challenges of this period based on Divan of Nāsir Khusrau is the problem of the research. Results show that Nasir Khusrau conception of socio-cultural situations of saljuq period emerges from his critical and antagonistic look towards saljuq monarchy which discloses lots of facts and realities facing his community that have been less paid in historical sources. In this article, an attempt has been made to answer this question by referring to sources and using a descriptive-analytical method, what was the socio-cultural situation of the Saljuk period based on Divan of Nāsir Khusrau?

The Qajar era and specifically the constitutional revolution is one of the milestones in the contemporary history of Iran. One of the reasons for the constitution in Iran was the economic crisis that made the people fed up. In addition to granting concessions to Russia and England, the unbridled administrative corruption of the Qajar had created a chaotic situation in the country. With the implementation of the constitution, one of the goals of the constitutionalists was to fight against such corruptions. In the current research, we are trying to answer these questions with a descriptive-analytical approach: What was the position of the newspaper Mosavat regarding this corruption? What solutions did it propose to get out of the economic crises and administrative corruption? The findings indicate that Mosavat, while emphasizing the urgent and urgent fight of officials and people against this corruption, the formation of the National Council, the establishment of the law, the criticism of the ruling body and parliamentarians, the formation of judicial courts to fight corruption and finally replacing the youth and He considered the forces of scholars and scientists with clean hands instead of corrupt embezzlers to get out of corruption as one of the foundations of Iran's independence.

In Islamic culture, civilization and art, the decoration of the building is considered an integral part of the building. The obvious presence of arrays such as calligraphy, plant motifs and geometric designs form the essence of Islamic art, which is rooted in the teachings of the Islamic religion and spreads the noble civilization of Islam from the past to the present. Plaster arrays are ornaments of Islamic art and architecture, but this art includes Islamic concepts and themes and the beliefs of Muslim architects, and in addition to beauty, they have been used to convey semantic messages. This applies to all the traditional buildings of Iran, but due to the acceptance of travelers from other civilizations, caravanserais have been a symbol for identifying the culture and civilization of Iran, and decorations have become very important. Rabat Sharaf is of the valuable historical caravanserais of the Seljuk era, which is known as a precious heritage from the history of Islamic civilization in terms of architecture and decorations. Therefore, the aim of the current research is to study and identify the decorations of the Rabat Sharaf building, and it seeks to answer the question, what are the arrays of slimy plaster decorations of the Rabat Sharaf building? How are the semantic functions of these decorations explained? Therefore, the research in this regard has been carried out by using the descriptive-analytical method, and data collection has been done using library sources and field studies.

During World War I, Iran was hit by the deadly Spanish flu, which is considered the worst disease of the 20th century. Three to four waves of Spanish Flu from the spring of 1918 to the summer of 1919/ Rabi al-Thani 1336 to Rajab 1337 AH hit Iran and most countries in the world. The disease came from outside Iran's borders, and foreign factors such as the presence of British, Russian, and Ottoman forces played an important role in accelerating its spread. Domestically, political and economic disintegration and worn and inefficient health infrastructure contributed to the disaster. As a result of this disease, between 10 and 20 percent of Iran's population lost their lives, and its psychological and social effects will cast a shadow over Iranian society for years to come. The question of the article is: How did the Spanish flu spread in Iran and what impact did it have on Iranian society during the Qajar period?The present research was conducted using a library method. Historical sources, memoirs, travelogues of Europeans and archival documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were used in the research. The results of this research show that the deplorable conditions in Iran during World War I and the high mortality rate were not only due to famine, drought, and the occurrence of historical diseases, but that the three deadly waves of the Spanish flu brought the living conditions of Iranians to a very acute stage.

Eating habits, taste and health of food are important topics of social history, which have been neglected in Iran due to the political approach of historiography, and in the Safavid period, only thanks to the writing of numerous travelogues by Europeans and some culinary treatises. , information remains.This research aims to deal with the manners of eating, variety and taste of Iranians in the Safavid era in banquets and receptions.The findings indicate that Iranians had their own eating habits and tastes, which in some ways were different from the lifestyle of the countries of that day and Iranians today.They eat food sitting and kneeling very quickly, and in many areas, rice is their dominant strength, and their taste for cooking pols and khoroshes is more towards sour and then sweet flavors. Also, the high cost of firewood and charcoal had forced people to eat only one meal a day, and for other meals, they had to eat fruits, summer vegetables, and dairy products or finally, eat and use food from grocery stores, which are economically cheaper.They even contrary to today's custom; They ate light food during the day and cooked and heavy food at night.from among the meats; Red meats such as mutton, lamb and game were preferred by the court and the upper classes, and beef was preferred by the lower classes due to its cheapness, and white meats such as chicken and then fish played a very small role in the court table and especially the people.

One consequence of urbanization in ancient times was the emergence of complex states. However, the structure of ancient Iranian states has not been examined in detail compared to the Greek and Roman worlds. Most researchers believe that the political structure of ancient Iran was autocratic and hereditary. This theory can be challenged by carefully assessing the contents of documents and comparing them with archaeological data. The following article discusses the state of the governmental structure of the Median period in the 8th century BC. The purpose is to identify the governing structure of the subjects based on written sources, specifically during the time of the Medes. The chronology and their place of precedence and backwardness compared to what was implemented in Athens and Rome will also be examined. The research questions are based on the examination of the data of the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian period sources about the structure of the Median state and the evaluation of the possibility of the existence of democratic structures in some of the Median settlements or at least in two of them before the kingdom period.This research was conducted using the library method. Based on the study of written sources and analysis of documents, the research shows that in a period of eight years in the history of Media and also in the political structure of a part of the history of the Persians before the rise of the Achaemenid Empire, there were strong elements of the establishment of a democratic governance system.

ArdaVirafnameh is a religious text belonging to ancient Iran and was written by ArdaViraf at the end of the Sasanian era. This work should be read as a text commissioned by the ruling class. The Zoroastrian priests who formed the ruling class, considering the chaotic situation of the Sassanid society, which had suffered many crises, including the crisis of legitimacy, sought to preserve the government, and one of their most important measures was the selection of a priest named Ardaviraf from among the chosen priests. It was to go on a religious journey and write his observations in the form of a narrative of heaven and hell. Therefore, although Ardavirafnameh is a religious text, but by going deeper into it, one can infer various aspects from it, which narrates the society, politics and ancient history of Iran. This article has a question under the title of whether Ardavirafnameh has moved towards ideology or utopia? and why It examines the dialectic of ideology and utopia in it and finds that the ideology of this work is bolder and heavier than utopia, and therefore, by ordering this book to Arda Viraf, the Zoroastrian theologians sought to preserve the status quo and reduce the legitimacy crisis of the Sassanid political system. . Accordingly, the theoretical framework of Mannheim's sociology of knowledge and Skinner's method have been used, both of which emphasize the role of society, history and thought and can help in the historical and textual reflection of this article. 

The themes and issues related to the theoretical philosophy of history are as old as human life. Religions and intellectual-philosophical schools have each expressed their view of history and its movement depending on the type of their ontological foundations. Answering the three main questions of the theoretical philosophy of history (stimulus, path, goal) is one of the issues of concern to religions and philosophical schools. Although Kasravi turned away from philosophical thinking and its nature and considered attention to it to be the cause of man's destruction, his religious approach to the course of world history and establishing an independent intellectual system for himself somehow forced him to respond to The basic questions of the theoretical philosophy of history. In this article, an attempt is made to find answers to the three main questions of the theoretical philosophy of history in Kasravi's thoughts. This research, which was conducted based on historical, descriptive-analytical research methods and Kasravi's works, will show that according to Kasravi's religious approach, the driving force of history, from his point of view, is the battle between the nature of good and evil (soul and soul) of man and the role of divine providence. It is to bring the excited ones. From his point of view, the path of history in two dimensions of human nature is complete and progressing, and the goal and end of history is the connection of science, religion and belief to another world in the continuation of the current world.

Mythological stories and narratives that have reached us today have ancient roots that sometimes date back to the time of Aryan migration to Iran. With the passage of time and with the changes and transformations of Iranian civilization, these myths have lost their original form and have had additions. The myth of Arash is a very ancient myth in Iranian culture; In such a way that the first text that has a brief reference to it is the book of Avesta. After the Avesta, in Middle Persian texts and historical books of the Islamic era, we witness the presence of this myth with more details. The main goal of the current research is to investigate and identify the course of change and evolution of the myth of Arash and to express the violations of norms that have been formed in literary-historical books about this myth especially in the contemporary period. Therefore, we are looking for an answer to the question, are descriptive-analytical method and using the collection of library materials, show that the myth of Arash is re-narrated in the contemporary era, and the authors did not pay attention to the ancient patterns of the myth in their narration. In other words, they broke the norm. The dual confrontations of good and evil have always existed in the myth of Arash, and in the contemporary era, due to the selfishness and personal goals of some people, we are witnessing deviation from the norm in the expression of this myth.

The era of Shahrukh (1409-1446) witnessed peaceful relations with the neighbors, including India. Thus he began to expand relations with the local governments of South India. In this regard, Abd al-Razzaq Samarkandi was sent to Calicut and Vijayanagar through Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. Due to the extensive influence of King Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and the many problems that faced Ab al-Razzaq both during his journey and during his stay in the two aforementioned destinations, it is necessary to investigate his embassy to better understand the process and results of Shahrukh's foreign policy. The present study seeks to answer the question, "What was the purpose of the embassy of Abd al-Razzaq Samarkandi and what was the reaction of King Hormuz to it?" The method of this research is historical with a descriptive-analytical approach, and a library method was used in data collection.This study shows that the embassy of Abd al-Razzaq Samarkandi, contrary to the religious and preaching appearance, was more of a political and economic nature and was done with the aim of opening the doors of direct trade relations and increasing the influence of the Timurid government in South India; But since the kings of Hormuz traditionally had the monopoly of trade between southern India and Iran, they considered this embassy as a threat to their interests and tried to thwart it. In this way, the objectives of the Timurid government were not fulfilled from this embassy due to the extensive disruption of the king of Hormuz.