نشریه جستارهای تاریخی
سال چهارم شماره 2 (پاییز و زمستان 1392)

Ancient Iranians assigned a special significance to etiquette and companionship، respect to the king، elders and parents، as well as manner of talking، eating، gift giving، confidentiality، honesty، and such things that Iranians would comply when they interact with each other. We surveyed this issue in two ways: people''s relationship with the king and people''s interaction with each other from Median time till the end of Sassanid rule. So، this article seeks to survey the ancient Iranian etiquette and companionship. Thus، it seems that observing etiquette and companionship with king over this period had gained extra formalities and luxuries and people assigned the king a different character above others. But observance of this manner among people had a moral basis، and survived almost in the same way.

Nowadays, legendary etymology is a manifestation of the mass culture which has long been popular among Iranians. There are also abundant instances of this type of etymology in the names of cities and towns. One of the cities of Iran, conventionally (non-scientifically) and colloquially etymologized centuries before, notwithstanding its ancient forms, today is known as Kermanshah. In some history books, there is a legend in which Bahram IV, the Sassanid king, is known as the founder of Kermanshah since there is a seeming similarity in the name of the city and the king’s given name. They also believe that he has given his name, Kermanshah, to the city after building it. This legend originates from a misunderstanding throughout history permeated among history books. Today, it is believed as a true story among people. The present study is an attempt to describe different forms of names given to this city in historical books and historical geographies. Then, it is concluded that the proper name of the city is “mountainous terrain” or “the mountain place”. In this way different methods are applied which include studying Pahlavi script of the name given to this city, reviewing literature surveying the name of the city and meanings attributed to it, considering historical and geographical features of Kermanshah, its cultural and religious status in the past, linguistic rules and etymological analysis of its main name, Kermanshah.

This study aims at illustrating the roots of Reza Shah's discourse especially in the years 1921 to 1926 in the constitutional modernist's viewpoints. The writers believe that westernism, secularism, tendency to a strong government and nationalism are the most prominent common contexts between the modernist's and Reza shah's discourses. The actions of these modernists provided the social and intellectual grounds for accepting the first Pahlavi's discourse. Reza shah's discourse was not an accidental and rootless thing but had deep contexts in the social domain and especially among the elite of the constitutional era's society. The fall of the constitutional revolution in the lap of authoritarianism and dictatorship has many reasons. This study aims at finding its intellectual roots, and bases its data on this era's modernist's thoughts and ideas. In this reading, Reza shah's discourse was a product of the mixture of the absolute traditional monarchy discourse and the modernist intellect of the constitutional era that appeared in a modern but authoritative way as following a period of insecurity and frustration.

By knowing the viewpoint of two historians in Ilkhanid period about the belief in divine will, this research tries to investigate its reflection in the content and method of their historiography. Therefore, we ask the following questions in order to meet this goal: What is the motive for the history from the historian's viewpoint? What factors influenced this thinking? What kind of influence had the mentioned viewpoints on the method of historiography? The following hypothesis is raised in answering these questions: Joveini's deep religious beliefs about divine will and unpleasant political-social circumstances in his time led to a kind of fatalistic attitude towards history; therefore in his historiography, he has not utilized the principles of "cause and effect and analysis" in spite of using critical viewpoints (in some events) and historical fairness in narrating history. In contrast, the epistemological viewpoints of Wassaf towards the essentials in the science of history, his familiarity with several sciences, his patterning from the great historians and thinkers, and his impressionability from Ikhwan al-Safa ('the Brethren of Purity') and at last improvement of socio-political circumstances did not lead to a kind of absolute extra-terrestrial attitude towards history. Basically, his historiography method was based on two principles of "cause and effect" and "critical analysis" following historical fairness; hence his historical narrations are more analytical.

What is the Iranian Identity and what are its major features? What are the basic elements and constituents of Iranian cultural identity? What causes made Iranian identity hold its internal unity throughout several centuries while it has continually been facing a diversity of cultures? These are the main questions which this study seeks to find answers for. Actually, it addresses a complicated theme in Iranian cultural history, the conceptual structure of the Iranian identity in post-Islamic era. Focusing on the Islamic characteristics of Iranian identity it proposes a historical approach to the study of the subject. This aim has been met through giving an explanation of the relation between Islamic and Iranian elements of Iranian identity. The results of the study show that the Iranian people, as an intermediate agent, have played a very important role in conciliating the Iranian and Islamic ideas. They also succeeded to make a brilliant synthesis of their ancient cultural legacy and the new religion. The Islamic part of this synthesis was so important, without a sufficient understanding of which we would not be able to reach an acceptable explanation of Iranian historical developments during the Islamic period

Tachar castle is an important site in the historical complex of Persepolis. Among wonders of the castle are several inscriptions related to famous kings, rulers and chiefs before the advent of Islam up to the Qajar era. Among these inscriptions one can mention two Azad ud-Doleh Delami's inscriptions. In one of his inscriptions, he narrates the account of ibn Makan's invasion to Isfahan and his attempt to defeat ibn Makan, and in the second inscription, he mentions the reading of Sassanid inscriptions by his order. This paper aims at analyzing the above mentioned inscription to prove the thesis that Azad ud-Doleh tried to revive the culture and traditions related to the Sassanid era. To this end, he took some steps that will be mentioned in this paper. An investigation into this inscription will provide us with significant historical and cultural insights into the kingship of Azad ud-Doleh.

Discussions of Shiism and Sunnism in Isfahan have attracted a lot of attention and were the topic of high interest. However, the Sunnism of Isfahan's seminary—especially radical Sunnism—has been emphasized in the related sources. Historical reports, which have considered this issue and have been cited mostly, referred to the immigration of ibn Hilāl Thaqafi, the author of a well-known book, al-Ghārāt, who moved from Kufa to Isfahan to change the attitudes and opinions of its people. He taught a book entitled al-Marifah ('the knowledge')—authored by himself—to the people of Isfahan where he remained until the end of his life. This book was about the virtues of Ahl al-Bayt and the vices and atrocities of their enemies. The present paper contemplated the above-mentioned issue and shows that what was prevalent in Kufa was different from the reality of political and religious thought of Isfahan. The religious atmosphere prevailing in the era of Thaqafi's life in Isfahan—the late third and early fourth century AH—had a tendency to Shiism and this was contrary to the notion that radical Sunnism had been popular there.