نشریه بررسی های نوین تاریخی
سال یکم شماره 2 (تابستان 1393)

Should the purpose of history be education and refinement of its readers, from ancient historian’s point of view? Was the history and historiography superior to other sciences? Was the position of historians more dignified than philosophers, poets, physicians and artists? The historians and philosophers of the ancient world such as Herodotus, Aristotle, Posidonius, Polybius, Xenophon and many others, according to social and political conditions of their period, have devoted pages oftheir works to the category of history and its position in life dignity. Numerous comments have been presented for this category. Aristotle (4 B.C.) considers history lower than poetry and Diodorus Siculus, the historian of Julius Caesar’s period, 250 years after Herodotus, calls history the upmost form of literature. In overwhelming opinion of contemporary researches, Diodorus is considered as the greatest compiler of historical narratives among the historians before him. Hebrings up the narratives which on their base, he can be considered as the historian of virtues against vices. In his wisely preface for his forty-fold work, in which the science of history is smartly glorified facing with other prevalent sciences and arts of his time, specially literature, philosophy and battle assaying, he explains about philosophy of historiography that has no example or rival in other ancient historians’ work. In his preface, he expresses his purpose of writing Library ofHistory and wishes to apply the best way of historiography in his work. He intends to do his best for human thorough historiography, but his brilliant preface is clearly superior to the whole work. It can be said that his idea was strongly influenced by other ideas of his time, during writing this preface. In his works, he shows perfectly that target planning is much simpler than acting. Whileexplaining about the myths and legends of nations, He often replaces his own viewpoints and opinions with the people’s beliefs, which he talked about. He wants the legends and beliefs narrated by him, to be compatible with wisdom. In some cases, he doesn’t write what he sees or maybe he doesn’t dare to write. On the other hand, Diodorus was an ethical historian and his ethical viewpoints are obviously seen in every part of his works. He even benefits ethical words instead of political ones, while analyzing historical events. In his idea, the most principalreason of defeat or destruction of a nation is rooted in nonconformity of ethical standards. In many cases, because of ethical prejudices, he changes the principle of events and advances his narrations parallel his ethical prejudices. He loves to narrate outstanding brilliant deeds and inclines to narrate heart breaking events without asking himself if they are according to historical narrations or not. While narrating the wars, the word “Unexpected” is used a lot. From his point of view,most of battles have unexpected results. So, it can be said that Diodorus is the “Historian of marvels” in the field of war narration. When he is unable to express rational reasons in war, looks up destiny and makes it as a pretext to impress his reader in order to learn from history. Political ethics of Diodorus is based on a simple principle: As divine will changes the process of affairs, the villains are punished, so the crime or villainy is not eternal. Somehow, Diodorus’s style inwriting Library of History is fluent and monotone. Literal expressions are not seen that much in this work. He, himself persists on monotony in his style of writing. Historical library of Diodorus, is an important reference for modern historians and researchers, yet precision is needed for reading this work, because Diodorus’s ethical prejudice results siding and makes us distant from the principles of events. All these factors make the modern researchers to benefit this work, warily. Despitethis, in Library of History, some events are expressed which cant be found in any other historians’ work. Our information about complicated and difficult problems will be completed by reading this book. In this article it is tried to survey Diodorus’s historical viewpoint and style of historiography beside a review to his remaining works.

The relief of Khan Takhti was carved on a rock outcrop in the Pir Chavoush Mountain located next to the village of Khan Takhti some 30 km from Salmas, West Azerbaijan. The relief, which depicts two male figures from the Sassanian royal house and two standing figures, has been dated to the early Sassanian period. Several orientalists and scholars have studies the relief and advanceddifferent theories about it. In particular, some have viewed the standing figures as Armenian noblemen, while other have regarded them Parthian princes. The main question in the present paper is the lack of consensus between these scholars and the inconsistency found between their writings and the archaeological evidence. Attempts have also been made to draw a conclusion after exploring the orientalists’ views. Most of these scholars have associated the standing figures withthe Armenians, while it is not possible to make a reliable judgment in this regard without taking into consideration the important role of the archaeological finds in substantiating the presence of a certain state, the extent of its power and the impact that its material culture can have on the cultural and art works. From the perspective of the history of art, it is also possible to confirm the Sassanian affiliation of these figures through comparing the garments and the crowns of themounted figures in this relief to the related examples on the contemporary coinage and stone reliefs. Finally, the contradictions and inconsistencies in the positions offered by the western orientalists all suggest that either they have not visited the relief under consideration in person or have not studied it comprehensively. Therefore, the earlier scholarship on this relief must undergo acomplete re-evaluation from an Iranian perspective.

The present paper deals with a city that about 6000 years ago represented a major civilized and cultural center in Iran. Different names that designate Rayy in the primary historical and religious sources, reflects the importance and old age of this ancient city. In particular, the city is named as Raghes in the Bible, Ragha in Avesta, and Ram Firouz in the Greek texts of the Seleucids and the Europe as well as in the Sassanian period. The ancient Rayy was contemporary with Babyloniaand Nineveh, and is said to have been a prospering city of the Greater Media. The excavated objects such as painted ceramic vessels of the fifth millennium B.C. speak of the ancient culture of Cheshmeh Ali, which represents one of the earliest major centers of civilization in the central Iranian plateau. The occurrence of the name Ragha referring to the city of ray on the Achaemenian inscription in Behistun reveals the importance of the city during the Achaemenian period. Thereport in Avesta describing ray as a scared city bears witness to the spiritual status of the city in the ancient Iran. Also, the columns, stucco works and various vessels from the Sassanian period as well as several different contemporary architectural remains in Rayy all attest to the prominence of the city in the Sassanian Iran. Apart from its sacred nature and importance for the Zoroastrian priesthood system and the parallel importance of its fire temple with such fire temples as Adur Gushanasp in Azerbaijan, Azar-burzin Mehr, and Azar Farnbakh, during the pre-Islamic empires from Achaemenian to Sassanian periods it assumed a high political, and economic importance, the great defensive wall framing the city being a clear testimony to the claim. Here, architectural remains such as Tower of Silence, Rashkan Fort, Qal‘eh Gabri, Tepe Mil (Rayy fire temple), the fortification walls, and the Sassanian stone reliefs are described.

Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi (AH 597-672) is a well-known Persian figure from the Iranian city of Tous, who made invaluable contributions to natural sciences, philosophy, mathematics, literature, fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and politics of the Ilkhanid period. He founded Maragha’s observatory. His Akhlq-e Nsiri (AH 633) is usually considered to be a translation of Tahdhib al-Akhlq wa Tat’hir al-Arq (Taharat al-Arq) by Ibn Miskawayh Rzi as Misbh al-Hidyah wa Mifth al-Kifya by Mahmood Kshni, another scholar of the Ilkhanid era, is regarded as a translation of Awrif al-Marif authored by Sheikh Shahbeddin Sohrevardi. The most important point is that although Tahdhib is the base and the main source of Akhlq e-Nsiri, it cannot be properly considered as the translation of Ibn Miskawayh’s Taharat al-Arq. Rather, Tusi chose not to be faithful to Ibn Miskawayh’s text, extracting the fundamental meaning of the text and writing in a way which would fit Persian culture and the Persians’ previous knowledge. To do so, he explained, elaborated on, added and dropped some parts of the original text. Also, the points made by the late Jalaledin Homi in his introduction to Misbh al-Hidya wa Mifth al-Hidya concerning the possibility that Mahmood Kshni may have been inspired by the statements made by Tusi in the preface of his book as well as in its composition and style, and that while translating Awrif al-Marif Mahmood Kshni had adopted the approach used by Tusi in translation of Taharat al-Arq encouraged me to analyze both books more closely. This paper sets to examine the similarities between Akhlq-e Nsiri and Misbh al-Hidyah wa Mifth al-Kifya in terms of translation and composition using content analysis method. Attempts have been made to demonstrate the adaptation of a similar approach in translation, creation of the Farsi versions ofthe both texts from the Arabic source through translation in a fairly similar way, and finally the inspiration of Izz al-Din Mahmoud Kshni from Tusi in his style of translation and writing through showing parts of the features shared by Akhlq-e Nsiri when compared to Tahdhib al-Akhlq and Misbh al-Hidyah wa Mifth al- Kifya when compared to Awrif al-Marif.

The growing power of the Safavid state under such kings as Shah Abbas the Great led to political unification, a boom in commerce, and enhanced security of roads. Craft industries flourished in particular in the early seventeenth century AD. Thanks to the royal support of textile and increased number of textile manufacturers, the industry gradually reached its pinnacle in the Persian history.Yazd, with its history of weaving high quality fabrics tracing as back as the early Islamic period and renowned from the Ilkhanid era onward as a major center of fabric weaving along with Tabriz and Isfahan, reached such a great position that an officer under the title of Körk Yarai was assigned to purchase the required textiles of the market from Yazd. The support of the central government forweaving workshops boosted employment in the industry and a prominent designer like Ghiyth al-Din Naqshband who is unique in Persian weaving history emerged. He immigrated to Isfahan and was put in charge of fabric weaving workshops. This made him the most prominent fabric designer in Persia. Two technical innovations happened in designing and weaving velvet and multiplelayeredfabric in Safavid era, both of which were initiated by Naghshband. Khwja Ghiyth who was a contemporary of Shah Abbas the Great and a descendent of Mevlana Kamal Khttt, also known as Aththr, a famous calligrapher of his day. Ghiyth al-Din is said to have inherited his artistic talent from his great grandfather. Ghiyth al-Din was both a designer and a talented poet. Majma’ al-Khavs, Tazkira of Nasrbdi, Tazkira of Atashkade Azar, and Trikh-e Yazd by Ahmad Theri, among others give a short biography of this artisan. His most detailed account, however, can be found in Jame’ Mofidi which is quoted in Trikh-e Yazd. Overall, two artistic styles can be distinguished in the textile industry of the Safavid period: one led by Ghiyth al-Din and the other by Reza Abbasi, a well-known contemporary painter.

There is no doubt that a nation’s history should not be reduced to a few political histories written in every era, exclusively discussing the government, major political events and revolts. Rather, one must search for documents, evidences and sources that reflect the history, culture and civilization of a society, shedding light on the interactions that existed in a given society. These may include inscriptions, tablets in cuneiform or in Pahlavi or inscriptions on parchment, religious and scientific books and treatises, and bureaucratic and official epistles and orders. The older these documents are, the more valuable they seem to be as pieces that shed light on parts of a nation’s history. This, however, does not imply that more recent documents are of less value or importance. Examining the graffiti at the mausoleum of Sheikh Amin al-Din Jabreel, Safieddin Ardabili’s father, inKalkhuran, Ardabil which were inscribed in the Qajar period provides invaluable historical information and yields interesting results which draw our attentions as researches to get the most possible insights from the most trivial data around us and to refine the written sources pertaining to a certain period or subject using these seemingly minor sources.

Talibov Tabrizi was an Islamist intellectual of the Constitutional Revolution period who, unlike his contemporaries, in his works addressed the masses. He was striving to solve the crisis of the scientific and industrial backwardness in Iran. Talibov remained an Islamist while in his time the problem of interaction or conflict between Islam and West was the order of the day and some intellectuals mitigated Islamic principles. Even after being excommunicated, he did not violated Islamic principles. The present research adopts a historical methodology and is descriptive-analytical in nature, with especial emphasis on library sources in particular Masalek al-Mohsenin, a book that deals with the developments of the Constitutional Revolution period and its author’s political career. The study aims to explore the view advanced by Talibov on the interaction or conflict between the western culture and the Islamic culture.

The successive revolutionary movements in Tsarist Russia were an influence on the instigation of socio-political movements in the East. The 1905 Russian revolution which happened after Japan-Russia war affected the Iranian society as well. The late 19th century AD was the inception of the Iranians’ awakening. The Iranian reformist movement—which reached its peak towards the end of the Qajar dynasty and during the Constitutional Revolution—had complex sociopolitical implications. Socialism, as one of major schools at the time, had been introduced to the Iranian public in Nasereddin Shah’s time. Later, socialist party of Iran in the early 1904 was established in Iranian political arena by Iranian émigrés in Caucasia. Following the Constitutional decree and the establishment of Constitutional parliament in Teheran, more than thirty political societies emergedin the country one of which was socialist-minded. The society was organized by a Tabrizi businessman and Heydar Khan Amu Oghlu. However, long before the Constitutional Revolution, in January 1891, some émigré Armenian intellectuals had established a Marxist organization in Tabriz. Marxist thoughts also played a role in the Jangal Movement of Gilan. After the failure of Gilan revolution, some members of Iranian Communist Party immigrated to Baku. This paper examinesthe ways in which socialism makes its way to Iran and the plans and strategies adopted by groups and people under the influence of this school to put Iran on the road to prosperity so as to shed light on the main elements emphasized by this trend. Though the trend never succeeded in gaining the power, it was one of the major forces resisting and opposing the regime.