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Aniran
Anērān (Middle Persian, ) or Anīrân (Modern Persian, ) is an ethno-linguistic term that signifies "non-Iranian" or "non-Iran" (non-Aryan). Thus, in a general sense, 'Aniran' signifies lands where Iranian languages are not spoken. In a pejorative sense, it denotes "a political and religious enemy of Iran and Zoroastrianism." The term 'Aniran' derives from Middle Persian ''anērān'', Pahlavi ''ʼnyrʼn'', an antonym of '' ērān'' that in turn denoted either the people or the Sasanian Empire.. However, "in Zoroastrian literature and possibly in Sasanian political thought as well, the term has also a markedly religious connotation. An ''anēr'' person is not merely non-Iranian, but specifically non-Zoroastrian; and ''anēr'' designates also worshipers of the ''dēws'' ("demons") or adherents of other religions." In these texts of the ninth to twelfth century, "Arabs and Turks are called ''anēr'', as are Muslims generally, the latter in a veiled manner." In inscriptions In off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iran (word)
The modern Persian name of Iran () means "the land of Aryans". It derives immediately from the 3rd-century Sasanian Middle Persian ( Pahlavi spelling: 𐭠𐭩𐭫𐭠𐭭, ''ʼyrʼn''), where it initially meant "of the Iranians", but soon also acquired a geographical connotation in the sense of "(lands inhabited by) Iranians". In both geographic and demonymic senses, ''ērān'' is distinguished from its antonymic '' anērān'', meaning "non-Iran(ian)"... In the geographic sense, ''ērān'' was also distinguished from ''ērānšahr'', the Sasanians' own name for their empire, and which also included territories that were not primarily inhabited by ethnic Iranians. :Fa:نامهای ایران In pre-Islamic usage The word ''ērān'' is first attested in the inscriptions that accompany the investiture relief of Ardashir I (''r.'' 224–242) at Naqsh-e Rustam. In this bilingual inscription, the king calls himself "Ardashir, king of kings of the Iranians" (Middle Persian: ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greater Iran
Greater Iran ( fa, ایران بزرگ, translit=Irān-e Bozorg) refers to a region covering parts of Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Xinjiang, and the Caucasus, where both Iranian culture and Iranian languages have had a significant presence and impact. Historically, this was a region long-ruled by the dynasties of various Iranian empires, under whose rule the local populace incorporated considerable aspects of Persian culture through extensive inter-contact, or alternatively where sufficient Iranian peoples settled to still maintain communities who patronize their respective cultures; it roughly corresponds geographically to the Iranian plateau and its bordering plains. The Encyclopædia Iranica uses the term ''Iranian Cultural Continent'' to describe this region. In addition to the modern state of Iran, the term "Greater Iran" includes all of the territory ruled by various Iranian peoples throughout history, including in Mesopotamia, the eastern half ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Persian continued to function as a prestige language. It descended from Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenid Empire and is the linguistic ancestor of Modern Persian, an official language of Iran, Afghanistan (Dari) and Tajikistan ( Tajik). Name "Middle Iranian" is the name given to the middle stage of development of the numerous Iranian languages and dialects. The middle stage of the Iranian languages begins around 450 BCE and ends around 650 CE. One of those Middle Iranian languages is Middle Persian, i.e. the middle stage of the language of the Persians, an Iranian people of Persia proper, which lies in the south-western highlands on the border with Babylonia. The Persians called their language ''Parsik'', meaning "Persian". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zand-i Wahman Yasn
The ''Zand-i Wahman Yasn'' is a medieval Zoroastrian apocalyptical text in Middle Persian. It professes to be a prophetical work, in which Ahura Mazda gives Zoroaster an account of what was to happen to the ''behdin'' (those of the "good religion", i.e. the Zoroastrians) and their religion in the future. The oldest surviving manuscript (K20, in Copenhagen) is from about 1400, but the text itself is older, written and edited over the course of several generations. The work is also known as the ''Bahman Yasht'' and ''Zand-i wahman yasht''. These titles are scholastic mistakes, in the former case due to 18th century Anquetil Du Perron, and the latter due to 19th century Edward William West. The text is neither a Yasht, nor is it in any way related to the Avesta's (lost) ''Bahman Yasht'' (see note below). Chapter and line pointers to the ''Zand-i Wahman Yasn'' are conventionally abbreviated ''ZWY'', and follow the subdivisions defined in the 1957 Anklesaria translation. These subdi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iranian Peoples
The Iranian peoples or Iranic peoples are a diverse grouping of Indo-European peoples who are identified by their usage of the Iranian languages and other cultural similarities. The Proto-Iranians are believed to have emerged as a separate branch of the Indo-Iranians in Central Asia around the mid-2nd millennium BC. At their peak of expansion in the mid-1st millennium BC, the territory of the Iranian peoples stretched across the entire Eurasian Steppe, from the Great Hungarian Plain in the west to the Ordos Plateau in the east and the Iranian Plateau in the south.: "From the first millennium b.c., we have abundant historical, archaeological and linguistic sources for the location of the territory inhabited by the Iranian peoples. In this period the territory of the northern Iranians, they being equestrian nomads, extended over the whole zone of the steppes and the wooded steppes and even the semi-deserts from the Great Hungarian Plain to the Ordos in northern China." T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ontology and an eschatology which predicts the ultimate conquest of evil by good. Zoroastrianism exalts an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom known as '' Ahura Mazda'' () as its supreme being. Historically, the unique features of Zoroastrianism, such as its monotheism, messianism, belief in free will and judgement after death, conception of heaven, hell, angels, and demons, among other concepts, may have influenced other religious and philosophical systems, including the Abrahamic religions and Gnosticism, Northern Buddhism, and Greek philosophy. With possible roots dating back to the 2nd millennium BCE, Zoroastrianism enters recorded history around the middle of the 6th century BCE. It served as the state religion of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named after the House of Sasan, it endured for over four centuries, from 224 to 651 AD, making it the longest-lived Persian imperial dynasty. The Sasanian Empire succeeded the Parthian Empire, and re-established the Persians as a major power in late antiquity alongside its neighbouring arch-rival, the Roman Empire (after 395 the Byzantine Empire).Norman A. Stillman ''The Jews of Arab Lands'' pp 22 Jewish Publication Society, 1979 International Congress of Byzantine Studies ''Proceedings of the 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies, London, 21–26 August 2006, Volumes 1–3'' pp 29. Ashgate Pub Co, 2006 The empire was founded by Ardashir I, an Iranian ruler who rose to power as Parthia weakened from internal strife and wars with t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ka'ba-ye Zartosht
The Ka'ba-ye Zartosht ( fa, کعبه زرتشت), or the Cube of Zarathustra, is a stone quadrangular stepped structure in the Naqsh-e Rustam compound beside Zangiabad village in Marvdasht county in Fars, Iran. The Naqsh-e Rustam compound also incorporates memorials of the Elamites, the Achaemenids and the Sasanians. The Ka'ba-ye Zartosht is from the mountain, situated exactly opposite Darius II's mausoleum. It is rectangular and has only one entrance door. The material of the structure is white limestone. It is about high, or if including the triple stairs, and each side of its base is about long. Its entrance door leads to the chamber inside via a thirty-stair stone stairway. The stone pieces are rectangular and are simply placed on top of each other, without the use of mortar; the sizes of the stones varies from to , and they are connected to each other by dovetail joints. Etymology The structure was built in the Achaemenid era and there is no information of the nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turan
Turan ( ae, Tūiriiānəm, pal, Tūrān; fa, توران, Turân, , "The Land of Tur") is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical region, or a culture. The original Turanians were an Iranian tribe of the Avestan age. Overview In ancient Iranian mythology, Tūr or Turaj (''Tuzh'' in Middle Persian) is the son of the emperor Fereydun. According to the account in the ''Shahnameh'', the nomadic tribes who inhabited these lands were ruled by Tūr. In that sense, the Turanians could be members of two Iranian peoples both descending from Fereydun, but with different geographical domains and often at war with each other. Turan, therefore, comprised five areas: the Kopet Dag region, the Atrek valley, parts of Bactria, Sogdia and Margiana. A later association of the original Turanians with Turkic peoples is based primarily on the subsequent Turkification of Central Asia, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afrasiab
Afrasiab ( fa, ''afrāsiyāb''; ae, Fraŋrasyan; Middle-Persian: ''Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk'') is the name of the mythical king and hero of Turan. He is the main antagonist of the Persian epic Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi. The mythical king and hero According to the '' Shahnameh'' (''Book of Kings''), by the Persian epic poet Ferdowsi, Afrasiab was the king and hero of Turan and an archenemy of Iran. In Iranian mythology, Afrasiab is considered by far the most prominent of all Turanian kings; he is a formidable warrior, a skilful general, and an agent of Ahriman, who is endowed with magical powers of deception to destroy Iranian civilization.Yarshater, E., "Afrasiab", ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' - digital library; accessed January 18, 2007. He is brother to Garsivaz, and the son of Pashang. According to Islamic sources, Afrasiab was a descendant of Tūr (Avestan: ''Tūriya-''), one of the three sons of the Iranian mythical King Fereydun (the other two sons being Salm and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zahhak
Zahhāk or Zahāk () ( fa, ضحّاک), also known as Zahhak the Snake Shoulder ( fa, ضحاک ماردوش, Zahhāk-e Mārdoush), is an evil figure in Persian mythology, evident in ancient Persian folklore as Azhi Dahāka ( fa, اژی دهاک), the name by which he also appears in the texts of the '' Avesta''. In Middle Persian he is called Dahāg ( fa, دهاگ) or Bēvar Asp ( fa, بیور اسپ) the latter meaning "he who has 10,000 horses". In Zoroastrianism, Zahhak (going under the name Aži Dahāka) is considered the son of Ahriman, the foe of Ahura Mazda. In the '' Shāhnāmah'' of Ferdowsi, Zahhāk is the son of a ruler named Merdās. Etymology and derived words ''Aži'' (nominative ''ažiš'') is the Avestan word for "serpent" or "dragon". It is cognate to the Vedic Sanskrit word ''ahi'', "snake", and without a sinister implication. The original meaning of ''dahāka'' is uncertain. Among the meanings suggested are "stinging" (source uncertain), "burning" (cf. Sans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferdowsi
, image = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus, Iran 3 (cropped).jpg , image_size = , caption = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus by Abolhassan Sadighi , birth_date = 940 , birth_place = Tus, Samanid Empire , death_date = 1019 or 1025 (87 years old) , death_place = Tus, Ghaznavid Empire , occupation = Poet , notable_works = ''Shahnameh'' , genre = Persian poetry, national epic , language = Early Modern Persian , movement = , period = Samanids and Ghaznavids , influences = , influenced = Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi ( fa, ; 940 – 1019/1025 CE), also Firdawsi or Ferdowsi (), was a Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poems created by a single poet, and the greatest epic of Persian-speaking countries. Ferdowsi is celebrated as one of the most influential figures of Persian literature and one of the greatest in the history of literature. Name Except for his kunya ( – ) and his laqab ( – ''Fer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_p012_BAKU%2C_FIRE_TEMPLE_(cropped).jpg "Click for more on -> Zoroastrianism")
