Iran has one of the oldest histories in the world, extending more than 5000 years, and throughout history, Iran has been of geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia and Western Asia. Iran is a founding member of the UN, NAM, OIC, OPEC, and ECO. Iran as a major regional power occupies an important position in the world economy due to its substantial reserves of petroleum and natural gas, and has considerable regional influence in Western Asia. The name Iran is a cognate of Aryan and literally means "Land of the Aryans." (Full article...)
She was the regent of most of Jibal during the minority of her son, Majd al-Dawla (r. 997–1029), and served as de facto ruler also after her formal regency had ended during the reign of her son. She is notable for securing the governorship of Isfahan to her first cousin Ala al-Dawla Muhammad, thus marking the start of the Kakuyid dynasty. (Full article...)
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Orodes II's portrait on the obverse of a tetradrachm, showing him wearing a beard and a diadem on his head, Mithradatkert mint
Orodes II (also spelled Urud II; Parthian: 𐭅𐭓𐭅𐭃Wērōd), was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 57 BC to 37 BC. He was a son of Phraates III, whom he murdered in 57 BC, assisted by his elder brother Mithridates IV. The two brothers quickly fell out and entered into a dynastic struggle, in which Orodes was triumphant.
Meanwhile, the Roman general and triumvirMarcus Licinius Crassus had made an attempt to extend his share of Roman territory by eastward conquest. This attempt proved disastrous, with Crassus meeting his end in 53 BC, in the Battle of Carrhae, by Orodes' general Surena. Orodes himself had invaded Armenia and forced king Artavasdes II (r. 55–34 BC) to submit and abandon his alliance with the Romans. The victory at Carrhae secured for the Parthians the countries east of the Euphrates. Then, the next year they invaded Syria, but with little success. Surena, whose achievements had made him too dangerous, was killed by Orodes, and Pacorus I, the son and heir of the king was defeated by Cassius in 51 BC. (Full article...)
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Abu Sa'id Hasan ibn Bahram al-Jannabi (Arabic: أبو سعيد حسن بن بهرام الجنابي, romanized: Abū Saʿīd Ḥasan ibn Bahrām al-Jannābī; 845/855–913/914) was a Persian and the founder of the Qarmatian state in Bahrayn (an area comprising the eastern parts of modern Saudi Arabia as well as the Persian Gulf). By 899, his followers controlled large parts of the region, and in 900, he scored a major victory over an Abbasid army sent to subdue him. He captured the local capital, Hajar, in 903, and extended his rule south and east into Oman. He was assassinated in 913, and succeeded by his eldest son Sa'id.
His religious teachings and political activities are somewhat unclear, as they are reported by later and usually hostile sources, but he seems to have shared the millennialistIsma'ili belief about the imminent return of the mahdī, hostility to conventional Islamic rites and rituals, and to have based the Qarmatian society on the principles of communal ownership and egalitarianism, with a system of production and distribution overseen by appointed agents. The Qarmatian "republic" he founded would last until the late 11th century. (Full article...)
Khachatur Abovian (Armenian: Խաչատուր Աբովյան, romanized: Khach’atur Abovyan; October 15 [O.S. October 3] 1809 – April 14 [O.S. April 2] 1848 (disappeared)) was an Armenian polymath, educator, scientist, philosopher, writer, poet and an advocate of modernization. He mysteriously vanished in 1848 and was eventually presumed dead. Reputed as the father of modern Armenian literature, he is best remembered for his novel Wounds of Armenia. Written in 1841 and published posthumously in 1858, it was the first novel published in the Modern Armenian language, based on the Yerevan dialect instead of Classical Armenian.
Abovian was far ahead of his time and virtually none of his works were published during his lifetime. Only after the establishment of the Armenian SSR was Abovian accorded recognition and stature. Abovian is regarded as one of the foremost figures not just in Armenian literature, but Armenian history at large. Abovian's influence on Western Armenian literature was not as strong as it was on Eastern Armenian, particularly in its formative years. (Full article...)
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The ruins of Delos, location of the treasury of the Delian League until 454 BC
The Greek alliance, centred on Sparta and Athens, that had defeated the second Persian invasion had initially followed up this success by capturing the Persian garrisons of Sestos and Byzantium, both in Thrace, in 479 and 478 BC respectively. After the capture of Byzantium, the Spartans elected not to continue the war effort, and a new alliance, commonly known as the Delian League, was formed, with Athens very much the dominant power. Over the next 30 years, Athens would gradually assume a more hegemonic position over the league, which gradually evolved into the Athenian Empire. (Full article...)
His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized renovatio imperii, or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was expressed by the partial recovery of the territories of the defunct Western Roman Empire. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa. Subsequently, Belisarius, Narses, and other generals conquered the Ostrogothic kingdom, restoring Dalmatia, Sicily, Italy, and Rome to the empire after more than half a century of rule by the Ostrogoths. The praetorian prefect Liberius reclaimed the south of the Iberian Peninsula, establishing the province of Spania. These campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empire's annual revenue by over a million solidi. During his reign, Justinian also subdued the Tzani, a people on the east coast of the Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before. He engaged the Sasanian Empire in the east during Kavad I's reign, and later again during Khosrow I's reign; this second conflict was partially initiated due to his ambitions in the west. (Full article...)
The son of the governor of Bust, Maymandi was raised as the foster brother of the Ghaznavid prince Mahmud, and would first start his administrative career as the head of the department of correspondences of Khorasan. He would thereafter rapidly rise to higher offices, finally becoming the vizier of the Ghaznavid dynasty in 1013, which would last until 1024, when he was arrested due to the great amount of wealth that he had gained, which the suspicious Mahmud disliked. (Full article...)
Duke William IV of Bavaria commissioned The Battle of Alexander at Issus in 1528 as part of a set of historical pieces that was to hang in his Munich residence. Modern commentators suggest that the painting, through its abundant use of anachronism, was intended to liken Alexander's heroic victory at Issus to the contemporary European conflict with the Ottoman Empire. In particular, the defeat of Suleiman the Magnificent at the siege of Vienna may have been an inspiration for Altdorfer. A religious undercurrent is detectable, especially in the extraordinary sky; this was probably inspired by the prophecies of Daniel and contemporary concern within the Church about an impending apocalypse. The Battle of Alexander at Issus and four others that were part of William's initial set are in the Alte Pinakothek art museum in Munich. (Full article...)
The sarcophagus ofEshmunazar II is a 6th-century BC sarcophagus unearthed in 1855 in the grounds of an ancient necropolis southeast of the city of Sidon, in modern-day Lebanon, that contained the body of Eshmunazar II (Phoenician: 𐤀𐤔𐤌𐤍𐤏𐤆𐤓ʾšmnʿzr, r. c. 539 – c. 525 BC), PhoenicianKing of Sidon. One of only three Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi found outside Egypt, with the other two belonging to Eshmunazar's father King Tabnit and to a woman, possibly Eshmunazar's mother Queen Amoashtart, it was likely carved in Egypt from local amphibolite, and captured as booty by the Sidonians during their participation in Cambyses II's conquest of Egypt in 525 BC. The sarcophagus has two sets of Phoenician inscriptions, one on its lid and a partial copy of it on the sarcophagus trough, around the curvature of the head. The lid inscription was of great significance upon its discovery as it was the first Phoenician language inscription to be discovered in Phoenicia proper and the most detailed Phoenician text ever found anywhere up to that point, and is today the second longest extant Phoenician inscription, after the Karatepe bilingual.
The Imamzadeh Chaharmenar in Tabriz, where the Rawadid rulers are buried
Abu Mansur Wahsudan (also spelled Vahsudan; Persian: ابو منصور وهسودان) was the penultimate Rawadidamir (ruler) of Azarbaijan from 1025 to 1058/59. He is considered the most prominent ruler of his dynasty. With the assistance of his Kurdish neighbours, he initially contained the attacks of migrating Turkmen tribes, but was eventually forced to acknowledge the authority of the Seljuk ruler Tughril (r. 1037–1063) in 1054. He was succeeded by his son Abu Nasr Mamlan II (r. 1058/59–1070). (Full article...)
...that during the Shiraz blood libel, the first to start the pogrom of the Jewish quarter were the soldiers sent to protect the Jews against mob violence?
...that a shrine in Shiraz over the tomb(pictured) of the famed Persian poetHafez was pulled down in 1899 by protesters, because it was being built by a Zoroastrian?
...that Gholhak Garden, a British diplomatic compound in northern Tehran, has been at the center of diplomatic controversy between Britain and Iran?
An earthquake struck the Kerman province of southeastern Iran at 01:56 UTC (5:26 am Iran Standard Time) on December 26, 2003. The shock had a moment magnitude of 6.6 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The earthquake was particularly destructive in Bam, with the death toll amounting to at least 34,000 people and injuring up to 200,000. The effects of the earthquake were exacerbated by the use of mud brick as the standard construction medium; many of the area's structures did not comply with earthquake regulations set in 1989.
Following the earthquake the U.S. offered direct humanitarian assistance to Iran and in return the state promised to comply with an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency which supports greater monitoring of its nuclear interests. In total a reported 44 countries sent in personnel to assist in relief operations and 60 countries offered assistance. (Full article...)
The president is required to gain the Supreme Leader's official approval before being sworn in by the Parliament and the Supreme Leader has the power to dismiss the elected president if he has either been impeached by Parliament or found guilty of a constitutional violation by the Supreme Court. The president carries out the decrees, and answers to the Supreme Leader, who functions as the country's head of state. Unlike the executive in other countries, the president of Iran does not have full control over the government, which is ultimately under the direct control of the Supreme Leader. Before elections, the nominees must be approved by the guardian council to become a president candidate. Members of the guardian council are chosen by the supreme leader. The president of Iran is elected for a four-year term by direct vote and is not permitted to run for more than two consecutive terms. (Full article...)
He assembled eight art collections—the Khalili Collections—each considered among the most important in its field. These collections total 35,000 artworks and include the largest private collection of Islamic art and a collection of Japanese art rivalling that of the Japanese imperial family. He has spent tens of millions of pounds on conserving, researching, and documenting the collections, publishing more than seventy volumes of catalogues and research so far. Exhibitions drawn from the collections have appeared in institutions around the world. (Full article...)
The term "Persianate" is a neologism credited to Marshall Hodgson. In his 1974 book, The Venture of Islam: The expansion of Islam in the Middle Periods, he defined it thus: "The rise of Persian had more than purely literary consequences: it served to carry a new overall cultural orientation within Islamdom.... Most of the more local languages of high culture that later emerged among Muslims... depended upon Persian wholly or in part for their prime literary inspiration. We may call all these cultural traditions, carried in Persian or reflecting Persian inspiration, 'Persianate' by extension." (Full article...)
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Interior of the Cinema Rex building after the fire
The governing dynasty initially blamed "Islamic Marxists" for the fire and later reported that Islamic militants started the fire, while anti-Pahlavi protesters falsely blamed SAVAK, the Iranian secret police, for setting the fire. Even though Islamic extremists were responsible for the attack, the Islamic opposition benefited greatly from the disaster in terms of propaganda because of the general atmosphere of mistrust and wrath. Many Iranians accepted the disinformation, which fueled growing anti-Shah fervor. (Full article...)
The Little Zab or Lower Zab (Arabic: الزاب الاسفل, al-Zāb al-Asfal; Kurdish: Zêy Koya or Zêyê Biçûk; Persian: زاب کوچک, Zâb-e Kuchak; Syriac: ܙܒܐ ܬܚܬܝܐ, Zāba Taḥtāya) is a river that originates in Iran and joins the Tigris just south of Al Zab in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The Little Zab is approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi) long and drains an area of about 22,000 square kilometres (8,500 sq mi). The river is fed by rainfall and snowmelt, resulting in a peak discharge in the spring and low water in the summer and early fall. Two dams built on the Little Zab regulate the river flow, providing water for irrigation and generating hydroelectricity. The Zagros Mountains have been populated since at least the Lower Palaeolithic, but the earliest archaeological site in the Little Zab basin, Barda Balka, dates to the Middle Palaeolithic. Human occupation of the Little Zab basin has been attested for every period since then. (Full article...)
In the Caucasus, the Qajar dynasty permanently lost much territory to the Russian Empire over the course of the 19th century, comprising modern-day eastern Georgia, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. Despite its territorial losses, Qajar Iran reinvented the Iranian notion of kingship and maintained relative political independence, but faced major challenges to its sovereignty, predominantly from the Russian and British empires. Foreign advisers became powerbrokers in the court and military. They eventually partitioned Qajar Iran in the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention, carving out Russian and British influence zones and a neutral zone. (Full article...)
Ismail I (Persian: اسماعیل یکم, romanized: Ismāʿīl; 14 July 1487 – 23 May 1524) was the founder and first shah of Safavid Iran, ruling from 1501 until his death in 1524. His reign is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder empires. The rule of Ismail I is one of the most vital in the history of Iran. Before his accession in 1501, Iran, since its conquest by the Arabs eight-and-a-half centuries earlier, had not existed as a unified country under native Iranian rule. Although many Iranian dynasties rose to power amidst this whole period, it was only under the Buyids that a vast part of Iran properly returned to Iranian rule (945–1055).
Geographically, the country of Iran is located in West Asia and borders the Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Gulf of Oman. Topographically, it is predominantly located on the Persian Plateau. Its mountains have impacted both the political and the economic history of the country for several centuries. The mountains enclose several broad basins, on which major agricultural and urban settlements are located. Until the 20th century, when major highways and railroads were constructed through the mountains to connect the population centers, these basins tended to be relatively isolated from one another. Typically, one major town dominated each basin, and there were complex economic relationships between the town and the hundreds of villages that surrounded it. In the higher elevations of the mountains rimming the basins, tribally organized groups practiced transhumance, moving with their herds of sheep and goats between traditionally established summer and winter pastures. There are no major river systems in the country, and historically transportation was by means of caravans that followed routes traversing gaps and passes in the mountains. The mountains also impeded easy access to the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. (Full article...)
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The Buyid dynasty in 970
The Buyid dynasty (Persian: آل بویه, romanized: Âl-i Bōya), also spelled Buwayhid (Arabic: البويهية, romanized: Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Zaydi and, later, Twelver Shia dynasty of Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central and southern Iran from 934 to 1062. Coupled with the rise of other Iranian dynasties in the region, the approximate century of Buyid rule represents the period in Iranian history sometimes called the "Iranian Intermezzo".
The Buyid dynasty was founded by Ali ibn Buya, who in 934 conquered Fars and made Shiraz his capital. He received the laqab or honorific title of Imad al-Dawla "Fortifier of the State". His younger brother Hasan conquered parts of Jibal in the late 930s, and by 943 managed to capture Ray, which he made his capital. Hasan was given the laqab Rukn al-Dawla ("Pillar of the State"). In 945, the youngest brother, Ahmad ibn Buya, conquered Iraq and made Baghdad his capital. He was given the laqab Mu'izz al-Dawla. (Full article...)
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