This essay traces the circulation of the industrial commodities of lithographic presses and stones and compares the uses to which these commodities were put in Iran with other regions at the same time. Using Persian travelogues as sources on scientific exchange, the essay compares Iran's access to lithography with its spread through Europe, Russia and South and Southeast Asia. Using lithography as a gauge of Iran's integration into an industrializing global economy, it compares state-led Iranian attempts to access lithographic commodities with attempts by other regional powers to develop local sources for these ‘stones from Bavaria’. After tracing the role of Christian Evangelicalism in the technology's dissemination, the essay finally contextualizes Iranian uses of lithography in global developments in illustrated and newspaper printing.

This essay provides a historical analysis of Iranian experiences with disability. I will begin by reviewing the literary application of the term in various contexts. Next, I will examine the social milieux in which local observers, medical professionals, and policy makers talked about and treated disability. As state-run institutions emerged to address disability needs, health professionals often drew a distinction between physical disability and intellectual or psychological disability, raising ethical and legal questions about the status of the disabled in modern Iranian society. Finally, an attempt will be made to situate disability politics in contemporary Iran, where the disabled population has increased significantly as a consequence of the Iran–Iraq War (1980–88). Although this paper concentrates on Iranian experiences with disability, comparisons can be drawn with other Islamic societies.

Studies on the pre-dynastic claim of the Safavids to sayyid status suffer from a dearth of primary source materials. Scholars have advanced various conjectures, but it is not yet clear when the Safavids began to promote this claim or indeed when the so-called “official” Musavid genealogy was developed. This study presents a genealogical chart drawn in the third quarter of the fifteenth century (most probably in the 1460s) in Iraq (most likely in Najaf), which records the “official” genealogy in an unequivocal manner. This chart is a valuable document in that it testifies to the circulation of the “official” genealogy some three to four decades before the establishment of the Safavid dynasty. A survey of the studies to date on the question of the pre-dynastic claim is also offered in order to clarify the significance of the chart.

European leaders are increasingly conscious of their heavy dependence on energy supplies from Russia. In an attempt to articulate a strategy to improve energy security, the European Commission issued an EU Energy Security and Solidarity Action Plan in November 2008. This essay examines Europe's energy vulnerability and the role Iran can play in diversifying the EU energy supplies. I argue that a rapprochement with Iran aimed at greater utilization of its oil and gas reserves would contribute to Europe's (and the world's) energy security.

The Epistle of the Right Path (Risāla-yi Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm) is an anonymous treatise, possibly dating to the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century. It may be the earliest Persian Ismaili prose work of the post-Mongol period to come to light, and is here introduced, discussed, edited and translated. A clearly articulated, philosophically inclined treatment of numerous themes in Ismaili thought, the text draws frequently from Nasir al-Din Tusi's spiritual autobiography, The Voyage (Sayr wa-Sulūk). Its subject matter includes the correspondence between the exoteric and esoteric worlds, the concept of the divine command through which creation attains perfection, the role of the Imam and the esoteric hierarchy, and the fact that esoteric exegesis (ta 'wīl) of divine revelation must be compatible with the principles of the intellect.

A collocation can be defined as a sequence of words which co-occur more than would be expected by chance. Collocations impose constraints on how words can be used together. An idiom is an expression whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definitions and the arrangement of its parts, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use. In this paper I will attempt to expand on these notions. For further clarification, I will compare and contrast some examples from English and Persian.

This article analyzes the surprisingly consistent way in which Sadeq Hedayat's novella, The Blind Owl, represents the concept of eternal recurrence. Hedayat employs repetition in a unique manner. Neither narrator ever remarks upon or seems to notice that events, motifs, and similar or identical epithets and phrasings which arise in their own thoughts and utterances are repeating, but they rather encounter every repeated event or thought as if it had only just occurred for the first time. While I do not claim that Hedayat was in any meaningful way a ‘Nietzschean’ thinker, philosophical ideas from Nietzsche's works and those of the French thinkers who came after, most notably Klossowski and Deleuze, interact strikingly with The Blind Owl and seem to bring hitherto unnoticed dimensions of this important work to our attention. Notably, Hedayat depicts a struggle with nihilism that is informed by the philosophical questions surrounding what came to be known as existentialism, but in a manner that is not merely derivative of European models.

The paper reconsiders the apocryphal stories regarding the Shahnama's initial reception to propose that it was only after long narrative poems gained currency that the Shahnama was recognized as a masterpiece. The paper analyzes the structure and themes of several histories written before and during the Samanid period and compares them with the Shahnama and the content of histories and epics produced immediately afterwards, to argue that the initial reception of the Shahnama did not depend on Sultan Mahmud Ghazni alone. It further argues that the Shahnama's aim, content, and execution differed from the histories and poetry produced in the decades immediately preceding and succeeding it, which would account for the lag in its acceptance and popularity. This led later biographers to superimpose their regret over Firdausi's treatment onto Sultan Mahmud Ghazni, who by their accounts denied him the fame and glory he deserved in his lifetime.

The connection between proverbs and poetry is a profound and ancient one. The classical poets often cited well-known proverbs to attract and engage common people. In the case of legendary poets, some of their enchanting poems were well received and commonly repeated by ordinary people and gradually became famous proverbs themselves. More than any other Persian poets, Rumi, Sádi and Ferdowsi cited and created proverbs. Due to the condensed structure of maxims, often the preconditions and teachings of poets became distorted. As shown here, even the logical and philosophical views of Rumi and Khayyam were not spared. This is a common phenomenon in all languages, but can be reversed by finding their poetic roots and rediscovering the lost lessons of master poets. Nevertheless, the majority of proverbs are created by rural people to share, reason, and transfer their everyday life experiences to their children, one another and future generations.

This essay explores two primary concerns in the art and artistic practice of contemporary Iran, namely “identity” (i.e. local, historical, imagined and collective identity and also self-identity) and “exoticism” (which appears inevitably related to the first), both of which (identity and exoticism) involve challenges relating to the “self” and “other” and the issue of “expectation”. It suggests that these issues see broader contextual socio-political parallels. The first apprehension relates to the concept of identity which addresses how artists have interpreted contemporary aesthetics in the light of national and indigenous ideology. The second refers to the ever-present obsession with cultural and frequently social concern with which Iranian artists are engaged within the country. The two concerns are integrated, in the way that the second is seen to be the outcome of the first. Some critiques are based on the issues of cultural commodification, anti-canonical West, cultural formulation, and also the stereotypes rooted in the preference and interest of the market.

This article intends to give a comprehensive picture of women's participation in the scientific field in Iran in the last four decades, among students and members of academia. One major fact is that despite the legal and cultural impediments the proportion of young women in the universities has risen above 50 percent. Another is that this increase has occurred much more at the undergraduate level than at the graduate and post-graduate levels. In the academic world, women are still far outnumbered by men, particularly at the higher levels of the hierarchy. We intend to show how the discrepancies are structured between the undergraduate and the graduate levels on the one hand, and between the lower and higher levels of academic hierarchy on the other, and propose an interpretation of these two major tendencies.

This paper suggests the interpretation of the images woven on Safavid precious textiles in their historical context. The thesis is that the mythical and literary subject of the discovery of fire by Shah Hushang was used by the Safavids in their negotiations concerning the supply of the firearms to Iran. The images of Hushang slaying the dragon on the silks of the third quarter of the sixteenth century reflect different stages of this diplomatic mission and the objects sewn out of these textiles served as meaningful presents to the interested parties.

The first Iranian to study medicine abroad was sent to Britain by the Iranian government in 1811, during the early decades of the Qajar period (1796–1925). The second student was sent to France in 1815, along with four other students. Another group of five students, including the third student of medicine, was sent to France in 1845. Forty-two others, including five medical students, were dispatched to France in 1858. Most members of the latter group were among the first graduates of Tehran Dar al-Fonun (House of Techniques) School. Then, in 1928, during Reza Shah Pahlavi's reign (1925–41), a special act was passed by the Iranian parliament (Majlis) according to which the Ministry of Education would send 100 students abroad annually for higher education at the government's expense. The practice was suspended in 1935 with the advent of the Second World War. Between 1928 and 1935, a total of 640 students, including 125 medical students, were sent abroad. The majority of the medical students (84 percent) were sent to France. Most of these medical graduates returned to Iran and in subsequent years played a significant role in further propagation of modern medical knowledge in the country. The paper presents a brief historical account of the conditions of public health and medical education between 1811 and 1935 as well as biographical sketches of some of the best-known or most influential medical figures among these graduates.

Rustam is famed for being one of the most fleshed-out characters of the Shahnama. As such, this article will analyze an episode in his life of extreme emotional turbulence, in order to gain a closer understanding of how much realism Firdausi bestows upon his characters. This episode is the suicide attempt he makes following his act of filicide. I will begin with a discussion of the difficulties involved in interpreting such an ancient text as the Shahnama. An analysis of Rustam's background follows, tracing the development of his personality. I will then take a detailed look at the circumstances surrounding his attempted suicide. After this, I will gauge the extent to which this act may have its roots in his personality. By thus examining how realistic is Rustam's suicide attempt, I hope this paper will contribute to the further study of the literary nature of Firdausi's Shahnama.

Although transsexuality and change of sex might be considered a matter of personal choice, they have some socio-cultural causes and consequences. This article aims to examine these through the illustration of transsexuality in Iran. To this end, firstly, sexual transition and the legal system in Iran will be explained. Secondly, the methodology will follow. This study uses the survey method with two separate samples: 1) transsexuality policy makers and 2) forty individual cases of transsexuals. The findings reveal that while the Iranian legal system does not ban transsexuality and sexual transition, transsexuals suffering from gender identity disorder do encounter some social and cultural problems both in their private lives and publicly. The paper concludes with a summary of research findings, and sets out recommendations and study limitations.

During the Constitutional years (1906–11) the legal status of the Jews and some other religious minorities improved, even if only to a limited extent. Can one assume that this change in the legal status of the Jews reflected changes in the public's actual treatment toward the Jews in reality during the days leading up to the Constitutional Revolution in 1906? To an extent, the answer is in the affirmative. The present article argues, however, that the real life situation of the Jews in the years leading up to the Constitutional Revolution was still often one of abuse and occasional persecution. To prove this contention, section I of the article presents some such cases. Section II establishes some of the reasons for the attacks on the Jews—not only religious, but also economic and socio-political ones, as well as briefly suggesting certain recurring paradigms surrounding it. Section III looks at one case study from November 1905 in the city of Shiraz. Finally, this preliminary research ends with some concluding remarks.

This study aims to analyze the positions and syntactic functions of dependent and independent personal pronouns in the Kakavandi Laki dialect in the region of Harsin (Kermanshah/Iran), an endangered dialect of Persian. The paper provides a morpho-syntactic description and investigates the dialectal characteristic positions of the pronominals in regard to their syntactic functions, which illustrate noticeable differences in comparison to Persian. The main functions under investigation include: subjective, objective, oblique and possessives, on the basis of which the pronominal positional variety is classified in the dialect. The study further examines the dialectal agreement patterns which demonstrate both ergative and non-ergative features.

The present and past progressive tenses in Persian are the only tenses in which both the main verb and the minor verb dâštan “to have” receive agreement marking. Morpho-syntactically, Persian progressives show the similar properties of both Aspectual Complex Predicates and Serial Verb Constructions. The question that this paper addresses is: are Persian progressive tenses Aspectual Complex Predicates or Serial Verb Constructions? By presenting the morpho-syntactic and semantic analysis of Persian progressives, and highlighting the main properties of Aspectual Complex Predicates and Serial Verb Constructions, the paper shows that, despite the similarities between these verbal constructions and Aspectual Complex Predicates, Persian progressives are instances of Serial Verb Constructions where neither a complementizer nor a conjunction separates the two verbs and the complex describes a single conceptual event.