Early Islamic Iran

190 Pages·2012·5.133 MB·English

by  Edmund Herzig (editor), Sarah Stewart (editor)

Early Islamic Iran
This Volume is dedicated to
Oleg Grabar
and
Iraj Afsha

Already available in The Idea of Iran series

Birth of the Persian Empire, Vol. 1
Edited by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis (British Museum) and Sarah Stewart (SOAS,
London).
ISBN: 978–1–84511–062–5

The Age of the Parthians, Vol. 2
Edited by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis (British Museum) and Sarah Stewart (SOAS,
London).
ISBN: 978–1–84511–406–0

The Sasanian Era, Vol. 3
Edited by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis (British Museum) and Sarah Stewart (SOAS,
London).
ISBN: 978–1–84511–690–3

The Rise of Islam, Vol. 4
Edited by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis (British Museum) and Sarah Stewart (SOAS,
London).

ISBN: 978–1–84511–691–0

Published in 2012 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd
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Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively
by Palgrave Macmillan
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Copyright © London Middle East Institute, 2012
The right of Edmund Herzig & Sarah Stewart to be identified as the editors
of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any
part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission
of the publisher.
The Idea of Iran Vol. 5
ISBN 978 1 78076 061 2
eISBN 978 1 78672 446 5
ePDF 978 1 78673 446 4
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: available
Typeset by P. Fozooni
Contents

List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgements ix
Foreword 1
The Samanids: The first Islamic Dynasty of Central Asia 3
Luke Treadwell
The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful: The survival of Ancient Iranian 16
Ethical Concepts in Persian Popular Narratives of the Islamic Period
Ulrich Marzolph
Arts of Iran in Late Antiquity 30
Oleg Grabar
Sindbādnāma: A Zurvanite Cosmogonic Legend? 42
Mohsen Zakeri
Early Persian Historians and the Heritage of Pre-Islamic Iran 59
A.C.S. Peacock
Advice Literature in Tenth and Early Eleventh-Century Iran 76
and Early Persian Prose Writing
Louise Marlow
The Expression of Power in the Art and Architecture 102
of Early Islamic Iran
Jonathan M. Bloom
The Lofty Castle of Qābus b. Voshmgir 120
Melanie Michailidis
Authority and Identity in the Pahlavi Books 139
Alan Williams
The Idea of Iran in the Buyid Dominions 153
Roy Parviz Mottahedeh
List of Abbreviations 161
Bibliography 162

Illustrations

Sarvestan, Fire Temple (?) 8th century. Photo: Jonathan M. Bloom 104
and Sheila S. Blair.
Balkh, Abbasid Mosque, 9th century. Photo: Jonathan M. Bloom and 106
Sheila S. Blair.
Bukhara, Mausoleum of the Samanids, 10th century. Photo: Jonathan 107
M. Bloom and Sheila S. Blair.
Bukhara, Mausoleum of the Samanids, detail of inscription over the 108
portal. Photo: Jonathan M. Bloom and Sheila S. Blair.
Silk textile made for Abu’l- Mansur Bukhtegīn (d. 961), known as the 108
‘Suaire de Saint-Josse’, Paris, Louvre.
Earthenware bowl from Nishapur or Samarqand, 10th century. 109
Copenhagen, David Collection, 22.1974.
Isfahan, Portal to the Jurjir (Hakim) Mosque, c. 1000. Photo: Jonathan 110
M. Bloom and Sheila S. Blair.
Persepolis: Inscription of Adud al-Dawla, 955–6. Photo: Jonathan 111
M. Bloom and Sheila S. Blair.
Silk twill inscribed with the names of Zādānfarrūkh and Bahā al-Dawla, 114
c. 1000. Washington, DC, Textile Museum, no. 3.116.
Set of silver vessels inscribed with the name of Valgīr b. Hārūn, c. 1000. 115
Tehran, Museum of Islamic Art (after Pope and Ackerman, Survey).
Damghan, Minaret of the Tarik Khane Mosque, 1026–32. Photo: 116
Jonathan M. Bloom and Sheila S. Blair.
Gonbad-e Qābus. 122
Mil-e Rādkān. 130
Tomb Tower, Lājim. 132
Tomb Tower, Resget. 133