A History of Iran

by Michael Axworthy

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  Index

  Page locator in bold indicates map

  Abbas Mirza, 178, 180, 181, 184

  Abbas the Great, 134–138, 141, 142

  Abbas II, 141, 142, 159

  Abbasid dynasty, 77–85, 104

  court rich and learned, 80–82

  as cultural reconquest of Arabs by Persians, 78

  looked back on as a golden age, 80

  and power of governors/local dynasties, 80, 84

  weakened by tax collecting measures, 119

  Abd al-Wahhab, 175

  Abrahamian, Ervand, 229

  Abu Bakr, 72

  Abu Muslim, 77, 128, 133

  Abu’l Abbas, 77

  Achaemenes, 5, 12

  Achaemenid Empire, 11, 12–16, 22, 251

  absorbed rather than destroyed culture of rivals, 14–15, 21

  accession of Darius, 17–20

  Alexander’s defeat of, 28, 29

  and conquest of Egypt, 17

  and the Greeks, 23–26

  and Persian wars, 23, 25, 26

  refounding of Empire by Darius, 20–23

  system of government under, 21–23

  writing looked upon negatively, 22

  See also Cyrus

  Acropolis, Athenian, 25, 29

  Adel Shah, 163, 165–166, 169

  Adhurpat, 55

  Adhvenak, 9

  Adultery, stoning for, 264

  Afghan revolt against Safavids, 148–151

  Al-Afghani, Jamal al-Din, 197–198

  Afghanistan

  founded by Ahmad Khan Abdali, 165–166

  need for Iranian help in, 289

  Afshars, 136, 151, 161

  Agha Mohammad Khan (later Shah), 169–172, 176, 298–299. See also Qajar Persia

  Agricultural settlements, earliest, 2, 3

  Ahmad Khan Abdali (Ahmad Shah Durrani), 165–166, 216, 217, 219

  Ahmadinejad, Mahmud, 285–286, 292, 296–299, 306

  and denial of Holocaust, 290

  Khamenei’s public dispute with, 303

  Khamenei’s support for reelection of, 297

  leverage of in Iran less than it appears, 289

  Ahriman, 7–8, 42, 44

  Ahura Mazda, 7–8, 19, 42, 44

  Aisha (wife of Mohammad), 71

  Ajam, 79

  Akhbaris, 172–173

  Akhtar (newspaper), 198

  Al-e Ahmad, Jalal, 238–239, 245

  Albright, Madeleine, 278

  Alchemy of Happiness, The (al-Ghazali), 95

  Alcohol and Safavids, 141–142, 143, 152. See also Wine

  Alexander of Macedonia, 16, 28–30

  Ali (fourth caliph), 76–77, 125, 126, 133

  American school in Tehran, 248–249

  Amin od-Dowleh, 199, 200

  Amir Kabir, 191–192, 205

  Amanpour, Christiane, 278

  Amnesty International, 250, 252

  Amuzegar, Jasmshid, 253

  Anahita, 54

  Andragoas, 32

  Angels, 9

  Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), 231–232, 239

  Anglo-Persian Agreement of 1919, 215–216

  Anglo-Persian Oil Company, 212, 227, 235

  Anti-Semitism, 290

  Antony, Mark, 38–39

  Aq-Qoyunlu, 120–121, 130–131, 132

  Arabic language, 81–82, 83

  Arab Spring of 2011, 302

  Arabs

  conquest of Sassanids, 72–74

  early conquests of, 72, 73, 75–76

  Aramaic language, 22, 34

  Arberry, A.J., 93, 113

  Arcadius, Roman Emperor, 56

  Architecture

  influence of Persians on Abbasids, 78–79

  and Isfahan and Safavid, 136, 138, 148

  Parthian and ivan audience hall, 34

  and Soltaniyeh, 104

  Ardashir, 43–46, 47, 54–55

  Aristotelian philosophy and logic, 81–2

  Armenia, 5, 54

  Arsacids, 32, 43. See also Parthians

  Arshak (Arsaces), 32

  Artabanus (Ardavan) IV, 43, 44

  Artaxerxes (Artakhshathra), 25

  Artaxerxes II & III, 26

  Asabiyya, 118–119, 131

  Ashura commemorations, 125, 173–174, 175, 243, 268

  Assembly of Experts, 264

  Assyrians, 2, 4

  Astyages, 12

  Atatürk, Kemal, 222, 226, 227

  Athens, 24, 25

  Attar, Farid al-Din, 97–100

  Augustine of Hippo, 51–53

  Augustus Caesar, 30

  Aurelian, Emperor, 54

  Averroes, 82

  Avesta, 5, 9, 34, 40, 55, 57, 58

  Avicenna (Ibn Sina), 81–82, 95, 138, 270

  “Axis of Evil” speech, 284

  Azari, Farah, 276–277

  Azerbaijan, 205, 216, 232–233, 234, 267

  Babi movement and Baha’i religion, 187–189, 204

  and Mohammad Reza Shah, 251–252

  persecution of under Islamic Republic, 280

  and Qorrat al-Ain, 188, 189

  Babylon and Babylonians, 2, 10, 14, 25, 33

  Bacchae, The (Euripides), 37

  Baghdad, 78, 80, 90, 104

  Bahar, Mohammad Taqi, 139, 225–226

  Baha’uallah, 189

  Bahrain, 286

  Bahram Chubin, 63, 84

  Bahram V (Bahram Gur), 57–58

  Bakhtiar, Shahpur, 252, 253, 261–262

  Bakhtiari tribe, 208, 209

  El Baradei, Dr. Mohamed, 291

  Bardiya, 17, 18

  Battle of Marathon, 23

  Bausani, Alessandro, 51, 53

  Bazaar and bazaari merchants, 48, 205, 227, 247, 254, 274

  Bazargan, Mehdi, 253, 257, 262, 263, 265

  Behbehani, Aqa Mohammad Baqer, 192

  Behbehani, Ayatollah Abdollah, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 208

  Beheshti, Ayatollah, 266, 272

  Beyt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom), 81

  Bidel, 115

  Bill, James A., 248

  Bisitun, 17, 18–19, 20, 22, 86

  Black Friday (September 8, 1978), 257

  Bogomils, 52–53

  Bonyad-e Mostazefin (Foundation for the Oppressed), 263, 265

  Borujerdi, Ayatollah, 240, 242, 245

  British

  and blockade of oil exports in 1951, 235–236

  buying Chieftain tanks from, 247

  changing alliances of prior to WWI, 211

  cynical policy of in nineteenth century, 195–196

  and division of Persia in three parts in 1907, 207–208

  expatriates in Iran in 1970s, 248

  failure of policy, and Reza Khan, 218, 219

  and Gulf War in 1991, 274

  imperialism and Nader Shah, 164

  and improvement of relations in 1998, 278

  liaisons with ulema in 1902/3, 200

  and mutual protection agreement of 1801, 178, 179

  and Naser od-Din’s reign, 193

  and occupation in WWII, 227–233

  opposition of al-Afghani towards, 197

  and replacing Mossadeq, 236

  restoration of relations in 1954, 240

  rivals with Russia in Persia, 187

  sailors captured by Iran in 2007, 289

  and successor to Fath Ali Shah, 185–186

  and Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, 180

  and WWI, 213–214, 215

  See also Anglo-Iranian Oil Company; Anglo-Persian Oil Company

  British Petroleum, 239

  Buf-e Kur (The Blind Owl), 225

  Bulls, 7, 42<
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  Burial practices, 16

  Bush, George W., 284

  Bustan, The Orchard (Sa‘di), 111

  Buyids dynasty, 84, 88

  Byzantium, 63, 64

  Caesar, Julius, 36, 38

  Calendar, 7, 90, 251

  Cambyses (Kambojiya), 17, 19, 23

  Caracalla, 43

  Carlyle, Thomas, 164

  Carrhae, battle of, 36–38

  Carter, President, 256, 258, 266

  Cathars, 52, 53

  Caucasus, 171, 177, 228

  Russian/Persian war in 1804–1828, 178–179, 180, 181–182

  Central Intelligence Agency of United States, 237

  Chemical weapons, 268, 273, 274

  China, 33

  Chionite Huns, 56

  Christians and Christianity, 50, 55, 57, 125

  and Manichaeism and Augustine, 51–53

  and Mithraism, 41

  and Mohammad, 70

  tolerance and Islam, 74

  Churchill, Winston, 283

  Cinema, Iranian, 293–294

  Clinton, Bill, 278

  Communist political movements, 229. See also Tudeh

  Conscription, military, 223

  Constantine, Emperor, 55

  Constitution. See Mashruteh

  Constitutional Revolution of 1905–1911, 202–211, 212

  centralizing effect of, 213

  Curzon missing impact of, 215

  ideals of resurface again and again, 212–213

  reinstated after Shah’s coup and foreign interventions, 208

  Reza Khan as nemesis and child of, 220

  Western influence upon, 205, 206, 210

  and WWI, 213

  Constitutionalists, 206, 225

  Continuity from pre-Islamic to Islamic era, 67–68

  Corbulo, Gnaeus Domitius, 40

  Cossack Brigade, 195, 207, 208, 213, 217, 218, 222

  Council of Guardians, 264, 286

  Crassus, Marcus Licinius, 36–38

  Croesus of Lydia, King, 1, 12

  Crone, Patricia, 15

  Ctesiphon, 33, 44, 72

  Culture

  and conquering of Mongols, 104, 105

  and dehqans after Islamic conquest, 60

  influence of Persian on Abbasids, 78–79, 83

  influence outside Persia in Safavid period, 138–139

  influential in world history, 293–294

  and Iran as empire of mind, 120, 294

  of Parthians, 34

  pervasive nature of Persian at time of Nader Shah, 159

  and resilience of Persian scholar-bureaucrats, 120

  and Shu‘ubiyya movement, 79

  spread by Sufis in eleventh/twelfth centuries on, 95