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- A one-of-a-kind book that examines Persian celebrations from
their earliest incarnations to their present state- Reaches out to
Iranians worldwide, embracing and celebrating their cultural
heritage- Glossy full-color photographs capture the spirit of these
ancient traditions in the modern day'Sofreh' is Persian for
'spread' - referring to the colorful arrangements of flowers,
condiments and objects of spiritual or cultural importance that are
displayed at Persian ceremonies. As the title promises, this book
is a visual feast. Flush with lavish historical illustrations and
contemporary photography, it documents Persian marriage and New
Year celebrations in rich detail. Sofreh pays homage to ancient
traditions, discussing the symbiosis of symbolism and culture.
Despite their ancestral roots, the featured ceremonies are infused
with life and creativity. Modern fabrics are welcomed alongside
refined antique textiles, creative floral designs, unconventional
pieces of furniture, and unexpected objects. References to Persian
poetry, literature, art and folklore stimulate the imagination, and
the text is illuminated with exquisitely detailed extracts from old
manuscripts, antique woven textiles and embroideries. Each volume
centers around a series of original and at times highly elaborate
sofreh creations. Together they comprise an extensive project,
involving research into Persian ceremonies and sofreh history by an
eminent scholar, and the design and creation of stunning
compositions. Book One is about the Persian New Year (Nowruz),
which is celebrated on the first day of Spring. Book Two explores
Persian marriage and wedding customs, and the elaborate settings
for marriage ceremonies (Aqd). These two lavishly illustrated
volumes which make an enduring gift are devoted to showcasing
sofreh compositions in all of their glory. Never before have the
splendor and beauty of the sofreh been presented in such an
intricate and novel fashion.
In 1770, Astrakhan, on the left bank of the Volga River close to
where it discharges into the Caspian Sea, was Russia's most
important southern port through which all its trade with Iran and
the Orient was conducted. Astrakhan had been a Tatar city until
1556 (when Ivan the Terrible conquered it), a fact reflected in the
composition of its population in 1770: Tatars, Russians, Armenians,
and Iranians. Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin, a young member of the Russian
Academy of Sciences, lived for almost a year in the city in 1770
and left a very detailed account of its geography, history, people,
economy, flora, and fauna. Gmelin first describes the model colony
of Sarepta established, by special agreement with the Russian
government, by the German Moravian Brothers in 1765. Then he moves
his narrative to Astrakhan, the Russian outpost on the Caspian Sea
and provides us with a detailed description of its history,
including that of Stenko Razin's 1672 rebellion that devastated the
port and its people. Gmelin takes us on an extensive tour of the
city and provides us detailed plans and panoramas of the city,
which was also important for its fisheries and salt works. All
these economic activities are described in great detail, as are the
flora and fauna of the city's environs. Gmelin's descriptions of
these activities are embellished with exquisite drawings that show
the people, their activities, the plants, and the animals. The
descriptions of the city, its people and their activities are so
vivid and given in such detail that the reader will literally be
taken back in time and place. Willem Floor has published numerous
works of history as well as translations, which include: volumes 3
and 4 of Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin's Travels Through Northern Persia
1770-1774; as well as Mirza Naqi Nasiri's Titles and Emoluments in
Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration. He has also
translated, in collaboration with Hasan Javadi, The Heavenly
Rose-Garden: A History of Shirvan & Daghestan by Abbas Qoli Aqa
Bakikhanov; and Evlya Chelebi's Travels in Iran and the Caucasus,
1652 and 1655.
In 1770 the young German scientist and explorer Samuel Gottlieb
Gmelin embarked on a journey on behalf of the Russian Academy of
Sciences and in the service of Catherine the Great. These
heretofore little-read accounts of his travels and broad research
in Northern Persia, first published in German in St. Petersburg in
the 1770's, have now been translated for the first time into
English by renowned scholar Willem Floor. In the two voyages
recounted in this volume, Gmelin kept journals describing the
customs, industry, political world, warfare, geography, and plant
and animal life of Northern Persia, until his capture and
imprisonment in the village of Parakay near the Caspian Sea in
1774--a misfortune that he also was able to record, and which is
included here in the final volume of his travelogue.
Games Persians Play is a study of the history, development, and
change in the games played in Iran. Iranians, young and old, rich
and poor, male and female, played a large variety of games during
their 2500-year history. Some games were played just to while away
the time, to entertain, to keep children occupied, to liven up a
social event, or to celebrate the change of seasons. Others were
multi-functional such as horse games and hunting, which were both
an amusement and a military training exercise. Like elsewhere in
the world traditional games are disappearing and being replaced by
a less varied group of modern games, in particular spectator
sports. This book introduces the reader to the rich menu of games
played in Iran and the changes that have taken place therein.
Willem Floor is a scholar of Persian history with more than 20
books in print.
Links with the Hinterland focuses on two related themes: the
importance of what goes on in a port city's hinterland, and, the
importance of a safe and secure road that connects a port city to
its markets. What happened in the port of Bushehr was influenced by
events in nearby towns such as Borazjan and Kazerun, and far off
provinces such as Khuzestan, as well as by the actions of local
chiefs controlling the land adjacent to the trade route. The
histories of Borazjan and Kazerun show the importance of the
behavior of local chiefs and of migrating tribes in keeping the
caravan route secure or not. A breakdown of the port city's
authority over its hinterland, in particular the trade route,
impacted on its well-being both financially and politically.
Likewise, the history of the Banu Kab in Khuzestan shows how the
takeover of tribal leadership by a more commercially oriented
lineage led to the rise of a rival port to Bushehr that ultimately
would oust it from its leading position. The description of the
commercial route between Bandar Abbas and Isfahan, during the
Safavid period, highlights the importance of road infrastructure in
linking a seaport with the markets in its hinterland. The ports in
the Persian Gulf were but caravan termini. The ports themselves did
not constitute a major market for imports; the real market for
these goods was in the interior of Iran and, therefore, the road
linking the port and its markets was a lifeline for both. This
study makes clear that what happened along that road, connecting
the terminus and the market, determined to a great extent how much
volume was shipped and at what cost. Finally, Links with the
Hinterland also demonstrates how the attacks on mainly
British-owned goods on the Bandar Abbas-Isfahan road bestowed a hue
of nationalist resistance to the robber chiefs during the First
World War.
A small, sleepy port in the Persian Gulf, Bandar-e Lengeh has had a
varied and checkered history since its launch onto the historical
scene around 1750. In those days the tribal people of the region
felt at home on both sides of the Gulf and often went to wherever
they thought would offer them a better life. When the Qavasem Arabs
moved to Lengeh and developed it, they turned it from a sleepy
fishing town into a pirate's nest. They, together with their kith
and kin in Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah, became the scourge of the
Gulf until 1819 when the British burnt all three ports to the
ground. After this, convinced that piracy was not worth the cost,
the people of Lengeh became peaceful, and very successful as
traders and pearl fishers. Lengeh became the distribution center
for the entire Arabian Coast and rivaled Bahrain as the pearl
clearing center of the Gulf. This success attracted people from all
over the Gulf to come and live in Lengeh, making it a symbol of the
Gulf migratory culture (havaleh). Lengeh's success and prosperity
did not end because of competition, but because in 1903 the Iranian
government enacted a new customs regime for all their ports-but
Lengeh was an "Arabian" port located in Iran. As a result, Lengeh
lost its competitive position to Dubai, which opened its doors to
many of Lengeh's merchants. Thereafter, Lengeh declined and by 1930
it was once again a minor port and fishing town. The Persian Gulf:
The Rise and Fall of Bandar-e Lengeh, The Distribution Center for
the Arabian Coast, 1750-1930 is the third volume of the Persian
Gulf series by Willem Floor. This book is a rich compendium of
Iranian, Dutch, and British reports and primary sources. It is also
full of enthralling research into the work of travelers in the
region. While it is essential reading for all scholars of the
history of the Gulf, it is also informative and satisfying for
those readers interested in the history of the region in general.
The previous volumes of the series are: The Persian Gulf: A
Political and Economic History of 5 Port Cities, 1500-1750, and The
Persian Gulf: The Rise of the Gulf Arabs, The Politics of Trade on
the Persian Littoral, 1747-1792.
By any measure, Nader Shah -- founder of the Afsharid Dynasty --
ranks as a towering figure in Iranian history. Rising from the
humblest of origins, he became a military commander of genius,
restored an embattled Persia to imperial greatness, and proceeded
to wield the power of the throne with a ruthlessness that
approached derangement. Yet much about the man and his tumultuous
times remains obscure. This book peers into the shadows by drawing
on unusual source materials -- unpublished letters and reports
written by the staff of the Dutch East India Company, who watched
in dismay as the tyrant sacrificed the nation's economic health
(and Dutch hopes for trade) to feed his war machine. The book looks
at his entire life: how a shepherd boy mastered fighting skills,
assembled armies, reunited Iran and freed it from Afghan
occupation, invaded and plundered both India and Ottoman Turkey,
and crowned himself Nader Shah of Iran after usurping the Safavid
throne in 1736. Because there are no other contemporary reports,
published or unpublished, of this length and geographical scope,
much of the information offered here is unique. Nader Shah, who not
only ruined neighbouring countries but also his own, is depicted in
all his fury and bloodthirstiness -- traits often glossed over by
later court chroniclers. At times the Dutch observers are so
sickened by his total disregard for the well-being of his country
and for human life that they pray to God to release Iran from his
hold. Release came in 1747, when he was taken by surprise in his
bed and assassinated -- but not before first killing two of the
attackers. For the first time in English, "The Rise and Fall of
Nader Shah" makes these primary-source eyewitness reports of an
important period in Iranian history available to historians and
students alike.
Bandar Abbas, once a small fishing village, became the gateway port
for Iran after Shah Abbas defeated the Portuguese in 1622. However,
with the fall of the Safavids and the withdrawal of the British
East India Company in 1759 the port went into decline; by 1793
Bandar Abbas was under the direct control of Oman. In 1869 Iran had
to resort to force of arms to take it back from Oman. Yet, this
important port is hardly mentioned in the histories of Iran. For
the first time in Bandar Abbas: The Natural Trade Gateway of
Southeast Iran, Willem Floor, using primary sources, analyses the
port's morphology, population, water supply, health, education, and
living conditions during the Qajar period. Furthermore, he
discusses in detail how Bandar Abbas came under Omani control; how
the Qajars assumed direct control; as well as the town's
vicissitudes under a parliamentary governed Iran, and the new
centralizing Pahlavi state. The book also gives a detailed analysis
of the nature of Bandar Abbas's trade and the reasons for its ups
and downs; the role of European political and economic activities;
central government institutions that were present in Bandar Abbas
and the many new institutions that were created in the twentieth
century. A similar comprehensive analysis is offered for Minab (a
nearby town) with which Bandar Abbas had a symbiotic relationship
that changed in the twentieth century. Based on primary sources
this study of a major Persian Gulf port offers a comprehensive view
of the "growing-up" pains Iran had to suffer to find its way into a
modernizing world. The previous volumes of the series are: The
Persian Gulf: A Political and Economic History of 5 Port Cities,
1500-1750; The Rise of the Gulf Arabs, The Politics of Trade on the
Persian Littoral, 1747-1792; The Rise and Fall of Bandar-e Lengeh,
The Distribution Center for the Arabian Coast, 1750-1930
Merchants and bankers managed much of nineteenth-century Iran's
economy and finances. The ulama-clerical leaders-who considered
themselves responsible for the spiritual welfare of their flock
also played an important economic role, in particular, through
management of religious endowments. Numerically, however, the most
important group was that of the traders and craftsmen, who were
organized into guilds and who formed thirty to fifty percent of the
urban population. Finally, there were the unskilled, mostly
seasonal, laborers. Guilds, Merchants and Ulama analyzes the major
functions and characteristics of these groups, and discusses how
they each coped with the pressures of the world market to which
Iran was increasingly exposed and which resulted in the
disappearance of jobs reducing Iran's economic and political
independence. After 1870, Iran's economic situation was aggravated
by an influx of peasants into the main cities significantly
increasing the size of permanent unskilled labor in these cities.
Guilds only provided some measure of social and economic benefits
and protection to its members but could not prevent major
downsizing, which is detailed in a contemporary report included
here in translation. Meanwhile, both the merchants and the ulama
demanded government action to better protect the country's economy
and its independence. To make a bigger fist, the ulama, merchants
and reformists mobilized the guilds to support their political
ends. As such, the guilds provided the force that powered the
political events, which resulted in the Iranian Constitutional
Revolution in 1906. The ulama's interference in economic life only
made matters worse. They had no grasp of economics, beyond stating
that people should not be greedy. And the guilds, despite their
visible role during the 1905-06 events, found themselves used, and
discarded when they were no longer needed. This created the
parameters for major structural change to finally take place after
1925. In Guilds, Merchants, and Ulama Willem Floor provides a
detailed analysis of primary source references essential for a
better understanding of the socio-economic conditions that led to
Iran's push toward modernization in the first quarter of the
twentieth century.
The history of the Persian Gulf during the eighteenth century is
still little known. This gap is now being filled by the historian
and renowned scholar Willem Floor, first with publication of The
Persian Gulf: A Political and Economic History of Five Port Cities,
1500-1730, and now with The Persian Gulf: The Rise of the Gulf
Arabs, The Politics of Trade on the Persian Littoral, 1747-1792.
This study tells the fascinating story of the shift in trade from
the lower to the upper Gulf, while there was also a partial shift
of trade from the northern Persian coast to the southern Arab
coast. It tells of the departure of first the Dutch then the
British trading companies, and the rise of the local rulers who
began to dominate political developments, whether it was the Imam
of Oman in Masqat, the Qavasem in the Strait of Hormuz, the Ka'b in
the Shatt al-Arab, Sheikh Naser in Bushire and Bahrain, Mir Mohanna
in Dashtestan and at the head of the Gulf, and the 'Otobis at
Kuwait, Bahrain and Zubara. And finally it tells of how, because of
a lack of interest by the Persian and Ottoman governments in the
region, the Bombay fleet of the East India Company increasingly
used their naval power to protect commercial interests in the Gulf,
which paved the way for a similar role played by the British Royal
Navy in the nineteenth century.
Although most people do not speak of theater and Iran in the same
breath, dramatic expression has always been a fixture of Iranian
culture. Some 2500 years ago, kings and commoners alike were
regaled by comic theater in the form of dance and mime, accompanied
by music. The dancers often wore masks, a vestige of an earlier era
when such dances were enacted as religious rites. Comic drama also
took a slapstick form, in which social situations were lampooned
and people ridiculed by imitating their accents and behavior. Yet
another ancient dramatic art was that of puppetry, now known to
have exist much earlier than its attested date of about 1000 CE.
Only glove and string puppets were popular in Iran; though briefly
practiced, shadow puppetry failed to win a following. Like comic
dance and mime, narrative drama originated in religious rites. Over
time, religious ceremony evolved gave rise to a popular secular
epic tradition that was very popular in pre-Islamic Iran. The bard
enjoyed an important place in social life, and the verbal arts of
poetry, storytelling, elegy and recitation thrived, often
accompanied by music. In Islamic times, this art form continued and
was given impetus by elegies and public recitations about the
heroic deeds of ancient kings. In addition, Iran produced the only
form of Islamic religious epic drama (ta'ziyeh-khvani), which
reenacts the martyrdom of Imam Hoseyn. In traditional Iranian
theater, there was no real difference between high and low culture,
although artists attached to the royal court and sponsored by the
rich tended to be more competent than those who performed for the
public at large. With the exception of religious and narrative
drama, written texts were seldom used. The artists-whether
comedian, mime, puppeteer, elegist or storyteller performed both in
public and private spaces. European theater, with its reliance on a
written text and normative rather than improvisatory acting,
arrived in 1878 and was part of the modernization process in Iran.
It enjoyed a hey-day in the early years of the twentieth century,
but has experienced many ups-and-downs since then. Today, it once
again enjoys great popularity. At the same time, traditional
theatre is being rediscovered, and playwrights are using some of
its forms to develop indigenous modern Iranian theatre-a melding of
the deep past and dynamic present. Cover painting: A mime dance by
a group of professional entertainers accompanied by musicians,
ascribed to Mirza Mohammad al-Hoseyni, Iran 1613. Courtesy of Freer
Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Until now, there have been no books and only a few articles
available in English that deal with the actual practice of medicine
in nineteenth and early twentieth-century Iran. Willem Floor's
Public Health in Qajar Iran fills this lacuna, giving a broad and
comprehensive survey of the state of public health, medical
practice, and its practitioners in 1800-1925. Based on firsthand
accounts of European travelers and doctors who practiced and
observed medical treatment, the study provides an overview of the
major diseases the population suffered and how these were treated.
It also includes the available evidence logged by Iranian patients
abroad and at home, as well as contemporary Persian texts that
comment on public health and its practice in Iran. Floor shuns the
analysis of classic Islamic medical textbooks, explaining that
their medical advice was hardly ever administered and that the
authors often had ideological (religious) agendas in writing these
treatises. Instead, Floor investigates the commonly accepted
theories of diseases, disorders, and their cures, including Islamic
Galenic medicine and pre-Islamic theurgic folk medicine based on
traditional herb lore and trial-and-error. The book concludes with
the impact of Western medicine on the traditional medical
institutions and public health in Qajar Iran. This exhaustive
inquiry will enthrall scholars of Iran and medicine alike.
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