Journal of Historical Researches
Year:2018 | Volume:54 (NEW VOL 10) | Issue:3 (39) |Papers Count:8

Renaissance historiography, like other aspects of this cultural and literary movement, sought to revive ancient Greek and Roman culture and civilization. Since the Greco-Persian wars, Greeks used the term barbarian for all non-Greek-speaking individuals, including Persians, and this led to the invention of the concept of "others" in their historical identification. This is while wisdom and the way of Persian governance were praised in Greek philosophical thoughts. Historical thoughts and Renaissance historiography were influenced by Greek and Roman thoughts in various ways; meanwhile, it followed the philosophical school of Socrates and his disciples in relation to the subject and status of Persia in ancient history and contemporary period. The translation of the Cyropaedia from Xenophon, Instead of Herodudt's works was influential in this regard. In addition, on the one hand, the trend of Renaissance historiography to political and national history, and on the other hand, political developments in Western Asia, including the rule of Timur and Ozon Hassan Agh Qoyunlu on Persia, had a significant impact on the evolution of the Renaissance historiography approach toward Persians. In relation to the position of Persian history and civilization, the aim of this descriptive-analytical study is to examine the nature and the way of presenting "continuity" and "developments" in the historical thoughts of the Renaissance from the preceding period.

Baladieh is a reflection of local people’s hopes and demands. The formation of Baladieh in Iran dates back to the pre-Constitution era and the reign of Naser al-Din Shah. Nevertheless, formal establishment of the Baladieh of Shiraz is recorded in 1286 AH/ 1907 AD. The Baladieh of Shiraz was no more than an empty title during the Qajar era which had not achieved anything beyond partial cleaning and lighting of the city. Shiraz was a traditional city with narrow alleyways which were pitch-dark at night. During the Pahlavi I period, Baladieh underwent certain improvements and a few steps were taken forward. This paper, based on an analytical approach and relying on first-class sources such as the press and unpublished documents of the National Organization of the Fars Foundation, studies the effects of changes in the Baladieh of Shiraz. The central question of the study is: what were the most important obstacles and problems of urban services in Shiraz? Three categorizes of problems were identified in this study. The main hypothesis throughout the research can be summarized as: financial and local factors were hindering the development of urban services in Shiraz. The findings of this research indicate that, despite the gradual improvement in Baladiah's performance, the lack of financial resources was the most important problem of Baladieh of Shiraz during the first Pahlavi era.

Economic relationship of Safavids with the Ottoman Empire played a conciderable role in the policies of these two states after the Zohab Treaty till the Safavid fall. The basic antiquity of this relations was much more important than to look it to be seen or wiped out as ideological notes and sectional enmity. Nevertheless, at the time of the Safavid sovereignty and in regard to the hostilities between Iran and the Ottoman Empire, trade relation, as a kind of subject and dependency, became political and faced to serious challenge. Each of these governments tried to use their trade privileges as a force-lever. On the other side, with the decline of these two governments’ power and the entering of the Europeans in Persian Gulf and Middle East along with Iran and Ottoman Empire in political settling of the region, both became seriously weak in controlling the trades in the Gulf regions. Therefore, the main purpose of this essay was to investigate different aspects of the trade between these two governments and their effects on trades relationships between Iran and the Ottoman Empire on the one side, and the political confusions and trade disarrangements of region during the reign of Shah Safi till the fall of the Safavid dynasty on the other side. The research method of this article was on the basis of reviewing the historical texts, documents, and library sources.

Population size of Iran in Safavid period during the 15th century didn’t exceed 6 million due to continuous wars against Ottomans and Uzbeks, unrest in the interior, and on the other hand, the spread of contagious diseases, especially at the end of century. During the 16th century, after proceeding of Shah Abbas I, the country witnessed a period of inside and outside security, and since the beginning of century, the size of population increased, which is most closely related to the seventies of this century. At this time, the population of Iran was more than 10 million people and the population of Isfahan was 600, 000. At this time, the population growth rate was more than productivity, and due to the stagnation of production technology, production was not responsive to this demographic rate. In the final years of the reign of Shah Abbas II, this population growth and droughts caused crises. But, continuous drought and famines in 1670s and pestilence in 1680s decreased the population and population size descended, and in 1710s it became 9 million and then declined. From the time of Shah Abbas I to the end of the 10th century AH/ 1660 AD, agricultural development was consistent with population growth, and although technology and manufacturing tools did not change much, increased in water supply and cultivation continued to increase production. This paper seeks to investigate the demographic changes of the Safavid period in terms of agricultural situation and population barriers, using a descriptive method and based on library information.

In the context of historical cities, the house is the most integral part. Houses are not usually the main building blocks, but they are considered to be the most important sources for city architecture and history. Historical documents and evidence of residential heritage are one of the potential factors of historical knowledge on the architecture of historic houses, and less attention has been paid to this in the previously-done studies. If the status and application of these documents are accurately explained in Iranian architecture studies, the quality of research on the Iranian heritage will change. Therefore, in architectural studies, documents and writings are among the most important sources of attention. The study of the history of the residential architecture of Isfahan based on historical documents and evidence, in addition to providing a more accurate analysis of the values of this building, makes it possible to further deepen the studies of other researchers by providing robust documents and works. By analyzing historical documents and evidence, it is possible to examine the evolution, continuity and lifestyle of architectural buildings in comparison with the present situation, and it is possible to recreate events and lifestyles in the shadow of the use of reliable historical documents and resources. In this regard, the present research seeks to answer the question of how the documents are used to identify the houses in Isfahan in order to study the changes, lifestyle and values of residential architecture in Isfahan. The main objective of answering the key question is to analyze the identification of the architectural talent of historical documents and evidence of the use of historical documents in Isfahan's residential heritage studies. This study was conducted using a descriptive-analytic method, content analysis and a sample of developmental research, using library documents, field studies and interviews. The findings were analyzed by qualitative method and by comparison and interpretation. The results of the research show that with a new approach to identifying historical buildings of Isfahan, based on historical documents, we can present thirteen types of historical documents and witnesses, studying examples of houses, explaining values and performing architectural studies based on them. The most important evidence in this area is memoirs, inscriptions, pictures of personalities and historical events in the body, reports of restorers, family correspondence, travel letters and historical texts, archives of pictures and drawings, paintings, historical gravures, moving pictures, interviews, transaction documents and waqfs (endowments). By reviewing these documents and historical evidence, it is possible to document the way of life, the information of the property genealogy, the study of the form's form, the elements' authenticity, changes and restorations, events and historical incidents, as well as the functions of the house.

In this paper, using the theoretical method of Paul Michel Foucault, paleontology and genealogy, we study the history of Persian satire. We also show how humor is arranged in the face of various discourses, and applied the dominant and marginal discourses. The paleontology of the discourses governing the historical community is analyzed and, in Foucault's view, it is the genealogy of real history, and in this way it examines the hidden parts of history. According to genealogy, power uses discourses to make the universe meaningful. In the continuation of Foucault's long-standing work, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, with their discursive approach, give color to the meaningfulness of the world. The literary forms of each period are the birth of episteme and the discourses governing that historical period, and in fact, the production knowledge of each discourse is to overcome other discourses. For the analysis of power and power relations, the history of Iran is divided into three episteme of the sacred period, episteme of the semi-eternal period, and human episteme (material), and then the dominant discourses in each episteme are identified and analyzed through the method of Laclau and Mouffe's discourse analysis, which is a more advanced and more effective form of Foucault’s discourse. In the end, we show that satire, in its current sense, includes a reductive view of invective and facetiousness did not prevail in the past Persian literature. In the past, it was only invective, facetiousness, and irony and the ultimate goal was to ridicule and destroy, not to correct. Correction means improving the status of each discourse and preventing its collapse, and is one of the components which, with the definition of satire, gradually entered Persian literature. We see a prominent example of this type of comic in the satire after the Islamic Revolution, especially in Golagha's satire.

As a sociopolitical phenomenon, political marriages have historically been a good strategy to get benefits and political legitimacy, economic earnings, land expansion, and social promotions in Iran. Despite the important role of these marriages for governmental fluctuations, and political and military regiments, few independent studies have been conducted on this issue, especially in the Timurid and the Turkmans (AghGhuyunlou and GharaGhuyunlou). The main question of the current research is to identify the motives and goals of political marriages from the Timurid era to the advent of the Safavids and how these marriages have affected the formation and orientation of Iran's political future. Considering the simultaneous presence of the Timurid and Turkmans (AghGhuyunlou and GharaGhuyunlou) in Iran and the confrontations, oppositions, and shared political and territorial interests simultaneously, a political marriage was one of the best ways to reduce tension and territorial development and the consolidation of the political situation in any geographical range. The present study aimed to apply a descriptive analysis to identify the political nature of such marriages as a tool in political relationships against rivals and interior/exterior enemies, considering geographical boundaries and religious contrasts among governments and movements of the mentioned era.