JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES (UNIVERSITY OF ISFAHAN)
Year:2006 | Volume:- | Issue:44-45|Papers Count:16

At the time of Safavid, states were run in two ways. Some states were run by a 'Qizelbash' ruler who was then called the governor and the states ruled in this way were known as 'Mamalek'. In the second approach, which was introduced by 'Shah Abbas', states were run by king's counselors called ministers. Such states were called 'Khassa'. This second way was excessively was used by Shah Abbas' (the First) adherents so that most of the states became 'Khassa'. This brought about many negative outcomes the most important of which were increased tax pressures, weakened treasury, stopping construction operations in the states, increasing prices, shortage of food supplies in the capital, recession, and demoralization of forces which together led to the military and economic declination of the country and set the stage for collapse of the Safavid.

The Sasanid Empire fell quickly, and in its entirety, to the Arab Muslim armies. It seems the artists of the Islamic period followed the local traditions and gradually adopted and developed a new method of decoration. The influence of Sasanid art on the formation of the Persian Islamic style is very important. The decoration on surviving Persian monuments of the period is seen as closely related to that on the truly Islamic monuments themselves.This article is composed of three main sections. The first section will be a brief survey on the culture and art of the Sasanid period. The influence of Sasanid art on the formation of the Iranian Islamic art will be discussed in the second section. And finally, the development of form and meaning of some decorative motifs through its use would be dealt with in the third

This article contains two parts in which we deal with the historical geography of 'Kashan'. The first part is concerned with the identification of some villages mentioned by 'Ravandi' while explaining the King Saljuq's attack on 'Kashan' in his poems which remained unidentified by the editor of the collection of poems. The second part is concerned with one of those villages called 'Haraskan'. Although, on historical documents, it was populated in the middle of the 'Ilkhani' period, it was ruined in the 9th century; the main cause of ruin being unknown. In this article, we will assess other claims about this village while determining its place, and removing some confusions about it on the basis of historical documents.

With Mohammad Ali Shah's Coup d'etat against the first national parliament of Iran, the liberals and revolutionarists of the country were suppressed by despotic forces and in many cities despotic ruler came to power. In Isfahan 'Ala-al-Molk' was put aside and 'Eghbal-al-Dawlah Kashi' came to power. He did not have good reputation and was opposed to the liberal clergies and constitutionalists. The Isfahan Holly Association was dissolved and 'Haj Agha Nour-Allah', the head of the association, was exiled. Although the central government was' trying to suppress the opposition in Isfahan, gradually the national and public forces expressed their opposition to the arbitrary reign of 'Mohammad Ali Shah'. The Isfahan Secret Association (ISA) tried to organize internal forces of Isfahan and challenge with 'Eghbal-al-Dawlah' and the central government. To achieve this goal, the ISA tried to cooperate with 'Bakhtiari' forces. These forces attacked Isfahan and helped the people of Isfahan to fight against tyranny. Consequently, 'Eghbal-al-Dawlah' was defeated and sought refuge in the Britain Consulate in Isfahan.

In the second and third century (Hejira), the epoch in which the Abbassid Caliphate government ruled over Iran, and under the shadow of negligence of the first Caliphs of Abbasside, the Zoroastrians decided to collect and safeguard the past Iranian achievements.The lovers of Iranian culture made a great and true effort to gather the historical, religious and national Iranian works under the patronage of Zoroastian religion and the Magi ritual in a book called 'Dinkard' or the religious encyclopedia.The effort was made and others continued it until 4th century (Hejira) the great encyclopedia was compiled in 9 volumes. The present paper attempts to have a cursory glance at that grand effort and the reasons behind it.

Early bronze age was one of the important periods of human being's culture in the north west of Iran plateau. At the end of 4th millennium B.C, new corners fundamentally changed the societies with wide invasion to the cultural and economic structures. In this paper, the author has introduced the early bronze age, placed it in the chronological and continuity table of the region and surveyed the collected archaeological evidence on archeological surveys and research by visiting the northwestern sites in West and East Azarbaijan province and Ardabil. Attempts have been made to show a picture of this important period which connects the prehistory era to the -(beginning of historical period in the region. One of the important points .about the mentioned period is the proof of invasion and the subsequent changes in the ordinary cultural structure of the period, shifting the settlement patterns and adjusting with new environments. The climatic condition of the region and people's reactions are also presented.

'Karaj Abdolof was one of the important cities of central Iran. According to the geographical records, this city was situated almost in the middle of Hamadan and Isfahan road. About the history of this city there is not enough information. Probably before Islam, it was a habitable city but after the Arabian attack it was faced with standstill. In the 2ndcentury (Hejira), it was reconstructed and become habitable. It seems that 'Karaj' kept its development until the 7th century. But from 8thcentury, there was no sign and name of 'Karaj' either in the historical or in geographical papers. Today, its exact location is not known. The only paper written about this city is an epistle written by 'Mohammad Hasan Khan Etemad-al-Dole' by the order of 'Nasser-Edin Shah' in 1305(Hejira). In this epistle, 'Etemad-al-Saltaneh' by referring to some historical and geographical sources and also based on research by some western researchers suggests that the location is in the newly made town of 'Astaneh' -32 km south of Arak. The epistle which has not been reported or published yet has an undeniable value with regard to the history and geography of this unknown area.

This article is an endeavor to analyse attitudes and inclinations of 'Iranshahr' Journal about Iran as a basis for civilization. It goes without saying that such an approach requires criticism and evaluation of the existing situation and attempts to picture the ideal situation. From the viewpoint of this journal, as a cultural, historical, linguistic and territorial entity, Iran has enjoyed an outstanding dynamic and progressive civilization. However, after passing through ancient times and leaving the post-Islamic era behind, it was involved in great obstacles and hindrances which have postponed its development and progress. Hence, nowadays Iran as a country experiences a dilemma in which it is not possible to continue as it is nor is it possible to take the deceitful civilization of the West - because of its inherent deficiencies- as the example. The solution lies in revitalizing on the basis of the glorious past and incorporating humanitarian and moral values of the past with scientific and technical advances of the West so that Iran could change into a unique example of humanity. This article tries to offer critical considerations of  Iransliahr journal about Iranism and elements which mould the Iranian identity so that the readers of the article could judge about the proposed solutions of the journal for saving and glorifying Iran.

The change of society from the existing situation to a desired one has always been a concern for those people who feel responsibility toward human beings. Intellectuals have explained the change of society based on a special factor. The present article not only reviews the views of the holy Prophet of Islam regarding transforming an ignorant society to a Unitarian one, but also explains how the prophet established a new civilization as a pioneer of human civilization. Besides, this article considers the condition of presence of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula and explains various dimensions of the ignorant society and concludes that the basic problems of that society were cultural issues. Then, the writer mentions the Prophet's efforts which led to a change of culture. Meanwhile, throughout the article, the theoretical principles of esoteric transformation leading to a change in society have been discussed.

Upon studying a number of wall painting which have been designed and carried out to complete the architectural areas and their related ornaments of monuments in the city of Isfahan from Safavide period on, we will find out some determining factors in forming circumstance of these works, the most important of which are the special styles of European paintings. The European styles of wan paintings, were welcomed and protected by governors, authorities and aristocrats, therefore during those periods, most walls of the palaces, churches, aristocrats' houses, etc., were painted with pictures of feast parties, hunting, views and landscapes as well as portraits imitated by Iranian painters. When we analyse the political, economic and cultural status of that time, we encounter some impressive factors in propagating the foreign style of painting, specially the European painting which generally could be summarized as: a) the presence of Indian and European painters in the court; b) dispatching of Iranian painters to Europe so that they may learn the European painting techniques; and c) migration of Armanians of Jolfa and Armenia to Iranian cities specially the city of Isfahan as the capital, and construction of numerous churches with ornaments appertaining to the Western paintings.