Iranian carpets enjoy various decorative elements, one of which is inscription; there are many inscription accompanied with Kufi, Thuluth and Nastaliq calligraphy in these carpets. Such inscriptions can be classified into several different types. Some contain writings such as Quran verses, poems and specifications of the carpet, while the other are decorative only, free from any writing and resemble to be inscriptions only by their own form and shape.Converting writing into a decorative element is a creative activity excellently achieved by Iranian artists, just like their creativity in converting dry-looking geometry into a fine art using fretwork. Inscription as a visual element can be read in different ways by different analysts in accordance to the text in which it has been located. These carpets can be read and analyzed both in terms of “syntagmatic axis” with other elements and also from viewpoint of “paradigmatic axis”. Therefore, inscription is not a piece of writing rather a text within a larger text, i.e. carpet, as well as within an overall integration such as mosque and home where it has been placed, and can have different readings. It should be noted that this paper is prepared using library-based research method.

Middle Persian Private Inscriptions in the Sasanian and Post-Sasanian Period: Funerary and Memorial Inscriptions, Cyrus Nasrollahzadeh, Tehran, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, 2019, 2 vol. (vol. 1: Text. vol. 2: Picture), 340 + 272 pp, ISBN: 978-964-426-998-1; Vol 1: 978-964-426-996-7; Vol 2: 978-964-426-997-4.

Writing Poetry on the building of mosques, schools, tombs of the Islamic period has been used. The Qajar period is extended in this way. This style not only in buildings capital of Iran but also, center states and cities local authorities were concerned. Of poetry as part of the decoration and the building of the Darolehsan Masjid-Madrasah from the Qajar period in Sanandaj is used. Poetry in stone and tiles in the mosque inscriptions engraved in addition to aesthetics, construction time, especially on matters of substance. This style of poetry by two poets in the history of the period seems like ages buy Mirzafathollah Kurdistani pen named "Khoram" and MirzaSadeq Isfahani pen named "Nateq" were written. The first question, inscription this research to the manufacturer's in putting what is poetry? Second, you can be part of the social and cultural situation in this part of the country and the effects of bureaucratic structure - bureaucratic central government achieved? The answer to the first question is that in addition to the monitoring of its authority to establish a connection with the audience and patrons at this location. Moreover, these are poems that start and end in praise ode mosque client and its sponsors mentioned. The second hypothesis is that in this way the structure of bureaucracy, administrative, social and cultural capital of the lyrics and the mosque is well understood. Poet’s poetry shows competition in Sanandaj governance the one hand and the other hand to run large programs and architectural development in Kurdistan. The building was constructed prior to the training center in Sanandaj and Sunni religious training was conducted in Ottoman cities. The construction of the mosque -school became an important center of science and religion.

Ever since prehistoric areas, even during the hunters-gathers communities and developments to maintain order and security in his society. Such communities had to obey some individual to preserve balance and interactions both at inter social level of their own communities as well as the international level with other societies over the world. Such rulers (to be obeyed) were usually selected based on some rules and methods. Moreover, the privilege to reign was transmitted to their sons or handed over to some other people. Along with formation of governments and considerable increase of the rulers’ powers, which played the same role as the former rulers of small communities, as well as extension of their geographical area with more population of different cultures under their reign, the situation became more complicated. Gradually, there was more ambition even among the people close to kings to gain the reign and rule on societies. It was of extra ordinary significance for the kings to keep on their rules and realms, because any disability in controlling the population or foreign threats even in regional events would cause some doubts in the king’s qualification and might result in his assassination or deposition. Thus, the leaders of societies, in the course of time, even before the formation of governments, would take some measures to make peoples not only obey their rules and orders, but to defend their reign and substitutes against the internal and external enemies too. The leaders of different eras and various regional societies were of different nature, such as a priest, a martial expert, a charismatic person or an intelligent professional one. Keywords: Achaemenian, Sasanian, Legitimacy, History Course, Inscriptions Usage.   Introduction These leaders occasionally restored to their fathers and ancestors, as they played a great role in the nation’s destination, to use their popularity and sociability in the way of their own followers and supporters extension. Such a set of variance in the governments’ natures and the development of social structures in the course of time caused a set of necessities to be absolute parts of a leader’s qualification. Such necessities for people to become rulers or governors are called legitimacy in politics. Although the term legitimacy is somehow modern, the ancient governments were unconsciously aware of such a method and continuously tried to gain the most possible legitimacy for themselves and make nations aware of their enemies as being exetainers. In fact, legitimacy was the spinal cord of a government and if it was lost for any reason, the ruler would be de positioned in a short time, much the worse he would be killed. Despite the significance of this issue, no comprehensive investigation was performed about the necessary qualities of reign in ancient Iran. Therefore, the authors have tried to investigate such qualities in this study. The authors believe that these inscriptions are of giving legitimacy to the king. They also study their utility in Iran’s ancient society. In this course, the inscriptional contents of these kingdoms as well as the association between the inscriptions and historical events in ancient Iran was investigated. Two of most important dynasties of Iran were Achaeminid and Sasanid. Persians had tribal social structure but Sasanian had a civilized structure and settled in big cities and was priest of temple. These dynasties have very different social background and different political situations when raised.  A number of royal inscriptions of Achaemenid and Sasanian eras have been left in different parts under their kingdom. These inscriptions have helped the researchers to learn about the language, history, culture and archaeology in learning about different aspects of sociopolitical situation of the time. The questions to be answered in this study are: the reason to make such inscriptions in a great cost of time and money, the necessity felt by Achaemenian and Sasanian kings to make them, have they been made to celebrate a victory? Either a way to show the power, or a tool for advertisement? Or making these inscriptions carry an important secret in them that has caused them to be made? This study has aimed to find out if these inscriptions were a means to gain and declare the king’s legitimacy and when their make have become obligatory? The authors have tried to study the inscriptions as well as their contents and also their historical time to be made to find the answer to the question. The authors have also studied the inscriptions of Achaeenian and Sasanian periods based on variabilities such as the frequency of the inscriptions of the kings as well as internal factors (such as uprisings against the king or the kings’ uprising against his former counterpart) or the occurrence of foreign conflicts with the level of their victories in addition to the contents mentioned in them, to make a possible guess of the aim behind making these historical inscriptions. To achieve this goal, the authors gathered both the kingdoms’ inscriptions. They managed to compare the contents translated of the inscriptions by different translators and picked up the best reliable text out of them. We extracted the significant contents of each inscription. These contents included the inscription construction and the terms as well as the sentences expressed by the king. However, the inscriptions demonstrating merely the name of the king mostly engraved on the margin of mobile tools were put aside by us. In several steps, those inscriptions which only demonstrated the name of the king with no helpful information or content in giving new clues to the authors, they were ignored due to their unimportance in being put aside from the research procedure. These briefly written inscriptions were of no significance in the process of the investigation analysis and statistics. After studying the inscriptions, the internal and external situation of the empires during their rule with emphasis on the kings with the most duration of reign as well as the longest inscriptions were investigated. Furthermore, the results in the forms of separate tables and comparing the events and their consequences were provided in order to facilitate the data as well as correlation among the variability, the investigation findings in short word is that a correlation exists among the kings with inscriptions and the kings without any inscriptions with internal and external event. The inscriptions frequency and the extension of problems (troubles occurred under the kingdom) proved to be correlated.   Conclusions Thus, it can be claimed that (most probably but not absolutely) these inscriptions were made to declare their legitimacy in government and obliterate and doubt about their legal right to rule among the population and also make them to observe and obey their orders. In general, these inscriptions have been made to gain legitimacy and the king has felt the necessity to make them under three conditions, first, the direct relation between the founder and his next kings, which gives legitimacy to their rules. Second, the victorious kings of big conflicts of which we can name the first Sasanian Shapur. Third, the kings whose legitimacy had been somehow doubted, for example the Dariush the Great, Dariush II and Ardeshir II, in other words, the kings of such a condition have made the most inscriptions entitled in words, while the rest have either no inscription left or their names have much briefly been engraved on a tool.

Despite being ill-furnished with primary sources of information about the Elamite religion, some valuable information can be gleaned from the archaeological findings and also from Elamite and Mesopotamian texts. A large group of Elamite texts were composed at the time of Silhak-Insusinak (1150-1120 BCE), a middle-Elamite king and the third sovereign of the Šutrukid dynasty. Different deities and temples are mentioned in his inscriptions. Most of the temples mentioned by him had been built by his predecessor and as they were in a state of dilapidation, he restored them. What is specifically studied here is the Elamite temples based on the inscriptions of Silhak-Insusinak.

Inscriptions are one of the most important historical references that are vital to the study of ancient history. Not only with studying inscriptions helps us directly understand very important historical point, but also we can challenge existing doubts and prejudices. According to historical linguistics, there are different subjects: political, military, social, cultural and economical subjects and also the changes in the regulations. While the most important subject in the Achaemenids inscriptions which can be surveyed in the side of religious scopes, such as monotheism and religious negligence upon the beliefs of the followers. At the other side it contains moral values such as truthfulness, honesty, gratefulness and freedom. These values all show the peaceful religious policy of the Achaemenids kings and also show their lawful positions.Undoubtedly, the most amount of the Achaemenids inscriptions are related to Darius the Great (BC 521-486) and the most special epigraph among all is the Bistoon inscription which is so important in the historical researches. By studying these inscriptions we can not only understand the historical points of the era but also to a considerable degree the religious policy of the Achaemenids. In this essay, with the great inspection of the Achaemenids inscription, it has been made efforts to find out how the religious policy and the legal position of the Achaemenids king were gained at the period.

Introduction With the emergence of Islam, religious architecture gained significant importance, and the mosque became the successor to previous places of worship (Zomarshidi, 1995, p. 9). This shift has played a crucial role in the significance of congregational mosques, making them stand out even more than other mosques in terms of decorative inscriptions (Sedaghat, 2008, pp. 19-18). These inscriptions reflect the architectural transformations of mosques as well as document significant cultural, economic, social, and political events throughout various eras, providing valuable information. This article discusses and recognizes the architecture and inscriptions of the Congregational Mosque of Qaen, which is one of the important mosques from the Timurid period in South Khorasan Province. A review of previous research reveals that there has been no comprehensive study focused on the architecture, inscriptions, decorations, and formation of the Congregational Mosque of Qaen. Therefore, considering the importance of this building, conducting more thorough and complete research on it will not only clarify its characteristics but also enhance our understanding of the culture and architecture of Khorasan. The main questions of this research are:What time period is covered by the inscriptions used in the Congregational Mosque of Qaen?What subjects are encompassed in the content of these inscriptions? Architecture of the Congregational Mosque of Qaen The Congregational Mosque is a two-iwan rectangular structure. The entrance iwan is located on the eastern side. Beyond the entrance iwan is the courtyard, where, on the opposite side of the entrance, another iwan and a prayer hall (shabestan) can be seen. On both the northern and southern sides, there are small iwans with a depth of two meters flanking the entrance iwan on the east side of the building. In part of the courtyard, there is a sundial as well as a water reservoir (payabi). The main iwan of the mosque, situated on the southwest front of the building, is a masterpiece of architecture, with two prayer halls constructed on either side. The decorations used in this iwan include brickwork on the main facade, featuring both horizontal and vertical patterns with geometric designs, while the surfaces below the ceiling of the iwan are adorned with geometric and arabesque patterns, as well as muqarnas. A total of 15 inscriptions have been identified in this mosque, the oldest of which, dating back to 796 AH, is located inside the main iwan and contains an Arabic text stating that the order to construct the mosque was given by Jamshid ibn Qaran ibn Jamshid ibn Ali ibn Ashraf ibn Qazi Shams al-Din Ali al-Qayeni in the year 796. The inscription reads:“This construction has been undertaken as a charity for the sake of God by the humble servant of God, Nizam al-Haqq wa al-Din Jamshid ibn Qaran ibn Jamshid ibn Ali ibn Ashraf ibn Qazi Shams al-Din Ali al-Qayeni in the months of the year 796.”Inscriptions number 2, dating to 921 AH, concerns the collection of taxes from the people. Inscription number 3 is dated 1046 AH and pertains to a trust of water from a qanat for the mosque. Inscription number 4, also from the year 1046 AH, discusses tax exemptions for certain segments of the population. Inscription number 5 relates to repairs made to the mosque during the reign of Shah Suleiman Safavi in 1098 AH by Haji Muhammad Hossein. Inscription number 6 pertains to the construction of a wooden pulpit for the mosque, dating to 1082 AH. The subsequent inscriptions are from the Qajar period, starting from 1246 AH and continuing to the most recent one, which dates to 1993. These inscriptions, written with ink and color on plaster and mostly found beneath the iwan, include the names of the master builder, the painter, and the scribe, as well as prayers and poems commemorating the significance and grandeur of the mosque. The last inscription (number 15) is related to a tombstone that is placed on the outer wall next to the entrance iwan on the western side of the mosque. FindingsConstruction Inscriptions: The inscription labeled Number 1, which indicates the construction of the building, and inscription Number 6 (the pulpit) are classified as construction inscriptions. These two inscriptions are historically significant because they specify not only the date of construction but also the names of the founder, builder, and artist.Endowment Inscriptions: An examination of the endowment inscriptions reveals the religious thoughts of the people. Inscription Number 3 states that land should be cultivated, and its proceeds are to be endowed to the mosque. At the end of the inscription, prayers are offered for the king and the owners, along with a curse on anyone who alters the endowment.Governmental Inscriptions: Another category of common themes in the inscriptions includes government orders and decrees that were installed in buildings for public awareness. Inscriptions Number 2 and 4 fall under this category. Inscription Number 2 also features Persian words alongside verses from the Quran. Perhaps the inclusion of a Quranic verse served to bless and confer respect upon that inscription, thus preventing its destruction.Restoration Inscriptions: The oldest of these inscriptions is Number 5, which begins with a portion of verse 18 from Surah At-Tawbah. Inscription Number 7 was written during the restoration of the building by Karbala’i Ishaq Qayeni. Inscription Number 8 is also related to the restoration, placed within a floral frame with two other inscriptions on either side, containing poetry written by Gholamreza Zaker about the majesty of the mosque’s arch. Inscription Number 9 concerns the restoration of the building and contains verses praising the greatness of the mosque. Inscription Number 14 is the most recent restoration inscription in the mosque.Prayer Inscriptions: In addition to the use of Quranic verses in the inscriptions, there is a group that contains written prayers. Inscriptions Number 11, 12, and 13 are part of the prayer inscriptions, created during the Qajar period and featuring red and black ink on plaster.Narrative Inscriptions: In the Congregational Mosque of Qaen, inscriptions Number 7 to 10 belong to this category. Inscription Number 7 contains a stanza from a poem in Saadi’s Gulistan. Inscription Number 10 features a poetic line emphasizing the importance of prayer. Inscription Number 8 is a stanza describing the grandeur of the mosque's iwan, spiritually comparing it to Al-Aqsa Mosque. Inscription Number 9 describes the vastness of the mosque's iwan using the literary device of exaggeration. The tombstone inscription Number 15, located at the entrance iwan on the western side of the mosque, includes verses related to the Day of Resurrection, though much of the text has become illegible due to weathering.Conclusion The inscriptions of the Qaen Mosque can be divided into two groups based on their temporal context: the first group pertains to the Timurid and Safavid periods, consisting entirely of stone inscriptions related to the construction of the building, government orders, endowments, religious objectives, and restorations of the mosque. The second group is later and primarily associated with the Qajar period, focusing on the restoration of the building and encompassing the area beneath the southern dome chamber.The studied inscriptions, alongside governmental and restoration texts, include Quranic verses, prayers, names of God, the Prophet, Imams, as well as the names of craftsmen such as the architect, stonecutter, painter, and endower. Understanding these inscriptions is particularly important for identifying the art and local artists throughout various historical periods. The inscriptions from the Safavid period hold significant value, not only for their aesthetic aspects but also as indicators of the political, social, economic, cultural, and religious conditions of that era.

While doing research in Islamic art, especially decorative art, we face alphabetic samples that despite the similarity to the overall structure of alphabetic text cannot be read. Although these shapes have been drawn in the frame of alphabet of the text, they do not convey a meaning to be read. These figures, which are similar to the inscriptions, have been represented in the present study as quasi-writing. Faced with these examples, what has convinced the audience to accept –,or doubt –,them as writing, is dé, jà,vu and similarity between the examples and the structure of letters in the Islamic alphabet. This research has been conducted with the aim of introducing this category of quasi-literature in the Islamic Arts. As a result, quasi-documents are divided into two groups, and each group includes two smaller divisions. The first group includes the inscriptions which are fully covered with Kufic-like quasi-texts. The second group includes inscriptions that resemble handwritings. Of these two groups, the second one is more likely to accompany other decorative designs. In many decorative inscriptions,the formal and structural elements are entangled together to the extent that their distinction and reading is simply not possible. In the third group, it is possible to identify letters of the Islamic alphabet, though they are not legible. In the fourth group, the inscription is partly readable, inscribed along with the quasi-writings that cannot be read. The purpose of this paper is to introduce and classify this type of quasi-writings in the Islamic art. In this regard, the main two questions are as follows: 1-What are the reasons for depicting quasi-writings among the inscriptions? 2-How and within which structure have the quasi-writings been inscribed? To achieve this purpose, methods of visual analysis have been used in terms of the inscription samples of the Islamic period. The statistical population and samples have been chosen from the wide array of inscriptions of Islamic art. The use of writing in the Islamic arts, except to save and record the entries and text-based documents, which are associated to knowledge and information, could have been developed due to a different reason that has been more associated with decorative aspects (that could also be called the motif-centered texts). This type of texts that may fall in the framework of inscriptions is seen in much of the Islamic crafts and was mostly provided as ornamentation. This extensive field may include tombstones to clothing and carpets. Numerous examples of these products in the early Islamic periods testify to the application of texts as ornamentations. Messages on inscriptions should be considered as having an important function, but decorative function of inscriptions should be regarded as a more important one. It is not in vain to say that inscription or writing may well be expected as another category of decorations along with geometric and arabesque decorations in Islamic art. As well as the decorative inscriptions, there are writings –,or in a sense quasi-writings –,that are not legible. This ineligibility is not because of scrambled handwriting, overflow and compactness of writing elements, etc, in fact these quasi-writing signs have not been drawn to be read, since they have not been formed based on rules of Islamic scripts, but due to their general resemblance to the form of the Islamic alphabet, or a style of writing, they look like writing. This similarity is underlined by compliance with the structure of Islamic alphabet, vicinity to other decorative systems, compliance with a specific base line and of course the topic of dé, jà,vu. Fantasy or orientation on familiar topics like literature, perhaps physical structure and visual perception error may be considered among the main reasons for it. In fact, ambiguity with textual similarities leads to an illusion in the eye. This ambiguity has been a means that for certain purposes –,which will be referred to –,has helped the artists. Because ambiguity is a tool and phenomenon of comprehension institutionally and essentially, and scientists fight error, while artists welcome ambiguity. . . in this perception, a type of unrealistic comprehension replaces the real comprehension. The succeeding view of comprehension is perception of objects which occur to our minds through inference which signs have been entrusted to our memories. Comprehension is something that is focused on due to deviation and digression from the truth. It is necessary to systematically deviate from the norm. In fact, similarity of decorative writings with what which is not in fact writing (and only deemed as writing because of its similarity to Islamic alphabet) has lead to creation of types of decoration, especially in Islamic handicrafts.

Knotted Kufic, one of the first decorative manifestations of Kufic, has various knots as its principal components. In previous studies, decorative Kufic, specifically knotted one, has always been regarded as a combination of plain Kufic with decorative motifs; but it seems that knotted Kufic is a unified whole resulted from the changes in geometric relations of alphabet letters and their compositions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to find out the context of changes of knotted Kufic alongside the study of geometric relations of its alphabet letters and their compositions to recognize the thoughts in their formation based on the formal development of knotted Kufic. To this purpose, historical, descriptive and analytic methods and hermeneutic approach are used to describe and analyze the geometric development of knotted Kufic based on the mystical connotations of knot. As a result the relationship between development process of knotted Kufic and mystical viewpoints is revealed indicating that mystical geometry of space and time has affected the design of knotted Kufic inscriptions and is manifested in forms of loop knots, heart-shaped knot and endless knot. This mystical geometry is utilized in the design of knotted Kufic’s compositions as well to induce the concept of entanglement and disentanglement respectively.

About eighty inscriptions have been discovered from Achaemenian dynasty up to the present time. Since these inscriptions have been kept from corrections and editions they are considered as the very valuable documents for the study of Iranian history. In spite of many comprehensive studies on these inscriptions, less attention has been drawn upon the writing style of Old Persian inscriptions. It seems that special models were used by the scribes in writing these inscriptions. The aim of this article is to review the stylistic aspects in these inscriptions.