Zahak is one of the most important and ambiguous characters in Iranian mythology. The researchers have studied about his origin and symbolic aspects of his character, but have not spoken much about his relationship with the land of sacred snakes, i.e., Mesopotamia. The present article searches the origin of the myth of Zahak not in Indo-European regions, but in Mesopotamia, and shows that the myth, in the passage of time, has mixed with Indo-European myths, and is covered with a terrifying halo of mystery.

Though Zahak is called the male dragon, he can be considered as female based on some signs which are presented in the following: 1. The greed demon is female in Manicheanism; therefore, Zahak could be female as well; in Shahnameh, as his reward for Zahak’ s services, Satan kissed his shoulder which is usually kissed by an intimate relative of the opposite sex; this is a sign of Zahak’ s unusual sex; 2. Zahak of Shahnameh and the female Mordianag in Manicheanism are both agents of Evil aiming at eliminating man from the world; their common goal could be a sing of their same sex; 3. After years of living thgether, Shahrnaz and Arnavaz have no child by Zahak which could be a sign of his impotency; 4. Some researchers believe that the word Arnavaz which is referred to as a female noun in Avestan Yashts, is the adjective for Azhdahakeh separated from it and brought in texts as a woman called Arnavaz; 5. Another researcher compares Zahac with his counterpart in Buddhism, Nagi, who has two snakes on his shoulders and is a female; 6. Azhidahak of Avesta rose from water, and Azhdahak of Bondahesh in Sepidroud of Azerbaijan seeks his wishes from demons and Evil; he brings about chaos in the cosmic order and destroys social classes; features that can be seen in the case of Tiamat, the Mesopotamian goddess; 7. Some Islamic texts have written that Zahak behaves as a woman.

Zakhak city with a total area of 945 square kilometers is located north of Sistan and Balouchestan province and is located in the geographical position 8944. 30 degrees north and 7067. 61 degrees east. The city's population, according to the 2006 census, is 71, 462, it generates 25 tons of waste per day. These wastes accumulate behind the hospital in Zahak, where environmental pollution for residents of nearby villages is one of the most important problems due to the misplaced location of the site. The study area is located in the Sistan block in terms of Structural-sedimentary divisions in Iran. NQ stratigraphic unit is the largest stratigraphic zone in Sistan Plain, consisting of alluvial fine-grained sediments in a river whose sedimentation time from the end of the Miocene to the early days of the Holocene continued. These sediments are often the result of erosion lake plain and drainage, shapes today to have gained in the context of all the villages, settlements and activity centers formed and large parts of the East area The study encompasses the study. In this research, it has been attempted to investigate the geomorphology of the area with the overlap of gradient layers, elevation digital, geology, roads, distance from the city, distance from the well, distance from the river and priority drainage system with the help of GIS. Then the banned areas were identified, so that the eastern parts of the city of Zahak are more preferable.

In this study, the geo-tourism capability of Hashtroud Zahak area has been studied. This area has a wide range of elements and geomorphic processes for attracting tourists interested in earth sciences. It is one of the most important historical centers of Azerbaijan from cultural and historical point of view. In this research, Hadžić model has been used. In this study, the value and importance of each geo tourism location is estimated by three indexes, including Scientific value, secondary values and Vulnerability of that geotourism location. For this purpose, a survey was performed from 25 tourists and 6 professionals. Results indicated that geological features associated with cultural heritage have the highest score among professionals and tourists in terms of scientific value. This indicate a wide range of geological and geomorphological forms in the study area. Natural elements and cultural heritage have the highest score among professionals and tourists in terms of secondary values. Vulnerability from expert's view is 3, that indicates relatively high vulnerability of the area. Finally investigation of three indexes in the final assessment of the value of geo tourism indicated that , this area has a good geo tourism value.

The narrative Semiotics is based upon the two facts of action and change. Actors often go on by predetermined programs in this field until they reach appropriate meanings. It seems that the dominant discourse is a logical and narrative phenomenon underlying the structure of mythic stories. In this inquiry, we will study the story of the Zahak and Fereydoun from the Shahname composed by Ferdosi from a semiotic perspective and a descriptive-analytic approach to showing that all narrative components of the story go to alter the semantic features. The results showed that the discourse is dynamic, and at the end, the elementary situation changes to a secondary situation. Zahak wishes to attain the throne while Fereydoun wishes to destroy this government: The stages of language transition are described in the four stages of contract, potential, passive, and analytic. The passive-semantic structure of this discourse is dividable into personal, passive and intermediate places according to their locality.

Problem Definition: Tahmasebi Shahnameh is an exquisite manuscript of Ferdowsi Shahnameh which belongs to the tenth century AD. This edition contains 258 paintings of the legends, myths, epic poems and stories of Shahnameh in 1200 pages, illustrated by the most prominent painters and calligraphers of the Safavid era. The paintings of Tahmasebi Shahnameh are of great artistic value and many decorative motifs have been employed in them. The geometric decorative motifs are considered as the most prominent and common ones in these paintings. The painting of Zahak dream is one of the drawings of this Shahnameh in which many decorative geometric motifs can be observed in various and beautiful compositions. The important place of geometric decorative motifs in Islamic art decorations, especially painting, has been the main concentration of the present research. It has been attempted to answer the question that what is the maximum number of repetitions of geometric motifs in this drawing? Objective: The present study aims to quantitatively and qualitatively identify the decorative and geometric patterns of Zahak dream painting as an important Iranian visual documents. Research Method: The required information has been collected from library sources and historical documents and have been presented with a qualitative approach and in a descriptive-analytical manner. Results: The present results indicated that a number of 26 geometric compositions are present in Zahak dream painting of Tahmasebi Shahnameh. These compositions are composed of 19 types of geometric patterns, among which, the geometric patterns, regular hexagons and six feathers Shamsa met the highest amount of repetition in the studied drawing, respectively.

Literary criticism is the analysis of the text's semantic layers based on theories that are mostly drawn from other fields of the humanities. The new historicism, which was established by Stephen Greenblatt in the late 1970s and early 1980s, is one of the most current theories in this area. Modern historicism holds that literature and history both have an impact on one another, in contrast to conventional historicism, which speaks of the one-sided influence of history on literature. Modern historians contend that literature does more than just reflect history; rather, the link between history and literature is dialectical rather than reflective. Based on current historicism, library, and document studies, and using a descriptive-analytical approach, this study has looked into and analyzed the story of Fereydoun and Zahak, and has offered a new interpretation of it. According to the study's findings, the conflict between the Iranian discourse and the non-Iranian discourse (Fereydoun and Kaveh) in this story is driven by power, which ultimately leads to the dominance of the Iranian discourse. The characters of this story are each representative of discourse in the story community. Iranian discourse is on the margins and out of power at first, while non-Iranian discourse is dominant and in power. However, by the end of the story, the situation has changed. The plot is driven by the conflict between Iranian and non-Iranian discourse on power. Introduction The story in question was composed as a poem in one of the most sensitive historical situations, that is, the time when the Arab element thought itself superior to Iran and Iranians. The ideological pressures from the Arabic discourse have become more sophisticated throughout this time, and they now want to marginalize the Iranian discourse, which takes the shape of the Shu'ubiyya movement. The space for Shu'ubiyya's Iranian discourse has been constrained by these restrictions from the Baghdad-based authority and its close allies in Iran, notably the Ghaznavid empire. In such a circumstance, Ferdowsi uses the story of Fereydoun and Zahak, which is rich in elements of battle and resistance, to rekindle Iranians' spirit of battle and resistance against the notion of Arab superiority. This story reflects the struggle between Iranian discourse (Feryedoun and Kaveh) and non-Iranian discourse (Zahhak); the struggle that existed during Ferdowsi's period and the Shu’ubiyya movement has been in conflict with what was against Iran and Iranians. Freyedoun, an Iranian aristocrat, is related to Jamshid. Zahak pulled Jamshid down from the kingdom and killed him. Since then, Fereydoun and all other Jamshidis have lost their position in the society and privileges. Fereydon's fight against Zahak is motivated by three different reasons, considering the fact that Zahak also murdered his father Abtin and the Bermaye cow that Fereydon fed on as a child. The reasons were 1) national motivation (saving Iran from the oppressive non-Iranian element), 2) class motivation (restoring the social position and privileges of the Jamshidian class), and 3) personal motivation (taking revenge on Zahhak for murdering Abtin and Barmayeh cow). As a patriotic Iranian, Fereydoun finds Zahak's existence intolerable and feels it is his national responsibility to rebel against the foreign, alien, and oppressive forces that have imposed themselves on Iran. Materials and Methods In this study, an effort is made to analyze the Fereydoun and Zahhak battle story in Shahnameh using modern historicism and to provide a novel interpretation of it. The research is based on new theories and schools, text analysis, and criticism. By using library and documentary studies, as well as descriptive and analytical approaches, we have attempted to offer a novel interpretation of the text under discussion and respond to the following research questions: 1) What are the dominant (in power) and marginal (outside of power) discourses, and what is their connection to power? 2) Why did Ferdowsi favor a particular discourse? 3) What was the reason for it and how did this favoritism occur? 4) What is the relationship and similarity between the story of Fereydoun and Zahak with the history of Ferdowsi's time? 5) What genre and group are the target audience of the story? And 6) what is the intertextual relationship of this story with other Persian literary texts? Research Findings The study's findings demonstrate that the struggle between the Iranian discourse (represented by Fereydoun and Kaveh) and the non-Iranian discourse in this story is motivated by a desire for power which ultimately leads to the dominance of the Iranian discourse. The characters of this story are each representative of discourse in the story community. Other discourses are on the margins and outside of power, but Zahak's discourse is dominant and in power. The effort and struggle between these marginal discourses to gain power and the center gave rise to the story, and these conflicts between the marginal discourses and the dominant discourse (Zahak) serve as its driving force. The element of conflict in the story is represented through disobedience, rebellion, and war. As a poet, Ferdowsi has clearly taken the side of the marginal discourses centered on Fereydoun. Ferdowsi is inclined toward the usage of positive adjectives and phrases. He sets his supported discourses apart from other discourses in this way. Discussion of Results and Conclusions Instead of focusing on the characters' specific historical actions, this story attempts to explore the universal nature of man by narrating the behavior of the characters in a way that makes the reader think about the historical patterns of the members of their society or even the general nature of mankind. As a result, any autocratic, murderous, and cruel dictator may be likened to Zahhak, and every person fighting for liberation from tyranny can be compared to Kaveh. In addition, there are similarities between the characters in the story and historical figures from Ferdowsi's era that are worthy of consideration and come about as a result of how we interpret the story. For instance, Zahhak and the Abbasid caliphs are comparable in terms of race, autocracy, and animosity toward the Iranian race. In other words, the murder, repression, and brutality of the Abbasid caliphs have been demonstrated in the form of the myth of Zahhak. Additionally, there are similarities between Abu Mansour Abd al-Razzaq and Abtin in the Zahhak stories; both of them were murdered by Iranians and are of Iranian ancestry and royal descent. That is, Abtin was murdered by Zahhak Tazi and Abu Mansour by Abul Hasan Simjur of Arabic descent. Additionally, both of their children seek revenge; Fereydon rises against Zhahak, and Mansour, the son of Abu Mansour Abd al-Razzaq, rises against Simjurians and Samanians, and is murdered in this manner.

Introduction: Supply of social welfare including the most important goals of any economic system and providing suitable conditions for life of all segments of society is considered the main task of economic actors and authorities. Thus, the change in social welfare including the areas of assessment is the economic systems. Changes in welfare and living conditions in human settlements, especially in deprived and marginalized areas that in terms of the level of welfare and development indicators faced with a variety of challenges and problems, makes it essential more than any other issue study and measure social welfare.

Karyological characteristics of snow trout, Schizothorax zarudnyi, in Zahak (Sistan- Balochestan province) were determined using tissue-squashing method and gimsa staining.The examination of 85 metaphase obtained from 15 fingerling specimens (weighing 10gr each) indicated that the chromosome number of this species was 2n=96, and the chromosome arm number were NF=142. The prepared karyotype of this species was found to consist of to 9 pairs of metacentric (m), 14 pairs of submetacentric (sm), and 25 pairs of acrotelocentric (at) chromosome. The karyotype formula can be summed as 2n = 9m + 14sm + 25at. Karyological parameters showed that centromeric index, arm ratio, relative length and 1ength variation range of chromosomes of this fish were between 25.00 - 49.24, 1.03 - 3.55, 0.88 - 3.75 and 14.57 - 67.70, respectively, and total length is 1639.16 µ. The largest chromosome in this species was a pair of the submetacentric chromosome.In this study, the best quality of chromosomal spread was obtained from 50 µg/gr Colchicines, height of dropping 120 cm and %1 tri-citrate sodium as hypotonic solution in 40C.

Mythical themes are common and recurring in different societies. These themes are called archetypes and are found in mythological narratives around the world. Archetypes in myths have two faces, sometimes positive and sometimes negative. In the myth of Zahak, quoted in Shahnameh, the negative role of archetypes can be well observed and examined. The present research is a descriptive-analytical research based on library data. The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyze the negative role of the archetypes of the myth of Zahak quoted in Shahnameh. Findings indicate that in the myth of Zahak quoted in Shahnameh, the negative role of archetypes such as,Anti-hero, the negative role of the mother, sin due to being deceived by demonic forces and the role of the shadow, human sacrifice and cannibalism, magic, enmity with the father, the abduction of women by the anti-hero and demonic creatures, etc. can be seen which can be used to analyze the myth of Zahak.