Glossary
Agha: A term of respect for a woman.
Ahmadabad: A village north of Tehran in which Mohammad Mosaddeq owned property, to which he was exiled after being ousted as prime minister of Iran in 1953, and where he is buried.
Aqa: A term of respect for a man.
Aqdasieh: A district of northeastern Tehran.
Ardabil: City and province in northwestern Iran.
Ashkanian Dynasty: Parthian dynasty, which ruled Iran in the third century BCE.
Ashura: The tenth day of the month of Muharram, the day that Imam Hossein was martyred in the battle of Karbala, marked by Shi‘a Muslims with mourning rituals, marches, public lamentation, and, by some, self-flagellation.
Atgoli Lake: A small lake in Ardabil Province.
Baba Karam: A lively and playful dance that mostly mimics stereotypical behavior of the lower class.
Banu: A term of respect for a woman, used after a first name; also means “lady.”
Beigom: A term of respect for a woman, used after a first name.
Birjand: City in Khorasan, now capital of South Khorasan Province.
The Bitter Orange and Bergamot Orange Girl: Popular Persian tale in which a girl comes out of a fruit that is a cross between a bitter orange and a bergamot orange and marries the prince.
Celebration of 2,500 Years of Monarchy: A series of lavish festivities put on by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in October 1971 in Persepolis, outside Shiraz, to celebrate the founding of the Persian Empire by the Achaemenid, Cyrus the Great, in 550 BCE; attended by royalty and heads of state from all over the world.
chador: A semicircular piece of cloth worn by women over their clothes to cover their hair and body, leaving the face uncovered; usually held closed under the chin.
Chehel Sotoun: A pavilion built by Shah Abbas II in the seventeenth century as part of his palace complex in Isfahan.
chelo kebab: Grilled meat served over rice; a popular Iranian dish.
The Conference of the Birds: Long, allegorical poem by Farid al-Din Attar, the twelfth-century poet of Nishapur, Iran.
Cypress of Kashmar: A mythical cypress tree celebrated in Ferdowsi’s epic poem Shahnameh; sacred to Zoroastrians.
Darband: Formerly a village in the foothills north of Tehran from which a popular hiking trail to the peak of Tochal begins; now incorporated into Tehran.
Daryakenar Town: A beach town on the Caspian Sea in Mazandaran Province.
Fada’i Guerillas: Organization of Iranian People’s Fada’i Guerillas, a Marxist-Leninist organization that preached and practiced armed struggle against the Pahlavi regime in the 1970s.
Ferdowsi Square: Major intersection and traffic circle in central Tehran, characterized by a statue of Abul-Qasem Ferdowsi, author of Iran’s national epic poem, Shahnameh.
flower-bird china: China dishes decorated with flower and bird images, based on traditional Chinese flower-bird painting.
Franklin Publishing Organization: Franklin Book Program, a US-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and supporting book publishing in developing countries. Active from 1952 to 1977, it fostered both the translation of books into local languages and the publishing of original works.
Gavmish Goli: Hot springs located in Sare‘in, Ardabil Province.
Gonabad: City in Khorasan Province (now Razavi Khorasan Province) in eastern Iran.
Haji: A title of respect, originally for someone who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca; used before a name.
Hosseinieh Ershad: A modernist Islamic, religious institution in northern Tehran that hosted numerous speakers, most notably Dr. Ali Shariati, whose lectures in the late 1960s and early 1970s attracted thousands.
Hurufism: Sufi doctrine that associates numbers with letters of the alphabet as a means to mystical knowledge; popular in western Iran in the fourteenth and fifteen centuries.
Imam Reza Shrine: A complex of buildings in Mashhad, Iran, which contains the mausoleum of Imam Reza, the eighth Shi‘a imam.
Imamzadeh Saleh Shrine: A mosque in Tajrish Square, Shemiran, Tehran, in which the tomb of Imamzadeh Saleh, son of the seventh Shi‘a imam, is located.
Isfahan: Capital of Isfahan Province in central Iran; capital of Iran in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries under the Safavids.
Isfahani block-print cotton: Cotton fabric hand printed using carved wooden blocks, a handicraft long associated with the Iranian city of Isfahan.
Jan: A term of endearment added most often to first names.
Karbala: City in Iraq, sixty miles southwest of Baghdad, site of the shrine of Imam Hossein; also refers to the site outside Karbala where a battle was fought in AD 680 between the army of the Umayyad caliph Yazid and Imam Hossein and a small group of followers, resulting in the death of Imam Hossein, a number of other descendants of the Prophet Mohammad, and other leading Shi‘a Muslims.
Kerman: Capital of Kerman Province in southeastern Iran.
Kermanshah: Capital of Kermanshah Province in western Iran.
Khan: A title of respect for a man, used after a first name.
Khanom: A title of respect for a woman, used after a first name or before a last name.
Khorasan: A province in northeastern Iran.
Kourosh Store: Large, fancy department store in Tehran, now the name of a shopping mall.
Mashhad: City in northeastern Iran and major Shi‘a pilgrimage site, where Imam Reza, the eighth Shi‘a imam, is buried.
Memorial of the Saints: A book-length collection of biographies of thirty-nine Muslim saints by Farid al-Din Attar.
Meshkin Shahr: City in Ardabil Province.
Miandoab: City in West Azerbaijan Province.
Naneh: Term for an older woman, usually used before the first name.
National Front: An umbrella organization founded by Mohammad Mosaddeq in 1949 in support of democratic principles; outlawed after the 1953 ouster of Mosaddeq but later partially reorganized under several guises.
Nishapur: City in Khorasan Province (now Razavi Khorasan Province) in eastern Iran, home of Omar Khayyam and Farid al-Din Attar.
Pachenar: A district in southern Tehran.
Pan Iranist: Adherent of a political ideology that advocates reunification of Iranian peoples and/or member of the Pan Iranist Party, a nationalist anticommunist party that sometimes supported Mosaddeq’s National Front.
Pishdadian Dynasty: Legendary pre-Iranian dynasty mentioned in Shahnameh, the epic tenth-century poem by Abul-Qasem Ferdowsi.
Plan Organization: Government agency responsible for economic and development planning and budgeting; later called the Plan and Budget Organization.
Point Four Program: US program of technical assistance and economic aid to underdeveloped countries initiated in 1949 by President Truman and active in the early 1950s; came to focus primarily on agriculture, public health, and education.
Provisions for the Hereafter: Book by Ibn al-Qayyem (1292–1350) about the Prophet Mohammad’s life and the early period of Islam.
Qajar: Dynasty ruling Iran from 1796 to 1925.
Qasemabad: Name of several villages in northern Iran.
Qolhak: A neighborhood in northern Tehran.
Revelation of the Veiled: Eleventh-century book on Sufism by Shaykh ‘Ali al-Hujwiri.
Sa‘i Park: A large park in northern Tehran.
Sabalan Mountain: The third highest mountain in Iran, located near Ardabil.
Sabzevar: City in Khorasan Province (now Razavi Khorasan Province) in eastern Iran.
Sahand Mountain: One of the highest mountains in Iranian Azerbaijan.
Sare‘in: City in Ardabil Province in northwestern Iran, known for its hot springs.
SAVAK: Iran’s secret police and intelligence service from 1957 to 1979, the official name of which was Sāzemān-e Ettelā’āt va Amniyat-e Keshvar (Intelligence and Security Organization of the Country).
Saveh: A small city sixty miles southwest of Tehran.
Seyyed: A title indicating descent from the Prophet, used before a first name.
Shah Abdol Azim Shrine: Shrine and mausoleum complex located in Ray, an ancient city just south of Tehran now incorporated into Tehran; popular pilgrimage site for Shi‘a Muslims.
Shemiran: A neighborhood in northern Tehran, situated at the foot of the Alborz Mountains; fresh air and pleasant climate helped to make it a choice home for well-to-do Iranians.
Shiraz: City in southwestern Iran and capital of Fars Province; major center of poetry, literature, and the arts in the thirteenth century and capital of Iran in the late eighteenth century.
16 Azar: Annual commemoration of December 7, 1953, when three students were killed by Tehran police as they were protesting the resumption of ties with Great Britain subsequent to the coup d’etat that ousted Mosaddeq and reinstated Mohammad Reza Shah in power.
Sizdah Bedar: Thirteenth day of the year in the Iranian calendar, marking the end of the New Year holiday. Typically spent picnicking in nature.
Sufism: The mystical dimension of Islam, the adherents of which attempt through various practices to come closer to and to experience God.
Tabriz: City in western Iran, capital of East Azerbaijan.
Tajrish: A neighborhood in northern Tehran.
toman: Ten rials (the official unit of currency); worth about fourteen cents in the 1970s.
Torbat: Partial name of more than one city in Khorasan Province.
Tudeh Party: Communist Party of Iran, founded in 1941; at first opposed to Mosaddeq, the party later played a part in mobilizing support for him in 1952 and 1953 and suffered mass arrests and the execution of many top leaders in the aftermath of the 1953 coup d’etat that ousted Mosaddeq.
Valiabad: Street and neighborhood in central Tehran.
The Wonders of Creation: Book by Zakariya al-Qazwini (1203–83), geographer and natural historian.
Ya Ali: A phrase invoking Imam Ali’s help; commonly used at the start of a strenuous task.