Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Khosrow II (Khosrow Parviz) pärvēzˈ [key], d. 628, king of Persia of the Sassanid, or Sassanian, dynasty; grandson of Khosrow I. He is also called Chosroes II or Khosru II. He succeeded his father ...

(Encyclopedia) Karun käro͞onˈ [key], river, c.450 mi (720 km) long, rising in the Zagros Mts., W Iran, and flowing S to the Shatt al Arab on the Iraqi border. The Karun is navigable to Ahvaz for shallow draft ves...

(Encyclopedia) Smerdis smûrˈdĭs [key], d. c.528 b.c., second son of Cyrus the Great, king of Persia. He is also called Bardiya. He was assassinated by his brother Cambyses II, who kept the murder a secret. Patizi...

(Encyclopedia) Susa so͞oˈzə, –sə [key], ancient city, capital of Elam. The site is 15 mi (23 km) SW of modern Dizful, Iran. It is the biblical Shushan, and its inhabitants were called Susanchites. From the 4th...

(Encyclopedia) Roxana –sănˈē [key], d. 311 b.c., wife of Alexander the Great. She was the daughter of Oxyartes, a Bactrian baron, and Alexander married her (327) to consolidate his power in Persia. She and Alex...

(Encyclopedia) Tabari (Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Jarir at-Tabari) täbäˈrē [key], c.839–c.923, Arab historian and commentator. The name Tabari was given him because he was born in Tabaristan, Persia. He traveled w...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Squinch squinch, in architecture, a piece of construction used for filling in the upper angles of a square room so as to form a proper base to receive an octagonal or spherical dome. It was th...

(Encyclopedia) Hallaj, Hussein ibn Mansur al- ho͞osānˈ ĭbn mänso͝orˈ [key], 857–922, Arabic-speaking Persian Muslim mystic and poet popularly known among Muslims as “the martyr of mystical love.” Born a...

(Encyclopedia) Polo, Marco märˈkō pōˈlō [key], 1254?–1324?, Venetian traveler in China. His father, Niccolò Polo, and his uncle, Maffeo Polo, had made (1253–60) a trading expedition to Constantinople. A w...

(Encyclopedia) Muscovy Company mŭsˈkəvē [key] or Russia Company, first major English joint-stock trading company. It began in 1553 as a group supporting exploration of a possible northeast passage to Asia. An ex...