فصلنامه مطالعات تاریخ فرهنگی
پیاپی 49 (پاییز 1400)

The use of verses of the Holy Quran in many texts of the old Persian literature, to express the concepts, was a common phenomenon. The book Nafsah al-Masdoor Zaidari al-Nasawi - which is one of the historical and literary masterpieces of the seventh century AH and one of the novel examples of technical prose - includes one hundred and thirty verses from the Qur'an.  This article examines the historical themes of Naftha al-Masdoor using the descriptive-analytical method. The author of the book narrates the history of shift of the of conceptual and thematic mechanisms in the narrative of history, which is innovative, placed this literary and historical work of the Mongol period as a special 44place so that its expression depends on an understanding of the verses.

The existing knowledge about different strata of women in the Seleucid society is not inclusive. However, as the surviving artifacts show the women of the royal family are better known in this period. The present study, using a descriptive-analytical method and based on existing historical sources and archaeological evidence such as coins, inscriptions, seals, and seals, has investigated the position and status of women in the royal family in the Seleucid period. The purpose of this study is to understand the presence of women of this period in the political, economic, religious, and social spheres. The study shows that several women in the royal family have appeared very powerful in various fields including equipping and leading the army in times of need, sometimes opposing the son as viceroy, or relying on the throne. The worship and naming of the famous women for the cities of this period such as Apame, coins, and seals, indicates the position of the court women in this period.

In the history of thought, thinkers can be divided into two groups. The first group is those who put forward creative ideas and theories in areas of the humanities. The second group is those people who expand the ideas and thoughts of the first group. The main question of the present article is whether Gambridge theory has had a new and original idea in cultural history? The present article argues that the infrastructure of Gambridge's thoughts  are  based on Popper's methodological individualism, attacking the opposite paradigm and methodological totalitarianism has rejected hegemony, including Hegel's theory and the corresponding cultural history, and the "principle of causal necessity." Hence, it seems that Ernest Gambridge is not an original and among the first group thinker. He is a historian who has developed the ideas of his co-thinkers - Russell and Popper. However, some thinkers in the second half of the twentieth century went through the methodological dichotomy of totalitarianism and methodological individualism, and with a dialectic of the two, became more comprehensive in their study of social science issues. The present article concludes that in the cultural history in question, Gambridge, by classifying people as inferior and superior, fell into the same trap into which the totalitarian Hitler regime - which is heavily criticized by Gambridge. This kind of view of cultural history is another kind of totalitarianism that Gambridge claims to be fighting. In reality, Gambridge is a preacher of totalitarianism in a different way and with less self-awareness.

This research studies the understanding of the sea in the imagination of Muslim geographers up to the eighth century AH. To this end, it reviews marine phenomena including tides, islands, terraces, and marine mines in the Islamic geographical texts. It also explores concepts related to the sea (such as the lake) and the bay - and their differences from current definitions. The purpose of this study is to recognize issues related to the sea - such as the division and naming of seas - from the perspective of Muslim geographers. Numerous researches have been done on the seas, islands, and navigation in the Islamic Middle Ages but no proper research has been done on the Muslims' perception of the world's seas. What distinguishes this study from other research is the knowledge of geographers' perceptions and views of the sea and related issues from the perspective of geographical sources. A study of geographical texts shows that the definition of bay and sea by medieval Muslim geographers differed from current definitions of these concepts. Geographers have mentioned the number of seas in the world differently based on verses from the Qur'an and influenced by Greek science and civilization. Also in geographical texts, several names have been used for a single sea.

Dream interpretation was a norm during the Timurid period. This issue, despite its importance in understanding  Iranian culture, has received not enough attention from researchers. This research by using the descriptive-analytical method examines the alleged dreams of the elites of the Timurid period (771-913 AH). The purpose of the study is to gain more knowledge about the beliefs and ideas of the people and the cultural life of Iran in the Timurid period. This research shows that in the Timurid period, some scholars believe that the development of art and expansion of artistic innovations were attributed to dreams that were rooted in the wishes, desires, aspirations, and subconscious minds of the elite. Accordingly, making decisions about various matters, including choosing a special topic for a book and confirming its contents, promoting a particular artistic style, and recognizing the correctness of weakness of hadiths sometimes were interpreted based on the dreams of the elites.

Nationalism has been one of the influential concepts in the contemporary history of Iran. This concept, which was introduced to the writings of some thinkers from the middle of the Qajar period, became one of the intellectual pillars in the form of the discourse of liberal nationalism. In the unsettled social and political situation in Iran during and after World War I, the discourse of liberal nationalism faced a crisis of meaning. Hence, the need arose for an alternative discourse that tends to solve the existing problems and produce new meanings. In this situation, the theory of the formation of a powerful central government was proposed and the discourse of authoritarian nationalism was elaborated to solve the solutions.  This study, based on Laclau and Mouffe's theory of discourse analysis, seeks to answer the question of what was the articulation, concepts, and process of identifying the discourse of authoritarian nationalism in the history textbooks during the Reza Shah period. This study, by examining the textbooks of this period, shows that the ruling power, by articulating the concepts and components of authoritarian nationalist discourse attempted to strengthen the foundations of the Pahlavi government.