فصلنامه پژوهش های تاریخی
سال یازدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 41، بهار 1398)

Fereydūn, like many Iranian myths, could be followed up in Vedic texts. But, after searching these texts, there are differences between the roles of Fereydun in the Vedic and Middle Iranian texts. As Iran has older history than the Aryan establishment on this plateau, it is therefore possible to follow the roots of this mythology as existing in the middle texts, in pre-Aryan civilizations in Iran, like Elamite civilization. The cultural and civilization elements of the ancient Elam can be closely linked to the Middle Eastern civilization. Therefore, Elam had abundant Mesopotamian deities who, of course, were accepted by their special function in Elam. Ea/Enki was one of them. But with regard to Untash-Napirisha, it seems that in Elam, his roles are fully attributed to Napirisha. But anyway, Napirisha is the Elamite form of Ea. In order to better understand the Elamite water deity role, it is necessary to refer to the myth of the Mesopotamian Ea. By examining the myths of Ea, there are points that seem to suggest that Fereydūn could be known as the Aryan form of this Mesopotamian and Elamite myth. This article uses a library method based on existing documents and seeks to find out the relationship between the myth of Fereydūn and the water deity in Elamite civilization, due to its Mesopotamian background.

Iranians have frequently faced with famine and crisis of food throughout the history. Over the years, several factors have influenced the crisis of food which, in a general attitude, can be divided into natural and human factors (internal and external). From the beginning of Qajar period, such a crisis with quasi-colonial conditions and a special political economy imposed on Iran by Russia and especially Britain led to severe shortage of grocery, inflation and famine. The continuation of such conditions at the end of Nasir-ed-Din Shah reign led to the crisis of grocery and general famine and caused the deaths of thousands of people. The British political economy imposed on Iran through some treaties prior to World War I intensified economic deterioration and crisis of public grocery (cereal) in the late World War which has been referred with cereal and bread titles in more documents. During this period, Britain had the most military presence in Iran and played a direct and indirect role in the crisis. Using analytical-descriptive method with emphasis on documents, this essay indicates that contracts such as Mirjavar, oil, 1907 and 1915 provided the setting of establishment of general food crisis by Britain. Through various forces such as the Consul of Britain, the Royal Bank, Poodratchiha and interacting with the ruling landlords and merchants, Britain implemented an obligatory introduction of politics to prepare food for its armies. So, Britain played a significant role in managing the crisis of food to their benefit.

Yathrib was one of the main settlements in the Hijaz region in early Islam, and it was of great importance because the Prophet migrated from Mecca to Yathrib and founded his state there and many Quranic verses has received in its environment. The question is to what extent were orientalists able to approach the historical geographical reality of the Yathrib and how we could evaluate their views on the border of Yathrib? To answer this question, the orientalist views are presented first, then the results of the other studies are compared with them, in order to identify the errors found in the Oriental studies. On the other hand, due to the siege of Yathrib in the center of lava field area, the GIS will be used to measure the area of the settlement. The results show that, despite numerous studies on Yathrib, orientalists have not reached agreement on its scope. The orientalists did not follow the model of the city state suggested by Wellhausen. The model of the town settlement, presented by Frants Buhl at the beginning of the 20st century and Harry Munt in the end, was not justified enough. Watt remained in doubt between the oasis and the town, and Lacker spoke of the pattern of cluster towns. Ultimately, Marco Schöller did not provide the Yathrib settlement model, but he was the first to measure the Yatrabi area:"a few square miles", but it was not helpful. On the other hand, the reconstructed maps also shows pattern of town considering its area as a limited region reduced to 25 hectares. While studies on the settlements of the Aws and Khazraj sub-trebes show that the area they were live was more than 4000 hectares.

The carpet industry in the city of Isfahan has experienced many different ups and downs during its formation, especially after the collapse of the Safavid Dynasty and, after being influenced by the subsequent unrest, the industry was in a downturn. At the end of the Qajar period and after the end of the First World War, due to the economic situation in the country, the problems of Isfahan carpet industry were added. With the beginning of the Reza Shah era, some of these problems were transferred to this period. Using ink color and forgetting the past original designs had endangered the quality and genuineness of the carpet of Isfahan. Along with these issues, livelihood and hygiene problems of carpet weavers still existed. This study is going to use references and historical documents in order to clarify the situation of Isfahan carpet in the first Pahlavi period and also and what the government did to improve and improve Isfahan carpet production. The hypothesis of this research is that due to many problems facing this profession, the actions were inadequate and unproductive. Based on the results of this research, it is clear that despite the measures taken to solve the problems in the production of carpet in Isfahan, these activities were not very fruitful due to the lack of knowledge of the people of this industry and the lack of precise planning and long-term policies. The methodology of this research is descriptive-analytical using library resources and archival documents. In this method, after gathering enough information, the findings are organized and then analyzed.

The local governments of Ardalan and Baban were contemporary with the encounter of their respective empires of Iran and Ottoman in the 18th century. Unlike the BaniArdalans who were political dependents of the central government of Iran, the Baban rulers were the followers of the Ottoman Empire. These two local governments had many things in common since they were neighbors with the same ethnic, religious, and ideological backgrounds. However, there was intense rivalry between these two representatives of their respective central governments in the western borders of Iran. The rivalry stemmed in part from the border disputes, and in part, from their political dependency. Given the rivalry, and given that they had different goals, there were always tensions between the Baban and Ardalan rulers during their political sovereignty, and their territories were often attacked by the other side. The present study deals with the military and political movements of the Baban rulers against Iran's Kurdistan, and it explains, using a descriptive-analytical method, the consequences of these movements and the reactions of the central government of Iran to these events. Findings show that the relations between Ardalan and Baban did not always follow the interests of their respective central governments, and that sometimes the internal differences among the local rulers, in addition to the differences between the local rulers and the central government, could affect the relations between the two dynasties. Also, the central governments sometimes interfered in their internal affairs in line with their foreign policies.

Abdol Rashid ibn Mahmoud, in 441 AH, succeeded in relying on the throne as one of the Ghaznavid sultans. But, due to the lack of power and ability to govern the territory of the Emperor Ghaznavi, he soon faced a major crisis, and his rule ended after two years with the rebellion of Tughrul Usurper. The present study tries to call for the dark angles the assassination of Abdolrashid Mahmoud by his commander-in-chief (=Sepahsalar) servant, namely, Tughrul, who is variously nicknamed in the sources and studies of Ghaznavid era as the Denier of God’s blessings, The Forsaken, and the Usurper. The real character of this servant remains obscured. Moreover, the reasons for his uprising against his master have not been clarified. The present study is descriptive-analytical and, relying on library resources, tries to find appropriate answers for the research questions regarding the real Ghaznavid master of Tughrul, and his ruling years. The findings of the research show that Tughrul, contrary to the imagination of some sources, was the servant of Sultan Mahmoud, and later he was present at the time of Sultan Masoud's successors in the Ghaznavid court, and his ruling, based on historical data is more than what is usually mentioned sources.

The geography of the Caspian Sea and its coasts have long attracted the attention of the enemies of Iran, particularly its northern neighbor, Russia, for its strategic position. From the late Safavid era, along with the emergence of Peter the Great in Russia, full domination on the Caspian Sea and its coasts was seriously included in the Russia’s military plan. Therefore, in order to reach their goals, they attacked the islands and coasts of Iran at different times and under different pretexts. However, despite the seizure of parts of Iran's territory, they could not survive long periods on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, and were forced to evacuate these regions. This paper intends, with a descriptive-analytic approach, to answer the question that: what are the causes of the instability of Russians military presence in the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the considered time interval? The findings of the research indicate that a combination of internal and external factors along with the unique geographical, climatic, and social features of this area caused the southern sides of the Caspian Sea to act as a solid fortress against invaders, and even if they could access to it, they would not have the ability to stay in the long run