Located in the Straits of Hormuz, the island of Qeshm has had a tumultuous history. Qeshm: The Hi... more Located in the Straits of Hormuz, the island of Qeshm has had a tumultuous history. Qeshm: The History of a Persian Gulf Island is the first serious, book-length study of the island’s history.
From the fourteenth century onward, the island was an important dependency of the Kingdom of Hormuz, often providing drinking water to Hormuz. The island remained critical as a source of water and foodstuffs for the Portuguese, beginning in the early-sixteenth century. Throughout the seventeenth century, Qeshm remained a bone of contention between Portugal, the Dutch and the English East India Companies. Later, it was a coveted tile in the mosaic of Persian Gulf domination aspired to by the Soltans of Oman, despite the pretensions of the Qajar court. The natural resources of Qeshm include salt, the purest in the Persian Gulf, naphtha, and firewood. From Nader Shah’s naval ambitions to the commercial competition of the early-twentieth century, Qeshm features in innumerable mini-crises, both local and international. In 1935 the British abandoned their coaling station on the island at the insistence of Reza Shah.
Qeshm’s history stands in stark contrast to the popular image of this staid, somewhat sleepy island. This book, brilliantly researched by two of the foremost scholars of Iranian history, is essential reading for anyone interested in a region whose strategic, political, economic and financial importance continues to grow.
Foreword xi The Island 1 Description 1 Name 4 Earthquakes 6 Population and Settlements 9 The Towns 15 Brukht 16 Laft 17 Qeshm Town 23 Basidu 29 The Economy 51 Trade 56 Natural Resources 74 Salt 74 Sulfur and Red Oxide 82 Sponges 85 Oil Drilling 86 Banishment or Internal Exile 92 History and Administration 95 Earliest history 95 Hormuz Kingdom 102 Qeshm Debacle and Fall of Hormuz (1621) 107 Safavid Period 115 Attack on Qeshm 118 Gulf Arabs Rivalry 124 Portuguese intermezzo 132 EIC and Afghan troubles 137 Afsharid Period 143 Banu Ma`in, Molla Ali Shah and Qawasem Fighting Over Qeshm 155 Zand Period 177 The Persian-Omani Conflict 182 Omani Period 187 The Omani claim to Qeshm 205 Omani rule challenged 215 Qajar Period 222 Pahlavi Period 233 Modern Institutions 235 Customs 235 Police 241 Gendarmerie 243 Education 244 PTT 244 Medical Situation 245 The Basidu Affair 249 Appendix I 279 Earthquake on Qeshm 1884 279 Appendix II 291 Biography of Mo`in al-Tojjar 291 Appendix III 295 Report on the salt caves and mines and trade in salt 295 Appendix Iv 299 Diary of a Journey through the Districts of Minow, Shamil, and Kow Gunow During the Month of August, 1873 299 Bibliography 321 Index 347
W idely regarded in his lifetime as the greatest living authority on all things Iranian, across a... more W idely regarded in his lifetime as the greatest living authority on all things Iranian, across an enormous range of disciplines, Albert Houtum Schindler lived and worked in Iran from 1868 to 1911. All who either met or corresponded with him came away praising his encyclopaedic knowledge and remarkable insight. A member of numerous learned societies in Europe, he sustained a wide web of intellectual contacts and was insatiably curious. As an employee of the Indo-European Telegraph Department, the Imperial Bank of Persia and the Persian Bank Mining Rights Corporation, he experienced firsthand the ups and downs of Iran's slow but inexorable movement towards modernity. Yet when he died in 1916 his obituaries were frustratingly brief. Private when it came to the details of his personal life, Albert Houtum Schindler gave little away. This book is the first full-scale examination of the life and legacy of an extraordinary witness to the late-Qajar period and the land, people and history of Iran. "General Houtum-Schindler. .. possesses probably more knowledge about the geography, ethnology, and local dialects of Persia than any man living. "-E.G. Browne, A Year amongst the Persians (1893). : "He has written a whole library of learned treatises on Persia, and I venture to affirm with confidence that there is no one at the present time who is better acquainted with the geography of the country than he. "-Sven Hedin, Overland to India (1910)
Originally delivered as the Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lectures, Aspects of Kinship in Ancient Iran... more Originally delivered as the Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lectures, Aspects of Kinship in Ancient Iran is an exploration of kinship in the archaeological and historical record of Iran’s most ancient civilizations. D. T. Potts brings together history, archaeology, and social anthropology to provide an overview of what we can know about the kith and kinship ties in Iran, from prehistory to Elamite, Achaemenid, and Sasanian times. In so doing, he sheds light on the rich body of evidence that exists for kin relations in Iran, a topic that has too often been ignored in the study of the ancient world.
Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of exce... more Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of exce... more Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.
As a class, portraits of Persians who travelled to the West during the Safavid and early Qajar pe... more As a class, portraits of Persians who travelled to the West during the Safavid and early Qajar period (early 17th-early 19th century) have received little attention. This book brings together, for the first time, twenty-nine images — drawings, paintings, etchings, lithographs and even a silhouette — of Persians, done in Boston, Geneva, London, Paris, Prague, Saratoga Springs, St. Petersburg, Vienna and Washington DC, between 1601 and 1842. Some of the subjects were high-ranking individuals who were members of the élite class while others were from modest backgrounds. All were on a mission of one sort or another and portraiture, in the days before photography, commemorated their visits to distant capitals, offering us a rare glimpse at the dress, accoutrements and regalia worn by these visitors to foreign lands. Subjects of fascination for both contemporary artists and a well-informed public, intrigued by all things Persian and able to follow the movements of these travellers in the European and American press, the sitters in these works left an indelible mark in the consciousness of Western observers, only a few of whom ever journeyed themselves to the Land of the Lion and the Sun.
D.T. Potts is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University. His lifelong fascination with and love of Iranian history and archaeology began with his first visit to Iran in 1973 and has led him to work on a wide range of topics ranging in time from prehistory to the modern era. He is the author of The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State (Cambridge, 1999, 2nd ed. 2016) and Nomadism in Iran: From Antiquity to the Modern Era (Oxford, 2014). He was also the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran (Oxford, 2013) and Agreeable News from Persia: Iran in the Colonial and early Republican American Press, 1712-1848 (Springer, 2022).
Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of exce... more Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of exce... more Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.
The island of Khark was an important link in Persian Gulf navigation, supplying passing ships wit... more The island of Khark was an important link in Persian Gulf navigation, supplying passing ships with water, victuals, and pilots for ships sailing to and from Basra. This was why the Arabs called Khark “the Mother of Skippers” (Umm al-Rubbaniyan). Through the ages, Khark has also been a place of pilgrimage: in Sasanian times, due to the presence of an early Christian church and monastery, and in Islamic times, because of the presence of the tomb of Mohammad al-Hanafiyya. In the eighteenth century, the Dutch made the island their center of trade in the Persian Gulf, and by the nineteenth century the island was dubbed “the most important strategic point in the Persian Gulf,” reason why the British occupied it twice. Although by 1900 the island had lost its strategic importance, it acquired it again after the 1950s, when the National Iranian Oil Company decided to make Khark its main terminal for the export of crude oil. Later, chemical factories were added to the island’s economic make-up. As a result, Khark’s name is now better known around the world than it was ever previously, but the history has remained untold. This book tells the whole story, from the early archeological evidence and the Islamic and Safavid periods, to the Dutch projects in the eighteenth century and the British in the nineteenth century. And in the end, how the traditional way of life ended and industrialization began.
The 1990 Season t*m Munksgaard A Prehistoric Mound in the Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain, UJI.E.: Exca... more The 1990 Season t*m Munksgaard A Prehistoric Mound in the Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain, UJI.E.: Excavations at Tell Abraq in 1989 (Munksgaard, 1990) presented the first results of a new program of excavation at a large, prehistoric mound on the southern coast of the Arabian Gulf. Further Excavations at Tell Abraq is a full account of the second season of excavations, conducted in 1990, when many new aspects of the site emerged. Important architectural, ceramic, and glyptic finds were made, dating to the third, second, and early first millennium B.C. In addition, indications of an earlier, Stone Age occupation were recovered, as well as graves and settlement pottery dating to the early centuries A.D. when the occupation of the nearby metropolis of ed-Dur was at its height.
Located in the Straits of Hormuz, the island of Qeshm has had a tumultuous history. Qeshm: The Hi... more Located in the Straits of Hormuz, the island of Qeshm has had a tumultuous history. Qeshm: The History of a Persian Gulf Island is the first serious, book-length study of the island’s history.
From the fourteenth century onward, the island was an important dependency of the Kingdom of Hormuz, often providing drinking water to Hormuz. The island remained critical as a source of water and foodstuffs for the Portuguese, beginning in the early-sixteenth century. Throughout the seventeenth century, Qeshm remained a bone of contention between Portugal, the Dutch and the English East India Companies. Later, it was a coveted tile in the mosaic of Persian Gulf domination aspired to by the Soltans of Oman, despite the pretensions of the Qajar court. The natural resources of Qeshm include salt, the purest in the Persian Gulf, naphtha, and firewood. From Nader Shah’s naval ambitions to the commercial competition of the early-twentieth century, Qeshm features in innumerable mini-crises, both local and international. In 1935 the British abandoned their coaling station on the island at the insistence of Reza Shah.
Qeshm’s history stands in stark contrast to the popular image of this staid, somewhat sleepy island. This book, brilliantly researched by two of the foremost scholars of Iranian history, is essential reading for anyone interested in a region whose strategic, political, economic and financial importance continues to grow.
Foreword xi The Island 1 Description 1 Name 4 Earthquakes 6 Population and Settlements 9 The Towns 15 Brukht 16 Laft 17 Qeshm Town 23 Basidu 29 The Economy 51 Trade 56 Natural Resources 74 Salt 74 Sulfur and Red Oxide 82 Sponges 85 Oil Drilling 86 Banishment or Internal Exile 92 History and Administration 95 Earliest history 95 Hormuz Kingdom 102 Qeshm Debacle and Fall of Hormuz (1621) 107 Safavid Period 115 Attack on Qeshm 118 Gulf Arabs Rivalry 124 Portuguese intermezzo 132 EIC and Afghan troubles 137 Afsharid Period 143 Banu Ma`in, Molla Ali Shah and Qawasem Fighting Over Qeshm 155 Zand Period 177 The Persian-Omani Conflict 182 Omani Period 187 The Omani claim to Qeshm 205 Omani rule challenged 215 Qajar Period 222 Pahlavi Period 233 Modern Institutions 235 Customs 235 Police 241 Gendarmerie 243 Education 244 PTT 244 Medical Situation 245 The Basidu Affair 249 Appendix I 279 Earthquake on Qeshm 1884 279 Appendix II 291 Biography of Mo`in al-Tojjar 291 Appendix III 295 Report on the salt caves and mines and trade in salt 295 Appendix Iv 299 Diary of a Journey through the Districts of Minow, Shamil, and Kow Gunow During the Month of August, 1873 299 Bibliography 321 Index 347
W idely regarded in his lifetime as the greatest living authority on all things Iranian, across a... more W idely regarded in his lifetime as the greatest living authority on all things Iranian, across an enormous range of disciplines, Albert Houtum Schindler lived and worked in Iran from 1868 to 1911. All who either met or corresponded with him came away praising his encyclopaedic knowledge and remarkable insight. A member of numerous learned societies in Europe, he sustained a wide web of intellectual contacts and was insatiably curious. As an employee of the Indo-European Telegraph Department, the Imperial Bank of Persia and the Persian Bank Mining Rights Corporation, he experienced firsthand the ups and downs of Iran's slow but inexorable movement towards modernity. Yet when he died in 1916 his obituaries were frustratingly brief. Private when it came to the details of his personal life, Albert Houtum Schindler gave little away. This book is the first full-scale examination of the life and legacy of an extraordinary witness to the late-Qajar period and the land, people and history of Iran. "General Houtum-Schindler. .. possesses probably more knowledge about the geography, ethnology, and local dialects of Persia than any man living. "-E.G. Browne, A Year amongst the Persians (1893). : "He has written a whole library of learned treatises on Persia, and I venture to affirm with confidence that there is no one at the present time who is better acquainted with the geography of the country than he. "-Sven Hedin, Overland to India (1910)
Originally delivered as the Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lectures, Aspects of Kinship in Ancient Iran... more Originally delivered as the Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lectures, Aspects of Kinship in Ancient Iran is an exploration of kinship in the archaeological and historical record of Iran’s most ancient civilizations. D. T. Potts brings together history, archaeology, and social anthropology to provide an overview of what we can know about the kith and kinship ties in Iran, from prehistory to Elamite, Achaemenid, and Sasanian times. In so doing, he sheds light on the rich body of evidence that exists for kin relations in Iran, a topic that has too often been ignored in the study of the ancient world.
Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of exce... more Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of exce... more Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.
As a class, portraits of Persians who travelled to the West during the Safavid and early Qajar pe... more As a class, portraits of Persians who travelled to the West during the Safavid and early Qajar period (early 17th-early 19th century) have received little attention. This book brings together, for the first time, twenty-nine images — drawings, paintings, etchings, lithographs and even a silhouette — of Persians, done in Boston, Geneva, London, Paris, Prague, Saratoga Springs, St. Petersburg, Vienna and Washington DC, between 1601 and 1842. Some of the subjects were high-ranking individuals who were members of the élite class while others were from modest backgrounds. All were on a mission of one sort or another and portraiture, in the days before photography, commemorated their visits to distant capitals, offering us a rare glimpse at the dress, accoutrements and regalia worn by these visitors to foreign lands. Subjects of fascination for both contemporary artists and a well-informed public, intrigued by all things Persian and able to follow the movements of these travellers in the European and American press, the sitters in these works left an indelible mark in the consciousness of Western observers, only a few of whom ever journeyed themselves to the Land of the Lion and the Sun.
D.T. Potts is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University. His lifelong fascination with and love of Iranian history and archaeology began with his first visit to Iran in 1973 and has led him to work on a wide range of topics ranging in time from prehistory to the modern era. He is the author of The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State (Cambridge, 1999, 2nd ed. 2016) and Nomadism in Iran: From Antiquity to the Modern Era (Oxford, 2014). He was also the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran (Oxford, 2013) and Agreeable News from Persia: Iran in the Colonial and early Republican American Press, 1712-1848 (Springer, 2022).
Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of exce... more Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of exce... more Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.
The island of Khark was an important link in Persian Gulf navigation, supplying passing ships wit... more The island of Khark was an important link in Persian Gulf navigation, supplying passing ships with water, victuals, and pilots for ships sailing to and from Basra. This was why the Arabs called Khark “the Mother of Skippers” (Umm al-Rubbaniyan). Through the ages, Khark has also been a place of pilgrimage: in Sasanian times, due to the presence of an early Christian church and monastery, and in Islamic times, because of the presence of the tomb of Mohammad al-Hanafiyya. In the eighteenth century, the Dutch made the island their center of trade in the Persian Gulf, and by the nineteenth century the island was dubbed “the most important strategic point in the Persian Gulf,” reason why the British occupied it twice. Although by 1900 the island had lost its strategic importance, it acquired it again after the 1950s, when the National Iranian Oil Company decided to make Khark its main terminal for the export of crude oil. Later, chemical factories were added to the island’s economic make-up. As a result, Khark’s name is now better known around the world than it was ever previously, but the history has remained untold. This book tells the whole story, from the early archeological evidence and the Islamic and Safavid periods, to the Dutch projects in the eighteenth century and the British in the nineteenth century. And in the end, how the traditional way of life ended and industrialization began.
The 1990 Season t*m Munksgaard A Prehistoric Mound in the Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain, UJI.E.: Exca... more The 1990 Season t*m Munksgaard A Prehistoric Mound in the Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain, UJI.E.: Excavations at Tell Abraq in 1989 (Munksgaard, 1990) presented the first results of a new program of excavation at a large, prehistoric mound on the southern coast of the Arabian Gulf. Further Excavations at Tell Abraq is a full account of the second season of excavations, conducted in 1990, when many new aspects of the site emerged. Important architectural, ceramic, and glyptic finds were made, dating to the third, second, and early first millennium B.C. In addition, indications of an earlier, Stone Age occupation were recovered, as well as graves and settlement pottery dating to the early centuries A.D. when the occupation of the nearby metropolis of ed-Dur was at its height.
Most readers, if they have ever heard of Baron George Alfred Charles Louis Théophile de Goumoëns ... more Most readers, if they have ever heard of Baron George Alfred Charles Louis Théophile de Goumoëns (1820-1876) at all, probably encountered his name in E.G. Browne’s compilation of sources on Babism where a translation was given of ‘a letter written on August 29, 1852, by an Austrian officer, Captain von Goumoens, who was in the Sháh’s service.’ The letter in question had been published in ‘an article in German published on October 17, 1852, in No. 291 of some German or Austrian newspaper of which, unhappily, the name is not noted,’ which Browne had acquired ‘a good many years ago from the widow of the late Dr Polak, an Austrian doctor, who was physician to Náṣiru’d-Din Sháh at the beginning of his reign.’ Thanks to the largescale digitization of nineteenth-century newspapers, the source of the article may be easily identified as the Allgemeine Zeitung. The letter, in full and abbreviated form, was widely reprinted and excerpted in the latter half of October, 1852. Although valued as an eyewitness to the events associated with the Bab, Goumoëns’ experiences and written observations ranged much more widely and constitute an important European perspective on the early reign of Naser al-Din Shah. Moreover, Goumoëns returned to Iran in 1857 as a member of the Schindlöcker mission, charged with the presentation of gifts from the Austrian emperor to the Shah and the purchase of broodmares and stallions for the imperial army’s stud farms. Finally, in July, 1873, Goumoëns again met Naser al-Din Shah when he visited briefly Switzerland during his first European tour.
Most readers, if they have ever heard of Baron George Alfred Charles Louis Théophile de Goumoëns ... more Most readers, if they have ever heard of Baron George Alfred Charles Louis Théophile de Goumoëns (1820-1876) at all, probably encountered his name in E.G. Browne’s compilation of sources on Babism where a translation was given of ‘a letter written on August 29, 1852, by an Austrian officer, Captain von Goumoens, who was in the Sháh’s service.’ The letter in question had been published in ‘an article in German published on October 17, 1852, in No. 291 of some German or Austrian newspaper of which, unhappily, the name is not noted,’ which Browne had acquired ‘a good many years ago from the widow of the late Dr Polak, an Austrian doctor, who was physician to Náṣiru’d-Din Sháh at the beginning of his reign.’ Thanks to the largescale digitization of nineteenth-century newspapers, the source of the article may be easily identified as the Allgemeine Zeitung. The letter, in full and abbreviated form, was widely reprinted and excerpted in the latter half of October, 1852. Although valued as an eyewitness to the events associated with the Bab, Goumoëns’ experiences and written observations ranged much more widely and constitute an important European perspective on the early reign of Naser al-Din Shah. Moreover, Goumoëns returned to Iran in 1857 as a member of the Schindlöcker mission, charged with the presentation of gifts from the Austrian emperor to the Shah and the purchase of broodmares and stallions for the imperial army’s stud farms. Finally, in July, 1873, Goumoëns again met Naser al-Din Shah when he visited briefly Switzerland during his first European tour.
In 1857, the French artist Charles Cournault published a plea for a French mission to Persepolis.... more In 1857, the French artist Charles Cournault published a plea for a French mission to Persepolis. The aim of the mission was to obtain examples of relief sculpture, like those he had seen in the British Museum, for the Louvre Museum. Believing that Achaemenid art deserved as much attention as Assyrian, Greek and Roman art, Cournault urged the government to undertake the mission and felt certain that it would be aided by the efforts of the Iranian diplomat Farrokh Khan who was, at the time, in France. Franco-Iranian relations having never been better, Cournault believed the time was right for a concerted effort to obtain diagnostic Persepolitan sculptures for the purpose of educating the public. If France did not pursue this goal, he felt certain that other powers would do so. Cournault displayed a reverence for ancient Achaemenid art and sought to promote its qualities to an audience accustomed to viewing Greek, Roman and, more recently, Assyrian art as the greatest of all early human artistic traditions.
Travel in the ancient world involved a host of arrangements and intelligence that often go unmen... more Travel in the ancient world involved a host of arrangements and intelligence that often go unmentioned in ancient sources. How did individuals, groups and armies, plot their itineraries and arrive safely at their destinations? The Persepolis Fortification Archive, which dates to the period from 509 to 493 BC, contains references to a class of guides identified by the Achaemenid Elamite term barrišdama, who were charged with escorting select individuals and large groups on journeys, some of which were over hundreds of kilometers. This institution shares certain traits with that of the mihmāndār in later Iranian history, while differing in many respects. The present study examines these two institutions, noting points of commonality and difference. Because much more is known about the social and economic context of the mihmāndār, a study of it is instructive in posing questions that may be relevant to a better understanding of the much earlier office of the barrišdama.
The old canal of Gulga A day after my return from the first of my sixteen longer excursions to Ta... more The old canal of Gulga A day after my return from the first of my sixteen longer excursions to Talysh and Transcaucasia the Imperial Russian Consul and diplomatic agent in Gilan at the time, Mr. M.A. Gamasov, together with his staff from Rasht, went to Enseli [Bandar-e Anzali] on business, and eight days later I accepted his kind invitation to visit him there, all the more willingly as I preferred Enseli, with its proximity to the sea, and went there frequently, when permitted by my extensive medical practice, to the humid city of Rasht, which was hemmed in by forest. In the course of recounting my experiences and observations during my long stay in Enseli the conversation turned to the old canal of Gulga which the famous Imperial Russian Academician Dr. Karl Ernst von Baer, of St. Petersburg, had, with four scientific and technical companions, unsuccefully sought in the previous summer, just as I had recently done. I was no less delighted, if, at the same time, astonished to find that Mirsa [Mirza] Saleh, the Russian Agent in Enseli at the time, and in whose house, situated behind the little orange tree grove, we lodged, immediately recognized the canal. Consequently, an outing to Gulga on horseback was settled upon for the following day. On Sunday morning, 4 November 1855, we rode out of Enseli in fine, bright weather, mainly in a westerly direction, with Mirsa Saleh as guide. After we had come to the small village of Beschm [mod. Bashman], close to the Great Murdab (dead water = lagoon) of Enseli, we reached the sandy, but beautifully green tongue of land between the Caspian Sea in the north and the western extension of the Great Murdab of Enseli in the south after a comfortable, barely two hour-ride, around midday, just beyond the tiny hamlet of Gulga [mod. Gulgakh] (place of roses, rose district), with only about six houses, on the Great Murdab. Two of us five Europeans had gone from Enseli with the Russian consulate's cook in a large Persian Kerschim (= flat-bottomed boat). After we had had our warm second breakfast, beneath tall, old walnut trees on an elevated point of the northwestern extension of the Murdab, washed down with good, homemade Gilan wine made from old growth grapes, we walked back a short distance of a couple of hundred paces on foot along a rather small, sandy path recently trodden on horseback, along the northern side of the Murdab, in order to examine the actual object of our journey, in the first instance from its southern end. No visible sign in either the ground or the forest, either at its southern or northern end, indicated the former watercourse. Due to the almost imperceptible alteration of the coastline there, the lush vegetation of Gilan and the great uncertainty, often mixed with the malice and lies of the local inhabitants, the rediscovery [of the watercoursse] becomes increasingly more difficult without a knowledgeable and conscientious guide. A few weeks earlier I had ridden close by the southern entrance of the canal, and although I knew that the canal must have entered the Caspian Sea in the area, though it was no longer visible, I had no
The present article republishes a forgotten, eyewitness account of a canal built by the Gilaki ru... more The present article republishes a forgotten, eyewitness account of a canal built by the Gilaki ruler, Hedayatollah Khan, c. 1776. Written by the German physician Julius Cäsar Häntzsche, who was shown the remains of the canal in 1855, the account sheds light on the career of a contemporary of Karim Khan Zand and Agha Mohammad Khan, and on the environment of the southwestern Caspian region, particularly the Anzali lagoon.
It has long been recognized that the so-called 'Oriental horseshoe' encountered by Western travel... more It has long been recognized that the so-called 'Oriental horseshoe' encountered by Western travellers and military personnel in the Middle East, including Iran, differed from the standard European, rim-like horseshoe in consisting of a thin plate of metal secured to the base of the horse's hoof. This study examines the literary and historical evidence for the Oriental horseshoe considering a range of Late Antique and mediaeval Islamic, as well as later sources. The efficacy of the Oriental horseshoe and its iconographic representation are examined. Examples in Western collections and the experiences of 19 th and early 20 th century military officers are described, attesting to the important differences between the European and Oriental-style of horseshoe. This important piece of material culture, which is almost never discussed in treatments of equine husbandry or military history in the Near East, deserves consideration by anyone interested in the management and deployment of cavalry in ancient and premodern Iran.
While a great deal of time and effort has been spent on the identification of those human and div... more While a great deal of time and effort has been spent on the identification of those human and divine actors featured on the Sasanian reliefs and silver vessels, much energy has also been expended on understanding the realia illustrated. Many interpretations of the so-called 'tassels' (Ger. Quasten, Pferdequasten, Puscheln, Troddeln; Fr. glands, houppes) shown suspended by chains, usually below, alongside or above a horse's haunches, have been suggested. The purpose of this short note is to re-visit the topic and to suggest a viable interpretation which, although mooted in the past, has never been fully articulated.
A Sasanian silver plate displaying a seated king flanked by six attendants is unique in showing a... more A Sasanian silver plate displaying a seated king flanked by six attendants is unique in showing a gable-like structure with what appear to be turned or worked wooden elements. Originally interpreted as a 'ciborium-like throne,' i.e. a throne with a canopy suspended above it, the structure may instead represent the entrance to a tent. Sasanian royal tents are discussed in light of later Timurid, Safavid and Qajar royal tents of great sumptuousness and it is suggested that these may provide a better analogy for the structure shown on the silver plate than a canopy.
Iranica the Uyghur Empire (D. Durkin-Meisterernst, pers. comm.). What date the original Vorlage m... more Iranica the Uyghur Empire (D. Durkin-Meisterernst, pers. comm.). What date the original Vorlage might have been is impossible to say. 6 As Daryaee (2002, pp. 26-27) noted, 'The general meaning for šahrestān is "province," "capital," or "city," but it also meant a city with its surrounding region.' Markwart (1931, p. 24), however, understood the term as '"city", in the sense of "capital of a province."' 7 According to the CMC (Kephalaia I).
Peering into the hearts and minds those living four thousand years ago is an impossible task. How... more Peering into the hearts and minds those living four thousand years ago is an impossible task. However, when it comes to the worship of the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna, it seems clear to be, quite literally, a labour of love and fear.
Previously recognized by the Horticultural Society of London for his contributions to botany thro... more Previously recognized by the Horticultural Society of London for his contributions to botany through the provision of seeds, his donation to the American society, representing approximately thirty ornamental and economically useful plants, has previously gone unrecognized. Here, Willock's donation is considered in light of the international exchange of seeds and botanical data that linked scientific societies around the world. The specific cultivars sent to America are examined in the context of early nineteenth-century agriculture and the growth of scientific institutions in the young republic. The flora of Iran was poorly known in the West when Willock made his donation, and although not a botanist by training like others who followed him, he made a significant contribution which, by expanding his scientific generosity beyond the confines of Britain to New York, greatly increased the world's awareness of Iranian cultivars and ornamental plants.
Potts, D.T. 2024. Ancient Office Hours. Episode 89. Interview on April 17, 2024.
Ozymandias Project, 2024
Dr. Daniel T. Potts, a professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at the Institute for the Study of th... more Dr. Daniel T. Potts, a professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World - NYU, joins Lexie to discuss his path from anthropology into Near Eastern Archaeology, a brief history of the Elamites, distinguishing Elamites from Assyrians, and the difficulties for future research or excavations in Iran due to the current political situation.
As a class, portraits of Persians who travelled to the West during the Safavid and early Qajar pe... more As a class, portraits of Persians who travelled to the West during the Safavid and early Qajar period (early 17th-early 19th century) have received little attention. This lecture brings together a set of images — drawings, paintings, etchings, lithographs and even a silhouette — of Persians, done in Boston, Geneva, London, Paris, Prague, Saratoga Springs, St. Petersburg, Vienna and Washington DC, between 1601 and 1842. Some of the subjects were high-ranking individuals who were members of the élite class while others were from modest backgrounds. All were on a mission of one sort or another and portraiture, in the days before photography, commemorated their visits to distant capitals, offering us a rare glimpse at the dress, accoutrements and regalia worn by these visitors to foreign lands. Subjects of fascination for both contemporary artists and a well-informed public, intrigued by all things Persian and able to follow the movements of these travelers in the European and American press, the sitters in these works left an indelible mark in the consciousness of Western observers, only a few of whom ever journeyed themselves to the Land of the Lion and the Sun.
Contrary to what most people imagine, 18th and early 19th century newspapers carried a considerab... more Contrary to what most people imagine, 18th and early 19th century newspapers carried a considerable amount of news reports about contemporary events in Iran. In this talk early American newspapers will be surveyed, showing that the demise of the Safavid dynasty, the rise and progress of Nader Shah, successive wars with the Ottomans, the civil strife that led to the emergence of the Zand and Qajar dynasties, the First and Second Russo-Persian Wars, the power struggle following Fath ‘Ali Shah’s death and the activities of American missionaries at Urmia, were all covered in detail. Additionally, articles dealing with non-political Persian topics were published. The transmission of news from Iran, eastern Turkey and the Caucasus was effected via ships’ captains who carried European newspapers to America, a situation that meant news events were reported months after they occurred, and contradictory reports were commonplace. All of this changed with the introduction of the telegraph.
About the speaker: D.T. Potts is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University. His lifelong fascination with and love of Iranian history and archaeology began with his first visit to Iran in 1973 and has led him to work on a wide range of topics ranging in time from prehistory to the modern era. His most recent books are Persia Portrayed: Envoys to the West, 1600-1842 (Mage, 2022), A Nook in the Temple of Fame: French Military Officers in Persian Service, 1806-1827 (Mage, 2023) and Agreeable News from Persia: Iran in the Colonial and early Republican American Press, 1712-1848 (Springer, 2022). He received his AB (1975) and PhD (1980) at Harvard, and is a Consulting Editor for the Encyclopaedia Iranica, a Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute and ISMEO (Associazione Internazionale di Studi sul Mediterraneo e l’Oriente) and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.
The printed word, the graven image, the learned traveller, and the stage 1. Ladies and gentlemen,... more The printed word, the graven image, the learned traveller, and the stage 1. Ladies and gentlemen, fellow book lovers, it is an honor to be with you tonight and to have been given the opportunity to indulge several of my longstanding interests, pre-Islamic Iran and the intellectual history of scholarship about a part of the world that has fascinated me for many years. Tonight I wish to touch on four aspects of Western interest in pre-Islamic Iran dating from the mediaeval era to the mid-18th century. My focus is, first, on Latin and Greek sources on Iran that were available in Europe before the earliest eyewitness accounts of the country and its antiquities were published; second, the graven image, i.e. illustrations of pre-Islamic Iranian monuments published in Western sources, from the late 15 th to the early 18th century; the learned traveller, i.e. discussions of sites and monuments written by visitors to Iran, with a focus on the Achaemenid capital Persepolis; and finally, theatrical and operatic treatments of ancient Iran in Europe, from the beginnings of Elizabethan tragedy in the 16th century to Italian opera of the 17th and 18 th centuries. With those preliminaries out of the way, let us take a look at the Biblical and Classical sources on pre-Islamic Iran that first exposed European readers and church goers to the ancient peoples of ancient Iran. 2. The conversion of Europe's many diverse peoples to Christianity, beginning in the 4th century, exposed a large number of Europeans to the Old Latin Bible or Vetus Latina, which was quickly superseded by St Jerome's Latin translation of 2 the Bible known as the Vulgate. This was an important source on pre-Islamic Iran. 3. The principle events described in the Book of Esther, for example, took place at Susa, or Shushan the palace in the province of Elam, a major site in southwestern Iran that has been excavated off and on since the mid-19th century. Elam figures prominently in the Book of Jeremiah and Jews from Elam were present in Jerusalem at Pentecost, according to the Book of Acts (2:9). The Medes and Persians are also present in the Old Testament, as are both Cyrus the Great and Darius I. But while the Old and New Testament preserve some intelligence on pre-Islamic Iran, the Bible had only a minuscule amount of information on Iran compared to the Classical sources. 4. Now you might think, because it dwells so much on the Persian Empire, that Herodotus' Histories would have been the primary source of European knowledge about Iran before printing was invented at Subiaco, near Rome, in 1464. But Herodotus wrote in Greek, a language that few people in mediaeval Europe could read, a fact illustrated by the presence of only 9 manuscripts of Herodotus in Greek dating from the 10th through the 14th century in all of Europe. Latin's much greater currency was guaranteed because it was the language of the Roman Church. As the Belgian mediaevalist Marc Laureys put it, 'the Latin language...was endowed with a sacred dimension that surpassed the confines of temporal history and gave it an inherent and timeless prevalence over all other languages.' In this situation, therefore, educated Western readers were much more
Most ancient historians and archaeologists who have written on the subject of Greeks in Seleucid ... more Most ancient historians and archaeologists who have written on the subject of Greeks in Seleucid and Arsacid Iran have reduced it to a dichotomy, with some scholars, usually those with a background in Classics, Classical archaeology and ancient history, emphasizing the role of Hellenism east of the Tigris, and others, more often than not Near Eastern specialists and Iranologists, downplaying its contributions. Leaving to one side the much debated ‘clash of civilizations’ embodied in Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, and the vast body of literature it has spawned, the position taken in this year’s Lauritsen Lecture is rather different and emphasizes two points: first, even though they never occupied large tracts of territory and their poleis were isolates in an alien world that were eventually engulfed by the cultures in which they were embedded, the epigraphically attested Greek enclaves in Iran were very significant where they were present, far more so than the absolute size of these groups would suggest; and second, if we focus on the content of the Greek inscriptions from Iran, rather than their modest number, we find undeniable evidence of Greek institutions on Iranian soil that cannot be ignored. Moreover, some of those institutions survived well into the Arsacid period when another ‘clash of civilizations’, this time involving the Arsacid dynasty and its Seleucid and later Roman opponents, would tend to make one assume that an anti-Greek bias would have superseded any residual affinity for Greek institutions. These factors suggest that the Greek-Iranian relationship was neither as shallow nor as unilaterally hostile as scholars of earlier generations may have imagined. It will be argued that both the broad brush of ‘Hellenism in the East’, and the often overtly nationalist Iranian rhetoric of Greek insignificance in the period following the fall of the Achaemenid empire and the rise of Ardashir I and his Sasanian dynasty, are far too blunt in their approach to what was not a clash of civilizations but an exercise in symbiosis and cultural borrowing.
The development of the Trucial Coast: From the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate to the Arrival of th... more The development of the Trucial Coast: From the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate to the Arrival of the British-D.T. Potts (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, NYU) Between 6 February 1806, when Shaykh Amir Sultan bin Saqr bin Kashid al-Qasimi and Capt. David Seton of the Honourable East India Company concluded a treaty of peace, and 18 July 1971, when the provisional constitution creating the United Arab Emirates was signed by the shaykhs of the all the Emirates except Ras al-Khaimah, the history and development of what C.U. Aitchison referred to in 1865 as the Maritime Tribes of the Province of Seer was subject to considerable legal and military influence from Great Britain, more particularly the East India Company and the Government of India. This resulted in a wealth of documentation, in English, which makes the past two centuries of the UAE's early history far more accessible to many people than the preceding 500 or 600 years. And yet although there are no chronicles or synthetic historical accounts from the region itself that give us even a skeletal outline of this history, there is much that can be gleaned from sources that deal with our areas's neighbours. Moreover, rather than lamenting the fact that we have no local chronicles to draw on, the fact that we do find evidence pertaining to Julfar, Dibba, Khor Fakkan, and Kalba in Omani, Portuguese, Dutch and Persian sources, clearly shows that our region was part of a wider world and must be seen in that context in order to be properly understood. These patterns of association are in no way surprising when one considers how short the sailing distances are between Manama and Bushehr, Basra and Bushehr, Bandar-e Lenga and Ras al-Khaimah, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, and so forth. For purposes of communication and commerce it would always have been much easier to cris-cross the 2 Gulf than to interact with people in the Arabian interior. After the coming of Islam these patterns persisted, and increasingly foreign powers, like the Karmathians in northeastern Arabia; the Abbasids in Iraq; and the Saffarids and Buyids in Iran, jockeyed for power and control over commerce in the Gulf, inevitably drawing in the coastal region of what is today the UAE. The point is, we cannot understand the historical background to the modern UAE without understanding the region's relationships to its neighbours and the longer-term patterns that arose and persisted as a result of those relationships. Until the mid-18 th century, the most important ports along the coasts of what is today the UAE-from Abu Dhabi to Ras Musandam, and Dibba to Kalba-were often subject to foreign powers which, with few exceptions, rarely controlled the interior. These powers can be classified as Arabian; Persian; Portuguese; and Omani. By Arabian, I am referring to the Carmathians, the Banu Jabr and the Wahhabis. Under Persians I count the Buyids, the kings or khans of both Kish and Hormuz, the Safavids and the Afsharids, who enjoyed a brief period of control under Nader Shah, the so-called 'Napoleon of Asia.' The Portuguese took over the Hormuzi dependencies when they conquered the region in 1507, holding them with varying degrees of success until the early 17 th century. And finally the Omanis had a long history of involvement in the area until the mid-18 th century. Thus, all of this complex and tumultuous history awaits anyone adventurous enough to venture beyond the British-dominated 19 th century and reveals the peoples of coastal southeastern Arabia to have been far more powerful and significant than narratives of piracy and imposed treaties might suggest. What strikes one most about our region's history is what I have sometimes termed its centripetal nature. By this, I mean that we cannot really understand what was going on in the area unless we see the east and
Stable isotope analysis has been particularly useful in the exploration of lived experiences in p... more Stable isotope analysis has been particularly useful in the exploration of lived experiences in past cultures. To date, however, no studies have used biogeochemical data to assist with differential diagnosis, and from this, to improve reconstructions of life courses. Here, strontium, oxygen, and carbon isotope values from the teeth of a young (18-20 year old) female with paraplegia from Bronze Age Tell Abraq (UAE) were used to reexamine a previously indeterminate diagnosis of a progressive neuromuscular disorder. First (87Sr/86Sr=0.70865; 18O=1.6‰; 13C=-13.2‰) and third (87Sr/86Sr = 0.70862; 18O=1.6‰; 13C=-13.0‰) molar isotope values were considerably different from local individuals interred in the communal tomb, indicating that her childhood residence differed from those who grew up at Tell Abraq. These data also suggested that she migrated there after 15 years of age but before her death at 18-20 years old. Given this information, a previously conducted differential diagnosis unable to differentiate between cerebral palsy and poliomyelitis was reevaluated. Her newly-identified residential mobility made it unlikely that she suffered from cerebral palsy, which would have made long distance travel problematic; instead, she likely contracted poliomyelitis in her late teens upon moving to this more densely populated settlement. Due to large quantities of nonlocal goods recovered from the tomb, we also explore exogamous marriage practices and trade relations that may have placed this young woman at increased risk for developing a progressive neuromuscular disease. These results illustrate how isotopes can be used to give unique insight into paleopathological investigations as well as past lived experiences.
Studies of Mesopotamia's relations with Iran in the earlier periods tend to focus on Iran as a so... more Studies of Mesopotamia's relations with Iran in the earlier periods tend to focus on Iran as a source of raw materials (metals, stones), and on the political relationship between various Mesopotamian and Elamite dynasties. During the first millennium the situation is somewhat different. We hear much less about raw materials from Iran that reached Mesopotamia and far more about the military campaigns undertaken by the Assyrian kings and their armies in northwestern and central-western Iran in the ninth and eight centuries BC and against southwestern Iran in the seventh century BC. Information about other forms of interaction is much scarcer in the sources though it is clear, from the analysis of archaeological finds in western Iran, that Assyria's influence went beyond military domination. From the late sixth century, for about two centuries, Iran and Mesopotamia were joined under the umbrella of the Achaemenid Persian empire and this necessarily altered their relationship, imposing a period of peace and increased security on the region. This was interrupted by the wars of the Successors following Alexander's conquest of Western and Central Asia, though most of Iran and Mesopotamia initially fell under Seleucid control. Gradually, the Iranian satrapies asserted and achieved their independence and eventually Media, Hyrcania, Parthia and Persis became separated from the Mesopotamian-based eastern Seleucids. Following an anarchic period in the second century BC the unity that had prevailed in Achaemenid times was largely restored with the rise of the Arsacid dynasty which, after conquering southwestern Iran and subduing the Elamites (Elymaeans), established its power base at the old Seleucid capital of Seleucia-on-the-Tigris in northern Babylonia.
JONDISHAPOUR Journal (Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz), 2020
[English]: Translation of one of the most important and valuable articles of Professor Potts into... more [English]: Translation of one of the most important and valuable articles of Professor Potts into Persian for use by Persian language researchers. . [Persian]: ترجمه یکی از مقالات مهم و ارزشمند پروفسور پاتس به زبان فارسی برای استفاده پژوهشگران فارسی زبان. . [English title]: Elamites and Kassites in the Persian Gulf. . [Persian title]: ایران ساسانی و مرزهای شمال شرقی آن: جنگ، دفاع و روابط دیپلماتیک.
Research In History Journal (Ferdowsi University of Mashhad), 2020
[English]: Translation of one of the most important and valuable articles of Professor Potts into... more [English]: Translation of one of the most important and valuable articles of Professor Potts into Persian for use by Persian language researchers. . [Persian]: ترجمه یکی از مقالات مهم و ارزشمند پروفسور پاتس به زبان فارسی برای استفاده پژوهشگران فارسی زبان. . [English title]: Elamites and Kassites in the Persian Gulf. . [Persian title]: ایلامی ها و کاسی ها در خلیج فارس.
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Books by D.T. Potts
From the fourteenth century onward, the island was an important dependency of the Kingdom of Hormuz, often providing drinking water to Hormuz. The island remained critical as a source of water and foodstuffs for the Portuguese, beginning in the early-sixteenth century. Throughout the seventeenth century, Qeshm remained a bone of contention between Portugal, the Dutch and the English East India Companies. Later, it was a coveted tile in the mosaic of Persian Gulf domination aspired to by the Soltans of Oman, despite the pretensions of the Qajar court. The natural resources of Qeshm include salt, the purest in the Persian Gulf, naphtha, and firewood. From Nader Shah’s naval ambitions to the commercial competition of the early-twentieth century, Qeshm features in innumerable mini-crises, both local and international. In 1935 the British abandoned their coaling station on the island at the insistence of Reza Shah.
Qeshm’s history stands in stark contrast to the popular image of this staid, somewhat sleepy island. This book, brilliantly researched by two of the foremost scholars of Iranian history, is essential reading for anyone interested in a region whose strategic, political, economic and financial importance continues to grow.
Foreword xi
The Island 1 Description 1 Name 4 Earthquakes 6
Population and Settlements 9 The Towns 15 Brukht 16 Laft 17 Qeshm Town 23 Basidu 29
The Economy 51 Trade 56
Natural Resources 74 Salt 74 Sulfur and Red Oxide 82 Sponges 85 Oil Drilling 86 Banishment or Internal Exile 92
History and Administration 95 Earliest history 95 Hormuz Kingdom 102 Qeshm Debacle and Fall of Hormuz (1621) 107
Safavid Period 115 Attack on Qeshm 118 Gulf Arabs Rivalry 124 Portuguese intermezzo 132 EIC and Afghan troubles 137
Afsharid Period 143 Banu Ma`in, Molla Ali Shah and Qawasem Fighting Over Qeshm
155 Zand Period 177 The Persian-Omani Conflict 182
Omani Period 187 The Omani claim to Qeshm 205 Omani rule challenged 215
Qajar Period 222
Pahlavi Period 233
Modern Institutions 235 Customs 235 Police 241 Gendarmerie 243 Education 244 PTT 244 Medical Situation 245 The Basidu Affair 249
Appendix I 279 Earthquake on Qeshm 1884 279
Appendix II 291 Biography of Mo`in al-Tojjar 291
Appendix III 295 Report on the salt caves and mines and trade in salt 295
Appendix Iv 299 Diary of a Journey through the Districts of Minow, Shamil, and Kow Gunow During the Month of August, 1873 299
Bibliography 321
Index 347
D.T. Potts is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University. His lifelong fascination with and love of Iranian history and archaeology began with his first visit to Iran in 1973 and has led him to work on a wide range of topics ranging in time from prehistory to the modern era. He is the author of The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State (Cambridge, 1999, 2nd ed. 2016) and Nomadism in Iran: From Antiquity to the Modern Era (Oxford, 2014). He was also the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran (Oxford, 2013) and Agreeable News from Persia: Iran in the Colonial and early Republican American Press, 1712-1848 (Springer, 2022).
In the eighteenth century, the Dutch made the island their center of trade in the Persian Gulf, and by the nineteenth century the island was dubbed “the most important strategic point in the Persian Gulf,” reason why the British occupied it twice. Although by 1900 the island had lost its strategic importance, it acquired it again after the 1950s, when the National Iranian Oil Company decided to make Khark its main terminal for the export of crude oil. Later, chemical factories were added to the island’s economic make-up. As a result, Khark’s name is now better known around the world than it was ever previously, but the history has remained untold. This book tells the whole story, from the early archeological evidence and the Islamic and Safavid periods, to the Dutch projects in the eighteenth century and the British in the nineteenth century. And in the end, how the traditional way of life ended and industrialization began.
From the fourteenth century onward, the island was an important dependency of the Kingdom of Hormuz, often providing drinking water to Hormuz. The island remained critical as a source of water and foodstuffs for the Portuguese, beginning in the early-sixteenth century. Throughout the seventeenth century, Qeshm remained a bone of contention between Portugal, the Dutch and the English East India Companies. Later, it was a coveted tile in the mosaic of Persian Gulf domination aspired to by the Soltans of Oman, despite the pretensions of the Qajar court. The natural resources of Qeshm include salt, the purest in the Persian Gulf, naphtha, and firewood. From Nader Shah’s naval ambitions to the commercial competition of the early-twentieth century, Qeshm features in innumerable mini-crises, both local and international. In 1935 the British abandoned their coaling station on the island at the insistence of Reza Shah.
Qeshm’s history stands in stark contrast to the popular image of this staid, somewhat sleepy island. This book, brilliantly researched by two of the foremost scholars of Iranian history, is essential reading for anyone interested in a region whose strategic, political, economic and financial importance continues to grow.
Foreword xi
The Island 1 Description 1 Name 4 Earthquakes 6
Population and Settlements 9 The Towns 15 Brukht 16 Laft 17 Qeshm Town 23 Basidu 29
The Economy 51 Trade 56
Natural Resources 74 Salt 74 Sulfur and Red Oxide 82 Sponges 85 Oil Drilling 86 Banishment or Internal Exile 92
History and Administration 95 Earliest history 95 Hormuz Kingdom 102 Qeshm Debacle and Fall of Hormuz (1621) 107
Safavid Period 115 Attack on Qeshm 118 Gulf Arabs Rivalry 124 Portuguese intermezzo 132 EIC and Afghan troubles 137
Afsharid Period 143 Banu Ma`in, Molla Ali Shah and Qawasem Fighting Over Qeshm
155 Zand Period 177 The Persian-Omani Conflict 182
Omani Period 187 The Omani claim to Qeshm 205 Omani rule challenged 215
Qajar Period 222
Pahlavi Period 233
Modern Institutions 235 Customs 235 Police 241 Gendarmerie 243 Education 244 PTT 244 Medical Situation 245 The Basidu Affair 249
Appendix I 279 Earthquake on Qeshm 1884 279
Appendix II 291 Biography of Mo`in al-Tojjar 291
Appendix III 295 Report on the salt caves and mines and trade in salt 295
Appendix Iv 299 Diary of a Journey through the Districts of Minow, Shamil, and Kow Gunow During the Month of August, 1873 299
Bibliography 321
Index 347
D.T. Potts is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University. His lifelong fascination with and love of Iranian history and archaeology began with his first visit to Iran in 1973 and has led him to work on a wide range of topics ranging in time from prehistory to the modern era. He is the author of The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State (Cambridge, 1999, 2nd ed. 2016) and Nomadism in Iran: From Antiquity to the Modern Era (Oxford, 2014). He was also the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran (Oxford, 2013) and Agreeable News from Persia: Iran in the Colonial and early Republican American Press, 1712-1848 (Springer, 2022).
In the eighteenth century, the Dutch made the island their center of trade in the Persian Gulf, and by the nineteenth century the island was dubbed “the most important strategic point in the Persian Gulf,” reason why the British occupied it twice. Although by 1900 the island had lost its strategic importance, it acquired it again after the 1950s, when the National Iranian Oil Company decided to make Khark its main terminal for the export of crude oil. Later, chemical factories were added to the island’s economic make-up. As a result, Khark’s name is now better known around the world than it was ever previously, but the history has remained untold. This book tells the whole story, from the early archeological evidence and the Islamic and Safavid periods, to the Dutch projects in the eighteenth century and the British in the nineteenth century. And in the end, how the traditional way of life ended and industrialization began.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GLvcScS4hE
About the speaker:
D.T. Potts is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University. His lifelong fascination with and love of Iranian history and archaeology began with his first visit to Iran in 1973 and has led him to work on a wide range of topics ranging in time from prehistory to the modern era. His most recent books are Persia Portrayed: Envoys to the West, 1600-1842 (Mage, 2022), A Nook in the Temple of Fame: French Military Officers in Persian Service, 1806-1827 (Mage, 2023) and Agreeable News from Persia: Iran in the Colonial and early Republican American Press, 1712-1848 (Springer, 2022). He received his AB (1975) and PhD (1980) at Harvard, and is a Consulting Editor for the Encyclopaedia Iranica, a Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute and ISMEO (Associazione Internazionale di Studi sul Mediterraneo e l’Oriente) and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.
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[Persian]: ترجمه یکی از مقالات مهم و ارزشمند پروفسور پاتس به زبان فارسی برای استفاده پژوهشگران فارسی زبان.
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[English title]: Elamites and Kassites in the Persian Gulf.
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[Persian title]: ایران ساسانی و مرزهای شمال شرقی آن: جنگ، دفاع و روابط دیپلماتیک.
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[Persian]: ترجمه یکی از مقالات مهم و ارزشمند پروفسور پاتس به زبان فارسی برای استفاده پژوهشگران فارسی زبان.
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[English title]: Elamites and Kassites in the Persian Gulf.
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[Persian title]: ایلامی ها و کاسی ها در خلیج فارس.