The Ottoman-Safavid war of 1578–1590 marked the first time the Caucasus emerged as a primary battleground in the struggle between the Ottomans, Iran, and Russia. The war’s first campaign, led by Lala Muṣṭafā Paşa in Shirvan, also saw the rise of Özdemiroġlu ʿOs̱mān Paşa, commander of the Ottoman troops that wintered in Daghestan in 1578–1579. This campaign has been extensively recounted in contemporary chronicles, particularly in ġazavātnāme such as Muṣṭafā ʿĀlī’s Nuṣretnāme (c. 1584) and Āṣafī Dāl Meḥmed Çelebi’s Şecāʿatnāme (c. 1586–1587), both authored by high-ranking officials who took part in the campaign. However, a different perspective emerges when one considers the experiences of rank-and-file soldiers, voiceless yet central actors in the events chronicled in these narratives. This study focuses on the so-called Tārīḫ-i ʿOs̱mān Paşa, a war memoir composed in Turkish between 1580–1584 by Ebūbekir b. ʿAbdullāh, a cavalryman in the Ottoman army.

In addition to adopting a more prosaic tone than his prestigious contemporaries, Ebūbekir also gives prominence to his personal experiences and observations, particularly when recounting his one-year stay in the region of Derbent. In this passage, he describes the peoples of Daghestan and briefly discusses their history, sociopolitical organization, beliefs, and customs. In this article, I present a translation and analysis of this passage of the book. In introducing this text to an English-speaking audience, this work contributes to our historical understanding of Daghestan and the Caucasus and provides valuable material for studying Ottoman mentalities, moving beyond the authorized narratives of state-employed chroniclers.

This article presents an examination of the utilization of a conceptual metaphor that maps the art of poetry onto the craft of lapidary in the works of Niẓāmī Ganjavī (1141–1209), a prominent Persian poet known for his innovative use of poetic imageries and literary devices. This conceptual metaphor, as defined in cognitive linguistics, originates from the Persian cultural context and serves as a tangible way for Niẓāmī to express his abstract ideas regarding poetry’s beauty, elegance, and worth. This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the efficacy of this prevalent metaphorical framework in explicating the art of poetry and its related subjects through close reading and textual analysis of excerpts from Niẓāmī’s works, in which this metaphor operates as an underlying element. Additionally, this examination illuminates some aspects of Niẓāmī’s distinctive literary style. More broadly, relying on Niẓāmī’s poetry, this article delivers a perspective on the literary conventions of medieval Iranian courts, particularly with regard to the perception of poetry and the societal status of those who engaged in poetic production.

This article reframes the traditional view of Persian rhetoric as merely a derivative of Arabic tradition by examining its development through four key manuals: Muhammad ibn ʿUmar Rādūyānī’s Tarjumān al-Balāgha, Rashīd al-Dīn Vatvāt’s Hadāʾiq al-Sihr, Shams-i Qays-i Rāzī’s al-Muʿjam, and Sayf-i Jām-i Hiravī’s Jāmiʿ al-Sanāyiʿ. It is an exploration of the historical and cultural contexts in which these works were composed, highlighting how Persian rhetoricians adapted and reshaped Arabic models as part of a broader movement toward literary autonomy. By foregrounding these dynamics, the article offers a fresh perspective on the reciprocal relationship between Arabic and Persian rhetorical traditions. Particular attention is given to Tarjumān al-Balāgha as a seminal effort to Persianize rhetorical tradition, in which Rādūyānī adapts and reconfigures Arabic concepts to lay the groundwork for a distinct Persian literary identity, and to Jāmiʿ al-Sanāyiʿ, which subsequently consolidates this project into a coherent and comprehensive Persian framework. Together, these works mark pivotal moments in the trajectory of Persian rhetorical thought and reflect broader cultural and intellectual currents in the medieval Islamicate world.

The first decade after the end of revolutionary events in Gilan (1920–21) was a period of active attempts by the Bolsheviks, Communist International, and Communist Party of Iran to gain a solid social foothold in Iran. This article, based mainly on Russian archival sources, focuses on the dynamics of the Communist International and Communist Party of Iran guidelines, attempts and features of their implementation, and the relationship between Iranian communists and the Bolshevik and Communist International leadership. This study demonstrates that the main Red efforts between 1922–25 aimed at building an inter-class coalition, in which cooperation with Reza Khan became only a part of these broader efforts. Their failure led the Reds to return to a previously tested course of fomenting agrarian revolution in Iran and repeated fiascos. Throughout this period, the Communist Party of Iran’s leadership did not simply execute directives but instead took an active role in the decision-making process, involved the Bolsheviks in internal party struggle, and challenged high-ranking functionaries of the Communist International.

The present article aims to assess the relationship between the mass exodus of Iranian Christians and the Hispanic world, widening the analytical lens on early 20th-century Iranian migrations. Specifically, the study draws parallels between the humanitarian efforts of the Spanish diplomats during the Turkish occupation of northwestern Persia in 1918 and the subsequent arrival and settlement of Assyrians and Armenians in Argentina in the early decades of the twentieth century. Although numerous publications address the early Iranian diaspora and Iran during the World War I, little scholarly work examines Spain’s humanitarian role in this context or the history of the Iranian diaspora in Latin America. This finding underscores the notion that, in addition to the prominent international actors that have historically been the focus of scholarly inquiry—namely, the United States, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Russia—smaller countries also played a significant role in the events that transpired in Iran during those years. Furthermore, this study highlights the Iranian diaspora’s expansion to distant regions, such as Argentina, which has not been extensively researched in the context of Iranian studies. This comprehensive approach serves to broaden our understanding of the global history of Iran in the early twentieth century.

This article examines “Salām Farmāndeh” as a case study of soruds (state-sponsored songs produced to advance ideological narratives and maintain cultural hegemony). The article argues that “Salām Farmāndeh” represents a significant shift in the Islamic Republic’s cultural strategy: blending religious themes, nationalist sentiment, and popular music elements to mobilize younger generations, particularly Generations A and Z. Through qualitative analysis of the song’s musical structure, lyrical content, and state-led promotional campaigns, the article demonstrates how “Salām Farmāndeh” operates as an ideological state apparatus (ISA)—a tool for reinforcing loyalty to the principles of velāyat-e faqīh (guardianship of the Islamic jurist) and the Islamic Republic’s ideological foundations. Guided by Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony and Althusser’s concept of ISAs, this study reveals how contemporary soruds such as “Salām Farmāndeh” reflect the regime’s adaptation of propaganda techniques to secure consent, not merely through coercion, but via emotional, cultural, and generational appeal. The findings contribute to broader discussions on the intersection of music, power, and ideological reproduction in modern Iran.

The war of 1578–1590 marked a turning point in Ottoman-Safavid relations. It followed thirty-three years of peace and ushered in over half a century of nearly continuous crisis and bloodshed. Militarily, the conflict was centered primarily in the Caucasus, where the Ottomans achieved significant territorial gains, formalized in the Treaty of Constantinople (1590). This war is among the better documented of the Ottoman-Safavid conflicts thanks to a wealth of contemporary sources, particularly from the Ottoman side. However, the lack of contemporary Safavid sources, as well as the neglect of local and global perspectives, has led to a biased and partial understanding, which the present special section seeks to address. Two of this section’s articles focus on the Caucasus campaign of 1578–1579, emphasizing Ottoman interactions with local populations and the daily experiences of ordinary soldiers (Alsancakli and Stevens). Two other articles examine Safavid relations with Russia and the Italian states in the context of a potential anti-Ottoman alliance (Rybar and Trentacoste). All four contributions are based on the presentation and publication or translation of previously unknown or overlooked primary sources.

This study investigates the transnational mobility of Iranian women pursuing higher education in South Korea, focusing on their motivations, adaptation, and postgraduation trajectories. Drawing on the influence of the Korean Wave since the 2000s, it examines how popular culture, gender constraints in Iran, and migration aspirations intersect. Despite their initial attraction to Korea’s global image, many face cultural barriers, discrimination, and restrictive visa systems that limit settlement opportunities. Consequently, some seek “onward migration” to third countries such as Canada or Germany. By situating these experiences within broader Iranian migration dynamics, the study highlights gendered dimensions of educational migration and the policy limitations shaping Iranian students’ transnational mobility.

The idea of decentering the human from our understanding of the world is under discussion across the globe. Behind this lies the question of anthropocentrism and the social sciences formed around it. In what follows, I outline what is involved in decentering humans and how this process is linked to materiality. This is not a new issue: an extensive tradition of materialist critiques of anthropocentrism stretches from eleventh-century Iran to sixteenth-century Rome, post-war Germany, and Indigenous knowledges passed down across generations. We need to access these histories and understand how they have interacted with, pushed back against, and been reconfigured by colonialism and empire. Dealing with such matters raises conceptual problems about power and agency, structure and change, and nature and the social. But this work also leads to questions about global knowledge production, including who gets to theorize, who is theorized, and how different regions—such as Iran—are rendered intelligible. While there is no single blueprint for change, there is scope for invention and experiment. In this article, I contribute to the nexus of new materialism, postcolonialism, and Iranian studies by exploring these questions and providing an overview of the special issue: “Materiality in Iran.”

The Shast-Sheshi festival is held annually in the village of Siān, beginning on the sixty-sixth day after Nowruz. This timing matches the ancient Khordadgan festival, celebrated on the sixth day of the month of Khordad, dedicated to the Zoroastrian goddess Khordad. The central rite of Shast-Sheshi was immersion in the now-dry Shāh Chashme spring. Other rites include visits to nearby sacred sites linked to Khordad, the female guardian of water. The festival, drawing thousands from nearby settlements, lasts ten days and features a seasonal fair. Although centered at a Shia shrine complex, it remains a largely secular event. Jarquyeh uniquely preserves this ancient Iranian tradition and shows how forgotten myth can resurface in an unexpected place and time.

This article examines previously overlooked Italian archival sources concerning the Ottoman-Safavid wars, thereby broadening the study of European knowledge of Safavid Iran beyond the well-known Venetian and Roman context. Focusing on documents preserved in the State Archives of Florence and Mantua, it analyses a Tuscan report on the origin of the 1578-90 conflict and a Mantuan account of the Battle of Sufiyan (1605). These records, compared with modern historiography, reveal the remarkable accuracy and scope of Italian ‘intelligence’ networks. The study highlights the significance of Italian diplomatic, mercantile, and informational infrastructures in shaping early modern Europe’s understanding of Safavid Iran.

This article examines MS Török O. 176 from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Vambery Collection, Tevārīḫ-i Futuḥ-i Şirvan, an anonymously authored manuscript of the Ottoman campaign in the Caucasus in 1578. The text under study emphasizes the importance of leadership and memorializes the commanders of the campaign, showing how an Ottoman author presented proper military leadership, with an emphasis on rigid adherence to authority. The factional context of the chronicle also is analyzed, as the author indirectly criticizes the campaign leaders’ rivals. Finally, consideration is given to the reason the text was copied in 1722–23, at a time when the Ottoman Empire was competing with Russia in the Caucasus shortly after the collapse of the Safavid dynasty.

In this article, we examine Iran’s 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, coining the term “culture revolution” to underline this movement’s distinctive characteristic. While Iran’s “cultural revolution” (1981–83) forcefully usurped the country’s public, educational, and artistic sphere, the “culture revolution” decisively ended the regime’s ideological domination of the public sphere. We explain how culture, using its innate resources of language, performativity, resignification, free play, and the collective trauma process, successfully reclaimed the autonomy of the cultural sphere and the physical and moral integrity of its citizens. We examine the dynamic and dialectical interactions of Iranians in the country, those in the diaspora, and their role in bringing about Iran’s “culture revolution.”

This study examines how Goli Taraghi’s short stories, “The Grandma’s Home” and “The Flowers of Shiraz,” portray young female protagonists navigating mid-20th-century Tehran as flâneuses (female urban flâneurs). Applying Western theories of flânerie, spectatorship, and gendered space to Persian literature, this article argues that Taraghi’s characters leverage consumer culture, cinema outings, and sensory exploration to negotiate opportunities offered by a modernity structured by traditional gender norms. By repurposing socially sanctioned activities (shopping and ballet classes) for unsanctioned roaming, observation, and desire, these girls transform streets, shops, and cinemas into sites of negotiated feminine subjectivity. Their embodied flânerie—marked by defiant gazes, political engagement, and public self-fashioning—subtly challenges the Pahlavi state’s “modern woman” ideal, offering a nuanced perspective on theoretical understandings of the Iranian flâneuse. The article thus repositions Taraghi’s heroines as agents of everyday resistance to norms, definitions and expectations, recalibrating urban modernity through small, defiant acts in contested public spaces.

This study explores diplomatic negotiations that took place between the Safavids, Rurikids, and Habsburgs during the last years of the Ottoman-Safavid War (1578–1590). The primary objective of these negotiations was to establish an anti-Ottoman alliance, with each participating party pursuing its own foreign policy interests. Drawing on various documents, it can be argued that the initiative for this new round of Safavid-Rurikids-Habsburg diplomacy originated from Shāh Muḥammad Khudābanda. In 1586, the shah dispatched envoy Hādī Beg to Moscow, seeking Russia’s assistance in countering the Ottomans. Subsequently, diplomatic negotiations between the three parties ensued. Through a comprehensive analysis of both archival and published documents, this article aims to uncover and examine the goals and attitudes of all negotiating parties around the formation of an anti-Ottoman alliance by the late 1580s.

This ethnographic study reassesses the role of opium in Iran’s economic landscape, challenging dominant narratives that frame opium users as unproductive and burdensome. Based on fieldwork conducted between 2010 and 2018 in the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (PSEEZ), the research examines how construction workers use opium to endure and enhance productivity under extreme environmental and economic pressures. It critiques a century-long anti-opium discourse—rooted in the Iranian Constitutional Movement (1905–1911) and perpetuated through shifting regimes of criminalization and medicalization—that consistently associates opium use with economic idleness. Through autoethnographic reflection and archival analysis, the article first outlines this dominant discourse, then constructs a counternarrative in which laborers deliberately integrate opium into their daily practices to sustain bodily performance and contribute to Iran’s petroindustrial expansion. Described as “narco-nomad science,” this practice enables the formation of resilient working bodies and repositions opium as an active agent within circuits of capitalist production. Drawing on actor-network theory and assemblage thinking, the study foregrounds the material agency of opium. It offers new analytical frameworks for understanding its role in labor, infrastructure, and the political economy of the PSEEZ.