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Barmakids
Barmakids or Barmecides , Persian-descended religious family from Khorasan . They served as viziers to the Abbasid caliphs in the 8th cent. Khalid ibn Barmak, d. 782?, supported the revolution that brought about Abbasid rule. He was given certain ministerial powers, such as tax collecting a...
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Ahmad Shah
Ahmad Shah , c.1723-1773, Afghan ruler (1747-73), founder of the Durani dynasty. His success in commanding Afghan forces in India for Nadir Shah of Iran won him the rule of Afghanistan on Nadir's death (1747). He twice (1756, 1760) occupied and sacked Delhi, the capital of the Mughal empire. He co...
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Mahmud of Ghazna
Mahmud of Ghazna , 971?-1030, Afghan emperor and conqueror. He defeated (c.999) his elder brother to gain control of Khorasan (in Iran) and of Afghanistan. In his raids against the states of N India, Mahmud, a staunch Muslim, destroyed Hindu temples, forced conversions to Islam, and carried off boot...
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Zoroaster
Zoroaster , c.628 BC-c.551 BC, religious teacher and prophet of ancient Persia , founder of Zoroastrianism . Zoroaster, the name by which he is ordinarily known, is derived from the Greek form of Zarathushtra (or Zarathustra) [camel handler?], his Persian name. Zoroaster is believed to have been b...
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al- Ghazali
al- Ghazali , 1058-1111, Islamic theologian, philosopher, and mystic. He was born at Tus in Khorasan, of Persian origin. He is considered the greatest theologian in Islam. Al-Ghazali was appointed professor at Baghdad in 1091, but following a spiritual crisis in 1095 he abandoned his career to becom...
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Firdausi
Firdausi or Ferdowsi , c.940-1020, principal Persian poet, author of the Shah Namah [the book of kings], the great Persian epic. His original name was Abul Kasim Mansur; he is thought to have been born of a yeoman family of Khorasan. He received a thorough education in Muslim learning and in t...
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Mashhad
Mashhad , city (1991 pop. 1,759,155), capital of Razavi Khorasan prov., NE Iran. It is an industrial and trade center and a transportation hub. Manufactures include carpets, textiles, and processed foods. Mashhad is a religious center visited annually by large numbers of Muslim pilgrims. Formerly kn...
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Parthia
Parthia , ancient country of Asia, SE of the Caspian Sea. In its narrowest limits it consisted of a mountainous region intersected with fertile valleys, lying S of Hyrcania and corresponding roughly to the modern Iranian province of Khorasan. It was included in the Assyrian and Persian empires, the ...
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Nadir Shah
Nadir Shah or Nader Shah , 1688-1747, shah of Iran (1736-47), sometimes considered the last of the great Asian conquerors. He was a member of the Afshar tribe. Although taken prisoner by the Uzbeks while he was still a child, he escaped and entered the service of the governor of Khorasan. There ...
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Samarkand
Samarkand , city (1991 pop. 395,000), capital of Samarkand region, in Uzbekistan, on the Trans-Caspian RR. It is one of the oldest existing cities in the world and the oldest of Central Asia. At the time of its greatest splendor medieval Samarkand was a fabulous city of palaces and gardens, with pav...
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