Documents for "Iranian History: Biographies":

• Abbas I (Abbas the Great) äbäs´, ăbäs´, ăb´es , 1557-1629, shah of Persia (1587-1628), of the Safavid dynasty. In 1597 he ended the raids of the Uzbeks, and subsequently (1603-23) he conquered extensive territories from the Turks. He maintained diplomatic contacts with Europe, and with English aid...

• Abu Muslim c.728-755, Persian leader of the Abbasid revolution. By political and religious agitation he raised (747) the black banners of the Abbasids against the ruling Umayyad family. In 749 he established...

• Aga Muhammad Khan or Agha Muhammad Khan , 1742-97, shah of Persia, founder of the Qajar dynasty. He was emasculated by family enemies at the age of five. He was vigorous and able, but his cruelty is proverbial. In 1794, he captured and...

• Agha Muhammad Khan see Aga Muhammad Khan.

• Ahmad Mirza 1898-1930, shah of Persia (1909-25), son of Muhammad Ali. The last of the Qajar dynasty, he came to power as a result of a coup against his father. A regent initially ruled for him. A weak figure, Ahmad was overthrown in 1921 in a military coup by Reza...

• Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud 1956-, Iranian politician. From a humble background, he supported the Islamic revolution (1979) while working toward his civil engineering doctorate and was a founder of the student union that...

• Alp Arslan 1029-72, Seljuk sultan of Persia (1063-72). In 1065 he led the Seljuks in an invasion of Armenia and Georgia and in 1066 attacked the Byzantine Empire. The success of his campaign was crowned...

• Ardashir I [another form of Artaxerxes], d. 240, king of Persia (226?-240). He overthrew the last Parthian king, Artabanus IV, entered Ctesiphon, and reunited Persia out of the confusion of Seleucid decline...

• Ardashir II king of Persia (379-83), of the Sassanid , or Sassanian, dynasty. A provincial governor under Shapur II , he succeeded to the throne. He earned popularity by remitting taxes, but his rule was weak,...

• Fath Ali Shah also spelled Feth Ali Shah, 1762-1834, shah of Persia (1797-1834), nephew and successor of Aga Muhammad Khan , founder of the Qajar dynasty. Most of his reign was spent in internal and external warfare. He managed to maintain himself against other claimants to the throne but was not so fortunate in his...

• Feth Ali Shah see Fath Ali Shah.

• Hoseyn For names spelled thus, use Husayn , Husein , or Hussein.

• Hoveida, Amir Abbas 1919-79, Iranian political leader, prime minister of Iran (1965-77). After serving (1958-64) with the National Iranian Oil Company, he became (1964) minister of finance in the liberal government...

• Ismail 1486-1524, shah of Persia (1502-24), founder of the Safavid dynasty. He restored Persia to the position of a sovereign state for the first time since the Arab invasion of Persia. Ismail established...

• Karim Khan d. 1779, ruler of Persia (1750-79), founder of the Zand dynasty. He emerged victorious from a contest for power and ruled under the title Vakil [representative]. His rule was one of tranquility,...

• Khamenei, Ali (Mohammad Ali Hoseyn Khamenei), 1939-, Iranian religious and political leader, b. Mashhad. A Shiite Islamic cleric who was the son of an ayatollah, Khamenei began his religious studies at a young...

• Khatami, Mohammad 1943-, Iranian religious and political leader. From a prominent clerical family, Khatami opposed the regime of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi in the 1960s and 70s, and in 1978 he headed the Islamic Center in Hamburg, Germany. After the shah's fall (1979), he returned to Iran and was elected to the national assembly, becoming minister of...

• Khomeini, Ayatollah Ruhollah 1900-1989, Iranian Shiite religious leader. Educated in Islam at home and in theological schools, in the 1950s he was designated ayatollah, a supreme religious leader, in the Iranian Shiite community. Khomeini's criticisms of Reza Shah Pahlevi led to his exile in 1964. Settling in Iraq, Khomeini continued his outspoken denunciations, developing a strong religious and political following abroad, until forced to leave (1978) by Saddam Hussein ; he then moved to France. Following the revolution that deposed Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi , Khomeini returned triumphantly to Iran in 1979, declared an Islamic republic, and began to exercise ultimate authority in the nation. His conservative ideology opposed pro-Western tendencies...

• Khosrow I (Khosrow Anüshirvan) , d. 579, king of Persia (531-79), greatest of the Sassanid or Sassanian monarchs. He is also known as Chosroes I or Khosru I. He succeeded his father, Kavadh I, but before becoming king, Khosrow...

• Khosrow II (Khosrow Parviz) , d. 628, king of Persia of the Sassanid, or Sassanian, dynasty; grandson of Khosrow I. He is also called Chosroes II or Khosru II. He succeeded his father Hormizd, or Hormoz, in 590, but he was...

• Khosru For Persian rulers thus named, use Khosrow.

• Muhammad Ali 1872-1925, shah of Persia (1906-9), son of Muzaffar ad-Din Shah, of the Qajar dynasty. Muhammad Ali, who was an opponent of constitutional government, began to rule at a critical period just after the constitution of 1906 had been granted. His struggle...

• Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi 1919-80, shah of Iran (1941-79). Educated in Switzerland, he returned (1935) to Iran to attend the military academy in Tehran. He ascended the throne in 1941 after his father, Reza Shah Pahlevi , was suspected of collaboration with the Germans and was deposed by British and Soviet troops. He narrowly escaped assassination (1949) by a member of the leftist Tudeh party, and in 1953 he...

• Mussadegh, Muhammad 1880-1967, Iranian political leader, prime minister of Iran (1951-53). He held a variety of government posts (1914-25) but retired to private life in protest against the shah's assumption of...

• Muzaffar ad-Din 1853-1907, shah of Persia (1896-1907), son of Nasir ad-Din. A weak ruler, he borrowed money from Russia and failed to oppose the encroachments of Russia and Great Britain on Persian sovereignty. Much disaffection arose among the people. After the...

• Nader Shah see 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...

• Nasir ad-Din 1831?-1896, shah of Persia (1848-96). He and his able vizier, Mirza Taqi Khan, were responsible for shaking Persia from a long period of inertia. He traveled extensively in Europe and brought back...

• Nizam al-Mulk c.1018-92, vizier (1063-92) under two Seljuk (see Turks ) sultans. Of Persian descent, he was early educated in administration, serving the Ghaznavids sultans. By 1059 he was chief administrator of Khorasan; in 1063 the Seljuks made him their vizier...

• Pahlevi see Reza Shah Pahlevi ; Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi.

• Rafsanjani, Hashemi (Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani) , 1934-, Iranian religious and political leader, president of Iran (1989-97). A Shiite clergyman and supporter of Ayotallah Khomeini , Rafsanjani was imprisoned several times during the 1960s and 70s for his political activities. After the ouster of the Shah (see Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi ), Rafsanjani helped found the Islamic Republican party and built his political power base as speaker of the parliament (1980-89). From 1988 to 1989 he was also acting commander in chief of the...

• Reza Shah Pahlevi 1877-1944, shah of Iran (1925-41). He began his career as an army officer and gained a reputation for great valor and leadership. He headed a coup in 1921 and became prime minister of the new...

• Riza Shah Pahlevi see Reza Shah Pahlevi.

• Safavid Iranian dynasty (1499-1736), that established Shiite Islam in Iran as an official state religion. The Safavid state provided both the territorial and societal foundations of modern Iran. Founded...

• Saffarid a dynasty of Sistan that flourished in the 9th cent., ruling (867-1495) in E Persia. Its founder, Yaqub ibn Layth, d. 879?, was a coppersmith who raised an army during a time of unrest and instability, conquering his native province of Sistan by 867. A few years later, he had expanded his rule to include...

• Samanid Muslim Persian dynasty that ruled (819-1005) in Khorasan and Transoxiana as vassals of the Abbasids ; founded by Saman-Khuda, of old Persian aristocracy. The Samanids were one of the first purely indigenous dynasties to rule in Persia following the Muslim Arab conquest. Not until the reign...

• Sapor see Shapur I , Shapur II , Shapur III.

• Sasanid see Sassanid.

• Sassanid   Sasanid , or Sassanian , last dynasty of native rulers to reign in Persia before the Arab conquest. The period of their dominion extended from c.AD 224, when the Parthians were overthrown and the capital, Ctesiphon , was taken, until c.640, when the country fell under the power of the Arabs. The last Sassanian king died a fugitive in 651, but he had been forced to yield Ctesiphon to the Arabs in 636. Under the...

• Shapur I or Sapor I , d.272, king of Persia (241-72), son and successor of Ardashir I, of the Sassanid or Sassanian dynasty. He was an able warrior king. Although he was defeated by the Roman emperor, Gordian III, in...

• Shapur II or Sapor II, 310-79, king of Persia (310-79), of the Sassanid, or Sassanian, dynasty. He was the posthumous son of Hormuz II and therefore was born king. His long reign was marked by great military success...

• Shapur III or Sapor III, d. 388, king of Persia (383-88), of the Sassanid, or Sassanian, dynasty; son of Shapur II; successor of his uncle, Ardashir II. He made a new attempt to settle the long-lasting dispute with Rome...

• Sultan Husayn d. 1729, Safavid shah of Persia (1694-1722). A weak and superstitious man, Shah Sultan Husayn was surrounded by astrologers and fanatics and was able to offer little opposition to the uprising of...

• Tahmasp 1514-76, shah of Persia (1524-76), son and successor of Ismail and the second of the Safavid dynasty. He successfully repulsed persistent invasions by the Uzbeks. Sulayman I also invaded Persia, continuing the wars between Ottomans and Persians commenced by...

• Tahmasp Kuli Khan see Nadir Shah.

• Tughril Beg 990-1063, founder of the Seljuk Turk dynasty ruling (11th-14th cent.) parts of Anatolia, Iraq, Persia, and Syria. He was early successful in conquests with his brother, who eventually governed Khorasan...