Introduction and Background: Despite the long history of urbanization in Iran, urbanization trend in mountainous areas such as Kohgiluyeh region has not received considerable attention yet. According to historical sources, Kohgiluyeh region during the Islamic period has witnessed the emergence of the city of Ziz in the geographical area between Arjan and Semirom. Aims: The present research aims...

Abstract In this article, by comparing the historical reports of the book Estirār al-Emām with the reports of non-Ismaili sources, an attempt is made to examine and analyze the validity of this book as a historiographical source in reconstructing the history of the Ismailis before 297 AH. The results show that a critical reference to Ismaili works along with non-Ismaili sources can be an impor...

Though it is widely assumed that Sunni Islam does not have an equivalent to the Christian ecclesiastical hierarchy, Shii groups such as the Medieval Ismailis did have an organised teaching, spiritual, and temporal hierarchy. Evidence gathered from primary sources shows that this Ismaili 'ecclesiastical' hierarchy is strictly intertwined with the Ismaili interpretation of Neoplatonic cosmology a...