Article ID: CBB927089378

Celestial and mythical origins of the citadel of Bukhara (2021)

unapi

Narshakhī's The History of Bukhara, an account from the tenth century AD that has been narrated as a mythical and strange story about the formation of the citadel of Bukhara, has received scanty scholarly attention. This study addresses some of the unknown semantic and symbolic origins of Iranian citadels and fortresses through an analysis of documented legends and other classical sources. This analysis shows that the citadel (qal'a) was built based on the conceptual archetype of the Utopia of Kangdiz (Siāvošgerd) and the geometric shape of Banāt Naʿsh (Big Dipper), which has played a symbolic role in protecting and guarding in Persian cosmology. This celestial analogy can explain the causes and origins of the irregular shape of some other Iranian citadels.

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Authors & Contributors
Pingree, David Edwin
Paviour-Smith, Martin
David Espinosa Espinosa
Farhad Tehrani
Isenstadt, Sandy
García Quintela, Marco V.
Journals
Tarikh-e Elm (The Iranian Journal for the History of Science)
Suhayl: Journal for the History of the Exact and Natural Sciences in Islamic Civilisation
Iranian Studies
Journal of World Philosophies
Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry
Revue d'Histoire des Sciences
Publishers
Springer International Publishing
The MIT Press
Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum
Concepts
Arab/Islamic world, civilization and culture
Cosmology
Astronomy
Architecture
Folklore
Science and religion
People
Ibn al-Haytham, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan
Euclid
Avicenna
Avenzoar, Abu Marwan Abd Al-Malik Ibn Zuhr,
al-Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad
al-ʿĀmilī, Bahāʾ al-Dīn
Time Periods
Medieval
Ancient
Early modern
Safavid dynasty
Modern
20th century
Places
Persia (Iran)
Middle and Near East
Roman Empire
Arabian peninsula
Micronesia
New Guinea
Institutions
Adler Planetarium, Chicago
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