Encyclopedia Iranic, vol. 6, Coffeehouse-Dara.

• Author: Daftary, Farhad

General information on the scope and contents of the Encyclopaedia Iranica (EIr), which covers all aspects of Iranian history and civilization from pre-historic times to the present, has been sufficiently provided by a multitude of reviewers of the previous volumes of this monument of scholarship in Iranian studies. This review will, therefore, focus on the highlights and some of the main features of volume 6 of EIr, which is comprised of six fascicles, originally published separately during 1992-93. Starting with the present volume, the volumes of EIr will in fact contain only six fascicles each, instead of eight as previously, in order to facilitate the handling of the individual volumes; and the publisher has adjusted the price accordingly. The present volume also attests the completion of the letter "C" (pp. 1-526), begun in volume 4, and the beginning of letter "D" (pp. 527-672).

The present volume of EIr contains some 196 entries contributed by 161 authors. As some entries consist of several articles, there are altogether some 273 signed articles in this volume, which runs from "Coffeehouse" (contributed by Ali Al-e Dawud) to "Dara" (M. Weiskopf). The majority of the authors have contributed one or two articles each, while only some twelve authors have been responsible for five to nine articles each, representing less concentration of major authors than in some of the previous volumes of EIr. The authors with the greatest number of contributions to this volume have been H. A lam (9 articles), R. Schmitt (8), M. Shaki (8), A. Shapur Shahbazi (7), M. Boyce (6), M. Dandamayev (6), H. Algar (5), W. Floor (5), G. Gnoli (5), P. Jackson (5), the late A. Sa idi Sirjani (5), and A. Tafazzoli (5). As a result, many of this volume's individual articles deal with fauna and flora, notably "Crow," "Cumin," and "Cypress," or with pre-Islamic subject matters such as the seven-page entry on "Corpse, disposal of, in Zoroastrianism," "Cuneiform Script," and the six-part entry on "Cyrus" that completes letter "C," as well as a host of non-Islamic terms and works such as "Dadestan i Denig," a Pahlavi work by the high priest of the Persian Zoroastrian community. On the other hand, relatively few entries are devoted to specifically Islamic subjects. In the latter category mention may be made of the entries "Dahabiya," a major Sufi order, and "Dajjal," the maleficent figure in Islamic tradition, both contributed by H. Algar. Modern Iran is well represented...