Persian Tribal

Qashqai, Afshar, Khamseh, Luri, Gabbeh … Located in the southwest region of Iran, Shiraz has been a center of Persian culture for a thousand years and more. The frequently visited tombs of the 13th and 14th century writers Saadi and Hafez testify to the cultural importance of the city during the classical period of Iranian literature. Shiraz is the capital of Fars province which the Greeks called Persis, the source of the Western term Persia. Near Shiraz, the dramatic ruins of Persepolis are the most famous reminder of the great power of the ancient Persian Empire of Darius and Xerxes. Many older buildings in Shiraz were restored during a period of prosperity in the 18th century. The impressive Bazaar-e Vakil (Bazaar of the Regent) built at this time is considered by many to be the finest in Iran. Countless Persian textiles have been sold in this bazaar to be shipped to dealers in Europe and North America.

Creative Expressions of an Old Community The Bakhtiari people of southwest Persia experienced an almost complete transformation of their way of life in the twentieth century. They began as a mainly nomadic tribal group moving with their sheep between summer and winter grazing areas, a difficult migration in the Zagros Mountains that is memorably recalled in the classic documentary film Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life (1925). In present times, only a small proportion of the Bakhtiari still live a comparable migratory life with some changes. Their animals now travel more often in the relative comfort of modern trucks. Contemporary migrants no longer walk great distances through snow-covered mountain passes. Great changes followed the discovery of oil in the Bakhtiari regions. This was a new source of wealth and government influence for the tribal group in the early decades of the last century. In that period of substantial political changes, the leading Bakhtiari khans