In Iranian history the period from the 18th century to the first part of the 19th century has not attracted very much attention. Few studies have touch on the social structure characteristic of this period. One of the distinctive features of this period is the existence of local powers that dominated each part of Iran directly. They fought with each other all over the country in the 18th century and are said to have retained the some power in provinces under the Qajars. This article focuses on the history of a local power during this period, Mohammad Taqi Khan and his family in Yazd province and examines the process of their rise to power their power base and their relationship to the central government. Mohammad Taqi Khan was invited to expel the governor and to rule the province by leading people of Yazd in 1161/1748. This marks the beginning of his rule over Yazd. He came from Bafq, a small town in the Yazd province, but his origins are not very clear. His maternal uncle was the min-bashi (chief of a thousand) of the tofangchi (musketeers) corps of Yazd and Bafq under the Safavids. After the fall of the Safavid Dynasty and his uncle's death, this tofangchi corps came under the command of Mohammad Taqi Khan and his brother. After the Afghan Invasion governors appointed by the Afghans and the Afsharids exploited the inhabitants of Yazd severely. For this reason the inhabitants invited Mohammad Taqi Khan and expected him to protect them against biganegan (outsider) attacks. In the latter half of the 18th century a lot of powers such as the Afghans, the 'Ameri-'Arabs, the Zands, and the Afshars of Kerman attacked Yazd, but Mohammad Taqi Khan succeeded in protecting the province and holding his position. He defended the city with his tofangchis and made use of the rivalry that existed among these powers. He was appointed as governor of Yazd by the Zands, but sometimes did not remit provincial revenue to the central government. Under his protection the city of Yazd prospered and its population was said to have reached 60,000-70,000 during his regime. After the rise of the Qajars and the establishment of their rule in Iran, the relationship between Yazd and the central government changed. Mohammad Taqi Khan and his sons still held their position and also acted as the governor of Kerman for some time, but they needed Shah's Farman to confirm their position and through this the central government was able to intervene in the politics of Yazd. In 1229/1813-4 they lost their office and after a short rivival by 'Abd al-Reza Khan, they went to serve the central government as officers rather than stay as independent rulers in Yazd. Their rule in Yazd was marked by the following features. First, their rule was based on the militaly force of tofangchi and most of the commanders were sons of Mohammad Taqi Khan. Secondly, administrative offices were occupied by them gradually. Finally, most members of this family lived in the Yazd province and were connected by marriage with old noble families in Yazd. This is only one case of the local powers in Iran during this period, but it has some common elements with the others, especially thier independence and close relationship to local society.

View full abstract

Delphi, which the ancient Greeks regarded as a center of the world, was famous in Greece and the peripheral regions as the sanctuary of Apollo and for its oracles. Hence, Delphi has been widely studied but little attention has been devoted to the state or municipal community of the village itself. The purpose of this thesis is to make clear the inner workings of Delphi during a crisis in the early fourth century B.C. by analyzing two laws. The phratry law of Labyadai (CID, I, no.9) contains prescriptions about registration in the phratry, trials, funereal practices, dining together, cults and offerings. It is not a mixture of these rules, but a systematic collection of new and old laws, the center of which is a prescription concerning entry into the phratry. In this systematization we can see the intentions of the legislator. It is a reinforcement of the organization of the phratry and solidarity among its members, and an attempt to put the people's mind at rest. In the law of Cadys we find patria, a political subdivision in the phratry, and private religious corporations like heroiasstai or thiasos.The social and economic activities of these groups, whose regulation is probably one of the more important points in this law, are claimed to have increase the number of people burdened by debt and reduced the function or status of those phratries that played important roles in Delphic politics, thus changing traditional human relationships in Delphi. It seems that the case of Crates-Orsiraus illustrated by Aristotle and Plutarch indicates the conditions on the eve of the laws of Labyadai and Cadys and thus contemporary society. The author is of the opinion that behind the discord between the two families in this case, there was a struggle for control of the state and phratries among the groups which appear in the law of Cadys. Accordingly, he concludes that the phratry law of Labyadai aimed at reducing of social Conflicts and reconstructing the phratry. On the other hand, the law of Cadys seems to have set its sights on not only restriction of political and economic activities by corporations and individuals that threatened the government and civic life, but also relief of the people in poverty or on the brink of ruin and the stabilization of the economy and society in Delphi.

View full abstract

Regarding the problem of where and by whom children were raised, our general belief is that they were usually brought up by there own parents after ie 家 system was established in the medieval era. In fact, however, many were entrusted to foster parents as satogo 里子, which meant that lords committed their children to the care of their servants, both male (menoto 乳父) and female (menoto 乳母). These children were called yashinaigimi 養君. Satogo was different from the same term used for the custom from the early modern era on, when children were adopted by farmers living in suburban areas. This article aims to examine the overall ideas about upbringing and guardianship of children in the medieval era. Children who became yashinaigimi were those born of mistresses, those who could not expect to inherit the household, and those who had no caretakers or guardians for reason that their fathers had died or that their maternal relatives were not in power in the case of the Imperial family. These children were discriminated against and ill-treated, and lived lives evidently different from the legitimate children who were brought up in the house holds of their fathers and were privileged in many ways. Male and female menoto guarded and supported yashinaigimi instead of their parents, or their maternal relatives in the case of the Imperial family. Yashinaigimi lived with their menoto until the age between eleven and thirteen, at which time they were considered adults and thus expected to live independently. Male yashinaigimi usually became priests and many of the females became nyobo 女房. What should be noted as a political feature of this system is that some yashinaigimi, who were basically eliminated in the nomination for succession to the throne, were suddenly enthroned in time of war or by the sudden death of an Emperor. In such cases, the familles of their menoto played the role of guardians in place of maternal relatives. Such a custom, which was established in the early 12th century in parallel with the systematization of ie inherited by the legitimate children, became more prevalent in the late medieval era during which the ie system was firmly established, and was finally transformed into the adoption system of the kinsei era.

View full abstract