Iranian people
Ethnic group
The
Lurs
(
Persian
:
??
) are an
Iranian people
living in western
Iran
. The four Luri branches are the
Bakhtiari
,
Mamasani
, Kohgiluyeh and Lur proper, who are principally linked by the
Luri language
.
[4]
Lorestan province
is named after the Lurs, but some Lurs live in other provinces including
Fars
,
Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari
,
Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad
,
Khuzestan
,
[4]
Hamadan
,
[5]
Isfahan
,
[6]
Tehran
[7]
and southern
Ilam Province
.
[8]
History
Lurs are a mixture of aboriginal
Iranian
tribes, originating from
Central Asia
and the pre-Iranic tribes of western Iran, such as the
Kassites
(whose homeland appears to have been in what is now
Lorestan
) and
Gutians
. In accordance with geographical and archaeological matching, some historians argue that the
Elamites
were the Proto-Lurs, whose language became
Iranian
only in the Middle Ages.
[9]
[10]
The distinctive characteristics of the Lur dialects imply that they were Iranized by
Persis
rather than
Media
.
The history of the Lurs is closely linked with the dynasties that ruled in
Khuzestan
,
Shiraz
,
Isfahan
,
Hamadan
and in the
Zagros Mountains
. The Buyid dynasty is known to have produced coins at
Izeh
. In 935, they marched their forces through Lorestan. The
Karkheh River
was later controlled by the
Hasanwayhid dynasty
, who used Sarmadj as their capital. In
c.
1009
, they conquered Shapur-Khwast (
Khorramabad
). In 1042, the
Seljuk Empire
besieged Shapur-Khwast, then ruled by the
Kakuyid dynasty
. Between 1152 and 1174/75, Lorestan and some of Khuzestan was controlled by a Turkic lord named Husam al-Din Shuhla. The tribal structure of the Lurs, whose development culminated with the arrival of the
Atabegs
, was unaffected by any outside attempts to conquer Lorestan or seize portions of its land.
The new Iranian monarch
Reza Shah
(
r.
1925?1941
) brought the Bakhtiari lands into the normal system of Iranian government, which included forcibly making semi-nomadic tribesmen settle. The semi-nomadic way of life that many Bakhtiaris and Lurs were familiar with, however, returned as a result of Reza Shah's toppling in 1941 and the period of less effective rule during the early years of
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
's reign. In 1986, at the time of the publication of
Vladimir Minorsky
's entry on the Lurs in the 2nd edition of the
Encyclopaedia of Islam
, a sizeable portion of the Lurs and Bakhtiaris were still living that way of life.
Culture
The authority of tribal elders remains a strong influence among the nomadic population. It is not as dominant among the settled urban population. As among
Kurds
, Lur women have much greater freedom than women in other groups within the region. The women have more freedom to participate in different social activities, to wear diverse types of female clothing and to sing and dance in different ceremonies.
[14]
Bibi Maryam Bakhtiari
is a notable Luri woman.
[15]
Luri music
,
Luri clothing
and
Luri folk dances
are some of the most distinctive ethno-cultural characteristics of this ethnic group.
Many Lurs are small-scale agriculturists and shepherds. A few Lurs are also traveling musicians. Luri textiles and weaving skills are highly esteemed for their workmanship and beauty.
[16]
Religion
Most Lurs are
Shia
Muslim. Historically, many Lurs adhered to
Yarsanism
but almost the whole Yarsani Luri population has converted to Shia Islam.
[17]
A small
Sunni Muslim
community of Lurs also exists.
[3]
According to the
Encyclopaedia of Islam
, the Lurs revere bread and fire like the
Zoroastrians
.
[18]
Recent reports also indicate a growing Zoroastrian religious movement, particularly among Bakhtiari Lurs.
[19]
Language
Luri is a Western
Iranian
language
continuum
spoken by about four million people. The continuum constitutes the three dialects of
Bakhtiari
, Luristani and Southern Luri which linguist Anonby situates between
Kurdish
and
Persian
.
[6]
Luri branches
There are several established branches of the Luri language.
[20]
- Bakhtiari
- Southern Lori
- Boyerahmadi (Yasuji)
- Kohgiluyei
- Mamasani
- Luristani (Northern Lori)
- Khorramabadi
- Borujerdi
- Bala Gariva Lori
- Hinimini
- Shuhani
Genetics
Considering their
NRY
variation, the Lurs are distinguished from other Iranian groups by their relatively elevated frequency of
Y-DNA
Haplogroup R1b
(specifically, of subclade R1b1a2a-L23).
[21]
Together with its other clades, the
R1
group comprises the single most common haplogroup among the Lurs.
[21]
[22]
Haplogroup J2a
(subclades J2a3a-M47, J2a3b-M67, J2a3h-M530, more specifically) is the second most commonly occurring patrilineage in the Lurs and is associated with the
diffusion
of agriculturalists from the Neolithic
Near East
c. 8000-4000 BCE.
[22]
[23]
[24]
[25]
Another haplogroup reaching a frequency above 10% is that of
G2a
, with subclade
G2a3b
accounting for most of this.
[26]
Also significant is haplogroup
E1b1b1a1b
, for which the Lurs display the highest frequency in Iran.
[26]
Lineages
Q1b1
and
Q1a3
present at 6%, and
T
at 4%.
[26]
See also
References
- ^
"Iran"
.
The World Factbook
. Retrieved
26 August
2013
.
- ^
"Iran"
(PDF)
. New America Foundation. June 12, 2009. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 23 July 2013
. Retrieved
26 August
2013
.
- ^
a
b
Mortensen, Inge Demant (3 April 2015).
"LURISTAN v. Religion, Rituals, and Popular Beliefs"
. Retrieved
16 August
2023
.
- ^
a
b
Minorsky, M. V. (2012).
"Lurist?n"
.
Encyclopedia of Islam
.
2
.
doi
:
10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0588
.
- ^
Amanolahi, Sekander (2002). "Reza Shah and the Lurs: the Impact of the Modern State On Luristan".
Iran and the Caucasus
.
6
: 193?218.
doi
:
10.1163/157338402X00124
.
- ^
a
b
Anonby, Erik John (2003). "Update on Luri: How many languages?".
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
.
13
(2): 171?172.
doi
:
10.1017/S1356186303003067
.
S2CID
162293895
.
- ^
Opie, James (1992).
Tribal Rugs: Nomadic and Village Weavings from the Near East and Central Asia
. 9781856690256:
Pennsylvania State University
. p. 104.
{{
cite book
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: CS1 maint: location (
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- ^
Gheitasi, Mojtaba.
"Language distribution: Ilam Province"
.
Iran Atlas
. Retrieved
18 November
2020
.
- ^
Edwards, I.E.S.
;
Gadd, C.J.
; Hammond, G.L. (1971).
The Cambridge Ancient History
(2nd ed.). Camberidge University Press. p.
644
.
ISBN
9780521077910
.
- ^
Potts, D.S (1999).
The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State (Cambridge World Archaeology)
(2nd ed.). Camberidge University Press. p. 45.
ISBN
9780521564960
.
- ^
Edmonds, Cecil (2010).
East and West of Zagros: Travel, War and Politics in Persia and Iraq 1913-1921
. BRILL. p. 188.
ISBN
9789004173446
.
- ^
Garthwaite, Gene Ralph (1996).
Bakhtiari in the mirror of history
. ?nz?n. p. 187.
ISBN
9789649046518
.
- ^
Winston, Robert, ed. (2004).
Human: The Definitive Guide
. New York:
Dorling Kindersley
. p. 409.
ISBN
0-7566-0520-2
.
- ^
Hosseini, S. Behnaz (2020).
Y?rs?n of Iran, Socio-Political Changes and Migration
.
Palgrave Macmillan
. p. 18.
ISBN
978-981-15-2635-0
.
- ^
Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb
; Johannes Hendrik Kramers;
Bernard Lewis
;
Charles Pellat
;
Joseph Schacht
(1954).
The Encyclopaedia of Islam
. Brill
. Retrieved
9 April
2011
.
- ^
"Cleric Says Some Iranian Muslims Converting to Other Religions"
.
- ^
Anonby, Erik.
"Traditional classification tree"
.
Iran Atlas
. Retrieved
26 January
2021
.
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a
b
Grugni, V; Battaglia, V; Hooshiar Kashani, B; Parolo, S; Al-Zahery, N; et al. (2012).
"Ancient Migratory Events in the Middle East: New Clues from the Y-Chromosome Variation of Modern Iranians"
.
PLOS ONE
.
7
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.
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.
PMC
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.
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.
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a
b
Wells, R. Spencer; et al. (2001).
"The Eurasian Heartland: A continental perspective on Y-chromosome diversity"
.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
.
98
(18): 10244?9.
Bibcode
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.
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Semino O, Passarino G, Oefner P J, Lin A A, Arbuzova S, Beckman L E, de Benedictis G, Francalacci P, Kouvatsi A, Limborska S, et al. (2000) Science 290:1155?1159
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Underhill P A, Passarino G, Lin A A, Shen P, Foley R A, Mirazon-Lahr M, Oefner P J, Cavalli-Sforza L L (2001) Ann Hum Genet 65:43?62
- ^
Semino, Ornella; Magri, Chiara; Benuzzi, Giorgia; Lin, Alice A.; Al-Zahery, Nadia; Battaglia, Vincenza; MacCioni, Liliana; Triantaphyllidis, Costas; et al. (2004).
"Origin, Diffusion, and Differentiation of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups E and J: Inferences on the Neolithization of Europe and Later Migratory Events in the Mediterranean Area"
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a
b
c
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"Ancient Migratory Events in the Middle East: New Clues from the Y-Chromosome Variation of Modern Iranians"
.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Iranian religions
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Luri-populated areas in Iran and Iraq
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