---

The family Leucospidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) are the largest chalcidoid wasps with some distinct morphological characters. During insect collection of the Faculty of Agriculture in Karbala, Leucospis bifasciata Klug, 1814 was collected in 2019. It was collected using sweep nets. This is the first record of L. bifasciata from Iraq. Including previously recorded L. dorsigera Fabricius, Leucospidae of Iraq reaches to two species.

---

During the survey in the orchards of Al-Husiniya in Karbala in June 2019, specimens of Psilochalcis elegantula (Masi, 1929) were collected using a sweep net. It is the first record of the genus Psilochalcis Kieffer, 1905 and P. elegantula from Iraq. The important morphological characters are illustrated and discussed. An updated list of the chalcidid species in Iraq is also provided including ten species in six genera.

 

---

Karbala has been a multiple and dynamic space and so the writers’ perspective on it was multiple and dynamic as well. Geocriticism is one of the new interdisciplinary approaches that focuses on space in postmodern era. Geocriticism investigates the relation between subject and space and studies the geographical space and the imaginary space of literary texts. The current study was aimed at investigating the effect of space stratification on readers in a selected number of poems. Such stratification was influenced by time as well, creating different layers of texts in space. The researchers tried to unfold the space-time layers in these poems that shaped the space of Karbala, based on the spatiotemporality principle of Westphal theory. The results indicated that poets would identify themselves with these layers of space, as they unveil the dialectic between the self and the other. Moreover, in this study the viewpoint of the Christian poet (exogenous) was studied against the Muslim poet (endogenous), by applying multifocalization principle of Westphalian theory. The principle focuses on different points of views being endogenous, exogenous and allogenous. The study reveals the convergence of selected poets’ perspectives

---

-The term “Ta’ziyeh” refers to an Iranian dramatic genre which might be compared to the Western Passion Play and is the only indigenous drama of the entire Islamic world. This ritual drama has both an Islamic and a Persian heritage, the central theme of which is the tragic and heroic martyrdom of Imam Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and the third Imam of Shi’ite in the desert of Karbala in 680 A.D. Shiites believe that Imam Husayn sacrificed his life to be their Intercessor on the Day of Judgment. The history of Ta’ziyeh did not begin with the events at Karbala rather it dates back to pre-Islamic culture as well as the dramatic expressions of both the Memorial of Zarer, a religious epic from the Sassanid era, (226-652 A.D.), and the Tragedy of Siyavush, a work from ancient Iran, which precedes the Ta’ziyeh play by 1,200 years. The tradition continued from an early processional form to the Magtal-Khani (a recital of martyrdom stories), until it took a dramatic shape. Further, both the playwrights and the structure of the Takiyeh performance building, its performance site, contributed to the evolution of Ta’ziyeh. In this paper, the emphasis is to demonstrate the character of Ta’ziyeh, its foundation and, the development of its various elements. It also attempts to reveal, from an objective stance, its value to a people who embrace it as a kind of ritual, both a holy and national art form. Ta’ziyeh is a kind of ritual drama which has fascinated some of the world’s most famous theatre historians, critics, and performers, who view in it some elements of the postmodern theatre.

---

Having arisen out of a wide variety of research traditions, visual culture studies are certainly different. Shia believers painted their holy shrines with murals, which have a long history of customs and traditions. Gilan’s holy Shrines are places where religious events were held together with paintings on their walls dating back to the Qajar era. Accordingly, the images were influenced by developments such as the prevalence of Ta’ziyeh and the promotion of art and literature. This study focuses on religious and ritualistic beliefs of the region from the Qajar era to the present time. To this end, the question here is raised about the relationship between the concepts behind Gilan Shrines' decorative images and visual culture of Shi’ism during Qajar. Being qualitative in nature, the present study adopts a descriptive approach to content analysis with the findings demonstrating that the popularity of Ta’ziyeh and Shabihkhani during the Qajar era was the pivotal reason for building Gilan Shrines with those images. Furthermore, the event of Karbala, Stories of Prophets with its religious connotation, and folk tales all played a role in the formation of the paintings of Gilan Shrines.

---

The mythical characters with the names of God or angels with multiple hands are seen in different cultures. In a number of religious buildings of Gilan and Mazandaran, there is an iconographic image with upright hands, depicted with inscription, Angel of Rain. In the Iranian mythology, Anahita is a special angel of water, and Tishtar, is the angel of rain. The purpose of this study is to examine the function of multi-handed humanoid characters and motifs in Iranian, Hindu and Buddhist cultures. In all of these cultures, numerous hands indicate helping and hands rising to signify prayer for divine mercy. The purpose of this study is to investigate the function of multi-faceted human characters and motifs in Iranian, Hindu and Buddhist cultures.

---

Identity means the reality of a person, thing, group and nation. There is no being without identity in the world of existence. It has different in types like historical, linguistic, religious, social and cultural identifies. This paper aims to study the effect of Karbala and the Ashura events on the historical and socio-cultural identity of Shia in old poetry, from the first to the fifth century AH, based on the qualitative content analytical method. This research is based on the poetry of ten old Shia poets. This article draws conclusions such as: Karbala is part of the history of Shias, their historical and political identities, which cannot be deciphered. The poets have preserved it in their collections, as it is a factor for the unity of the Shiites. The social and cultural morale of the Shiites on the day of Ashura, not only has an emotional dimension, but political and spiritual as well. The poet adheres to it in order to establish unity among the people, and to minimize their pain. We see old Shia poets not very inclined to explain the details of Ashura, but rather talk about the faculties that constitute the foundations of their beliefs.