Categories
Books

Inscriptions from Egypt

Jansen-Winkeln, Karl. 2023. Inschriften der Spätzeit Teil V: Die 27.–30. Dynastie und die Argeadenzeit. Band 1: Kambyses – Tachos. Band 2: Nektanebos II. – 4. Jahrhundert insgesamt. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Der fünfte Teil der Inschriften der Spätzeit umfasst in 22 Abschnitten (im Anschluss an die vorhergehenden Bände als Nr. 61–82 nummeriert) die Texte vom Beginn der 27. Dynastie (526 v.Chr.) bis zum Beginn der Ptolemäerzeit (305 v.Chr.), wiederum grundsätzlich eingeteilt nach Regierungszeiten: Die Perserkönige der 27. Dynastie von Kambyses bis Artaxerxes II. (dazu die beiden Gegenkönige Petubastis IV. und Psametik IV., Kapitel 61–68), die Könige der 28. bis 31. Dynastie (Kapitel 70–78) sowie die Argeadenkönige (die Dynastie Alexanders des Großen, Kapitel 79–81). Dazu kommen zwei weitere Abschnitte mit den Texten der 27. Dynastie, die sich keiner Regierungszeit zuordnen lassen (Kapitel 69), und denjenigen Inschriften, die zwar sicher oder sehr wahrscheinlich ins 4. Jahrhundert gehören, aber nicht genauer einzuordnen sind (Kapitel 82). Die Sammlung umfasst alle historisch im weitesten Sinne relevanten hieroglyphischen Inschriften, dagegen werden die (für Datierungen wichtigen) demotischen Texte nur mit Literaturangaben erfasst.

Enthalten sind auch zahlreiche bisher unpublizierte Texte und viele ältere Veröffentlichungen sind kollationiert worden. Ausführliche Indizes erleichtern die Suche nach Denkmälern in Museen, königlichen und nichtköniglichen Personen sowie Regierungsjahren.

Categories
Books

Cyrus the Great: A Biography of Kingship

Mitchell, Lynette. 2023. Cyrus the Great: A Biography of Kingship. New York: Routledge.

Cyrus the Great was a celebrity of the ancient world, the founder of one of the first world empires in the ancient Near East, whose life and deeds were celebrated through the many stories told about him, then and for millennia.

This book offers an analysis of these stories, locating them within the rich storytelling cultures of the ancient Mediterranean and the Near East. Although there are few fixed points in Cyrus’ career, it is possible to see through these narratives the way his kingship developed so he became not just the instrument of the gods, but also their companion. Mitchell explores what these stories reveal about the different societies and cultures who engaged with the mythology surrounding Cyrus in order to examine their own conceptions of great men, leadership, kingship, and power. Such was his celebrity in antiquity that the stories about his kingship have remained influential over the course of two and a half thousand years into the modern era.

Table of contents:

Introduction; 2. Cyrus: A Near Eastern King; 3. Cyrus’ Birth Stories; 4. Cyrus and the Medes; 5. Cyrus as Cosmic Warrior; 6. Cyrus: An Exemplary Death; 7. Conclusion; Appendix A: Translation of the Cyrus Cylinder (Irving Finkle).

Categories
Books

Zoroastrian Holy Marriage

Pirart, Éric. 2023. Hiérogamie mazdéenne. Présentation, texte, traduction et commentaire des deux dernières Gāϑā et de leurs annexes (uniés 51, 52, 53 et 54 du Yasna) (Supplementa 2). Girona: Sociedad de estudios iranios y turanios (SEIT).

In a radical departure from the method of Jean Kellens, which is both intuitive and reserved, Éric Pirart, with Hiérogamie mazdéenne (Mazdean Hierogamy), revisits the last archaic texts of Zoroastrianism and their appendices (Yasna 51-54), while ensuring that nothing is left untranslated or without grammatical explanation and that the etymology of all the words is examined on the basis of systematic criteria. In these texts, contemporary with the prophet Zaraϑustra, he looks for the features that differentiate them from the rest of Zoroastrian literature.

Table of Contents

  • Abréviations et symboles
  • Avant-propos
  • Chapitre I. La Vohuxšarϑrā Gāϑā
  • Chapitre II. La Vaŋhucā Hāiti
  • Chapitre III. La Vaŋhištōišti Gāϑā
  • Chapitre IV L’Airiiaman Išiia
  • Marginale I. Le Yātu Āxtiia
  • Marginale II. Le zand d’āžuš
  • Marginale III. Le sexe de Vénus
  • Marginale IV. Haōma est là
  • Lexique
Categories
Books

Sangtarashan, the Iron Age at the Pish Kuh of Luristan

Hashemi, Zahra, Mehrdad Malekzadeh & Ata Hasanpour. 2023. Sangtarashan, l’Âge du Fer au Pish Kuh du Luristan. Avec une étude “L’assemblage lithique de Sangtarashan” par Francesca Manclossi (Acta Iranica 62). Leuven: Peeters.

Le site archéologique de Sangtarashan est situé à l’ouest de l’Iran, dans la province du Luristan, au cœur de la chaîne montagneuse du Zagros. Découvert en 2002, il a fait l’objet de six campagnes de fouilles entre 2005 et 2011.

Dès les premières recherches, il est apparu que le site présentait des caractéristiques exceptionnelles. Au sein d’une structure circulaire en pierre, chevauchée par plusieurs autres constructions, les fouilles ont mis au jour plus de deux mille objets. Parmi eux, des centaines d’objets métalliques connus sous le nom de Bronzes du Luristan. Ces bronzes étaient enterrés par lot, insérés dans les murs ou éparpillés sur toute la surface du site.

L’étude architecturale et l’examen de la nature et de la distribution des objets conduisent à penser que le site de Sangtarashan serait un sanctuaire ayant connu deux phases d’occupation. Les dépôts de la première phase sont constitués d’armes et de vases enfouis dans le sol. Ceux de la seconde phase sont constitués d’objets isolés, de taille plus petite et de nature plus variée, déposés dans la maçonnerie des bâtiments. La première occupation daterait de l’Âge du Fer I-II, la seconde de l’Âge du Fer II-III (et peut-être même IV). L’hypothèse d’une fonction non cultuelle pendant la seconde phase n’est pas totalement écartée au regard de la prolongation des structures architecturales vers l’ouest et de la position des objets éparpillés sur toute la surface du site.

Avec Sorkhdom-i Lori, Sangtarashan est le deuxième sanctuaire de l’Âge du Fer de la région du Zagros central où les fidèles déposaient des objets dans le sol ou dans la maçonnerie des bâtiments. La richesse des objets métalliques découverts fait de Sangtarashan un site de référence pour l’étude des Bronzes du Luristan. L’analyse du matériel archéologique permet désormais de proposer une datation pour des objets jusqu’alors connus uniquement par des exemplaires issus de fouilles clandestines.

Categories
Journal

Bulletin of the Asia Institute, 31

Volume 31 (2022-23) of the Bulletin of the Asia Institute has been published.

Table of Contents

  • Harry Falk: “Faxian and Early Successors on Their Route from Dunhuang to Peshawar: In Search of the “Suspended Crossing”
  • Osmund Bopearachchi and Richard Salomon: “Two Gandharan Seated Buddha Images”
  • Henri-Paul Francfort: A “Blessing” Hand Gesture in Images of Deities and Kings inthe Arts ofBactria and Gandhara (2nd Century B.C.E.-1st Century C.E.): The Sign of the Horns
  • Ryoichi Miyamoto: Letters from Kadagstān
  • Dieter Weber: Studies in Some Documents from the “Pahlavi Archive”
  • Nicholas Sims-Williams and Frantz Grenet: A New Collection of Bactrian Letters on Birchbark
  • Zhang Zhan: Two Judaeo-Persian Letters from Eighth-Century Khotan
Categories
Books

Aspects of Kinship in Ancient Iran

Potts, Daniel T. 2023. Aspects of kinship in ancient Iran (Iran and the Ancient World). Oakland, [California]: University of California Press.

Originally delivered as the Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lectures, Aspects of Kinship in Ancient Iran is an exploration of kinship in the archaeological and historical record of Iran’s most ancient civilizations. D.T. Potts brings together history, archaeology, and social anthropology to provide an overview of what we can know about the kith and kinship ties in Iran, from prehistory to Elamite, Achaemenid, and Sasanian times. In so doing, he sheds light on the rich body of evidence that exists for kin relations in Iran, a topic that has too often been ignored in the study of the ancient world.

A free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.

Categories
Books

Sasanian and Islamic Settlement and Ceramics in Southern Iran

Priestman, Seth M. N. & Derek Kennet. 2023. Sasanian and Islamic settlement and ceramics in Southern Iran (4th to 17th century AD): The Williamson Collection Project (British Institute of Persian Studies Archaeological Monograph Series 8). Oxford: Oxbow Books.

This monograph comprises the final publication of a study supported by the British Institute of Persian Studies and undertaken by Seth Priestman and Derek Kennet at the University of Durham. The work presents and analyses an assemblage of just under 17,000 sherds of pottery and associated paper archives resulting from one of the largest and most comprehensive surveys ever undertaken on the historic archaeology of southern Iran. The survey was undertaken by Andrew George Williamson (1945–1975), a doctoral student at Oxford University between 1968 and 1971, at a time of great progress and rapid advance in the archaeological exploration of Iran.

The monograph provides new archaeological evidence on the long-term development of settlement in Southern Iran, in particular the coastal region, from the Sasanian period to around the 17th century. The work provides new insights into regional settlement patterns and changing ceramic distribution, trade and use. A large amount of primary data is presented covering an extensive area from Minab to Bushehr along the coast and inland as far as Sirjan. This includes information on a number of previously undocumented archaeological sites, as well as a detailed description and analysis of the ceramic finds, which underpin the settlement evidence and provide a wider source of reference.

By collecting carefully controlled archaeological evidence related to the size, distribution and period of occupation of urban and rural settlements distributed across southern Iran, Williamson aimed to reconstruct the broader historical development of the region. Due to his early death the work was never completed. The key aims of the authors of this volume were to do justice to Williamson’s remarkable vision and efforts on the one hand, and at the same time to bring this important new evidence to ongoing discussions about the development of southern Iran through the Sasanian and Islamic periods.

From the Oxbow website
Categories
Books

Color and Meaning in the Art of Achaemenid Persia

Nagel, Alexander. 2023. Color and meaning in the art of Achaemenid Persia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

In this volume, Alexander Nagel investigates the use of polychromy in the art and architecture of ancient Iran. Focusing on Persepolis, he explores the topic within the context of the modern historiography of Achaemenid art and the scientific investigation of a range of works and monuments in Iran and in museums around the world. Nagel’s study contextualizes scholarly efforts to retrieve aspects of ancient polychromies in Western Asia and interrogates current debates about the contemporary use of color in the architecture and sculpture in the ancient Mediterranean world, especially in North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. Bringing a multi-disciplinary perspective to the topic, Nagel also highlights the important role of theory, methodology, and conservation studies in the process of reconstructing polychromy in ancient monuments. A celebration of the work of painters, artisans, craftsmen and -women of Iran’s past, his volume suggests frameworks through which historical and contemporary research play a dynamic role in the reconstruction of ancient technological knowledge.

Categories
Books

The imprint of empires in the ancient Near East

Clancier, Philippe & Julien Monerie (eds.). 2023. L’empreinte des empires au Proche-Orient ancien: Volume d’hommage offert à Francis Joannès (Études Mésopotamiennes 3). Oxford: ArchaeoPress.

Colleagues, students and friends of Francis Joannès pay tribute in articles exploring the Achaemenid and Greco-Macedonian empires through cuneiform sources, as well as other topics reflecting his extensive and varied career.

Certain papers interest scholars and students of ancient Iranian history:

  • Yoko Watai: Repenser les qualificatifs de l’argent sous le règne de Darius
  • Matthew W. Stolper: From the Persepolis Fortification Archive: Treasury Staff Rations from Baratkama
  • Pierre Briant: D’un empire l’autre – de Darius à Alexandre(Quelques réflexions sur la transition)
  • Julien Monerie: « Ils consommèrent de la nourriture à l’intérieur ». Activités religieuses des représentants de l’autorité royale en Babylonie hellénistique et parthe

Categories
Journal

NeHeT  7 

The issue 7 of the NeHeT journal is now available. The latest issue of this Egyptological journal is dedicated to reports of current research about Tell el-Herr and North Sinai under the direction of Catherine Defernz.

The following papers contribute to our understanding of the Achaemenid Egypt: