Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

  • Topography and Toponymy in the Ancient Near East: Perspectives and Prospects

    Tavernier J., Gorris E., Abraham K. & Boschloos V (eds.). 2018. Topography and toponymy in the ancient Near East: Perspectives and prospects (Publications de l’Institut Orientaliste de Louvain, 71). Peeters.

    The present volume, based on a conference on Ancient Near Eastern historical geography and toponymy held at the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) on 27-28 February 2014, brings together 12 contributions by Belgian and international specialists on various aspects of this field of research. They deal with the entire Ancient Near East (Anatolia, Levant, Mesopotamia and Iran). Chronologically, the various contributions in the volume discuss topics situated in the 3rd, 2nd and 1st Millennia BC.
    The articles in this volume are arranged geographically, starting with items on Anatolia, followed by studies on Mesopotamian and Levantine topography and finally a third part on ancient Iran and Elam. They will doubtlessly demonstrate the high importance of the study of historical geography and toponymy for our understanding of the history of the Ancient Near East and will also stimulate the research on the historical geography of the ancient Near East.

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  • The Dragon, the Mountain, and the Nations

    Miller II, Robert D. 2018. The dragon, the mountain, and the nations: An Old Testament myth, its origins, and its afterlives. Eisenbrauns.

    The Dragon, the Mountain, and the Nations investigates the origins, manifestations, and meanings of a myth that plays a major role in the Hebrew Bible and a substantial role in the New Testament: the dragon-slaying myth.

    Robert D. Miller II is Associate Professor of Old Testament at The Catholic University of America and Research Associate, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
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  • Reinventing Mosaic Torah in the Light of the Law of Ahura Mazdā and Zarathustra

    Leningrad Codex text sample, portions of Exodus 15:21-16:3

    Kiel, Yishai. 2017. Reinventing Mosaic Torah in Ezra-Nehemiah in the light of the law (dāta) of Ahura Mazda and Zarathustra. Journal of Biblical Literature 136(2). 323–345.

    In this study I examine the linguistic and theological contours of the term (tôrâ) in Ezra-Nehemiah—particularly the identification of with the law () of God promulgated by Ezra (Ezra 7:14)—through the lens of Old Persian and Avestan notions of “the law set down (dāta)” by Ahura Mazda and revealed through Zarathustra. While the basic notion of divine revelation of laws through the mediation of Moses emerges already in preexilic biblical texts, I posit that the innovative link drawn by the authors of Ezra-Nehemiah between the Old Persian and Avestan term dāta (via Aramaic ) and the Hebrew reflects a broader and more comprehensive impact of Avestan traditions, mediated by Achaemenid ideology, on the construction and conceptualization of Mosaic in Ezra-Nehemiah. Weighing in on the ongoing debate over the range of imperial authorization of local legislation and cult in Judea, Egypt, and Asia Minor, I argue that the Achaemenids, who were probably involved in certain aspects of the codification and canonization of textual, legal, and theological manifestations of Zoroastrianism, functioned as agents (whether actively or passively) in facilitating and reinforcing the adaptation by the Babylonian-Judean scribes of Avestan notions of divine revelation of the law and scriptural unity linked to personal authority.

  • The Oxford Handbook of Persian Linguistics

    Sedighi, Anousha & Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi (eds.). 2018. The Oxford handbook of Persian linguistics. Oxford University Press.

    This handbook offers a comprehensive overview of the field of Persian linguistics, discusses its development, and captures critical accounts of cutting edge research within its major subfields, as well as outlining current debates and suggesting productive lines of future research. Leading scholars in the major subfields of Persian linguistics examine a range of topics split into six thematic parts. Following a detailed introduction from the editors, the volume begins by placing Persian in its historical and typological context in Part I. Chapters in Part II examine topics relating to phonetics and phonology, while Part III looks at approaches to and features of Persian syntax. The fourth part of the volume explores morphology and lexicography, as well as the work of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature. Part V, language and people, covers topics such as language contact and teaching Persian as a foreign language, while the final part examines psycho- neuro-, and computational linguistics. The volume will be an essential resource for all scholars with an interest in Persian language and linguistics.

    Anousha Sedighi is Associate Professor of Persian and Persian Program Head at Portland State University.

    Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi is Senior Lecturer in Persian Language and Linguistics and Persian Language Program Head at McGill University

    Source: The Oxford Handbook of Persian Linguistics – Anousha Sedighi; Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi – Oxford University Press

  • The Middle Persian Book of Kings

    Hämeen-Anttila, Jaakko. 2018. Khwadāynāmag: The Middle Persian Book of Kings (Studies in Persian Cultural History 14). Leiden: Brill.
    The Khwadāynāmag is often conceived of as a large book of stories, comparable to Firdawsī’s Shāhnāme, but Hämeen-Anttila convincingly shows that it was a concise and dry chronicle. He also studies the lost Arabic translations of the book, which turn out to be fewer than hitherto thought, as well as the sources of Firdawsī’s Shāhnāme, showing that the latter was only remotely related to the Khwadāynāmag. It also becomes clear that there were no separate “priestly” and “royal” Khwadāynāmags.
    TOC

  • Dabir Journal – Issue 05

    Issue 05 of DABIR (Digital Archive of Brief notes & Iran Review)

    Issue 05 of DABIR (Digital Archive of Brief notes & Iran Review), an open access on-line journal for published by the Jordan Center for Persian Studies, is out now.

    Articles

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  • Some Perspective on Agriculture and Irrigation Systems in the Achaemenid Heartland

    Shobairi, Seyed Abazar. 2018. Beyond the Palace: Some Perspective on Agriculture and Irrigation Systems in the Achaemenid Heartland. In Barbara Horejs et al (eds.), Proceedings of the 10th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Vol. 2 (Prehistoric and Historical Landscapes & Settlement Patterns), 149-162. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

    The Achaemenid heartland (Parsa and Pasargadae Plains) is one of the most vital areas in southwestern Iran. These wide regions are watery and have rich lands suitable for farming. Most likely, the formation of the Achaemenid capitals, Pasargadae and Persepolis, by the Sivand and Kur rivers in Fars was neither arbitrary nor did it occur suddenly. Considerable remains of large earthen channel networks branch out from these rivers and are located close to the main Achaemenid sites. In addition, existing qanat systems and the remains of several dams in the Persepolis and Pasargadae plains represent a development and progress in irrigation systems and agriculture in the Achaemenid period. It seems probable that one of the economic aims of the Achaemenids was the development of agriculture as well as increased production. Some of the Persepolis Fortification Tablets attest to the importance of rivers as well as crop farming in Achaemenid era. The broader scope of my research is to arrive at a much more substantial understanding of water supply and management practices in the Persian Achaemenid period.

  • How Objects Tell Stories

    Linduff, Katheryn & Karen Rubinson (eds.). 2018. How objects tell stories. Essays in honor of Emma C. Bunker (Inner and Central Asian Art and Archaeology 1). Turnhout: Brepols Publishers.

    Inner and Central Asian Art and Archaeology is a new series launched providing a major forum for discussion and publication of current international research projects and fieldwork concerning the art and archaeology of Central and Inner Asia. Uniquely the series covers the vast regions flanking the ancient Silk Roads from the Iranian world to western China and from the Russian steppes to north-western India. The series mainly focuses on the pre-Islamic period of art and archaeology of Inner Asia. Related scholarly articles on language and history are also published.

    Table of Contents

    INTRODUCTION

    • Katheryn M. LINDUFF and Karen S. RUBINSON, “How Objects Tell Stories: Essays in Honor of Emma C. Bunker”

    I. OBJECTS AND CULTURAL INTERSECTION

    • Trudy S. KAWAMI, “A Steppe Warrior in Achaemenid Employ? Grave 4.28 at Choga  Mish, Khuzistan, Iran”
    • Annette L. JULIANO, “Restructuring Reality: Zoomorphs, from Fantastic to Hybrid”
    • Catrin KOST, “Changed Strategies of Interaction: Exchange Relations on China’s Northern Frontier in Light of the Finds from Xinzhuangtou”
    • Judith A. LERNER, “All That Glitters…Foreign Jewelry in Chinese Tombs: from Han into Tang”
    • Katheryn M. LINDUFF, “Guardians of the Brave/Keepers of the Empire: Horses in the Han imaginary”
    • Jessica RAWSON, “Gold, an Exotic Material in Early China”
    • Karen S. RUBINSON, “The Authority of Horse-Rider Iconography: Imagery as the Power of the Past (The Eurasian Steppe and Yunnan in the late Millennium BCE)”

    II: OBJECTS, TECHNOLOGY AND CROSS-CULTURAL EXCHANGE

    • CHIOU-PENG TzeHuey, “Early Copper-base Metals in Western Yunnan”
    • HAN Rubin and WANG Dong-Ning,  “Study of Tin-enriched Ancient Bronzes from the Northern Grassland of China”
    • Sergey MINIAEV,  “Xiongnu Bronze Metallurgy in the Trans-Baikal Area”
    • Vincent C. PIGOTT, “The Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), the Seima-Turbino Horizon and a Possible Eastward Transmission of Tin-Bronze Technology in Later Third and Early Second Millennium BCE Inner Asia”

    Source: How Objects Tell Stories

  • Chinese Sources and the Sasanians

    This article is currently published in the online publication section of Iranian Studies, thus the journal's reference as volume 0, issue 0. I am unsure whether in time it will become part of the printed version or not.

    Zanous, Hamidreza Pasha & Esmaeil Sangari. 2018. The last Sasanians in Chinese literary sources: Recently identified statue head of a Sasanian prince at the Qianling mausoleum. Iranian Studies 0(0). 1–17.

    Qianling Mausoleum (乾陵) which is located in the northwest of Xi’an, is the tomb of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (唐高宗, r. 649–83 AD) and his Empress Wu Zetian (武則天, r. 690–705 AD). In this mausoleum, there are two statues of Pērōz, son of Yazdegird III (632–51 AD), and another Persian nobleman who have been recognized by western scholars. However, scholars’ attention has been limited to a general and mistaken description of the statues. This paper reassesses both statues in order to give some new insight into the head of one of the statues found at the Qianling Mausoleum.

  • Diodoros of Sicily: Historiographical Theory and Practice in the Bibliotheke

    Hau, Lisa Irene, Alexander Meeus and Brian Sheridan. 2018. Diodoros of Sicily: historiographical theory and practice in the ‘Bibliotheke’. Studia Hellenistica, 58. Leuven: Peeters,

    The Bibliotheke of Diodoros of Sicily is the most voluminous Greek historiographical text from the pre-Christian era, and contains the only preserved continuous account of Classical Greek history; for many aspects of this history, such as the events in Sicily, the rise of Macedon under Philip II or the history of the Successors, it is our main or only source. It is thus often used as a source by ancient historians, and a great deal of energy has been spent on identifying which sources Diodoros himself used. Interest in Diodoros as an author in his own right, however, is a comparatively recent phenomenon. The contributors to this volume, junior scholars as well as leading international experts, set out to confront the old and new approaches to Diodoros, studying his first century BC context, questions of genre and purpose, his relationship to his predecessors, composition and narrative technique, the role of the gods and myth in the work, the use of speeches, and Diodoros’ interest in themes like war, writing, language and politics. In so doing they offer exciting new insights into the Bibliotheke and the development of Greek historiography, which in turn also shed important new light on the old question of Diodoros’ value as a source.