Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

  • Lecture: Zoroastrian apocalyptic texts

    Zoroastrian apocalyptic texts as a historical source of early Islamic Iran

    A lecture by Domenico Agostini

    Date: 28 April 2015
    Location: Iran Forum, University of Tel Aviv

  • The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism

    Stausberg, Michael & Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina (eds.). 2015. The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism. John Wiley & Sons.

    This is the first ever comprehensive English-language survey of Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest living religions

    • Evenly divided into five thematic sections beginning with an introduction to Zoroaster/Zarathustra and concluding with the intersections of Zoroastrianism and other religions
    • Reflects the global nature of Zoroastrian studies with contributions from 34 international authorities from 10 countries.
    • Presents Zoroastrianism as a cluster of dynamic historical and contextualized phenomena, reflecting the current trend to move away from textual essentialism in the study of religion.
    The eBook version of the companion can be purchased here.

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  • Final -y

    Ferrer-Losilla, Juanjo. 2014. Final -y in Non-Manichaean Parthian and the Proto-Parthian ‘rhytmic law’  (Cahiers de Studia Iranica 52). Peeters Publishers.

    This work traces the uses of the co-called “final -y” in Inscriptional Parthian, and provides the distributional rules that govern its presence or absence in certain words. Following the introduction, the bulk of this study consists of three main headings involving, firstly, the presentation of the Aramaeographic forms and the words outside the nominal inflexion, secondly, the classification of the nominal forms in connection with the final -y and, finally, a feasible history of the Parthian nominal inflection.

  • Persian kingship and architecture

    Babaie, Sussan & Talinn Grigor (eds.). 2015. Persian kingship and architecture: Strategies of power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B.Tauris.

    Since the Shah went into exile and the Islamic Republic was established in 1979 in the wake of the Iranian Revolution, the very idea of monarchy in Iran has been contentious. Yet, as Persian Kingship and Architecture argues, the institution of kingship has historically played a pivotal role in articulating the abstract notion of ‘Iran’ since antiquity. These ideas surrounding kingship and nation have, in turn, served as a unifying cultural force despite shifting political and religious allegiances. Through analyses of palaces, mausolea, art, architectural decoration and urban design the authors show how architecture was appropriated by different rulers as an integral part of their strategies of legitimising power. They refer to a variety of examples, from the monuments of Persepolis under the Achamenids, the Sassanian palaces at Kish, the Safavid public squares of Isfahan, the Qajar palaces at Shiraz and to the modernisation and urban agendas of the Pahlavis. Drawing on archaeology, ancient, medieval, early and modern architectural history, both Islamic and secular, this book is indispensable for all those interested in Iranian studies and visual culture.

    For the ToC and having a look into this volume see here.

    About the Editors:

    Sussan Babaie is Lecturer in the Arts of Iran and Islam at The Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, UK.

    Talinn Grigor is Associate Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at Brandeis University in Boston.

  • Map of the Zerafshan valley

    Etienne de la Vaissière has kindly shared this map of the Zerafshan valley in the 7th century on academia.edu. He states:

    Map drawn for my Histoire des marchands sogdiens, Paris: Collège de France, 2002, map 5. Please feel free to modify and adapt it to your needs: the layers can be modified in Illustrator. Although I have drawn it I claim no copyright, but would welcome that you mention the source.

     

  • Palmyra: Trade families, city and territory

    Gregoratti, Leonardo. 2015. Palmyra: trade families, city and territory through the epigraphic sources. In Giorgio Affanni, Cristina Baccarin, Laura Cordera, Angelo Di Michele & Katia Gavagnin (eds.), Broadening Horizons 4, Conference of young researchers working in the Ancient Near East, Egypt and Central Asia, University of Torino, October 2011 (British Archaeological Reports International Series 2698), 55–59 . Oxford: Archaeopress.

  • B.D. Kochnev Memorial Seminar

    coinB.D. Kochnev Memorial Seminar in Central Asian and Middle Eastern Numismatics

    Seventh Meeting, March 14, 2015
    Hofstra University, Calkins Hall 206

    Seminar is free and open to public
    Please RSVP to Aleksandr.Naymark@hofstra.edu

    Session 1
    10:00 – 11:00 am

    Dmitrii Markov (New York), Aleksandr Naymark (Hofstra University)
    “A Hoard of Archaic Greek Coins from the Banks of Amu-Darya. Preliminary Report”

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  • Workshop: Iran and Islam

    Iran and Islam: Early Encounters. Formation of Islam 
and Transformation of Iranian Religious Traditions

    12 March 2015 09:00–13 March 2015 18:00, Workshop Room: FNO 02/ 40-46

    Contact: Kianoosh Rezania

    For more information, see the workshop schedule

    Additional Information:
    There is no doubt that the contact of Islam with other religions in the very homeland of Islam as well as in the conquered lands played a significant role in its formation. In contrast, the evolving Islam must have challenged the existing religions, transformed them or stimulated them to do so. A great dynamic of renovation and repositioning of religious traditions can be expected in the first centuries of Islam. Therefore, a more in-depth study of this vibrant dynamic of mutual exchange between Islamic and especially Iranian religious traditions is a desideratum which our symposium intends to address.

    This workshop will be held in English.

  • Sasanian royalist ideology

    Sasanian royalist ideology and Zoroastrian millennialism

    Lecture by François de Blois, University College London, at the Ancient India and Iran Trust, Cambridge, Friday 06March, 5.30pm.

    François de Blois has published widely on Semitic and Iranian languages and on the history of religions in the Near East in pre-modern times. Notably, he contributed to the multi-volume work Persian Literature, which had been initiated by C.A. Storey and published by the Royal Asiatic Society. He served as Professor of Iranian Studies at Hamburg University from 2002 to 2003. Currently he is a research fellow at University College London where he is engaged in a major project on al-Biruni’s Chronology and other Arabic texts on non-Islamic calendars. He is also a teaching fellow for Aramaic and Middle Iranian languages at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He has been a frequent contributor to the Encyclopaedia of Islam.

    All welcome. Refreshments from 5pm.

    Ancient India & Iran Trust
    23 Brooklands Avenue, Cambridge CB2 8BG

  • Persian in Yuan China

    Haw, Stephen. 2014. The Persian language in Yuan-Dynasty China: A reappraisal. East Asian History 39. 5–32.

    It has often been claimed that Persian was an important lingua franca in the Yuan empire. A recent article by Professor David Morgan has discussed this premise at some length, setting out what seems to be impressive evidence in its favour.[1] For some time, however, I have entertained doubts about the validity of some of this evidence. Although I have no doubt that there were a significant number of Persian speakers in the Yuan empire, of whom a number may have held important official positions, I believe that the Persian language was never a genuine lingua franca in China and Mongolia.