Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Author: Arash Zeini

  • Like dust on the Silk Road

    Like dust on the Silk Road

    Bernard, Chams Benoît. 2025. Like dust on the Silk Road: On the earliest Iranian and BMAC loanwords in Tocharian (Leiden Studies in Indo-European 27). Leiden: Brill.

    This volume is open access. Follow the link above.

    “How did the Tocharians reach China?” “Who did they meet on the way?” are some of the most intriguing questions in Indo-European studies. This book is zooming in on a specific part of the question: on their way to China, Tocharians were in contact with an Iranian people living in the south Siberian Steppes, and with a people related to the Oxus Civilization (BMAC). This Iranian people spoke a specific language, called here “Old Steppe Iranian”. They gave Tocharians many words, such as mañiye ‘servant’, etswe ‘burden-carrying horse’ or ‘mule’, pāke ‘portion, share’. The BMAC-related people gave the Tocharians other words such as etre ‘hero’ and kercapo ‘donkey’. This book reconstructs features of the language of both these peoples, and examines how they influenced the Tocharians. Based on the latest archaeological findings, it also suggests a reconstruction of the chronology and the way the Tocharians followed before entering the Tarim Basin.

  • The Academic Research Segment

    The Academic Research Segment

    The Society of Scholars of Zoroastrianism presents The Academic Research Segment.

    The Academic Research Edition of the Society of Scholars of Zoroastrianism presents ‘a deep dive into the newest discoveries in the world of Zoroastrianism’. This is an online event taking place on 15 November 2025 from 3:30 to 6:30pm GMT.

    Please visit this link for further details.

    The participants are:

    • Dr. Michael Shenkar: The Cult of Fire in Sogdiana; New Evidence from Sanjar Shah
    • Dr. Miguel Andres Toledo: The Poetry of Ahura Mazdā’s Creation: Metrical Philosophy in Dēnkard 3
    • Dr. Henkelman: The Achaemenids and Central Asia. The Evidence from the Persepolis Fortification Archive
    • Dr. Garrison: The Zoroastrian Question in Achaemenid Fārs. Insights from the Persepolis Fortification Archive
  • Zoroastrianism and contemporary philosophy

    Zoroastrianism and contemporary philosophy

    Nolan, Daniel. 2025. Zoroastrianism and contemporary philosophy (Elements in Global Philosophy of Religion). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Zoroastrianism is a religion with a long history, but it has been comparatively neglected by contemporary philosophers. This Element aims to bring aspects of its long intellectual history into conversation with contemporary Anglo-American philosophy. Section 1 provides an introduction to Zoroastrianism and its history, some of the important texts, and some contemporary philosophy engaged with Zoroastrian themes. Section 2 discusses distinctive contributions Zoroastrian thought can make to the problems of evil and suffering. And Section 3 discusses a ‘quasi-universalist’ approach to puzzles about heaven and salvation, inspired by Zoroastrian theological texts.

    Summary

    For those with access,this title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

  • Iran and the Caucasus 29 (3)

    Iran and the Caucasus 29 (3)

    We are grateful to the staff at Yale Classics Library (@yaleclassicslib.bsky.social), who have been wonderful collaborators, sharing publication information with us:

    Volume 29, issue 3, of Iran and the Caucasus has now been published.

    The following articles relate to the disciplinary focus of BiblioIranica:

    Did Arrian Ever Fight the Alans?

    Author: Fatima Foltz
    Pages: 233–246

    Who Hides under the Name “Šahrbarāz, Malik al-Bāb” by aṭ-Ṭabarī under 22 A.H. (642/3 A.D.)?

    Author: Arsen K. Shahinyan
    Pages: 247–259

    “Meinen Namen habe ich folgendermaßen inskulpiert”. Engelbert Kaempfer in Shirvan.

    Author: Daniel T. Potts
    Pages: 260–274

    Tiriya: A God Restyled

    Author: Martin Schwartz
    Pages: 275–281

    A Short Glossary of Northern Talishi

    Author: Garnik S. Asatrian
    Pages: 282–294

    Contributions to Zagrology: V.F. Minorsky and C.J. Edmonds Correspondence (1928–1965), by Gennady Kurin and Metin Atmaca (eds./annotation/introduction)

    Author: Victoria Arakelova
    Pages: 332–333

  • Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft

    Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft

    The latest issue (175.2) of the legendary Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (ZDMG) has been published and is accessible here.

    Research articles

    Die ZDMG und ihre „Kinder“. Über die Rolle wissenschaftlicher Zeitschriften in der Geschichte der Orientalistik
    Thomas L. Gertzen
    Page 273 – 292

    Beyond Rage and Fear. Negative Emotions in Middle Babylonian Letters
    Jacob Jan de Ridder
    Page 293 – 310

    Ein christliches Liebesgedicht eines Muslims aus dem 10. Jahrhundert. Mudrik b. ʿAlī aš-Šaybānīs (st. 1000) muzdawiǧah über ʿAmr b. Yūhannā an-Naṣrānī
    Werner Diem
    Page 311 – 342

    Following the Path. On the Early Modern Commentary Tradition on Ibn al-Fāriḍ’s Poem of the Way
    Enrico Boccaccini
    Page 343 – 368

    Contributions to Iranian Etymology III
    Marco Fattori
    Page 369 – 395

    Was ist Iranistik? Eine fachgeschichtliche Würdigung von Bert G. Fragner (1941–2021)
    Christoph U. Werner
    Page 397 – 409

    The Yuktidīpikā on Yogins’ Perception
    Ołena Łucyszyna
    Page 411 – 435

    Das Menschen- und Kinderopfer im alten und modernen Indien – Material, Interpretation, Debatte
    Adelheid Herrmann-Pfandt
    Page 437 – 466

    Bringing Tibetan Buddhism Down to Earth. Part II: Gnam babs kyi dar ma bam po gcig go (IOL Tib J 370/6) Between Revelation and Legitimisation
    Joanna Bialek
    Page 467 – 492

    Were There Really Cham Muslims in Hainan and Guangzhou in the Late Tenth Century? A Re-Examination of Relevant Chinese Sources
    Johannes L. Kurz
    Page 493 – 518

  • Weaponry and a healed wound from the Parthian era

    Weaponry and a healed wound from the Parthian era

    Eghdami, Mohammad Reza, Majid Gholamzadeh Roudbordeh & Meysam Navaeiyan. 2025. Weaponry and a healed wound from the Parthian era (247 BCE to 224 CE): Insights from the Liyarsangbon cemetery, Guilan, Iran. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology Early View. 1–9.

    The current research examines the health and medical treatment implications associated with an iron arrowhead found among the skeletal remains of an individual unearthed from the Parthian cemetery at Liyarsangbon, Iran. This site is dated to the period between 247 bc and ad 224, as determined through relative dating methods. Non-invasive testing methods, including XRF and Quantometer analysis, established the elemental composition of grave artifacts, while CT Hounsfield scans assessed damage around the arrowhead within the bone. The soil exhibited a pH level of 8.67, signifying its alkaline nature. Among the metallic residues surrounding the subject of investigation, iron was identified as the predominant metal, with average concentrations of 89.93 (XRF) and 90.93 (Quantometer). A Hounsfield unit measurement of 4000 suggested a metallic object within the bone. This study focuses on the production of iron artifacts and examines their practical effectiveness. The intricate design of the arrowhead, characterized by its sharp precision, underscores the advanced level of craftsmanship within the toolmaking industry and reflects a high degree of expertise in metallurgy. Its ability to penetrate deeply into the lateral condyle of the right tibia serves as a testament to the skill and technological sophistication involved in its creation. Conversely, the inability to remove the embedded arrowhead from the bone reveals the constraints and shortcomings in the surgical practices of this particular society, shedding light on the limitations of medical techniques during that era.

    Abstract

  • A Military Origin for New Persian?

    Vaissière, Étienne de La. 2025. A military origin for New Persian? Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. Akadémiai Kiadó 78(3). 471–489.

    The question of the transition from Middle Persian to New Persian has been hotly debated. This article attempts to answer two questions: who spoke New Persian before it was put into writing in the middle of the 9th c.? This social group is identified with the soldiers of the armies of Abū Muslim, i.e. peasants from Marw
    and their descendants. They came during one century to the forefront of Abbasid political and administrative life and imposed their specific dialect as a political language, in the shadow of Arabic. The second question is: what could have been the origins of the spoken language in the Marw oasis of the first half of the 8th c.? The article tries to demonstrate, on a much more tentative basis, that the demographic history of an oasis twice manned by soldiers from the South, first Middle Persian-speaking ones and then Arabic ones, both groups added to the local, Parthian-speaking population, is well reflected in the unique combination of
    Middle Persian, Arabic and Parthian characteristic of Early New Persian. Early New Persian is the language of 8th c. Marw, or more generally Outer Khurāsān. This Marw hypothesis, based on the presence of Parthian vocabulary, is however very cautious, as nothing is known of the grammar of spoken late Middle Persian and many of the linguistic differences between Middle and New Persian might have evolved separately in different historical processes.

    Abstract
  • The first Hyrcanian tiger?

    The first Hyrcanian tiger?

    Colburn, Henry P. 2025. The first Hyrcanian tiger? A unique figurine from Yarim Tepe, Iran. Anthropozoologica 60(10). 131–142.

    The article is also available here.

    Tigers (Panthera tigris Linnaeus, 1758) are rare in ancient art outside of India and Central Asia. In the Mediterranean world they were associated with the East, and all the danger and exoticism that it entailed, especially with the region of Hyrcania (modern Gorgan), on the southeastern coast of the Caspian Sea. In Iran itself they do not appear until the Sasanian Empire (c. 224-651 CE), and their appearance has been attributed to influence from Central Asia. However, a ceramic figurine of a tiger was excavated at Yarim Tepe in Golestan Province, Iran (in the region of Gorgan) in 1960. It is made of a ceramic fabric known to archaeologists as “Caspian Black-on-Red Ware”, and based on its occurrence at other sites in northeastern Iran such as Shah Tepe, Tureng Tepe and Tepe Hissar, this type of pottery, and the tiger itself, likely dates to c. 3500 to 3100 BCE. This would make it among the oldest depictions of a tiger in the ancient world and certainly the earliest in Iran. Although the exact purpose of the figurine is unknown, it must have played a role in the identities of the people living at Yarim Tepe. As such, it stands at the head of a long line of images of tigers in later Iranian art and literature.

    Abstract
  • Christian Slavery in Fars

    Christian Slavery in Fars

    Stadel, Seth M. 2025. The legal constructions of Christian slavery in Fars at the end of Late Antiquity. Journal of Late Antiquity 18(2). 401–422.

    In the seventh and eighth centuries, the Church of the East community in Fars (southwest Iran) slowly developed a distinctive identity in response to the political, religious, and cultural changes that transformed the region in the wake of the Arab conquest of Iran in the early to mid-seventh century. One facet of this emerging identity centered around the institution of slavery. The only known witnesses preserving details of the practice of Christian slavery in Fars are the lawbooks of Church of the East metropolitan bishops Simeon of Revardashir (mid-seventh century) and Isho‘bokht of Revardashir (late eighth century), each of whom produced their respective legal work for the Christian community in this region. This article examines the legal constructions of Christian slavery in Fars in the context of extant Sasanian slave laws and documentary evidence. It also discusses the extent to which these two metropolitan bishops developed Sasanian slave laws for the purpose of establishing legal boundaries that demarcated Christian slavery from non-Christian slavery in Fars, and it considers the probable reasons that motivated their production of slave regulations for Christians in this region at the end of Late Antiquity.

    Abstract
  • Persian Mazdaism in Cappadocia

    Persian Mazdaism in Cappadocia

    Fattori, Marco & Marco F. Ferrari. 2025. Zeus Pharnauas and Persian Mazdaism in Cappadocia. Iran 1–16.

    This article deals with the spread of Iranian religion in the western regions of the Achaemenid Empire by means of a combined analysis of historical and linguistic data. The core of the discussion is about the word Φαρνάουας, which appears as an epithet of Zeus in a Greek inscription from Roman Cappadocia. After showing, on linguistic grounds, that this epithet must have originated in the empire heartland during the Achaemenid period, some reflections are offered on the way by which Persian religious elements ended up in Cappadocia. In the framework of a survey of the traces of Iranian religion in Achaemenid and post-Achaemenid Cappadocia, another interesting point of contact between Cappadocia and the local cultic reality of Persia is pointed out – the female theonym *R̥tāna fravr̥tiš “Frauuaṣ̌i of the Righteous”, both attested in the Cappadocian calendar and the Elamite administrative documents from Persepolis.