Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Author: Arash Zeini

  • Achaemenid Zoroastrian Echoes

    Achaemenid Zoroastrian Echoes

    Barnea, Gad. 2025. Some Achaemenid Zoroastrian echoes in early Yahwistic sources. Iran. 1–10.

    In her magnum opus, A History of Zoroastrianism, Mary Boyce perceptively noted that often, in the history of this Iranian religion, “developments within Iran itself have to be deduced from the ripples which they caused abroad”. This is certainly true of the history of Achaemenid-era Zoroastrianism, the characteristics (and in some circles even the existence) of which, continue to be a matter of debate even as more and more information regarding its possible features continues to emerge. This article aims to complement the current body of knowledge with data gathered from Yahwistic sources outside of Iran to enhance and solidify our understanding of Achaemenid-era Zoroastrianism and its contours. It reviews the current state of scholarship and the significant progress that has been made in the recent decades and studies some Zoroastrian/Avestan echoes preserved in Yahwistic sources in Upper Egypt, mostly at Elephantine, which provide first-hand documentation of Zoroastrian devotion.

    Abstract
  • Ahreman’s Ascent

    Ahreman’s Ascent

    Panaino, Antonio. 2025. Ahreman’s ascent and the direction of his primordial aggression. With an excursus about the cosmic egg (Publications d’Études Indo-Iraniennes 4). Strasbourg: Université de Strasbourg.

    This study analyses the problem of the trajectory taken by Ahreman during his aggression against the Good Creation. In the Pahlavi texts, this attack moves from the bottom of the universe to the top, passing throughout the intermediate void. This means that the heaven of the stars, pierced by the demonic army in the circumpolar area, was not spherical at that moment, and that the cosmos did not follow a homocentric model, or Ahreman, coming from the outer space, would have aggressed directly Ohrmazd, whose paradisiacal sphere would have been the most external one. Actually, the cosmos assumed a homocentric shape only after the aggression, and this shows that the Sasanian theologians mixed an earlier non spherical model with a later spherical one with contradictory results. Parallel problems emerge with reference to certain narrations concerning Ahreman’s expulsion from the lowest heaven, whose effects would have produced the transfer of the antagonist not out of the universe, but in a superior sphere. The present book discusses this and other uranographic problems in connection with the complex evolution of Zoroastrian cosmology since the Avestan period till the later phases, when the Mazdeans were living within a dominating Islamic cultural framework.

    Summary
  • 30 Years of “Iran and the Caucasus”: A Proud Milestone

    30 Years of “Iran and the Caucasus”: A Proud Milestone

    International Conference Dedicated to the 30th Anniversary of Iran and the Caucasus


    19-21 September, 2026
    Armenia

    The Editorial Board of Iran and the Caucasus, in collaboration with De Gruyter Brill, is pleased to announce an international conference marking the 30th anniversary of the journal’s founding.

    Since its inception in 1997, Iran and the Caucasus has emerged as a leading interdisciplinary platform for scholarly engagement with the diverse historical, linguistic, literary, folkloric, textual, religious, archaeological, economic, and political dimensions of Irano-Caucasica—an expansive geo-cultural region extending from Asia Minor to the Indian subcontinent, encompassing Central Asia, Afghanistan and other territories historically situated within Greater Iran’s political orbit, inhabited by Iranian peoples, or profoundly influenced by Iranian cultural traditions including Northern Pakistan and the North Caucasus.

    We extend a cordial invitation to scholars worldwide to contribute to this academic gathering by submitting papers that critically engage with the journal’s legacy, present original research consonant with its thematic scope, and articulate new analytical perspectives on the region’s historical trajectories, contemporary dynamics, and future perspectives.

    Publication

    Selected papers will be considered for publication, after undergoing peer review, in the journal Iran and the Caucasus or as a separate volume of the conference proceedings in the Series Iran and the Caucasus Monographs.

    Individual and Panel Presentation Format

    Abstract submissions must be anonymized and should not exceed 400 words. Submissions must be sent in both Word and PDF formats. A separate file should include the following information:

    • Full name(s)
    • Institutional affiliation(s)
    • Email address(es)
    • ORCID iD(s)

    This requirement also applies to panel proposals, which may include a maximum of four participants.

    All submissions will undergo blind peer review.

    • Keynote Speeches: 40 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of discussion
    • Individual Presentations: 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of discussion

    Working Language: English

    Conference Email Address: iranandthecaucasus30@gmail.com

    Important Dates

    • Abstract Submission Deadline: 31 March 2026
    • Notification of Acceptance: 30 April 2026
    • Registration: 30 June 2026

    Participation Fee

    The conference participation fee is EUR 400, which includes:

    • Accommodation;
    • Lunches and refreshments;
    • Two banquets (opening and closing) and one dinner;
    • A cultural programme during the conference;
    • Transportation from the conference venue to Yerevan.
    IC30-updatedDownload
  • Two articles by Arish Dastur

    Two articles by Arish Dastur

    Dastur, Arish. 2025. Imbued with the essence of the Gods: The intersection between Zoroastrian theology and the Old Avestan possessive adjectives derived from personal pronouns. Bulletin of SOAS, FirstView 1–34.

    The Gāϑās of Zaraϑuštra provide us with the Old Avestan attestations of the adjectives mauuaṇt-, ϑβāuuaṇt– and xšmāuuaṇt-/yūšmāuuaṇt-. The adjective mauuaṇt– occurs twice in the Gāϑās, while ϑβāuuaṇt– occurs five times and xšmāuuaṇt-/yūšmāuuaṇt– occurs seven times. Over the years, little effort has been put into studying the broader context in which these words are situated or into understanding the specific use and significance of these words in the Gāϑās. The basis for their translation has mostly been exogenous, with the early Avestan scholars using the readily available meanings of the Vedic equivalents mā́vat-, tvā́vat– and yuṣmā́vat– for this purpose. In contrast, this article endeavours to understand the meaning and significance of the words mauuaṇt-, ϑβāuuaṇt– and xšmāuuaṇt-/yūšmāuuaṇt– in the context of Zoroastrian theology. It further seeks to examine the morphological basis of their meaning, to offer updated translation options for them and to situate these updated translations into the Gāϑic stanzas in which they occur.

    Abstract

    Dastur, Arish. 2024. Contending for the cosmos: A Zoroastrian poet’s mysterious rival. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 34(1). 79–108.

    The ancient Zoroastrian hymn of worship dedicated to the frauuaṣ̌i-s (affirmative choices) of righteous mortals and divinities refers to an important discourse that takes place between an unnamed Zoroastrian poet-sage and his mysterious rival, named Gaōtəma. The figure of Gaōtəma has intrigued Avestan scholars through the years, but the significance and the implications of Gaōtəma’s identity, and of his presence in the hymn, has to date not been seriously studied. This article first examines the context in which Gaōtəma is presented in the hymn. Building upon this, it then evaluates four potential identities for Gaōtəma: Avestan, Turanian, Buddhist, and Vedic. Conducting a multidisciplinary and comparative assessment, the article eventually argues in favour of a Vedic identity for Gaōtəma, specifically that of a poet-sage who was a proponent of the Rig Vedic divinity Indra. This investigation into Gaōtəma’s identity concomitantly provides important perspectives on certain aspects of the Zoroastrian religion, and often in a comparative context.

    Abstract
  • Manichaeism: Encounters with Death

    Manichaeism: Encounters with Death

    Towers, Susanna. 2025. Manichaeism: Encounters with death. Studies in the material, spiritual and parabolic body (Studia Traditionis Theologiae 61). Turnhout: Brepols Publishers.

    Born in Persian Mesopotamia in the year 232 CE, the self-proclaimed prophet Mani promulgated a dualist faith that rapidly spread throughout the Roman Empire, Central Asia and China. This monograph comprises a series of studies of the Manichaean conceptualization of death and the afterlife in the context of Manichaean soteriology, eschatology and anthropology. Material, documentary and liturgical evidence is analysed to enrich knowledge of Manichaean funeral ritual and mourning practice. The book explores the thematic symbolism of the corpse in Manichaean parabolic literature, offering fresh interpretations and exploring the influence of Buddhist teachings on the impermanence of the body, karma and metempsychosis.

    Summary
  • The Zurkhāneh

    The Zurkhāneh

    Rochard, Philippe. 2025. The Zurkhāneh and its milieu: A study of traditional athletics in Iran (Ilex Series). Boston: Harvard University Press.

    The athletes known in Iran as pahlavāns and the domed structure, the zurkhāneh, where they congregate to practice ritualized martial arts, physical culture, and spirituality, are usually presented as the cornerstone of traditional Iranian masculine identity. However, this idealization does not do justice to the complex history of Iranian society.
    Philippe Rochard, who has observed the zurkhāneh world for the past thirty years and actually lived in it for over four years, sets out to reveal through his own experience and a reconsideration of the extant historiography the various identities—real or imagined—of the zurkhāneh, its role within ancient and contemporary Iranian society, and the intimate mechanisms of the male societies that frequent it, as well as the moral and social values—real or simply proclaimed—that the athletes embody

    Summary
  • Georges Dumézil’s tripartite theory

    Georges Dumézil’s tripartite theory

    Redard, Céline (ed.). 2025. ). L’Inde et l’Iran dans la théorie trifonctionnelle de Georges Dumézil (1898-1986) (Publications d’Etudes Indo-Iraniennes 3). Strasbourg: Université de Strasbourg.

    India and Iran occupy an important place within Georges Dumézil’s (1898-1986) tripartite theory. This book revisits Georges Dumézil’s treatment of ancient Iranian texts and Indian texts, the latter from the Vedas to the Mahābhārata.

    Résumé
  • Bactrian Documents IV

    Bactrian Documents IV

    Sims-Williams, Nicholas. 2025. Bactrian Documents IV: Documents from South of the Hindukush, I (Part II Inscriptions of the Seleucid and Parthian Periods and of Eastern Iran and Central Asia, Vol. VI Bactrian). London: Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum. With a contribution by Frantz Grenet.

    Following on from the three volumes of Bactrian documents from Northern Afghanistan (BD1-3), the present volume primarily contains the edition of a collection of fourth-century letters written on birchbark in a place which cannot be located precisely but which was evidently somewhere to the south of the Hindukush, in what is now Southern Afghanistan or Pakistan. One eighth-century document written on parchment is also included on the grounds that it is also known to come from the south of Afghanistan , almost certainly from a place named Khesh between Bamiyan and Kabul.

    From the preface

    Readers of this blog will be familiar with Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum (CII) and the many volumes published in the series on inscriptions and documents in Iranian languages. The CII forms part of the academic infrastructure at SOAS, where it has its own page (linked above and here). A list of publications is provided below.

    (more…)
  • Festschrift in Honor of Elton L. Daniel

    Festschrift in Honor of Elton L. Daniel

    Ashtiany, Mohsen, Marisa McCrone & Mahnaz Moazami (eds.). 2025. Studies in Iranian history and culture: In honor of Elton L. Daniel (Iran Studies 27). Leiden: Brill.

    This Festschrift volume presents eleven essays on Iran in honor of Professor Elton L. Daniel, an eminent scholar of Iranian studies and former Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopaedia Iranica, on the occasion of his 75th birthday. The diversity and wide range of topics and eras critically explored in this volume highlight the remarkable breadth of the honoree’s scholarship and research interests on the history and culture of Iran.

    From the summary with minor modifications.
  • Indo-Iranian Journal 68, 2

    Indo-Iranian Journal 68, 2

    Indo-Iranian Journal volume 68, issue 2 (June 2025) has been published (h/t @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social‬). Two articles and two reviews relate to our work: