Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Author: Arash Zeini

  • 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:

  • Professionals of Writing in Late Antiquity

    Professionals of Writing in Late Antiquity

    First Bahari Workshop for Early Career Scholars

    Professionals of Writing in Late Antiquity

    A workshop organised by Olivia Ramble, Yuhan S-D Vevaina, and Alessia Zubani

    13 June 2025 | 09:00 – 18:30
    Wolfson College, University of Oxford
    Professionals_of_Writing_ProgrammeDownload
  • Le Yasna Haptaŋhāiti

    Le Yasna Haptaŋhāiti

    Kellens, Jean. 2025. Le Yasna Haptaŋhāiti (Publications d’Etudes Indo-Iraniennes 2). Strasbourg: Université de Strasbourg.

    Inséré entre la première la deuxième Gâthâ, le Yasna Haptaŋhāiti, rédigé en vieil-avestique, occupe les chapitres 35 à 41 du Yasna. Ce texte fait l’objet d’une traduction commentée dans le présent ouvrage.

    Résumé
  • The realm of the Kuru

    The realm of the Kuru

    Witzel, Michael. 2025. The realm of the Kuru: Origins and development of the first state in India. Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies 30(2). 1–165.

    Major old-new article by Michael Witzel with references and discussions of the relevant Iranian traditions. Open access.

    This issue of EJVS contains the long version of my article “Early Sanskritization. Origins and development of the Kuru state” of 1997, published in a volume edited by B. Kölver. At that time, I had merely presented the outline and results of the longer paper published here. After 1997, I have added some data, over the next few years,to the unpublished long version. I have mow [sic] minimally updated it, for example by important genetic aDNA data about the first immigration of steppe people to India (Swat) around 1250 BCE. However, I could not find the time to thoroughly update the paper and therefore present it here as is, in the hope that it will be useful to colleagues.

    As the current version includes many sections of the 1997 paper, some repetitions and overlaps will occur in the bulk of the text, for which I beg the reader’s indulgence.

    Preface

  • WZO’s Annual Seminar 2025

    Three lectures as part of the World Zoroastrian Organisation’s annual seminar.

    • Alexandra Buhler: Relations between Zoroastrians in India & Iran during the late Qajar period
    • Khodadad Rezakhani: The Heart of the Empire: Ctesiphon & DilĒrānšahr in the Sasanian World
    • Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis: Royal Splendour: the art of the Sasanian kings
    WZO Seminar 2025Download
  • Iranica Antiqua

    Iranica Antiqua

    Volume 59 of Iranica Antiqua has been published:

    • 1 – 24 – Against Cuneiform: The Dawn of Writing in Iran
      DANESHMAND, Parsa
      abstract details
    • 25 – 33 – Cylinder Seals in the National Museum of Iran
      BAGHBIDI, Bahar Rezai, MIRGHADERI, Mohammad Amin, D’ORAZIO, Claudia
      abstract details
    • 35 – 62 – Petrographic and XRF Analysis of the Ceramics of the Achaemenid Period in the Ramhormoz Plain, Southwestern Iran
      AFSHARI, Leila, AKARSU, Rabia
      abstract details
    • 63 – 82 – In Search of the Plains of Gaugamela
      SZYPUŁA, Bartłomiej, GŁOGOWSKI, Piotr, MARCIAK, Michał
      abstract details
    • 83 – 108 – The Statue of the ‘Prince’ of Shami: Parthian Nobleman, Local Ruler or Arsacid King of Kings?
      SINISI, Fabrizio
      abstract details
    • 109 – 128 – Why the Title rāmšahr for Yazdgerd I?
      JALILIAN, Shahram
      abstract details
    • 129 – 151 – Between Dome and Eyvān: Building Techniques, Function, and Symbolism of the Kushk-e Ardashir in Bozpar (Bushehr, Iran)
      LABISI, Guiseppe
      abstract details
    • 153 – 193 – The Dynamics of Anthropogenic Landscape Evolution in the Bozpar Valley (South Iran). A Case Study for Small-Scale Hydraulic Engineering in Antiquity
      RASHIDIAN, Elnaz
      abstract details
    • 195 – 218 – Passing through the Northwestern Heights of the Alvand Mountains: Restoring the Caravan Routes between Asadabad and Hamadan in Different Historical Periods
      REZAEI, Iraj
      abstract details
  • Iran and the Caucasus 29 (2)

    Iran and the Caucasus 29 (2)

    Volume 29, issue 2, of Iran and the Caucasus has now been published. While all articles relate to the focus of BiblioIranica, two stand particularly out:

    This article is open access.

    Ever since its preliminary publication, Xerxes’ “Daiva” inscription (XPh) has been seen as an important and unique witness to early Achaemenid Mazdean orthopraxy and cultic propaganda. It is an essential document that captures a major reform in Achaemenid-Zoroastrian cult patterns and its relationship to cognate cults. This royal inscription describes a liturgical reform or, at least, the enforcement of such a reform, targeting and condemning the cult of the daivā—a designation describing competing deities. The key to decoding this reform hinges upon an obscure expression that appears thrice in the document—normalized as a-r-t-a-c-a : b-r-z-m-n-i-y—the meaning of which is yet to be fully understood. In this article, I revisit and analyze the various approaches previously taken to interpreting this remarkable syntagm and provide a methodological approach and a broader and more comprehensive translation which is presented in a more holistic comparative context—including onomastic, epigraphic and archeological data.

    Abstract

    There is no unified Yezidi source that would give a complete understanding of sins and retribution in this tradition. The article is an attempt to identify a number of sins and the expected retributions for them, based on the analysis of the text A’lī Šērē Xwadē Āxiratēdā—“ ‘Ali, the Lion of God in the Hereafter”. The text, which can be attributed to the apologetic genre, tells about ‘Ali’s journey to the afterlife and the opportunity he was given to see the punishments of sinners, in order to pass on this information to people in the “world of light”, i.e. the material world.

    Abstract
  • Across the deserts of Iran

    Across the deserts of Iran

    Céline Redard, Université de Strasbourg, has established a new series entitled Publications d’Etudes indo-iraniennes. The first book in the series has already been published and two more volumes are announced. This promises to be an exciting series. The books of the series will be open access.

    Redard, Georges. 2025. A travers les déserts de l’Iran. Rapport d’expédition 1951 – 1952 (Publications d’Etudes Indo-Iraniennes 1). Edidetd by Céline Redard. Strasbourg: Université de Strasbourg.

    Le présent ouvrage contient le récit de voyage rédigé par Georges Redard (1922-2005) lors de sa première mission en Iran, de fin 1951 à début 1952, en compagnie de Murray Barr et Richard Nelson Frye. Le lecteur les suivra ainsi à travers les déserts de l’Iran pendant 49 jours, et prendra connaissance de leurs rencontres et de leurs découvertes, mais aussi de leurs ennuis mécaniques ou techniques. Autant d’anecdotes qui lui permettront de s’immerger dans une autre époque, une autre culture et d’entreprendre un voyage scientifique à leurs côtés.

    Résumé

    Georges Redard (1922-2005) était un linguiste suisse, qui s’est notamment intéressé aux langues iraniennes anciennes ainsi que modernes. Il fut professeur à l’Université de Neuchâtel sur la chaire de Grammaire comparée, puis à l’Université de Berne sur la chaire de linguistique indo-européenne.

  • Recent publications by Maria Carmela Benvenuto

    Recent publications by Maria Carmela Benvenuto

    We would like to bring a number of recent publications by Maria Carmela Benvenuto and her collaborators to the attention of our readers. Her publications are listed on her departmental page, but also on her academia account.