Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Category: Articles

  • Two articles by Mohamad Bayani

    Two articles by Mohamad Bayani

    Bayani, Mohamad. 2025. Creating is cutting: A conceptual metaphor in Avestan and Pahlavi texts. Bulletin of SOAS 88(2). 243–265.

    This paper investigates the development of the creation theme in Zoroastrian sources through the lens of the conceptual metaphor “creation is cutting”. It analyses three terms: Avestan taš– and ϑβǝrǝs-, and Middle Persian brēhēnīdan. Each term is examined in non-metaphorical, non-creational metaphorical, and creational metaphorical contexts. This analysis, coupled with a comparison of their semantic nuances and metaphorical mappings, suggests a creation myth with two phases: in the first phase, Ahura Mazda alone hews the undifferentiated forms of both the spiritual and material creation from an imaginary primary material, followed by the sculpting of the spiritual creation, resulting in adding details to the form. Subsequently, Ahura Mazda, in collaboration with the Beneficial Immortals/high-ranked divinities, imparts specific bodily and facial details to the material creation, enabling procreation. The Pahlavi sources elaborate on this theme, portraying Ahura Mazda as the sole agent in the initial hewing, while high-ranking divinities mitigate the harm inflicted by Ahriman on the created prototypes, facilitating their procreation throughout the world.

    Abstract

    Bayani, Mohamad. 2026. The concept of the creational body in Iranian mythology: transformation and theological reinterpretations in Zoroastrian texts. Bulletin of SOAS, FirstView.1–10.

    This article explores the evolution of the “creational body” motif in Iranian mythology, focusing on its transformation within Zoroastrian theological contexts. Drawing on Indo-European and Indo-Iranian cosmogonic narratives, the article examines two primary representations: Gayōmard, the human prototype, and āsrō-kirb, an enigmatic body described as the “form of fire”. While the original Indo-Iranian myths often portray the creation of the cosmos through the sacrificial dismemberment of a primordial being, Zoroastrian texts adapt this narrative to align with their dualistic theology. The dismemberment of Gayōmard is attributed to Ahriman and his demonic forces, dissociating Ohrmazd and the Beneficent Immortals from acts of violence. By contrast, āsrō-kirb’s narrative presents an abstract, faceless body dismembered by Ohrmazd, whose act is sanitized of its grotesque sacrificial elements. Through textual analysis of Pahlavi sources, this article investigates the theological motivations behind these alterations, highlighting how Zoroastrian priests sought to reconcile inherited cosmogonic myths with their ethical and doctrinal imperatives. The findings reveal a dual adjustment: the reinterpretation of Gayōmard’s narrative to condemn Ahriman, and the abstraction of āsrō-kirb to obscure its violent origins, while maintaining its creational function. These adaptations underscore the dynamic interplay between inherited mythology and evolving theological frameworks in the Zoroastrian tradition.

    Abstract

  • Insights into the First Kushan Ruler’s Enigmatic Tetradrachms

    Taasob, Razieh. 2026. Reassessing the lifespan of the Heraios coinage: Insights into the first Kushan ruler’s enigmatic tetradrachms. In: Merle Eisenberg, Lee Mordechai & David Yoon (eds.), Coins and money in the Middle Ages. Studies in honor of Alan Stahl (Numismatic Studies 50), 123-141. New York: The American Numismatic Society.

    The attribution and chronology of Heraios coinage, often linked to the early Kushan ruler Kujula Kadphises, have long been points of scholarly debate. Initial studies concentrated on deciphering inscriptions, while later research, particularly Cribb’s 1993 study, argued for a connection between these coins and Kujula Kadphises during the first century AD. However, unresolved issues, including die variations and issuing sequences, have kept the topic open for scholarly discussion. In this paper, I examine in particular the lifespan of Heraios tetradrachms by analyzing die features, such as royal portraits, facial details, reverse motifs, and the degradation of inscriptions, to proposes a lifespan of approximately thirty years for the Heraios coinage, aligning with the early phase of Kushan period. Using a methodology based on detailed typological, denominational, and metallurgical studies, I compare the Heraios series to the Hermaios posthumous coinage, employing a model similar to Bopearachchi’s for understanding the degeneration process over time. This approach aims to provide new insights into the development of the coinage system in the north of the Hindu Kush during the early Kushan period, revealing how local Yuezhi rulers contributed to its development.

  • Greek Persians, Persian Greeks, or: When a king dreams

    Ruffing, Kai. 2026. Griechische Perser, Persische Griechen, oder: Wenn ein König träumt. In: R. Breitwieser, A. Hofeneder, R. Matuszewski (eds.), Im Garten der Klio. Festschrift für Monika Frass (Philippika 193), 240-255. Wiesbaden :Harrassowitz.

  • Another Look at the Word-Final Syllable in Old Persian

    Another Look at the Word-Final Syllable in Old Persian

    Repanšek, Luka. 2026. Another look at the word-final syllable in Old Persian. Indo-Iranian Journal 69: 257-287.

    The article offers a long-overdue reconciliatory reassessment of the much-discussed Old Persian cuneiform sequences ⟨‑Ca-a⟩, ⟨‑Ca/i-i-ya⟩, and ⟨‑Ca/u-u-va⟩ in word-final position, and of their phonetic and phonographic interpretation. It argues that the view according to which ⟨‑Ca-a⟩ cannot represent final vowel lengthening rests on assumptions that cannot be independently substantiated from the orthographic evidence. Accordingly, ⟨‑Ca-a⟩ is best interpreted as reflecting final /ā/, the graphic marking of which may either continue the cuneiform principle of plene spelling or represent the use of a mater lectionis ⟨a⟩ modelled on the Aramaic practice of specifically marking final long (accented) a-vowels. The ⟨y⟩ and ⟨v⟩ in word-final sequences ‑iy and ‑uv, representing the two Old Persian high vowels, are argued to be more plausibly interpreted as matres lectionis than as phonetic representations of off-glides, although the difficulties inherent in this interpretation are also critically examined. At the same time, the systematic use of ⟨u-va⟩ to spell word-initial long /ū/ suggests that these spellings, like ⟨‑Ca-a⟩, are compatible with—and indeed point toward—general final vowel lengthening in Old Persian. The spelling of inherited diphthongs as ⟨‑Ca‑i-ya⟩ and ⟨‑Ca-u-va⟩, on the other hand, is interpreted as purely graphematic in motivation. In the excursus, the position is defended that forms such as akunavaša and abaraha ultimately demonstrate that the non-representation of word-final *h, *n and *d reflects their complete loss by the Old Persian period.


  • Psalm 45 and the Achaemenid View of the Ideal King

    Amar, Itzhak. 2026. Psalm 45 and the Achaemenid view of the ideal king. Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 38: 1-18.

  • Sasanian Silver Coins from Atbatan Necropolis Near Demirchi (Shamakhi District, Azerbaijan)

    Huseynov, Rustam N. & Akif A. Guliyev. 2026. Sasanian silver coins from Atbatan necropolis Near Demirchi (Shamakhi district, Azerbaijan). Azerbaijan Journal of Archaeology and Anthropology 2 (1): 99-105.

    This article presents a small group of Sasanian silver drachms discovered during archaeological excavations at Atbatan necropolis near the village of Demirchi in the Shamakhi region of Azerbaijan. The coins were recovered from burial contexts in association with human skeletal remains and accompanying grave goods, providing important archaeological evidence for the circulation of late Sasanian silver coinage in the Shirvan area. The study focuses on the typological and chronological attribution of the coins based on iconography, mint signatures, regnal dates, and Pahlavi legends preserved on the specimens. The Demirchi finds contribute to the growing corpus of Sasanian numismatic material discovered in Azerbaijan and provide new data on Sasanian influence, trade networks, and population contacts in the Shirvan region during Late Antiquity – Early Middle Ages.

  • Recovering a Sasanian Royal Book in Early Islam

    Zubani, Alessia. 2026. Recovering a Sasanian Royal Book in Early Islam: The Kitāb Ṣuwar mulūk Banī Sāsān and Its Arabic Transmission. Essays in Long Late Antiquity 1 (1): 73-95.

    This paper explores the recovery and translation of a Sasanian royal book during the early Islamic period, focusing on the Umayyad and early Abbasid eras. It examines the missing Kitāb Ṣuwar mulūk Banī Sāsān (“Book of the Portraits of the Sasanian Kings”), a work that depicted portraits of all Sasanian rulers, their reigns, and deeds. Although it is lost, Arab and Persian historians who had access to Arabic translations commissioned by the Umayyad caliph Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik (r. 724–743) described it in detail.

    The history of this text, as preserved by these Arab and Persian historians, highlights the interest in Iranian political literary traditions during the Islamic period, while also providing valuable information about the work and its earliest observed Arabic manuscript copy. Analyzing this information with contemporary and slightly later manuscripts provides insights into the work’s history as part of a specific political literary tradition and as a material manuscript artifact.

  • A Palace Built into a Mountain

    Maghsoudlou, Arvin. 2025. A Palace Built into a Mountain: Exploring the Modes of Audience Interaction and Reception at the Great Ayvan of Taq-e Bustan in Late Antiquity. Ancient West & East 24: 43-67.

    This study revisits the structure, imagery and scale of the Great Ayvan of Taq-e Bustan, employing a phenomenological approach to explore how it interacted with its potential Late Antique audiences. It argues that the monument departed from traditional Sasanian rock reliefs by blending features of landscape reliefs and palatial architecture into a hybrid programme, effectively engaging a diverse audience. The paper analyses how viewer interaction varied with proximity to the ayvan, with a particular focus on the complex and multisensory experience afforded to those granted access inside.

  • Two unpublished Bactrian documents

    Two unpublished Bactrian documents

    Sims-Williams, Nicholas. 2026. Two unpublished Bactrian documents in the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait. Bulletin of SOAS FirstView. 1–8.

    Bactrian, the principal written language of pre-Islamic Afghanistan, was little known until the early 1990s, when more than 150 contracts, economic documents and letters, together with a few Buddhist texts, were acquired by collectors. Most of these were published by Nicholas Sims-Williams between 2001 and 2012 in three volumes entitled Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan. The present article presents two additional documents which have come to light more recently, a receipt for a sum of ten dirhams and a letter from an otherwise unknown ruler of Rōb, modern Rui in the Hindukush mountains. The text and translation of the documents are accompanied by a discussion of their linguistic and historical significance.

    Abstract

  • The Chronological Boundaries of the Persepolis Fortification Archive

    Stolper, Matthew W. 2025. The Chronological Boundaries of the Persepolis Fortification Archive. In Petra Goedegebuure & Joost Hazenbos (eds.), Ḫattannaš: A Festschrift in Honor of Theo van den Hout, 387-415. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    The Festschrift offered to Theo van den Hout contains several important and stimulating studies. The entire volume is available in open access via the hyperlink above. Among its contributions, an article by Matthew Stolper is particularly noteworthy, as it addresses a subject at the very core of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. The study presents an edition of several texts from the Persepolis Fortification Archive which, despite their fragmentary condition, shed new light on the chronological boundaries of the Archive.