Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Category: Articles

  • Zoroastrianism in India

    Parsi Mumbai: The legacy of Zoroastrianism in India’s urban babric, published by the Ajam Media Collective, is a nicely written piece on Parsis in India, documented with many photos. Although Cafe Mondegar is not mentioned, the publication of the article coincides with the news that Mondegar might face eviction.

  • Amǝṣ̌as Spǝṇtas

    Kellens, Jean. 2014. Sur l’origine des Amǝṣ̌as Spǝṇtas. Studia Iranica 43(2). 163-175.

    The group of the seven Aməšas Spəṇtas of the Young Avesta is not yet constituted in Old Avesta, but its members are joined together once in each polyhâtic Gāthā as a special phase of the liturgical process by the intervention of certain mediatory entities.

  • A coin of Shāpūr I

    Shavarebi, Ehsan. 2014. Some remarks on a newly-discovered coin type of Shāpūr I. Studia Iranica 43(2). 281–290.

    In this paper a unique gold coin of Shāpūr I, first published by Michael Alram, is reexamined from some iconographic details as well as from an epigraphic point of view, comparing the legend of the coin’s obverse with the Sasanian royal inscriptions.

  • Ohrmazd’s better judgement

    Agostini, Domenico, Eva Kiesele & Shai Secunda. 2014. Ohrmazd’s better judgement (meh-dādestānīh). A Middle Persian legal and theological discourse. Studia Iranica 43(2). 177–202.

    This article presents a transcription, translation, commentary, and discussion of a ritual and theological passage taken from the long-neglected Middle Persian work, the Zand ī fragard ī Jud-dēw-dād. The selection is notable for the way it mixes theological and ritual forms of discourse while considering situations in which impure or Evil things, like corpses, wolves, and sins, naturally come into contact with pure and Good elements, like water, fire, and good deeds. Along with explaining this rich text and its various textual parallels, the article considers the potential research value of the Zand ī fragard ī Jud-dēw-dād for Iranists and scholars of late antique religious literature.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Parthians in the Roman Empire

    Gregoratti, Leonardo. 2015. In the land West of the Euphrates: The Parthians in the Roman Empire. In Pietro Maria Militello & Hakan Öniz (eds.), Proceedings of the 15th symposium on Mediterranean archaeology, held at the University of Catania 3–5 March 2011, vol. II (British Archaeological Reports International Series 2695), 731–735. Oxford: Archaeopress.

  • Achaemenid administrative tablets

    Stolper, Matthew & Michael Fisher. 2015. Achaemenid administrative tablets 3: Fragments from Old Kandahar, Afghanistan. ARTA: Achaemenid Research on Texts and Archaeology 1. 1–27.

  • The Babylonian version of the Achaemenid inscriptions

    Daneshmand, Parsa. 2015. New phraseology and literary style in the Babylonian version of the Achaemenid inscriptions. In Alfonso Archi (ed.), Tradition and innovation in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 57th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Rome 4–8 July 2011. Indiana: Eisenbrauns.

  • A hoard from the time of Yazdgard III in Kirmān

    coinAn important article by Heidemann, Riederer and Weber on a hoard of coins from the final years of the empire. I personally find the dipinti on the coins very interesting. Heidemann’s discussion of the hoard, his conclusions and Dieter Weber’s decipherment of the graffito are fascinating:

    Heidemann, Stefan, Hosef Riederer and Dieter Weber. 2014. A hoard from the time of Yazdgard III in Kirmān. Iran 52. 79–124.

    The analysis of a hoard from the time of the collapse of the Sasanian Empire offers new insights into the administrative situation within the realm of Yazdgard III during his presence in Kirmān. Interpreting die chains using old or newly engraved dies with the then anachronistic name of the previous shāhānshāh Khusrō II, and finding an unlikely variety of mint abbreviations and dates within one workshop, allows us to infer the processing of huge amounts of silver in an unregulated way, compared with the orderly mint administration before the battle of al-Qādisiyya. A rigorous numismatic conclusion makes the change to a centralised minting in Kirmān likely where coins, rather than the dies, were sent to the districts. The key dates of the hoard coincide with the battle of Nihāvand 642 and the beginning of the invasion of Kirmān. Many of the coins bear dipinti with legible Pahlavī inscriptions, highlighting a cultural way of marking coins at the end of the Sasanian Empire.

    Read the article here.