Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Category: Books

  • Pepper, Peach, Paradise

    Pepper, Peach, Paradise

    Paul, Ludwig. Pfeffer, Pfirsich, Paradies: Kleines Lexikon deutscher Wörter persischer Herkunft. München: C.H.Beck.

    Wie ist der Algorithmus aus dem Persischen ins Deutsche gelangt? Warum bezeichnet Diwan sowohl ein Sofa als auch eine Gedichtsammlung? Und was hat unser Schal mit einem indischen Sari zu tun oder die Tulpe mit dem Turban? Ludwig Paul erklärt in rund 140 kurzweiligen Artikeln, wie Wörter aus dem Persischen ins Deutsche gewandert sind. Sein glänzend geschriebenes Buch lädt zum Nachschlagen und Schmökern ein und lässt uns eine erstaunliche Dimension der deutschen Sprache neu entdecken.
    Die persische Sprache war einst von der Türkei bis Indien die Sprache der Gelehrten, Dichter und kultivierten Höfe. Sie hat Einflüsse aus indischen Sprachen und dem Arabischen aufgenommen und ihrerseits andere Sprachen bereichert. Das Lexikon beschreibt, auf welchen oft verschlungenen Wegen zahlreiche Wörter und Namen ins Deutsche gelangt sind. Doch es bietet viel mehr als reine Sprachgeschichte: Ludwig Paul versteht es meisterhaft, immer wieder aufschlussreiche Schlaglichter auf die Geschichte der Kulturen zwischen Indien und Europa zu werfen und zu zeigen, wie eng die Wanderung von Wörtern mit dem Transfer von Dingen – Gewürzen, Früchten, Artefakten – und Ideen zusammenhängt.

  • Lowland Susiana in the Fourth Millennium BCE

    Lowland Susiana in the Fourth Millennium BCE

    Abbas Alizadeh, with contributions by Hossein Davoudi, Kevin Lidour, Marjan Mashkour, Valentin Radu, Mohammad Reza Rokni, Noshad Rokni, and Shiva Sheikhi. 2026. Lowland Susiana in the Fourth Millennium BCE: Excavations at KS-04, KS-59, and KS-108 (ISACP 2). Chicago: Chicago University Press.

    During two seasons in 2004–2006, the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures excavated three major prehistoric population centers in northern Susiana, in the modern-day province of Khuzestan, Iran: KS-04 (Chogha Do Sar), KS-59 (Abu Fanduweh), and KS-108 (Beladieh). The three sites were chosen because of their large size and the prominent role they have played in analyses of the pottery typology, chronology, and politics of fourth-millennium BCE Susiana.

    Most researchers consider the fourth millennium to be a pivotal period in the development of state-level organization in southwestern Iran. During this time, KS-04, KS-59, and KS-108, along with Chogha Mish and Susa, constituted the region’s major polities. Whereas much of the theoretical framework concerning the local origins of sociopolitical complexity has been based on excavated materials from Susa and Chogha Mish, interpretations of KS-04, KS-59, and KS-108 have largely been derived from surface surveys. ISAC’s stratified excavations at these three population centers have now provided important contextual evidence for the processes underlying sociopolitical and economic complexity in prehistoric lowland Susiana.

  • The Sasanians in Context: Art, History, and Archaeology

    The Sasanians in Context: Art, History, and Archaeology

    Catanzariti, Antonietta & Touraj Daryaee (eds.). 2026. The Sasanians in Context: Art, History, and Archaeology. Washington, D.C.: SmithsonianScholarly Press.

    Between the third and seventh centuries CE, the Sasanian Empire became one of the most dominant powers in the ancient world—extending geographically from West to Central Asia—and was the last major power in the region before the Arab conquest in the seventh century. In November 2022, in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Asian Art convened “The Sasanians in Context: Art, History, and Archaeology,” a symposium of scholars discussing the latest research on the Sasanian Empire and its rich material culture—from impressive rock reliefs to elaborately designed metal vessels and finely carved seals—and exploring the empire’s legacy beyond its core regions. The symposium underscored how the field has evolved and revealed new areas for future research.

  • The Letters of Mani

    The Letters of Mani

    Gardner, Iain. 2026. The Letters of Mani. A Lost Scripture of the Late Antique World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    • Includes new English translations of all the available texts concerning Mani’s Letters
    • Utilizes the latest research to recover all that can be known about one of the scriptures of Manichaeism
    • A holistic and interdisciplinary approach
    • Features much new or little-known material
  • Sovereignty in Iran

    Sovereignty in Iran

    Holliday, Shabnam J. (ed.). 2026. Sovereignty in Iran: Challenges to Eurocentrism from Ancient Iran to the Islamic Republic. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    This book is a multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary collaborative project examining sovereignties as a plural concept through the case of Iran. In so doing it challenges Eurocentric assumptions in the Humanities and Social Sciences and covers sovereignty from ancient Iran to the Islamic Republic including the Woman, Life, Freedom protests.

    Part One explores sovereignty in ancient Iran by looking at the Elamites through a theoretical lens, the Achaemenids, and the Parthians and Sasanians. Part Two explores how territory relates to sovereignty alongside other dynamics in the Safavid, Second World War, Pahlavi and Islamic Republic periods. Part Three then focuses on competing and co-existing sovereignties in the southern Persian Gulf at the beginning of the twentieth century in Kurdistan and its relationships with Iranian governments during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as well as in the Woman, Life, Freedom protests. A non-Eurocentric framework requires the reader to think about co-existing and competing sovereignties with an ‘Area Studies’ lens. This approach moves beyond periodised understandings of history and not only contributes to better understanding Eurocentrism but also enables a greater appreciation of contexts, complexities and agencies.

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  • Text and translation of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti

    Text and translation of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti

    Heindio Uesugi has done it again. Under the supervisory editorship of Adam Alvah Catt, Uesugi has now published an addendum to the second part of his Old Avestan dictionary: a translation and glossed version of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti.

    Uesugi, Heindio (ed.). 2026. Old Avestan dictionary. Addendum to Part II: Text and translation: Yasna Haptaŋhāiti. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.

    For more context on these publications, I recommend the blogs in Language Hat and Language Log.

    This is the draft version of the annotated new translation of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti (YH) along with that of Yasna 42. We have prepared this translation as an addendum to Part II. We hope to further improve it (along with the corrigenda) when time permits, taking into consideration any feedback we may receive.
    Although arguably less contentious than the Gāthās, the YH is of course not without its share of difficulties. Even where there is general consensus on the basic meaning, the view on the intended nuance, implications, and significance can vary, at times considerably.

    From the ‘Short Introduction’
  • Sasanians and the Silk Road

    Sasanians and the Silk Road

    Pashootanizadeh, Azadeh. 2026. The Sasanian Silk Road: Socioeconomic structures of the Zoroastrian silk trade. TEXTILE. 1–14.

    This study examines the cultural economy of silk during the Sasanian period and its influence on the cultural landscape of fire temples. The prosperity of the Silk Road expanded professions and social groups associated with the silk trade, allowing the Sasanian period to be divided into two phases. In the first phase, three fire temples—Adur Gushnasp, Adur Farnbag, and Adur Burzen-Mihr—were constructed for distinct social classes at key locations along the Silk Road, forming the vertices of a triangle in central Iran with the Neyasar Fire Temple at its center. In the second phase, whose beginning is uncertain, the Neyasar Fire Temple was designated for a newly emerged intermediary administrative class responsible for managing financial records and taxes related to the silk trade. The construction of caravanserais and government forts around Neyasar reflects the diverse social and economic activities associated with silk commerce. Based on fieldwork, document analysis, archaeological evidence, and specialized silk-related terminology, this study analyzes the relationship between fire temples, social strata, and the cultural economy of silk. The findings suggest that fire temples functioned not only as religious centers but also as key nodes within the socio-economic networks of the Sasanian Silk Road.

    Abstract
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  • Christians in Middle Eastern History

    Christians in Middle Eastern History

    Ghobrial, John-Paul, Michael Reynolds, Christian C. Sahner & Jack Tannous (eds.). 2026. Christians in Middle Eastern history: Strangers no more (Edinburgh Studies in Middle Eastern Christianity). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    The dazzling array of languages and religions in the Middle East, from Late Antiquity to the present, has long made the region a source of fascination. But the specific features of pluralism in the Middle East have also made writing its history a difficult enterprise, as scholarly specialisation has often meant that this or that religious group becomes invisible. The challenges of the Middle East’s particular pluralism, however, also represent an opportunity for creative reflection and innovation in historical research.
    This volume takes as its starting-point the fact that, for much of the past 1,500 years, the population of the Middle East has been significantly Christian. It offers a series of case studies by leading scholars that offer different answers to the question of what histories of the region might look like if this demographic situation were taken seriously. Critiquing dominant narratives that conflate the history of the Middle East and the history of Islam, they show how integrating Christian actors, experiences and sources can enrich our understanding of the region.

  • Language and script in Achaemenid and Hellenistic Central Asia

    Language and script in Achaemenid and Hellenistic Central Asia

    Mairs, Rachel. 2026. Language and script in Achaemenid and Hellenistic Central Asia (Elements in Writing in the Ancient World). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    This Element examines – for the first time in a single volume – the written evidence from the ‘Far East’ of the Hellenistic world (Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara). It examines how successive invaders of this region, from Persia, Greece and India, left their linguistic and textual mark. It reviews the surviving Hellenistic-period written material from archaeological sites in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan in Aramaic, Greek and Prakrit.

    Summary
  • Research in Iranian Studies

    Research in Iranian Studies

    Ehrenberg, Erica (ed.). 2025. The American Institute of Iranian Studies: Half a century of foundational research. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.

    The American Institute of Iranian Studies is devoted to fostering research in the field of Iranian studies and promoting scholarly exchange between the United States and Iran. This collection of essays addresses the history and development of Iranian studies in the United States and the pivotal role of the Institute in furthering research in the field.

    The purview of the Institute is vast, covering Iranology—the study of Iranian peoples and cultures both within and across regions of Central and South Asia and the Middle East, where various forms of the Persian language are spoken. In keeping with the Institute’s dedication to facilitating research in Iran, the chapters in this volume represent fields of inquiry that have benefited from direct access to materials in the country. The essays describe the founding and work of the Institute, the emergence of Iranian studies in American universities, the Encyclopaedia Iranica, early archaeological research in Iran by the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago, the birth and development of American museum collections of art from Iran, and case histories of areas of Iranian Studies that have been the traditional focus of Institute-sponsored research, including art history, history, philology, religion, and sociology.

    The contributors to this volume are Ahmad Ashraf, Shiva Balaghi, Medhi Bozorgmehr, Elton L. Daniel, Erica Ehrenberg, Carl W. Ernst, Stephen C. Fairbanks, Prudence O. Harper, Linda Komaroff, Judith A. Lerner, Franklin D. Lewis, Beatrice Forbes Manz, Alessandro Pezzati, Holly Pittman, D. T. Potts, Richard L. Spees, Mathew W. Stolper, Keyvan Tabari, and Christopher Thortnon.

    Description