Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Category: Books

  • Shami, Kal-e Chendar

    Shami, Kal-e Chendar

    Messina, Vito & Jafar Mehr Kian (eds.). 2025. Shami, Kal-e Chendar: Research of the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan. Bicester: Archaeopress.

    This report details the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition’s research (2012-2018) at Kal-e Chendar, Khuzestan. It reveals a multifunctional religious complex from the Hellenistic and Parthian periods (3rd century BCE to 2nd century CE), with interconnected religious, funerary, and social functions.

    This report publishes the results of the research conducted between 2012 and 2018 by the Iranian- Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan at Kal-e Chendar, in the valley of Shami, about 30 km north of present-day Izeh. The project aimed to shed new light on one of the most intriguing religious complexes of Hellenistic and Parthian Iran, located in highland Khuzestan, the heart of ancient Elymais. Identified thanks to the accidental discovery of statues (some fragmentary) in 1935, the site of Kal-e Chendar was briefly investigated by Sir Marc Aurel Stein, one of the most famous explorers of Inner Asia, and Bahman Karimi, Inspector of the Iranian Antiquities Service, early in 1936. It was subsequently to fall into oblivion for many decades despite the importance of the discoveries they made. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, the research project aimed to acquire new information on the materiality of the site and to systematically study its archaeological context, putting forward new interpretations of the function, chronology and meaning of the complex.

    Based on previous investigations and the results of this new research, it is clear that an important religious complex existed at Kal-e Chendar in the Hellenistic and Parthian periods, from about the 3rd century BCE to the 2nd century CE. The complex was multifunctional. Its religious dimension, although of paramount importance, was not the only characteristic of the site: monumental terraces, built to support sacred buildings now lost, alternate with a wide cemetery, implying that religious and funerary functions were here strictly interrelated. The complex also probably had social meaning.

  • Das achaimenidisch-persische Imperium

    Das achaimenidisch-persische Imperium

    Degen, Julian (ed.). 2025. Das achaimenidisch-persische Imperium. Wiesbaden: Springer.

    Diese Einführung bietet einen systematischen Überblick über die Geschichte des achaimenidisch-persischen Imperiums, das weithin auch als „Perserreich“ bekannt ist. Dabei handelt es sich um die erste imperiale Formation der Antike, der es durch umfangreiche Eroberungen gelang, einen beeindruckenden Herrschaftsapparat zu errichten, der sich von Indien bis in nach Griechenland und von Äthiopien bis nach Zentralasien erstreckte. Dieses Imperium stellte die Bühne für zahlreiche schillernde Persönlichkeiten der Alten Welt dar, zu denen Kyros, Dareios, Xerxes, aber auch Alexander III. (der Große) zählen. Darüber hinaus setzte das Großreich Entwicklungen in Gang, die großen Einfluss auf die Welt Afro-Eurasiens ausübten und deren Dynamiken selbst in der Zeit nach seinem Niedergang bedeutsam waren. Insbesondere die Konflikte des Imperiums mit den Griechen fanden großen Nachhall in der antiken Geschichtsschreibung und ihre Präsentation stellt nach wie vor einen Orientierungspunkt des kollektiven Gedächtnisses moderner europäischer Gesellschaften dar. Aufgrund der enormen räumlichen Ausdehnung dieses Großreichs, das Herrschaft über eine Vielzahl an Kulturen ausübte, ist die Erforschung seiner Geschichte Gegenstand interdisziplinärer Forschungen. So sammelt diese Einführung Beiträge aus der Feder internationaler Spezialistinnen und Spezialisten aus unterschiedlichen Fachbereichen, die tiefgehende Einblicke in zahlreiche Aspekte der Geschichte des achaimenidisch-persischen Imperiums aus verschiedenen Perspektiven bieten.

  • 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
  • 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.

  • The Zoroastrian Manuscripts of the Matenadaran

    The Zoroastrian Manuscripts of the Matenadaran

    Andrés-Toledo, Miguel Ángel (ed.). 2025. The Zoroastrian manuscripts of the Matenadaran. Facsimile edition (Corpus Avesticum / Handbuch der Orientalistik 32/6). Leiden: Brill.

    Armenia was a stronghold of the Zoroastrian religion in antiquity and late antiquity. Of the rich Zoroastrian literature that was composed and transmitted in the region, no single text was extant there after long periods of cultural, political and religious changes.
    The three Zoroastrian manuscripts of this facsimile edition, containing precious copies of texts in the Avestan, Pahlavi and Zoroastrian New Persian languages, are the only exception. Stemming from Iran and now preserved at the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (Matenadaran), they are heirs of an ancient Iranian faith that once flourished also in Armenia.

  • 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.

  • The Arsacids of Rome

    The Arsacids of Rome

    Nabel, Jake. 2025. The Arsacids of Rome: Misunderstanding in Roman-Parthian relations. California: University of California Press.

    At the beginning of the common era, the two major imperial powers of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East were Rome and Parthia. In this book, Jake Nabel analyzes Roman-Parthian interstate politics by focusing on a group of princes from the Arsacid family—the ruling dynasty of Parthia—who were sent to live at the Roman court. Although Roman authors called these figures “hostages” and scholars have studied them as such, Nabel draws on Iranian and Armenian sources to argue that the Parthians would have seen them as the emperor’s foster children. These divergent perspectives allowed each empire to perceive itself as superior to the other, since the two sides interpreted the exchange of royal children through conflicting cultural frameworks. Moving beyond the paradigm of great powers in conflict, The Arsacids of Rome advances a new vision of interstate relations with misunderstanding at its center.

    A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.

  • Elam and Its Neighbors

    Elam and Its Neighbors

    Prechel, Doris & Alexander Pruß (eds.). 2025. Elam und seine Nachbarn. 10. Internationales Colloquium der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 8.–10. April 2019, Mainz. Wiesbaden: Harrassozitz.

    Die antike Kulturregion Elam im Südwesten des heutigen Iran war über Jahrtausende hinweg eines der bedeutendsten Zentren politischer Macht und kultureller Entwicklung in Vorderasien. Neben dem benachbarten Mesopotamien spielte es im späten 4. Jahrtausend v. Chr. eine bedeutende Rolle bei der Entstehung und Entwicklung urbaner Gesellschaftsformen im Vorderen Orient. Im späten 3. und dem 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr. war der elamische Staat zeitweise so mächtig, dass seine Herrscher mehrfach entscheidend in die Geschichte Babyloniens eingreifen konnten. Auch nach der Zerschlagung des elamischen Reiches im 7. Jahrhundert v. Chr. hat Elam bis in die Zeit des Achämenidenreiches (550–330 v. Chr.) seinen eigenständigen kulturellen Charakter bewahren können. Totz seiner offenkundigen Bedeutung sind Elam und seine Kultur lange Zeit nur von wenigen Spezialisten erforscht worden.

    Mit dieser zentralen Kulturregion des Alten Orients und den Beziehungen zu ihren Nachbarn hat sich das 10. Internationale Colloquium der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft befasst, dessen Beiträge in diesem Band versammelt sind. Der zeitliche Rahmen reicht dabei von der Mitte des 3. Jahrtausends v. Chr. bis in die Achämenidenzeit. Die besondere Betonung der Beziehungen Elams zu seinen Nachbarn soll verdeutlichen, dass Elam nicht nur ein östliches „Anhängsel“ Mesopotamiens war, sondern ein wichtiger Knotenpunkt in einem bis nach Zentralasien, das iranische Hochland und die Golfregion reichenden Netzwerk.

    See the table of contents here.

  • The Significance of the Wreath in the Late Antique Orient

    The Significance of the Wreath in the Late Antique Orient

    Corfù, Nicolas Assur. 2025. Die Bedeutung des Kranzes im spätantiken Orient: zu Thronbesteigung, Kranzübergabe und Religionen im Sasanidenreich. Basel: Schwabe Verlag.

    The wreath first appears in funerary culture in the West and in Egypt. Later, it increasingly came to represent victory as well, deriving from the oriental nose-rope with ring, which was adopted and adapted into the West during Greece’s ‘Orientalizing Period’. In Sasanian iconography, the wreath was re-imported from the West: it now symbolizes victory, honor, or a funerary aspect.

    This book examines the wreath in East and West from its first appearance up to Late Antiquity. The author develops a new interpretation of the inscription ANRm-b and offers a novel reading of rock reliefs depicting wreath-giving, using a group-theoretical approach from mathematics: as an act of honoring a deceased predecessor of the commissioning Sasanian ruler.

  • Eating and Drinking in the Ancient Near East

    Eating and Drinking in the Ancient Near East

    Martino, Stefano de, Elena Devecchi and Maurizio Viano (eds.). 2024. Eating and drinking in the ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 67th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Turin, July 12–16, 2021 (dubsar 33). Münster: Zaphon.

    This volume comprises many of the papers presented at the 67th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in July 2021 in Turin. Due to pandemic restrictions the participants of the conference could not meet in person. The encompassing topic “Eating and Drinking in the Ancient Near East” is broad and declinable under different perspectives. Key lectures (1) have been delivered by Cécile Michel on “Gender Aspects in Food and Drink Preparation” and by Theo van den Hout on “Hittite Foodways: The King as the Provider of his People”. Subsequent lectures grouped around the following sections: (2) Food Production, (3.) Resource Management, (4.) Rituality, Banquet and Commensality, (5.) Medicine and Literature, (6.) Philological and Archaeological Researches, (7.) Varia. The lections feature both philological as well as archaeological topics, presenting new insights into well-known texts as well as hitherto unpublished material. Among others Paola Paoletti examines “Butter and Cheese Production in the Third Millennium BCE Babylonia”, Juliette Mas “Funerary Drinking Vessels in Early and Middle Bronze Age Upper Mesopotamian Burials”, while Ludovico Portuese pursues “The Assyrian Royal Banquet”, and Jan Tavernier “The Use of Eggs in Mesopotamian Medicine and beyond”, to list just a few of the 35 articles.

    Two contributions investigate topics that are related to ancient Iran:

    • Francesca Giusto: Dairy Production in SW Iran from the Middle Elamite to the Neo-Elamite Period
    • Trudy Kawami: What Fine Ceramics Can Tell Us About Social Drinking in Iron Age Iran