Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Category: Journal

  • Studia Iranica (52/2)

    The new issue of Studia Iranica is out (volume 52, issue 2). Here is the table of contents:

    • En hommage à notre collègue et ami, cofondateur et premier codirecteur de Studia Iranica, membre du comité de rédaction, Philippe Gignoux 1er mars 1931, Solaize – 21 septembre 2023, Montmorillon
    • FATTORI, Marco: Avestan haēma and Middle Persian xēm ‘Character, Disposition’ On a Forgotten Line in the Iranian Xwaršēd Niyāyišn
    • GYSELEN, Rika: Aštād yazd-ayār, général du roi sassanide Husraw II Une trace sigillographique
    • NOURZAEI, Maryam: On Nominal and Pronominal Morphosyntax in Kholosi
    • DZITSTSOITY, Yuriy, FALILEYEV, Alexander: Ossetic qæbys / γæbes ‘Embrace’ and sæt / sætæ ‘Saliva’ Etymological Notes
    • RICHARD, Francis: Un témoignage inédit de la posterité de l’œuvre du peintre Behzād Collaboration ou émulation entre les peintres Qāsem-‘Ali et Behzād dans le Ketābḫāneh de Hérat
    • RYBÁR, Lukáš: Habsburg Intelligence on Safavid Persia. The Case of Michael Černović
    • GYSELEN, Rika: Philippe Gignoux (1931-2023)
    • Comptes rendus
  • Deciphering Arachosian Tribute at Persepolis

    Deciphering Arachosian Tribute at Persepolis

    Barnea, Gad. 2025. Deciphering Arachosian tribute at Persepolis: Orthopraxy and regulated gifts in the Achaemenid Empire. Religions 16(8): 965.

    Inscribed trays, plates, mortars, and pestles made of beautiful green chert bearing formulaic administrative textual formulae were found during excavations at the Persepolis Treasury in the 1930s. These implements and the enigmatic formulae inscribed upon them present scholars with a complex and unique challenge whose correct interpretation holds important implications for the study of Achaemenid history, imperial administration, and relations between ancient Arachosia (roughly modern-day Afghanistan) and the centers of power, as well as—as I argue in this article—for the symbiosis between administration and cult in antiquity. They continue to be hotly debated ever since their inauspicious initial publication by Bowman in 1970, yet they have thus far remained obscure. By comparing these finds with material and textual data from across the Achaemenid empire and early Parthian sources, this article offers a new comprehensive study of these objects. My analysis suggests that these objects are to be considered as a more systematized and tightly controlled Arachosian form of “informal taxation”—namely, regulated gifts—which are comparable to similar imperial donations found in the Treasury at Persepolis. Specifically, they take part in an “economy of fealty” demonstrating loyalty to king and empire through the adherence to the era’s Mazdean ritual orthopraxy.

  • Hunara

    Hunara: Journal of Ancient Iranian Arts and History, published by Casa Editrice Persiani in Bologna, Italy, is a peer-reviewed, Open Access journal, publishing scholarly articles under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

    Here is the ToC of the latest issue (3/1):

    • Patryk Skupniewicz: The Scene of Bear Hunt on the Sasanian Silver Plate from the Wyvern Collection. On Segmented Image-Building in Sasanian Art
    • Hovhannes Khorikyan: Cyrus the Great in Armenian Sources and Armenia
    • Maia Kapanadze: Characteristics of Georgian-Iranian Relations during the Achaemenid Period
    • Iulon Gagoshidze; David Gagoshidze: Persian-Achaemenid Bell-Shaped Column Bases from the South Caucasus: New Evidence
    • Jeremy Goldberg: A Kurigalzu II Reading of VS 24.91 and Early Middle Elamite History
  • Sasanian Studies 3

    Sasanian Studies 3

    Farridnejad, Shervin & Touraj Daryaee (eds.). 2024. Sasanian Studies: Late antique Iranian world | Sasanidische Studien: Spätantike iranische Welt. Vol. 3. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

    Sasanian Studies: Late Antique Iranian World is a refereed journal that publishes papers on any aspect of the Sasanian Empire and ist neighboring late antiquity civilizations. The journal welcomes essays on archaeology, art history, epigraphy, history, numismatics, religion and any other disciplines which focuse on the Sasanian world. This annual publication focuses especially on recent discoveries in the field, historiographical studies, as well as editions and translations of texts and inscriptions. We aim to facilitate dialogue and contact among scholars of Sasanian Studies around the world. The journal will publish papers mainly in English, but also in German, French, Italian and may also consider Persian and Arabic.

    (more…)
  • 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:

  • 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
  • Journal of Iran National Museum

    Journal of Iran National Museum

    The new issue (vol. 3, issues 1/2) of Journal of Iran National Museum is out. It is open access.

    Table of contents:

    • Sepehr Zarei: Giant Cores and Large Flake Production at Dehtal: An Acheulean Site in the Northern Hinterland of Persian Gulf, Iran
    • Hossein Davoudi; Marjan Mashkour; Fereidoun Biglari: Animal Biodiversity during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in the Zagros Mountains: Evidence from the Wezmeh Cave
    • Arkadiusz Sołtysiak: Human remains from Zard-e Sahel, Kashan, Iran
    • Ali Khayani; Sahar Abdolahi: A Door Sealing from Tape Jameh Shuran Sofla, the Mahidasht Plain, Western Central Zagros
    • Saman Hamzavi Zarghani; Cyrus Barfi; Samira Jafari; Mohsen Zeidi: Tol-e Khaki: Tracing the Footsteps of a Chalcolithic Community in the highlands of Fars Province, Southern Zagros Mountains, Iran
    • Rouhollah Yousefi Zoshk; Hassan Afshari Salaki; Donya Etemadifar: Agricultural Practices in Proto-Elamite Susa: An Analysis of Proto-Elamite Tablets at Iran National Museum (MDP 26)
    • Parsa Daneshmand: An Inscription of Hammurapi in the National Museum of Iran
    • Kiumars Alizadeh: From Hanni to Kidin-Hutran the son of Kurluš: a new look into the Arjān bowl
    • Wouter Henkelman: Tacara- and *tacarana-: Palatial terminology in a new exemplar of A2Sde and in the Persepolis Fortification archive
    • Fahimeh Homayoun; Siroos Zare; Younes Zare; Hamid Fadaei: The Newfound Footprints of a Discrete Decoration Type on the Column Capitals at Persepolis: An Outline
    • Zahra Alinezhad: A Review of Coin Finds From Ernst Herzfeld’s Excavations at Persepolis in the National Museum of Iran
    • Sepideh Qaheri: Aegyptiaca of Achaemenid Persia: re-examination of the documentation from Iran
    • Lena Ohrstrom; Natascha Bagherpour Kashani; Roger Seilera; Beata Bode; Abolfazl Aali; Sara Khalifeh Soltani; Shapour Shirani; Gabriela Ruß-Popa; Thomas Stöllner; Frank Rühli: Paleopathological assessment of the ancient Iranian salt mummies #1, #7 and #X, Chehrābād salt mine of Douzlākh, Iran
    • Ali Aarab; Leila Khamooshi; Bahareh Salimian Rizi; Ali Shojaee Esfahani; Yimin Yang: The Origin of Cobalt: A Review of Blue Glazed Ceramics in Iran and China from the 12th to the 17th Centuries CE
    • Manouchehr Moshtagh Khorasani; Andrej Vladimirovich Gromov: An Analysis of the Arms and Armor of the Battle Scene titled “the battle of Yerevan” (National Museum of Iran)
    • Ali Tarmigh: Seismic Risk Mitigation of Art Objects in Museums
    • Naghmeh Hosein Qazvini: Museum and the sublime (Based on Kantian sublime)

  • Studia Iranica (52/1)

    Studia Iranica (52/1)

    The new issue of Studia Iranica is out (volume 52, issue 1). Here is the table of contents:

    • Maryam NOURZAEI, Thomas JÜGEL: On the Function of -ag in Middle Persian. Evaluative Marker or Derivational Suffix?
    • Parviz MOHEBBI: Sweet Orange and Mandarin in Iran and India (14th-19th Centuries) with a Glimpse at Europe
    • Piero DONNINI: Khayyām Literacy among Turkman Copyists
    • Willem FLOOR: Trois Rapports inédits de fonctionnaires belges concernant l’occupation ottomane (1907) et russe (1911) du territoire iranien
    • Comptes rendus

  • Indo-Iranian Journal 68, 1

    Indo-Iranian Journal 68, 1

    Indo-Iranian Journal volume 68, issue 1 (Feb 2025) has been published. Three articles are more closely related to our work:

    Fattori, Marco. 2025. Old Persian mav‑ and the evolution of the inchoative suffix in Iranian. Indo-Iranian Journal 68(1). 1–14.

    Sims-Williams, Nicholas. 2025. Further Old Khotanese texts in ‘Metre B’. Indo-Iranian Journal 68(1). 15–33.

    Gethin, Rupert. 2025. Playing with formulas. Indo-Iranian Journal 68(1). 35–56.