Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

  • Narseh, King of Kings

    Weber, Ursula. 2024. Narseh, König der Könige des Sāsānidenreiches (293-302 n. Chr.): eine prosopographisch-historische Studie (Acta Iranica 63). Leuven: Peeters.

    The present study on the Iranian Sasanian ruler Narseh (293–302) addresses a research gap. Its aim is to present the biography of the king, his concept of rulership, and his political legacy against the backdrop of Persian-Roman relations in the 3rd century AD. While the Roman Empire in the West recovered from a phase of internal instability through profound political transformation, a new political power emerged beyond the Euphrates following the fall of the Parthian Empire—the Sasanian Empire under Ardashir I (224–651), the grandfather of King Narseh. The study of King Narseh’s era is based on a diverse range of literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological sources of varying origins and reliability. Of particular significance is Narseh’s extensive Middle Persian-Parthian bilingual inscription from the tower of Paikuli. This subjective account of the circumstances of his accession to the throne served both as a report of justification and a legitimizing inscription against suspicions of usurpation.

  • Zoroastrianism Summer School 2025

    The 5ᵗʰ Zoroastrianism Summer School Zoroastrianism in a Global World offers a unique opportunity to explore one of the world’s oldest religions as it continues to shape lives in India, Iran and the U.K. Over the course of this programme, you will explore the rich traditions, rituals and contemporary dynamics of Zoroastrian communities, gaining valuable insights into their culture and heritage.

    • Who Can Apply: Current Undergraduate and Postgraduate students, as well as graduates.
    • Fees: No tuition fees; a £80 registration fee applies for successful applicants.
    • Bursaries: Funding of up to £800 is available to assist with travel and accommodation costs.
    • Dates: 30ᵗʰ June – 4ᵗʰ July 2025.
    • Location: SOAS University of London.
    • Deadline: 11.59 pm, 12ᵗʰ March 2025.

    Spaces are limited, so don’t miss this opportunity to broaden your horizons and gain a deeper understanding of a living tradition. To find out how to apply, please visit our website.

    Co-organised by the SOAS Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies and the Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture of the University of Irvine, California, this summer school is a great opportunity for those students who take an interest in anthropology, art history, archaeology, philosophy, religions, language, cultures and history. It provides an opportunity to meet other students passionate about Zoroastrianism and to network with leading academics in the field. 

  • Five earthenware Mandaic incantation bowls

    Šafiʿī, Ibrāhīm. 2025. Five earthenware Mandaic incantation bowls in Ābgīne Museum, Tehrān. Journal of Semitic Studies 70 (1): 1-30.

    ĀM. 1 from three perspectives; Photo by ĀM

    This article presents the editio princeps of the Mandaic texts of five incantation bowls housed in Ābgīne Museum, Tehrān (627–S, 626–S, 110–S, 109–S and 108–S). Presumably dated to the 6th-7th centuries, the texts include protective formulae and name of the clients for whom they were written. The texts of 627–S and 626–S are written in a spiral manner, 110–S and 109–S are written in four segments and 108–S, which includes some of the earliest attested evidence of šapta ḏ-pišra ḏ-ainia, with the text arranged as a spoke, like sunrays.

  • Orientalia Antiqua et Nova

    Pierre-Emmanuel Dupont has recently launched a new journal called Orientalia Antiqua et Nova.

    Unfortunately, the journal does not seem to be open-access, but see Orientalia Antiqua et Nova, vol.1/2024, for the first issue.

    Orientalia Antiqua et Novais a new pluridisciplinary, independent academic journal devoted to the Orient in a broad sense, encompassing a wide geographical area of investigation, substantially coextensive to the empire of Alexander the Great at its height or, later on, to the regions which at one point or another in history have found themselves included in the spheres of civilisation of either Islam or Byzantium. Its ambition is to propose a different look – made in particular of appropriate distancing and understanding vis-à-vis the perceptions and identities of local actors – at both the ancient and modern history of the Middle East and Central Asia including, but not limited to, archaeology, art history, religion, philosophy and literature, and at the current regional developments in international relations, culture and society. One volume of the journal is published annually (the first annual volume of the review is expected to be published in 2024). All contributions are subject to peer-review.

    Announcement

  • Sur les traces de l’empire des Grands Rois

    Briant, Pierre. 2025. Sur les traces de l’empire des Grands Rois: Enquête historiographique (1931-2023). Paris: Les Belles Lettres.

    Plus étendu que ne le fut jamais l’Empire romain, l’Empire achéménide, né vers le milieu du vie siècle puis renversé par Alexandre et ses armées entre 334 et 323, a réuni pendant plus de deux siècles des peuples et des pays d’une immense variété linguistique et culturelle entre l’Indus et la Méditerranée orientale, et de l’Asie centrale à la première cataracte du Nil. Témoignant de la première et seule période où l’ensemble des peuples et pays de la région ont été réunis dans une construction impériale intégrée, son histoire représente une référence unique pour tous ceux qui s’interrogent sur la cohabitation d’ethnies et de populations différentes à l’intérieur de l’espace moyen-oriental dans sa plus grande extension.

    Pourtant, son étude a pendant longtemps été négligée, tenue en lisière de l’histoire de la Grèce, de l’Égypte et de la Mésopotamie. Monumental et passionnant, ce livre raconte comment l’histoire de l’Empire perse-achéménide s’est peu à peu érigée en champ autonome, recouvrant un espace-temps immense, de l’Indus aux Balkans, sur plus de deux siècles. S’attachant à reconstituer les étapes et le rythme de cette exceptionnelle renaissance historiographique, l’auteur montre comment les différentes spécialités ont appris à travailler ensemble, non simplement pour reconstituer l’histoire de telle ou telle partie de l’Empire (Asie mineure, Égypte, Palestine, Babylonie, Perse, Iran etc.), mais aussi pour écrire une vraie histoire impériale, à laquelle chacune des spécialités apportent sa contribution spécifique. Fondée sur un savoir et une documentation colossales mais aussi sur de nombreux témoignages, cette somme amenée à faire date touche aussi par la profondeur humaine qu’elle donne à cette aventure collective.

    (more…)

  • Mysticism, Comparative Religion, and Christian Relations with Other Faiths

    Mysticism, Comparative Religion, and Christian Relations with Other Faiths:

    R.C. Zaehner (1913-1974) on Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Islam

    Convenors: Fitzroy Morrissey (Pembroke), Msgr. Michael Nazir-Ali (St Edmund Hall), Anthony O’Mahony (Blackfriars)

    This seminar series marks the 50th anniversary of the death of R.C. Zaehner (1913-1974), Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics and Fellow of All Souls (1952-1974), British agent in Tehran, Catholic convert, and a prolific and controversial writer on mystical experience, comparative religion, and the Christian encounter with other faiths. This series will explore Zaehner’s work and its legacy. Lectures will take place (unless indicated) on Thursdays at 4pm in Lecture Room 1 of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. They will also be streamed online.

    R.C. Zaehner Series posterDownload
  • Representations of Kingship in Pre-Islamic Central Asia

    Representations of Kingship in Pre-Islamic Central Asia

    Shenkar, Michael. 2025. Kings of cities and rulers of the steppes: Representations of kingship in pre-Islamic Central Asia (Schriften zur vorderasiatischen Archäologie 22). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

    Kings of Cities and Rulers of the Steppes examines the iconography of Central Asian rulers from the Bronze Age to the Early Islamic period, focusing on the cultural, religious, and ideological messages conveyed through royal imagery. With over 650 illustrations (including 300 original drawings), Michael Shenkar traces the evolution of kingship and its iconography over time, highlighting Central Asia’s role as a meeting point for Iranian, Greek, Chinese, Indian, and Turkic cultures. Often referred to as a “crossroads of civilizations,” Central Asia provides a rich context in which these cultures interacted and influenced one another. By examining royal imagery as a historical and cultural source, this book uncovers the cultural complexities behind the kings who ruled the region’s rich cities and vast steppes. It uses these visual representations as a lens to explore the cultural, political, and religious dynamics that defined Central Asia’s heritage.
    A major theme of the book is the unparalleled diversity of ancient Central Asian royal imagery, which reflects both the political fragmentation of the region and the interactions between nomadic and sedentary populations. Shenkar also highlights the distinct feature of collective sovereignty found in many Central Asian and Iranian states. Post-nomadic royal clans such of the Scythians, Yuezhi, Huns, and Turks often utilized an ‘appanage system’, allowing rulers to express their identities by combining traditional symbols of power with unique elements that differentiated them from others. This book provides an ambitious, multi-century exploration of Central Asian kingship, offering new insights into the political and cultural significance of the region’s royal imagery

  • Beiträge zur Iranistik und zum iranischen Manichäismus

    Santos, Diego M. & Marcos Albino. 2024. Beiträge zur Iranistik und zum iranischen Manichäismus I (PHILOLOGIA – Sprachwissenschaftliche Forschungsergebnisse, 276). Hamburg: Dr. Kovač.

    Dieser voraussichtlich erste Band eines gemeinsamen, den iranischen Sprachen und dem iranischen Manichäismus gewidmeten Werkes enthält drei Kapitel, von denen jeder eine selbstständige Untersuchung darstellt.

    In “Manichäisch Parthisch zād-murd ‘geboren werden (und) sterben’” wird versucht nachzuweisen, dass zād-murd ein kopulatives Kompositum aus zwei kurzen Infinitiven und eine Lehnprägung nach Gandhari *jadimarana– (~ buddh. Sanskrit jātimaraṇa-) ‘Geburt und Tod; Saṃsāra’ ist.

    In “Parthisch zan(a)g ‘Art, Gattung’” wird vorgeschlagen, dass zan(a)g eine dekompositionelle Bildung vom Kompositum wispzan(a)g ‘aller Arten’ ist.

    In “Mittelpersisch wāz ud wāg ‘Sprache und Rede’” wird die Phrase wāz ud āwāg, welche in zwei Fragmenten des Šābuhragān bezeugt ist, als Übersetzung einer Phrase in Genesis 11.1 erklärt. Dazu wird eine etymologische Erklärung von āwāg entworfen.

    Alle drei Kapitel enthalten darüber hinaus Beobachtungen zu mehreren mitteliranischen Texten und Wörtern.

    To see ToC, select pages, and index click here.

  • Histoires perses

    Lenfant, Dominique. 2025. Dinon de Colophon, Héraclide de Kymè : Histoire perses (Fragments édités, traduits et commentés par Dominique Lenfant, nouvelle édition revue et augmentée). Paris, Les Belles Lettres.

    Dès le lendemain des guerres médiques, des Grecs d’Asie Mineure composèrent des Persica. Loin de se limiter aux conflits gréco-perses, ces Histoires perses étaient consacrées au passé et aux coutumes de l’empire perse. Chaque génération ambitionna ensuite de renouveler le genre. Un demi-siècle après Ctésias, Dinon de Colophon et Héraclide de Kymè poursuivent ainsi la tradition. Tout en cultivant les anecdotes piquantes et les histoires d’intrigues, ils décrivent l’univers du Grand Roi – de ses prérogatives et du luxe qui l’entoure aux subtiles hiérarchies qui organisent sa cour. Sans se contenter des habituels clichés sur les « barbares » ou les vaincus des guerres médiques, ils dévoilent un pan méconnu de la vision grecque des Perses.

    Leur témoignage est cependant biaisé tant par leur point de vue grec et leurs objectifs littéraires que par la transmission fragmentaire de leurs textes. Il requiert de ce fait une approche spécifique. Le présent ouvrage donne ici, dans une nouvelle édition revue et augmentée, avec le texte et la traduction de leurs fragments, un commentaire qui prend en compte leur mode de transmission et qui les confronte à l’ensemble des sources, grecques et non grecques, textuelles et iconographiques. Il permet d’apprécier les apports de ces sources à l’histoire de l’empire perse et propose un aperçu général du genre des Persica, livrant de précieux aperçus sur les rapports de la culture grecque avec le monde perse.

  • Brill’s Companion to the Campaigns of Philip II and Alexander the Great

    Anson, Edward M. (ed.). Brill’s Companion to the Campaigns of Philip II and Alexander the Great (Brill’s Companions to Classical Studies, 10). Leiden: Brill.

    This Companion whose contributions come from an outstanding array of experts deals exclusively with the military campaigns of Philip II and his son Alexander the Great and the forces that fought in them. In addition to discussions of the strategy and tactics of the two commanders, the Companion examines those elements that went into the determination of these strategies and tactics. Chapters will be devoted to the logistics of these campaigns, military recruitment and training, the care of diseased and injured soldiers, military organization and equipment, and much more. While no study can ever be truly complete, this Companion comes far closer that any such previous attempt.