Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

  • Zoroastrian Religion, History and Tradition

    Williams, Alan, Sarah Stewart & Almut Hintze (eds.). 2016. Zoroastrian flame: Exploring religion, history and tradition. London: I.B. Tauris.
    For many centuries, from the birth of the religion late in the second millennium BC to its influence on the Achaemenids and later adoption in the third century AD as the state religion of the Sasanian Empire, it enjoyed imperial patronage and profoundly shaped the culture of antiquity. The Magi of the New Testament most probably were Zoroastrian priests from the Iranian world, while the enigmatic figure of Zarathushtra (or Zoroaster) himself has exerted continual fascination in the West, influencing creative artists as diverse as Voltaire, Nietzsche, Mozart and Yeats. This authoritative volume brings together internationally recognised scholars to explore Zoroastrianism in all its rich complexity. Examining key themes such as history and modernity, tradition and scripture, art and architecture and minority status and religious identity, it places the modern Zoroastrians of Iran, and the Parsis of India, in their proper contexts. The book extends and complements the coverage of its companion volume, The Everlasting Flame.
    ToC:
    Part I: Themes and Approaches
    • Philip Kreyenbroek: „Looking to the Past in the Gāthās and in later Zoroastrianism“
    • Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina: „Knowledge, Power and Positionally across the Insider-Outsider Divide in the Study of Zoroastrianism“

    Part II: Antiquity and Tradition

    • Alberto Cantera: „The ‚Sacrifice‘ to Mazdā: Its Antiquity and Vareity“
    • Almut Hintze: „A Zoroastrian Vision“
    • Daster Firouze M. Kotwal: „Continuity, Controversy and Change: A Study of the Ritual Practice of the Bhagaria Parsis of Navsari“
    • Antonio Panaino: „Betten Astral Cosmology and Astrology: The Mazdean Cycle of 12,000 Years and the Final Renovation of the World“
    • Touraj Daryaee: “Refashioning the Zoroastrian Past: From Alexander to Islam“

    Part III: Tradition and Culture

    • James R. Russel: „On the Image of Zarathustra“
    • Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis: „Ancient Iranian Motifs and Zoroastrian Iconography“
    • Franz Grenet: „Extracts from a Calendar of Zoroastrian Feasts: A New Interpretation of the ‚Soltikoff‘ Bactrian Silver Plate in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris“
    • Albert de Jong: „The Dēnkard and the Zoroastrians of Baghdad“
    • Jamsheed K. Choksy: „Friendship in the Pahlavi Books“
    • Ashk Dahlén: „Literary Interest in Zoroastrianism in tenth-Century Iran: The Case of Daqiqi’s Account of Goshtāsp and Zarathustra in the Shāhnāmeh“

    Part IV: Modernity and Minorities

    • Shernaz Cama: „The Sacred Armour of the Sudreh-Kusti and its Relevance in a Changing World“
    • Jenny Rose: „Riding the (Revolutionary) Waves between Two Worlds: Parsi Involvement in the Transition from Old to New“
    • Richard Foltz: „Co-opting the Prophet: The Politics of Kurdish and Tajik Claims to Zarathustra and Zoroastrianism“
    • Khojaste P. Mistree: „Collision, Conflict and Accommodation: A Question of Survival and the Preservation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Identity“
    • Sarah Stewart: „Ideas of Self-Definition among Zoroastrians in Post-Revolutionary Iran“
    Alan Williams is Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion at the University of Manchester and a British Academy Wolfson Professor from 2013-2016. His publications include The Zoroastrian Myth of Migration from Iran and Settlement in the Indian Diaspora (2009) and The Vision of Rumi: Revealing the Masnavi, Persia’s Great Masterpiece (I.B.Tauris, 2016).

    Sarah Stewart is Lecturer in Zoroastrianism at SOAS, University of London. She is co-general editor of the series ‘The Idea of Iran’, within which she has co-edited six volumes (all published by I.B.Tauris), and editor of The Zoroastrian Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination (I.B.Tauris, 2014).

    Almut Hintze is the Zartoshty Brothers Professor of Zoroastrianism at SOAS, University of London. Her publications include A Zoroastrian Liturgy: The Worship in Seven Chapters, Yasna 35-41 (2007).

     

  • An historiographical Study of Sasanian Iran

    Jackson Bonner, Michael Richard. 2016. Al-Dinawari’s Kitab al-Akhbar al-Tiwal. An historiographical Study of Sasanian Iran (Res Orientales 23). Peeters Publishers.

    This book is a study of the pre-Islamic passages of Abu Hanifa Ahmad ibn Dawud ibn Wanand Dinawari’s Kitab al-Akhbar al-Tiwal. It is intended for scholars of Late Antiquity. Special emphasis is placed on Dinawari’s exposition of the rule of the Sasanian dynasty and questions relating to the mysterious Khudaynama tradition which are intimately connected with it. Beginning with a discussion of Dinawari and his work, the book moves into a discussion of indigenous Iranian historiography. Speculation on the sources of Kitab al-Akhbar al-Tiwal follows, and the historiographical investigation of the most substantial portion of Kitab al-Akhbar al-Tiwal‘s notices on the Sasanian dynasty comes next. The findings of the book are set out in a narrative of Sasanian history at the end.
    This book was written with one main question in mind: what does Dinawari’s Kitab al-Akhbar al-Tiwal have to say about pre-Islamic Iranian history? A host of other questions arose immediately: who was Dinawari; when did he live; what did he do; how was his work perceived by others; where did Dinawari get his information and how did he present it; is Dinawari’s information reliable?

    About the Author: Michael Bonner was an undergraduate classicist who took an MPhil and DPhil in Sasanian history at the University of Oxford. He is a former policy adviser within the Canadian government, and now works as a communications consultant in Toronto.‎ He also teaches Latin and English part-time at the Ontario Academy of Technology. His personal website is www.mrjb.ca.

  • A new beginning!

    I am delighted to announce that Bibliographia Iranica will soon resume its activities.  We are now proudly sponsored by Bytemark, which means that we will also be able to tweak our server for further experiments. I am personally very excited about this and would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Bytemark for their support and generosity.

    I would also like to thank my friends Sajad, Shervin and Yazdan for their patience, ideas and support. One cannot wish for better collaborators and friends.

    As the renewal of Bibliographia Iranica coincides with the Iranian new year, we would also like to wish all our readers and those who celebrate Norouz a healthy and happy new year.

    دوستان و همراهان گرامی، بیبلیوگرفیا ایرانیکا کار خود را به زودی از سر خواهد گرفت. خوشحالیم که این فعالیت دوباره با آغاز بهار و نوروز مصادف شده و فرا رسیدن این روز نو را به همه دوستان و همراهان خود صمیمانه شادباش میگوییم.
    از دوستان و همکاران خوبم سجاد، شروین و یزدان برای صبر و کمکشون سپاسگزارم. امیدوارم که بتونم مهر و دوستی این عزیزان و خوانندگان گرامی بیبلیو ایرانیکا رو روزی جبران کنم. این همه دوستی مایه افتخار و دلگرمیست.

    Arash Zeini

  • The End

    BiblioIranica ends here. It may be back sometime soon in a new format, but that is not guaranteed. I apologise in advance, if the website goes off-line. I am grateful to my friends Shervin, Yazdan and Sajad for their help and contributions. Thank you very much to everyone else for your support and interest.
     
    Arash

  • Syriac Historiography

    Image from http://www.syri.ac/chronicles

    Wood, Philip. Forthcoming. Syriac historiography VI: Historiography in the Syriac-speaking world, 300–1000. In D. King (ed.), Routledge Companion to the Syriac World. Routledge.

    Survey of historical writing by and about Syriac-speaking peoples. It aims to lay equal stress on West Syrian and East Syrian contributions. And it emphasises the fact that both groups wrote as subjects of larger imperial systems (Roman, Persian, Arab), of which they were just a part.

    This is a draft article posted with the author's permission.

  • Calendars in Antiquity and the Middle Ages

    ERC Project ‘Calendars in Antiquity and the Middle Ages’, Workshop 7

    Al-Biruni and his world

    15 February 2016

    Calendars in Antiquity and the Middle Ages’

    Source: ERC Project ‘Calendars in Antiquity and the Middle Ages’, Workshop 7

    Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, who flourished at the end of the 10th and the beginning of the 11th century CE, was a famous Central Asian astronomer, mathematician and polymath. His book known in English as “The Chronology of Ancient Nations” is probably the most important book ever on the history of calendars and technical and historical chronology. In our workshop we will be examining different aspects of this work, and also of his great astronomical compendium “al-Qanun al-Mas’udi”.

    (more…)

  • Networks: Connecting the Middle East through Time, Space and Cyberspace

    Image: josullivan.59 via Flickr | ‘World Airline Routes’

    BRISMES Annual Conference 2016 Networks: Connecting the Middle East through Time, Space and Cyberspace

    BRISMES Annual Conference 2016 will take place at the University of Wales Trinity St David, Lampeter Campus, on 13 – 15 July.

    The Middle East and North Africa as a region is intimately connected both regionally and to the wider world. This is true historically, where the region has long acted as a crossroads of trade, culture and ideas, as well as in more contemporary contexts – when Arab protest movements inspired similar actions around the world, and migration within and from the region is having a global impact. It is no coincidence that the Middle East is at the forefront of innovative developments in social media and other networks of communication.

    Papers and panels on historical or contemporary issues are welcome as part of sub-themes such as this one:
•Networks within religion: religious communities (ancient and modern), interfaith connections, religious authority and evolving theological interpretations.

  • Cultural, Religious and Social aspects of Vaqf in Iran

    Werner, Christoph. 2015. VAQF en Iran aspects culturels, religieux et sociaux. (Cahiers de Studia Iranica 56). Paris; Leuven: Peeters.
    This volume contains the text of the five Ehsan and Latifeh Yarshater Distinguished Lectures on Iranian Studies, organized by the Unité Mixte de Recherche 7528 “Mondes iranien et indien”, and delivered in 2012 at the Collège de France in Paris.
    It analyses cultural and social – as well as religious, economic, political and material aspects of endowments in Iran from the 14th century up to the present time. The five chapters cover various periods and are arranged chronologically along major themes: The institution of vaqf in early modern and contemporary Iran; Mystical endowments and religious endowments in fourteenth and fifteenth century Azerbaijan; Mashhad and its illumination vaqfs; Robes of honour conferred by Imam Reza; and Philanthropy, public education and nationalism in vaqf foundations of the Pahlavi period.
    Table of Contents:
    I. L’institution du vaqf en Iran
    • Vers une définition de l’institution du vaqf en Iran
    • Administration du vaqf et indépendance de l’institution
    • Le vaqf comme institution vivante
    • Vaqf et bonyād : un imbroglio idéologique
    • Manuels juridiques et vaqf : questions et réponses

    II. Mouvements mystiques et fondations pieuses : les Kujujī et les Ṣafavides au 14e siècle

    • Les cheikhs Kujujī
    • L’histoire de Tabrīz et du nord-ouest de l’Iran au 14e siècle
    • La Kujujī Vaqfīye de 782h.q./1380
    • Le fondateur comme notable urbain dans les chroniques
    • Le fondateur poète
    • Le fondateur comme cheikh et mystique

    III. Ville de lumière : Machhad et ses fondations d’illumination
    Fondations d’illumination à Machhad selon le «Paradis des
    histoires»

    • Le sanctuaire de l’Imam Reżā – origine, développement et administration
    • Le catalogue de Seyyed Hamadānī, «s̱ār al-rażavīye»
    • Les objectifs des fondations de l’Āstān-e Qods
    • L’administration des fondations d’illumination à l’époque qajare
    • Fondations d’illumination et introduction de l’éclairage électrique

    IV. Robes d’honneur conférées par l’Imam Reżā

    • Robes d’honneur – la tradition des ḫelʿat
    • Pīškeš et ḫelʿat
    • Une collection des décrets émis par l’Āstān-e Qods
    • L’Āstān-e Qods-e Rażavī comme état semi-indépendant
      Conclusion

    V. Mécénat, instruction publique et nationalisme : Le vaqf à l’époque Pahlavi

    • Législation et l’administration des owqāf à l’époque Pahlavi
    • Les Fondations Malek
    • Les Fondations Doktor Maḥmūd Afšār
    • La Fondation Moqaddam à Téhéran et autres fondations hybrides
      de l’époque Pahlavi

    English summaries: Vaqf in Iran Cultural, Religious and Social aspects
    Introduction
    I. The institution of vaqf in Iran
    II. Mystical movements and pious foundations: the Kujujī and the
    Ṣafavids in the 14th century
    III. City of light: Mashhad and its illumination vaqfs
    IV. Robes of honour conferred by Iman Reżā
    V. Philanthropy, education and nationalism: vaqf in Pahlavi Iran

    About the Author:

    Christoph Werner is Professor of Iranian Studies at Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies (CNMS) was established at the Philipps-University of Marburg.

  • Olive cultivation in the heart of the Persian Achaemenid Empire

    Djamali, Morteza, Matthew D. Jones, Jérémy Migliore, Silvia Balatti, Marianela Fader, Daniel Contreras, Sébastien Gondet, Zahra Hosseini, Hamid Lahijani, Abdolmajid Naderi, Lyudmila S. Shumilovskikh, Margareta Tengberg & Lloyd Weeks. 2015. Olive cultivation in the heart of the Persian Achaemenid Empire: New insights into agricultural practices and environmental changes reflected in a late Holocene pollen record from Lake Parishan, SW Iran. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany (August 2015), 1–15.

    This is an Online First Article and has not been assigned to an issue of the journal.

    Ancient Persia witnessed one of its most prosperous cultural and socio-economic periods between 550 bc and ad 651, with the successive domination of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanian Empires. During this period agricultural activities increased on the Iranian plateau, as demonstrated by a remarkable arboricultural expansion. However, available data are not very informative about the spatial organization of agricultural practices. The possible links between climate conditions and agricultural activities during this millennium of continuous imperial domination are also unclear, due to the lack of parallel human-independent palaeoclimatic proxies. This study presents a new late Holocene pollen-based vegetation record from Lake Parishan, SW Iran. This record provides invaluable information regarding anthropogenic activities before, during and after the empires and sheds light on (i) spatial patterning in agricultural activities and (ii) possible climate impacts on agro-sylvo-pastoral practices during this period. Results of this study indicate that arboriculture was the most prominent form of agricultural activity in SW Iran especially during the Achaemenid, Seleucid and Parthian periods. Contrary to the information provided by some Greco-Roman written sources, the record from Lake Parishan shows that olive cultivation was practiced during Achaemenid and Seleucid times, when olive cultivation was significant, at least in this basin located close to the capital area of the Achaemenid Empire. In addition, pollen from aquatic vegetation suggests that the period of the latter centuries of the first millennium bc was characterized by a higher lake level, which might have favoured cultural and socio-economic prosperity.

    A PDF of the paper is available here.

  • Turks and Iranians: Interactions in Language and History

    Csató, Éva, Lars Johanson, András Róna-Tas & Bo Utas (eds.). 2016. Turks and Iranians: Interactions in language and history (Turcologica 105). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

    The contributions by an international group of leading scholars discuss the historical and cultural relations of old and modern Turkic and Iranian languages. A main topic is how contacts of spoken and written languages from pre-Islamic times until various periods of the Islamic era have influenced the emergence and development of Iranian and Turkic varieties. The purpose is to contribute to a better understanding of the interrelations between cultural-historical contacts and linguistic processes, and to stress the necessity of cooperation between experts of Turkic and Iranian studies.

    -See the Table of the Contents here