Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

  • Zoroastrian Cosmogony and Eschatology

    Timuş, Mihaela. 2015. Cosmogonie et eschatologie: articulations conceptuelles du système religieux zoroastrien. (Cahiers de Studia Iranica 54). Paris: Peeters Press.
    The book includes seven studies that use historiographical and philological methods to explore the historical and religious aspects of Zoroastrian cosmogony and eschatology. It undertakes a close reading of Middle Persian literature to identify and illustrate specific aspects of this religious system, such as the symmetry between the beginning and the end of the world. The author reads the historiography of Iranian studies, paying special attention to the French scholarship on this topic, in order to show how the modern history of religions transformed Christian theological concepts in its analysis of the Zoroastrian religion. The Addenda include several unpublished documents, relevant for the history of Zoroastrian studies in France.
    About the Author:
    Mihaela Timuş is Post-Doc fellow in the Romanian Academy, Institute for the History of Religions, History of Indian and Iranian Religions.

  • Ideology, power and religious change in antiquity

    Plakat_IPRCA2015Ideology, Power and Religious Change in Antiquity, 3000 BC – AD 600 (IPRCA)

    International Summer School organized by Graduate School of Humanities Göttingen (GSGG)

    20 – 24 July 2015, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Archäologisches Institut und Sammlung der Gipsabgüsse)

    In the modern world, political as well as religious leaders make use of ideological messages to legitimize and advertise their power. Especially during periods of transformation and change, it is important for leaders to demonstrate their strengths and capacities in order to unify their subjects. By presenting themselves as the right men in the right place they could win their subjects’ loyalty and thus legitimize and safeguard their own positions. This practice is however not a modern invention, it is rooted in ancient traditions and habits.

    The summer school focuses on ideological messages communicated by leaders in the ancient world (Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome, c. 3000 BC – AD 600) during periods of religious change (periods characterized by the rise, expansion or dominance of new religions, specific religious factions, sects or cults that caused changes in or threatened existing social, religious and/or power structures). Which messages were communicated by central and local authorities as well as specific religious authorities in these epochs? What do these messages tell us about the nature of power exercised by leaders?

    The pre-arranged sessions to discusse the different subjects and questions are:

    • Session 1 Ancient Mesopotamia
    • Session 2 Ancient Anatolia, Levant and Iran
    • Session 3 Classical Greece and the Hellenistic World
    • Session 4 Roman Republic and Empire
    • Session 5 The Byzantine Empire

    Programme:

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  • A manual for Iranian Studies

    Paul, Ludwig (ed.). 2013. Handbuch der Iranistik. Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert Verlag.
    This manual for Iranian Studies  presents a comprehensive survey of status and trends of current research in the filed of Iranian Studies.  In 34 contributions, the most important disciplines of the field, namely history, literature, religion and language were examined by 33 authors on almost 500 pages. It comprised both the current state of Iran as well as  the Iranian cultural sphere in its geographic breadth and historical depth, from Anatolia to Central Asia and from the early history (7th millennium BC) Until today. The manual aims to provide a methodical presentation of research developments and tries to answer the questions such as: what research questions are fresh and interesting? why and in which research contexts they are important?
    All contributions of the manual are divided into three sections A, B and C.  The section A guides the reader through fundamental and self-reflexive methodological considerations to approach the subject. The section B provides a research overview, and the section C gives an alphabetical bibliography on each subject.

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  • The Transmission of the Avesta

    Cantera, Alberto (ed.). 2012. The Transmission of the Avesta. (Iranica 20). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
    The Avesta is a collection of liturgical texts considered as their sacred book by the Zoroastrian community. It contains the recitatives of the Zoroastrian liturgies still celebrated in the 17th century, some of them even celebrated until today. The texts integrated in these ceremonies were composed in different places and at different times, and transmitted orally for centuries. The exact date of the fixation of the ceremonies in the shape in which they are presented in the manuscripts and the creation of the different manuscripts is unknown. But today it is proven that even after the creation of the first manuscripts, the transmission of these liturgical texts was the result of a complicated process in which not only the process of copying manuscripts but also the ritual practice and the ritual teaching were involved. The only deep analysis of the written transmission of the Avesta was made by K. F. Geldner as Prolegomena to his edition of the Avesta. Since then, many new manuscripts have appeared. In The Transmission of the Avesta contributions by the main experts in this field are gathered: the oral transmission, the fixation of the different collections, the first writing down, and the manuscripts. Special interest is devoted to the manuscripts. Some contributions of the volume were presented at the correspondent colloquium held in Salamanca, September 2009; others were added in order to make of the volume a comprehensive work on the different aspects of the Avestan transmission.

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  • Studies on Iran and the Caucasus

    Bläsing, Uwe, Victoria Arakelova & Matthias Weinreich (eds.). 2015. Studies on Iran and the Caucasus: In honour of Garnik Asatrian. Leiden: Brill.

    This unique collection of essays by leading international scholars gives a profound introduction into the great diversity and richness of facets forming the study of one of earth’s most exciting areas, the Iranian and Caucasian lands. Each of the 37 contributions sheds light on a very special topic, the range of which comprises historical, cultural, ethnographical, religious, political and last but not least literary and linguistic issues, beginning from the late antiquity up to current times. Especially during the last decennia these two regions gained greater interest worldwide due to several developments in politics and culture. This fact grants the book, intended as a festschrift for Prof. Garnik Asatrian, a special relevance.

    Table of Contents:

    History and texts
    I. Early Mediaeval Period
    • Marco Bais: “Like a Flame Through the Reeds”: An Iranian Image in the Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘
    • Jost Gippert: “The “Bun-Turks” in Ancient Georgia”
    • Dan Shapira: “On the Relative Value of Armenian Sources for the Khazar Studies: The Case of the Siege of Tbilisi”
    • Giusto Traina: “Some Remarks on the Inscription of Maris, Casit filius (Classical-Oriental Notes, 9)”
    II. Late Mediaeval Period
    • Kaveh Farrokh: “The Military Campaigns of Shah Abbas I in Azerbaijan and the Caucasus (1603-1618)”
    • Aldo Ferrari: “Persia and Persians in Raffi’s Xamsayi Melikʻutiwnnerə”
    • Hirotake Maeda: “New Information on the History of the Caucasus in the Third Volume of Afzal al-tavarikh”
    • Irène Natchkebia: “Unrealized Project: Rousseaus’ Plan of Franco-Persian Trade in the Context of the Indian Expedition (1807)”
    • Roman Smbatian: “Nadir’s Religious Policy Towards Armenians”
    Religion and Ethnography
    • Victoria Arakelova: “The Song Unveiling the Hidden”
    • Viacheslav A. Chirikba: “Between Christianity and Islam: Heathen Heritage in the Caucasus”
    • Matteo Compareti: “Armenian Pre-Christian Divinities: Some Evidence from the History of Art and Archaeological Investigation”
    • Peter Nicolaus: “The Taming of the Fairies”
    • Antonio Panaino: “The Classification of Astral Bodies in the Framework of a Historical Survey of Iranian Traditions”
    • Vahe S. Boyajian: “From Muscat to Sarhadd: Remarks on gwātī Healing Ritual within the Social Context”
    Linguistics
    • Uwe Bläsing: “Georgische Gewächse auf türkischer Erde: Ein Beitrag zur Phytonomie in Nordostanatolien”
    • Johnny Cheung: “The Persian Verbal Suffixes -ān and -andeh (-andag)”
    • Claudia A. Ciancaglini: “Allomorphic Variability in the Middle Persian Continuants of the Old Iranian suffix *-ka-“
    • Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst: “Vowel Length in Middle Persian Verbal Endings”
    • Vladimir Livshits: “Some Khwarezmian Names”
    • Ela Filippone: “Kurdish bažn, Persian bašn and Other Iranian Cognates”
    • Adriano V. Rossi: “Once Again on Iranian *kund”
    • James R. Russell: “A Note on Armenian hrmštk-el”
    • Wolfgang Schulze: “Aspects of Udi-Iranian Language Contact”
    • Martin Schwarz: “Armenian varkaparazi and Its Iranian Background”
    • Donald Stilo: “The Poligenetic Origins of the Northern Talishi Language”
    • Matthias Weinreich: “Not only in the Caucasus: Ethno-linguistic Diversity on the Roof of the World”
    Ritual and Folklore
    • Anna Krasnawolska: “Hedayat’s Nationalism and His Concepts of Folklore”
    • Mikhail Pelevin: “Early Specimens of Pashto Folklore”
    • Nagihan Haliloğlu: “Activist, Professional, Family Man: Masculinities in Marjane Satrapi’s Work”
    • Khachik Gevorgian: “On the Interpretation of the Term “Futuwwa” in Persian Fotovvatnamehs“
    Historico-Political Issues
    • Çakır Ceyhan Suvari, Elif Kanca: “The Alevi Discourse in Turkey”
    • Pascal Kluge: “Turkey’s Border with Armenia: Obstacle and Chance for Turkish Politics”
    • Irina Morozova: “On the Causes of Socialism’s Deconstruction:
      Conventional Debates and Popular Rhetoric in Contemporary
      Kazakhstan and Mongolia”
    • Caspar ten Dam: “The Limitations of Military Psychology: Combat-stress and Violence-values among the Chechens and Albanians”
    • Garry W. Trompf: “The Ararat Factor: Moral Basics in Western Political Theory from Isaac Newton to John Stuart Mill”
    • Eberhard Werner: “Communication and the Oral-Aural Traditions of an East-Anatolian Ethnicity: What us Stories tell!”

  • Hellenism and the Achaemenid Empire

    Samiei, Sasan. 2014. Ancient Persia in Western History: Hellenism and the Representation of the Achaemenid Empire. (International Library of Iranian Studies 47). London: I.B. Tauris.
    Ancient Persia in Western History is a measured rejoinder to the dominant narrative that considers the Graeco-Persian Wars to be merely the first round of an oft-repeated battle between the despotic ‘East’ and the broadly enlightened ‘West’. Sasan Samiei analyses the historiography which has skewed our understanding of this crucial era – contrasting the work of Edward Gibbon and Goethe, which venerated Classicism and Hellenistic history, with later writers such as John Linton Myres. Finally, Samiei explores the cross-cultural encounters which constituted the Achaemenid period itself, and repositions it as essential to the history of Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
    Here you can have a look inside the book.
    About the Autor:
    Sasan Samiei completed his PhD in Iranian History at University College London and also holds an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE).

  • Silks from the Silk Road: Origin, Transmission and Exchange

    Sasanian SilkSymposium

    Silks from the Silk Road: Origin, Transmission and Exchange

    Hangzhou, China, Oct. 11th –Oct. 13th, 2015

    In June 2014, the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor jointly nominated by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan was inscribed on the World Heritage List, making the ancient Silk Road a common wealth of human beings.

    Parallel to the cognominal exhibition, held at the China National Silk Museum from Sept. 15th to Oct. 14th, 2015, which include masterpiece ancient silk textiles and other treasures related to the Silk Road from 24 Chinese museums and archaeological institutions of eight provinces, the symposium will present the following six sections:

    • Silk Road and Technical Exchange
    • Archaeological Findings of Silk in China
    • Archaeological Findings of Silk outside China
    • Silks on the Silk Road from the Perspective of Linguistics
    • Maritime Silk Road and Chinese Export Silk
    • Silks on the Silk Road from the Perspective of Anthropology

    See here  for more details and the programme, speackers and topics.

    Some talks relevant to Iranian Studies are:

    • Matthehew Canepa: “Sasanian Persian silks in archaeology findings and stone relief illustration
    • Bi Bo: “Silk in Sogdian Literature”
    • Mohammad Bagher Vosoughi: “Silk in Persian Literature”

     

  • The Ladies of Veh Ardashir

    Simpson, St.John. 2013. The Ladies of Veh Ardashir. Palazzo Madama, studi e notizie, 3(2): 10-15.

    A short article exploring the evidence provided by a selection of the Sasanian “small finds” excavated at Veh Ardashir by the Centro Scavi di Torino. This research is part of the author’s core research on Sasanian and early medieval portable material culture and a detailed publication of all of these finds from this excavation is in preparation.

  • Susa and Elam

    International conference: Susa and Elam: History, Language, Religion and Culture

    6-9 July 2015, Université catholique de Louvain

    Program

    Monday 6 July

     Opening lecture: Elizabeth Carter: Reassessing the Elamite contribution to the Luristan Bronzes

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  • The Parthian Aristocracy

    Dąbrowa, Edward. 2013. The Parthian Aristocracy: its Social Position and Political Activity, Parthica 15, 2013 [2014], 53-62.

    Without doubt, the aristocracy occupied an important place in the complicated political and cultural structure of the Parthian state. Sources reveal that the role of this group in its history was determined not only by its social, material or even political position, but also by the strength and authority of individual monarchs. The position of the aristocracy was also axected by external factors. From the moment that the East came into the orbit of Roman policy, political position of the aristocracy was strengthened considerably. The opportunity to attain Roman support for the realization of their own ambitions meant that within the aristocracy opposition to the ruler became more frequent, and certain groups began more ruthlessly to seek not only defense of the rights and privileges they had gained, but above all greater freedom of political actions. In the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD this approach led to a marked weakening in the position of the Arsacid state towards Rome in competition for inkuence in Anatolia, the Caucasus and Armenia as well as even Mesopotamia. Owing to the lack of later sources, we cannot say whether the political gains of the Parthian aristocracy were long lasting.