This article revisits one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in southwest Iran in recent decades, a rich early-mid 6th century BCE tomb of two women, unearthed near the village of Jubaji on the Ramhormoz plain in 2007. Based on the sumptuous grave assemblages and the inclusion of a gold ceremonial ‘ring’ inscribed with the name of a late Neo-Elamite king, Šutur-Nahunte son of Intata, the tomb’s excavator, Arman Shishegar, reasonably interpreted the women – one aged under 17 years, the other 30-35 years – as princesses. Here it is argued that the women may have been important figures in a religious institution based on a combination of the context of the tomb, which seems to have been in an association with a monumental structure, and certain elements of the assemblages. While none of the individual items is significant in isolation, when put together they are highly suggestive of a cultic environment. These include several semiprecious stone beads, including two inscribed eye-stones, that were already very ancient when deposited, special ritual paraphernalia, the bronze coffins that held the women’s remains, the inscribed gold ‘ring’ naming Šutur-Nahunte son of Intata, and an inscribed gold object (perhaps a bracelet) of a cult officiant. This is not to say that the roles of princess and priestess were by any means mutually exclusive, but it is the religious aspect that has yet to be investigated. A reassessment here of the significance of the inscribed objects from the Jubaji tomb in a religious context is taken as an occasion to publish new transliterations, translations, and analyses of the inscriptions by Gian Pietro Basello.
A while ago, I introduced two memoirs—one by Peter Brown and the other by Averil Cameron. Reflecting on the past and the origins of our discipline is as important as reading about the trajectories of our respected colleagues and teachers. We now have two volumes reflecting ‘lost’ social and academic histories that also relate to our discipline.
The tale of a legendary scholar, an unsolved murder, and the mysterious documents that may connect them
In early 1991, Ioan Culianu was on the precipice of a brilliant academic career. Culianu had fled his native Romania and established himself as a widely admired scholar at just forty-one years of age. He was teaching at the University of Chicago Divinity School where he was seen as the heir apparent to his mentor, Mircea Eliade, a fellow Romanian expatriate and the founding father of the field of religious studies, who had died a few years earlier.
But then Culianu began to receive threatening messages. As his fears grew, he asked a colleague to hold onto some papers for safekeeping. A week later, Culianu was in a Divinity School men’s room when someone fired a bullet into the back of his head, killing him instantly. The case was never solved, though the prevailing theory is that Culianu was targeted by the Romanian secret police as a result of critical articles he wrote after the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
What was in those mysterious papers? And what connection might they have to Culianu’s death? The papers eventually passed into the hands of Bruce Lincoln, and their story is at the heart of this book. The documents were English translations of articles that Eliade had written in the 1930s, some of which voiced Eliade’s support for the Iron Guard, Romania’s virulently anti-Semitic mystical fascist movement. Culianu had sought to publish some of these articles but encountered fierce resistance from Eliade’s widow.
In this book, author Bruce Lincoln explores what the articles reveal about Eliade’s past, his subsequent efforts to conceal that past, his complex relations with Culianu, and the possible motives for Culianu’s shocking murder.
„Semitische Wissenschaften“ – Der Ausdruck geht zurück auf den Althistoriker Helmut Berve, der damit 1934 unzweideutig den Stellenwert der Fächer Ägyptologie und Altorientalistik in einer Diktion, die den Ungeist nationalsozialistischer Weltanschauung widerspiegelt, relativieren wollte, Herausgeber und Beiträger dieses Sammelbandes beleuchten die Entstehung und Wirkungsgeschichte des Begriffs kritisch. Die Auffassung von „semitischer“ Wissenschaft ist vielschichtig: Zum einen geht sie zurück auf eine lange Tradition zunächst sprachwissenschaftlicher und schließlich auch völkisch-rassenkundlicher Forschungsdiskurse, deren Ursprünge sich bereits in das 18. Jahrhundert zurückverfolgen lassen. Weiterhin offenbart sich in dem Ausdruck eine Zuschreibung an solche Wissenschaftler, die im Rahmen nationalsozialistischer Weltanschauung als „semitisch“, also jüdisch eingestuft wurden. Die „semitischen Wissenschaften“ bilden somit einen Gegenbegriff zu dem völkischen ‚arischen‘ Wissenschaftsverständnis Berves. Darin enthalten ist nicht nur eine Ablehnung oder Kritik des bis dahin in den Altertumswissenschaften gepflegten Positivismus, sondern auch eine Absage an eine „rationale“ Auseinandersetzung mit der Vergangenheit. Der Sammelband geht zurück auf einen vom 26. bis 28. November 2021 von Göttingen aus ‚digital gehosteten‘ Workshop von Vertretern unterschiedlichster Disziplinen, vorrangig – aber nicht ausschließlich – der altorientalischen Fächer und der Geschichtswissenschaft.
Uesugi, Heindio & Adam Alvah Catt (eds.). 2024. Old Avestan dictionary (Asian and African Lexicon, 67). Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.
The Old Avestan Dictionary (OAD) is an attempt at a lexicographic synthesis of Old Avestan studies since the Altiranisches Wörterbuch (1904) by Christian Bartholomae (1855-1925) with a particular focus on aiding the elucidation of the Gāthās based on the line of analysis laid down by Helmut Humbach (1921-2017). The dictionary is accompanied by a new annotated translation of the Gāthās to further facilitate the general reader in discerning the sense behind the respective terms and passages when reading, reciting, or studying the original Avestan texts.
The book is freely available for download as an open-access resource.
Contents
Part I: Dictionary Acknowledgements Preface Symbols and Abbreviations Introduction to Part I References Dictionary
Part II: Text and Translation Symbols and Abbreviations Introduction to Part II Yasna 27.13-15: Three Sacred Formulas Yasna 28-34: Ahunauuaitī Gāϑā Yasna 43-46: Uštauuaitī Gāϑā Yasna 47-50: Spəṇtā.mainiiū Gāϑā Yasna 51: Vohu.xšaϑrā Gāϑā/HāitiGāϑā/Hāiti Yasna 54.1: Ā Airiiə̄mā Išiiō
In this work, readers are introduced to the first Italian translation of the main Pahlavi source of the legend of Zarathustra, Chapter VII of the Dēnkard. This fundamental text of Zoroastrian literature, dating back to the early Islamic period (7th–10th century CE), narrates the biography of the Iranian “prophet” within the framework of the universal history of creation. The guiding thread of this account is the miracles performed by the divine word throughout the centuries, up until the end of time. The work, edited by Massimiliano Vassalli, contextualizes the Iranian text and its protagonist within the historical and cultural background of the period in which it was written and provides an Italian version accompanied by philological, historical, and literary explanatory notes.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
