The Institute of Iranian Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, invites you to a small workshop introducing
09.02.2017 | 18:00
Fabeckstr. 23-25
Seminarraum 2.2058
Dabrowa, Edward . 2015. “L’ histoire des Parthes dans la Geographie de Strabon“, Studi Ellenistici 29, 285-303.
The first Gandhara Connections workshop, Oxford, 23-24 March 2017.
The Gandhara Connections project identifies chronology and dating as one of the key problems outstanding in the study of Gandharan art. Chronology is not only fundamental for establishing the nature of Gandharan art’s connections with the traditions of Greece and Rome, but also for any other systematic attempt to put it in context or explain its development.
For more details about the workshop, see the draft programme.
van Bladel, Kevin. 2017. From Sasanian Mandaeans to Ṣābians of the Marshes. Leiden: Brill.This historical study argues that the Mandaean religion originated under Sasanid rule in the fifth century, not earlier as has been widely accepted. It analyzes primary sources in Syriac, Mandaic, and Arabic to clarify the early history of Mandaeism. This religion, along with several other, shorter-lived new faiths, such as Kentaeism, began in a period of state-sponsored persecution of Babylonian paganism. The Mandaeans would survive to become one of many groups known as Ṣābians by their Muslim neighbors. Rather than seeking to elucidate the history of Mandaeism in terms of other religions to which it can be related, this study approaches the religion through the history of its social contexts.
Michel Balard, Philippe Clancier, Omar Coloru & Gilles Gorre. 2017. Les mondes hellénistiques. Du Nil à l’Indus, Paris: Hachette.
The Hellenistic Worlds (323-31 BC) stretch from Anatolia to Indus and from Armenia to Egypt. These territories share the common feature of not belonging to the Greek cultural area and of hosting populations of different origins and cultures. The study of the societies pre-existing the Macedonian conquest provide an important element for the comprehension of the functioning of the new powers, of their structure and administration, and the creation of cultural transfers between communities. The sources corresponding to the area of expertise of each author, and the historiographical debate they engender are at the heart of this manual. After a chronological table, the chapters address issues concerning the administration of these territories, their economy, the role played by local shrines, and cultural aspects.
To see table of contents click here.
Cifarelli, Megan. 2017. Costly choices: Signaling theory and dress in period IVb at Hasanlu Iran. Cifarelli, Megan & Laura Gawlinski (eds.), What shall I say of clothes? Theoretical and methodological approaches. Boston: The Archaeological Institute of America.
A growing body of work on dress in antiquity has probed more deeply the embodied experience of wearers, the relational aspect of the way dress communicates, and the role of dress as an active element in, rather than a passive reflection of, the construction of identity. It remains challenging, though, to interpret material evidence that shows abrupt changes in
dress practice. This article explores the potential of costly signaling theory, borrowed from evolutionary archaeology, for interpreting the gendered, militaristic dress-related artifacts introduced in the burials of the early first millennium B.C.E. at Hasanlu, Iran, a period of external threatand internal upheaval. Rather than characterizing these changes as simply evidence of “militarization” in a time of crisis, this article argues that a seemingly unwearable type of dress item participated in an effective, mutually beneficial form of communication by which men and women negotiated identity and power at the site.
The Arshama Project is not new, but since it is a valuable resource for the study of Achaemenid history, we would like to introduce it briefly.
The parchment letters of the Persian prince Arshama to Nakhthor, the steward of his estates in Egypt, are rare survivors from the ancient Achaemenid empire. These fascinating documents offer a vivid snapshot of linguistic, social, economic, cultural, organisational and political aspects of the Achaemenid empire as lived by a member of the elite and his entourage. The letters give unique insight into cultivation and administration, unrest and control, privileged lifestyles and long-distance travel. Arshama’s letters to Nakhthor, two leather bags and clay sealings, entered the Bodleian Library in 1944. These pages are a result of a collaboration between the Bodleian Libraries and scholars from the AHRC funded project Communication, Language and Power in the Achaemenid Empire: The correspondence of the satrap Arshama.
The result of the project, a volume entitled The Arshama Letters from the Bodleian Library, is openly accessible on the Publications tab.
More information can be found here and on the Arshama project website.
“Homo Ritualis: Ritual and Ritual Tradition in Zoroastrianism”
A talk by Shervin Farridnejad (Berlin/Vienna).
Monday, 23 January 2016, 06:30 PM, Österreichische Orient-Gesellschaft Hammer-Purgstall Dominikanerbastei 6/6, 1010 Wien.
This talk is the third and last of a talk series “Kulturwissenschaftliche Iranforschung“, organized as joint events by the Institute of Iranian studies (IFI) at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and the Österreichischen Orient-Gesellschaft Hammer-Purgstall, Vienna. The talk will be in German.
Abstract
Rituals play a prominent role in Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest continuous religions of humanity. The importance and practice of the Zoroastrian rituals extend over a wide range of social and local environments, from houses to fire temples as well as from antiquity to modernity. While the sources for exploring Zoroastrian rituals in pre-modern times are predominantly confined to traditional and priestly texts, we have a broader set of sources for modern and contemporary times, including the living ritual tradition of priests and laities. The lecture deals with the presence and importance of the rituals as well as the ritualistic traditions in Zoroastrianism.
You can download the whole program of this talk series here.
Shervin Farridnejad is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Lecturer at the Institute of Iranian Studies (IFI) at the Academy of Science (ÖAW) in Vienna and at the Institute of Iranian Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin.
Hodos, Tamar (ed.) 2017. The Routledge Handbook of Archaeology and Globalization. Routledge.
Many congratulations to Professor Elton Daniel, who has been appointed the Interim Director of the Center for Iranian Studies and Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopædia Iranica. See below for the full text of the announcement:
It is with great pleasure that the Board of Directors of the Foundation announces the appointment of Professor Elton Daniel by Columbia University as the Interim Director of the Center for Iranian Studies and Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopædia Iranica.
For many years now, the Encyclopædia has consistently benefitted from Professor Daniel’s impressive contributions as an erudite scholar with a formidable knowledge of Iranian culture as well as proven qualities as an able and energetic administrator. During his tenure as Professor of History at the University of Hawaii, he served for four years as Senior Research Scholar and Associate Editor of the Encyclopædia at the Center for Iranian Studies, ensuring a steady progress in publishing well researched and edited entries. Since then, Professor Daniel has been closely involved with the progress of the project, reviewing entries before publication as well as contributing several substantial articles of his own.
As an international enterprise, the Encyclopædia project requires exceptional leadership with a wide range of experience and close familiarity with current scholarship worldwide. In the course of his academic career, Professor Daniel has studied and taught in different continents (including in the Middle East and Iran) and has held several prestigious fellowships. As well as authoritative articles and monographs on early medieval history in which his linguistic and philological expertise in Persian, Arabic and Turkish are displayed to the full, he has written a highly acclaimed general history of Iran intended for a general readership which is now in its second edition.
The Board welcomes Professor Daniel’s appointment and looks forward to working with him in ensuring the successful progress of the project under his leadership.