Shavarebi, Ehsan. 2016. “Eine spätsasanidische Münze mit zwei Prägeherren“, Schweizer Münzblätter (Gazette numismatique suisse/Gazzetta numismatica svizzera) 66 (263), 63-66.
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Yezidism and Yezidi Studies
Kreyenbroek, Philip G. & Khanna Omarkhali (eds.). 2016. Yezidism and Yezidi Studies in the early 21st century (Special Issue. Vol. 4, No 2, Kurdish Studies). London: Transnational Press.
The present volume deals with recent trends and developments in the Yezidi community, and analyses contemporary portrayals of the Yezidis. The initial focus is on the far-reaching consequences of ISIS’s (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria genocide of Yezidis in the Sinjar region of Iraq which began in August 2014, and its possible implications for the Yezidi religion generally. Further contributions discuss how the Yezidis have recently been described in Western media and academic literature.
- Martin van Bruinessen: “Editorial”
- Philip Kreyenbroek, Khanna Omarkhali: “Introduction to Special Issue: Yezidism and Yezidi Studies in the early 21st Century”
- Irene Dulz: “The displacement of the Yezidis after the rise of ISIS in Northern Iraq”
- Eszter Spat: “Hola Hola Tawusi Melek, Hola Hola Şehidêt Şingalê: Persecution and the development of Yezidi ritual life”
- Veronica Buffon, Christine Allison: “The gendering of victimhood: Western media and the Sinjar genocide”
- Philip Kreyenbroek, Khanna Omarkhali: “Yezidi Spirits? On the question of Yezidi beliefs: A review article”
- Khanna Omarkhali: “Transformations in the Yezidi tradition after the ISIS attacks. An interview with Ilhan Kizilhan”
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Dance in Iran: Past and Present
Gholami, Saloumeh (ed.). 2016. Dance in Iran: Past and Present. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag.
Dance is one of the cultural topics facing some of the greatest challenges in Iran. Culturally, dance constitutes one of the richest and most extensive branches of art, having a long tradition and history. But in today’s Iran, dance is automatically regarded to be a political issue, even though dancers have no intention for it to be thought of in this way. In spite of the fact that Iran is considered to be one of the most ancient centers of dance culture, dance has still faced many challenges in its long history, particularly after the arrival of Islam in Iran.
This volume is an extraordinary history of dance, full of mystery and humor. The various developments in the history of this art in Iran have never before been presented in a single book, making “Dance in Iran: Past and Present” the most comprehensive work on the subject to date. The book examines the major branches of Iranian regional, ethnic, and national dances as well as Iranian ballet and describes their history to the present. The videos are available at the website www.reichert-verlag.de and contain unique historical dance material from the pre-revolutionary period and examples of Iranian ballet from the contemporary era.
The book is suitable for anyone involved or interested in the dance history of Iran.
See the table of contents here.
Kiel, Yshai. 2016. Sexuality in the Babylonian Talmud: Christian and Sasanian Contexts in Late Antiquity. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Within this close textual analysis of the Babylonian Talmud, Yishai Kiel explores rabbinic discussions of sex in light of cultural assumptions and dispositions that pervaded the cultures of late antiquity and particularly the Iranian world. By negotiating the Iranian context of the rabbinic discussion alongside the Christian backdrop, this groundbreaking volume presents a balanced and nuanced portrayal of the rabbinic discourse on sexuality and situates rabbinic discussions of sex more broadly at the crossroads of late antique cultures. The study is divided into two thematic sections: the first centers on the broader aspects of rabbinic discourse on sexuality while the second hones in on rabbinic discussions of sexual prohibitions and the classification of permissible and prohibited partnerships, with particular attention to rabbinic discussions of incest. Essential reading for scholars and graduate students of Judaic studies, early Christianity, and Iranian studies, as well as those interested in religious studies and comparative religion.
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“Five Courses” on Yašts of the Avesta
Kellens, Jean. 2016. Cinq Cours Sur les Yašts de l’Avesta. (Cahiers de Studia Iranica, 59). Paris: Peeters.
This volume includes “five courses” devoted to the Yasts, that Jean Kellens held at the College de France. They are divided into two series, each corresponding to a special period. The first three took place between 1997 and 2000: De la naissance des montagnes a la fin du temps: le Yast 19 and the two Promenade dans les Yasts a la lumiere de travaux recents, which appear here under the new titles La maintenance du monde and Le catalogue des sacrifiants. The last two titles, La notion d’ame preexistante and Le pantheon mazdeen, written in the years 2008-2011, represent a more recent reflection. Three other contributions have been added, which complete or explain more in details some reflections of the “five courses”: Caracteres differentiels du Mihr Yast, Les saisons des rivieres and Les Fravasi.
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The battle of Arbela in 331 BCE
Rollinger, Robert. 2016. “The battle of Arbela in 331 BCE, Disloyal “Orientals” and the Alleged “Panic” in the Persian Army: from Neo-Assyrian kings to Alexander III“, in: Saana Svärd and Robert Rollinger (eds.), Cross-cultural Studies in Near Eastern History and Literature, 213-242, Münster.
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The Legacy of the Ancient Kings
The Legacy of the Ancient Kings. Ctesiphon and the Persian Sources of Islamic Art
15.11.2016 to 02.04.2017
Pergamonmuseum
How did Islamic cultures and Islamic art arise? Where do their roots lie? Like the Islamic religion itself, Islamic art also built on its predecessors in the Middle East. Focussing on Ctesiphon, a vast landscape of ruins south of Baghdad, this exhibition is devoted to the Persian legacy inherited by Islam.
Dominated by the monumental vaulted hall of the royal palace, the Taq-e Kesra, the city today is an emblem of the grandeur and downfall of the mighty Sassanid empire, a great power in ancient Persia about which little is known today. For centuries it competed with Rome and Byzantium. In the 7th century CE, however, the conquests by the Arab armies fundamentally changed the political balance of power. Culturally, too, a transformation took place – “Islamic art” was born. But had everything really changed?
The third published issue of International Journal of the Society of Iranian Archaeologists 2 (3) (2016) is dedicated to the Persian Gulf. For a table of contents and access to articles, see below or visit this page.
Cameron A. Petrie: “Kaftati and Kaftari-Related Ceramics in Southwest Iran and the Persian Gulf”
Lloyd Weeks: “Iran and the Bronze Age Metals Trade in the Persian Gulf”
Hossein Tofighian & Farhang Khademi Nadooshan: “Ancient Maritime Trade in the Persian Gulf: the Evidence of Sassanid Torpedo Amphoras”
Touraj Daryaee: “The Sasanian ‘Mare Nostrum’: The Persian Gulf”
Donald Whitcomb: “Persian Documents In The National Archives (Torre Do Tombo) Of Portugal And Their Importance For The History Of Persian Gulf In The 16th -17th Centuries”
Daniel T Potts: The Shi‘a origins of the 12th century ‘Uyunid Madrasah Abu Zaidan (Suq al-Khamis Mosque) on Bahrain
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Greek perspectives on the Achaemenid Empire
Morgan, Janett. 2016. Greek perspectives on the Achaemenid Empire: Persia through the looking glass. Edinburgh University Press.
The Greek’s view of Persia and the Persians changed radically throughout the archaic and classical period as the Persians turned from noble warriors to peacock-loving cross-dressers. This book traces the development of a range of responses to the Achaemenids and their empire through a study of ancient texts and material evidence from the archaic and classical periods. Janett Morgan investigates the historical, political and social factors that inspired and manipulated different identities for Persia and the Persians within Greece. She offers unique insights into the role of Greek social elites and political communities in creating different representations of the Achaemenid Persians and their empire.
About the author: Janett Morgan is an interdisciplinary ancient Greek historian. Her research focuses on material culture and its representation in ancient texts, investigating the ways in which individuals, groups and communities in Greece and Achaemenid Iran used architecture and artefacts to create religious, social and political identities and to express differences. She is the author of The Classical Greek House (Bristol Phoenix Press, 2010).
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Greek Echos in Pahlavi Literature
Agostini, Domenico . 2016. Greek echoes in Pahlavi literature. A preliminary survey of calques and foreign terms. Linguarum Varietas 5. 13–24.
The vast majority of the extant Pahlavi literature was written or compiled during the Islamic period (mainly during the 9th-10th centuries) and deals with religious themes of theological and scholastic interest. Only a few examples of Sasanian imaginative, scientific and philosophical works have survived, despite the rich testimony towards their existence found in Syriac, Arabic, and Persian sources, as well as references in some Pahlavi texts. In particular, some of them teach us that Greek philosophical systems, astrology, astronomy and medicine penetrated Iranian thought already in the Sasanian period. These new ideas were necessarily reworked as they entered Zoroastrian writings. It is not always easy to
pinpoint when and where certain aspects of the Pahlavi literature rely on Greek culture, although it is quite clear that the latter had a heavy influence on the formation of Iranian, and especially Zoroastrian, thinking in Sasanian period. This article aims to present some evidence of the presence of Greek thought and lexicon in the Pahlavi literature through the textual analysis of some passages belonging to the Zoroastrian literary tradition.