Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Tag: Iranian Studies

  • Seleukid Sacred Architecture, Royal Cult and the Transformation of Iranian Culture in the Middle Iranian Period

    Matthew P. Canepa. 2014. Seleukid sacred architecture, royal cult and the transformation of Iranian culture in the Middle Iranian period. Iranian Studies 48(1). 1-27.

    This article proposes a new approach to three of the most persistent problems in the study of Iranian art and religion from the coming of Alexander to the fall of the Sasanians: the development of Iranian sacred architecture, the legacy of the Achaemenids, and the development of the art and ritual of Iranian kingship after Alexander. Canepa explores the ways in which the Seleukids contributed basic and enduring elements of Iranian religious and royal culture that lasted throughout late antiquity. Beyond stressing simple continuities or breaks with the Babylonian, Achaemenid or Macedonian traditions, this article argues that the Seleukids selectively integrated a variety of cultural, architectural and religious traditions to forge what became the architectural vocabularies and religious expressions of the Middle Iranian era.

     

  • Iranica Antiqua, Volume 50

    Iranica Antiqua is one of the leading scholarly journals covering studies on the civilization of pre-Islamic Iran in its broadest sense. This annual publication, edited by the Department for Near Eastern Art and Archaeology at Gent University, Belgium, contains preliminary excavation reports, contributions on archaeological problems, studies on different aspects of history, institutions, religion, epigraphy, numismatics and history of art of ancient Iran, as well as on cultural exchanges and relations between Iran and its neighbours. 

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  • The family tree of Iranian

    Dr Agnes Korn (University of Frankfurt) will be addressing the Indo-European Seminar on the subject

    The family tree of Iranian and its problems

     

    At 4.30 pm on Wed. June 17, Room 1.11, Faculty of Classics, Sidgwick Site Cambridge (CB3 9DA)
    Tea will be served from 4.15

  • Greater Khorasan

    Rante, Rocco (ed.). 2015. Greater Khorasan: History, Geography, Archaeology and Material Culture (Studies in the History and Culture of the Middle East 29). Walter de Gruyter.

    The modern sense of “Greater Khorasan” today corresponds to a territory which not only comprises the region in the east of Iran but also, beyond Iranian frontiers, a part of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. In the past this entity was simply defined as Khorasan. In the Sassanid era Khorasan defined the “Eastern lands”. In the Islamic era this term was again taken up in the same sense it previously enjoyed. The Arab sources of the first centuries all mention the eastern regions under the same toponym, Khorasan. Khorasan was the gateway used by Alexander the Great to go into Bactria and India and, inversely, that through which the Seljuks and Mongols entered Iran. In a diachronic context Khorasan was a transit zone, a passage, a crossroads, which, above all in the medieval period, saw the creation of different commercial routes leading to the north, towards India, to the west and into China. In this framework, archaeological researches will be the guiding principle which will help us to take stock of a material culture which, as its history, is very diversified. They also offer valuable elements on commercial links between the principal towns of Khorasan. This book will provide the opportunity to better know the most recent elements of the principal constitutive sites of this geographical and political entity.

  • On orality and textuality

    Rubanovich, Julia (ed.). 2015. Orality and textuality in the Iranian world: Patterns of interaction across the centuries (Jerusalem Studies in Religion and Culture 19). Brill.

    The volume demonstrates the cultural centrality of the oral tradition for Iranian studies. It contains contributions from scholars from various areas of Iranian and comparative studies, among which are the pre-Islamic Zoroastrian tradition with its wide network of influences in late antique Mesopotamia, notably among the Jewish milieu; classical Persian literature in its manifold genres; medieval Persian history; oral history; folklore and more. The essays in this collection embrace both the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods, both verbal and visual media, as well as various language communities (Middle Persian, Persian, Tajik, Dari) and geographical spaces (Greater Iran in pre-Islamic and Islamic medieval periods; Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan of modern times). Taken as a whole, the essays reveal the unique blending of oral and literate poetics in the texts or visual artefacts each author focuses upon, conceptualizing their interrelationship and function.

  • Persian language, literature and culture

    Talattof, Kamran. 2015. Persian language, literature and culture: New leaves, fresh looks. Routledge.

    Critical approaches to the study of topics related to Persian literature and Iranian culture have evolved in recent decades. The essays included in this volume collectively demonstrate the most recent creative approaches to the study of the Persian language, literature, and culture, and the way these methodologies have progressed academic debate.

    […] In dealing with these seminal subjects, contributors acknowledge and contemplate the works of Ahmad Karimi Hakkak and other pioneering critics, analysing how these works have influenced the field of literary and cultural studies.

  • Zoroastrianism in India

    Parsi Mumbai: The legacy of Zoroastrianism in India’s urban babric, published by the Ajam Media Collective, is a nicely written piece on Parsis in India, documented with many photos. Although Cafe Mondegar is not mentioned, the publication of the article coincides with the news that Mondegar might face eviction.

  • A preview of the first issue of DABIR

    I am really excited to announce that the first issue of DABIR is going to be out very soon. The table of contents is here. Working on this journal and issue alongside my friends and colleagues Parsa Daneshmand, Touraj Daryaee, and Shervin Farridnejad has been a great joy and privilege. Below is the official announcement of the preview:

    I am happy to announce that a dream that a few of us had has come true. “DABIR: Digital Archive of Brief notes & Iran Review” is ready to be published online.

    Many years ago when I was in Iran we began an online journal in Persian and it ran for four volumes, but then it seems that it was too early of an idea. Then the idea was voiced again by my friends, such as Ali Mousavi that we needed journal to publish short notes and in a quick fashion. When I was a fellow in Oxford last year, I spent much time with Parsa Daneshmand who came up with the name of the journal and what it should entail. Peyvand Firouzeh at Cambridge was behind the design and the look of the journal; Scherwin Farridnejad was the other collaborator in making the look of it, as well as the content ready. Also, Khodadad Rezakhani who read and edited papers and gave much help. I have to thank my dear Natasha Rastegari who gave her time to organize and contacted the editorial board without asking anything in return.

    Finally, it is Arash Zeini who has spent so much of his time and energy to make this journal see the light of day. I thank the editorial board and contributors for the first volume (some on facebook): Ani Honarchian, Sara Mashayekh, Dominic Brookshaw, Matthew Canepa, Mario Rossi, Giusto Traina, Agnes Korn, Alka Patel, Richard Payne, Rolf Strootman, and Mohsen Zakeri.

    I was simply the conductor in this matter and this is what happens when you let people stay in places and think a bit longer than needed (at Oxford: OI coffee room and Cafe Rouge)!

    The journal will be part of the Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies at UC Irvine and will be published three times in the academic year. It is peer reviewed and free and open access to all. This is the way of the future for academia.

    The ToC of the first issue is here.

    Touraj Daryaee

  • Lecture: Zoroastrian apocalyptic texts

    Zoroastrian apocalyptic texts as a historical source of early Islamic Iran

    A lecture by Domenico Agostini

    Date: 28 April 2015
    Location: Iran Forum, University of Tel Aviv

  • The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism

    Stausberg, Michael & Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina (eds.). 2015. The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism. John Wiley & Sons.

    This is the first ever comprehensive English-language survey of Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest living religions

    • Evenly divided into five thematic sections beginning with an introduction to Zoroaster/Zarathustra and concluding with the intersections of Zoroastrianism and other religions
    • Reflects the global nature of Zoroastrian studies with contributions from 34 international authorities from 10 countries.
    • Presents Zoroastrianism as a cluster of dynamic historical and contextualized phenomena, reflecting the current trend to move away from textual essentialism in the study of religion.
    The eBook version of the companion can be purchased here.

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