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Events

Persian Metalwork along the Silk Road

Entangled Objects of Eurasia: Persian Metalwork along the Silk Road

Wednesday 16 October 2024

  • Matthew Canepa | University of California, Irvine

Scriptive Things and Commensal Warfare: Luxury Vessels across post-Achaemenid Asia

  • Yukio Lippit | Harvard University

Echoes of Persian Silverware in the Shosoin Treasury

  • Yuka Kadoi  | University of Vienna          

Silver in the Mongol Empire: Alternative Nomadic Aesthetics

  • Johannes Preiser-Kapeller | ÖAW – IMAFO

Chair and moderator

Zoom registration required (anton.matejicka@univie.ac.at)

In recent years there has been renewed interest in the network of Eurasian trade routes, widely called the Silk Road. Connecting East Asia and North Africa via land and sea routes and spanning some 6,000 kilometres, it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political and religious interactions between the East and West. Although the significance of this century-old connector of commercial and cultural exchanges has been addressed since its scholarly acceptance in the early twentieth century, much needs to be said about the mobility dynamics of materiality and textuality, while overviewing recent discoveries and methodological trends.

Coinciding with the 700th anniversary of the death of Marco Polo, this research forum invites three distinguished art historians with particular expertise in non-European arts who will examine the modes and modalities of portable objects, other than silk textiles, from fresh perspectives. With the focus on metalwork, especially silver, three papers will collectively investigate different phases of material connectivities from the Asia Pacific to Mediterranean regions, from the time of Alexander the Great to the Mongol invasion of Eurasia. Taken together, this and subsequent academic fora are designed to foster a greater understanding of what used to be called ‘Persian art’—cultural artefacts that became predominantly associated with medieval and early-modern Iran and West Central Asia. cus on metalwork, especially silver, three papers will collectively investigate different phases of material connectivities from the Asia Pacific to Mediterranean regions, from the time of Alexander the Great to the Mongol invasion of Eurasia.

Categories
Events

Land and Power in the Sasanian Empire

A workshop organised by Tommy Benfey (Tübingen) and Richard Payne (Chicago).

Middle Persian ostracon dealing with bread rations from Chāl Ṭarkhān-Eshqābād, photograph courtesy of ISAC Museum, Chicago
Friday, October 25, 2024
Land and Power in the Sasanian EmpireDownload

The workshop is co-sponsored by the University of Chicago and the University of Tübingen.


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Articles

Male Homoerotic Practices in Achaemenid Persia

Araujo, Matheus Treuk Medeiros de. 2024. Male homoerotic practices in Achaemenid Persia: An overview. Archai 34, e03415.

Descriptions of Ancient Persian male homoeroticism come mainly from Classical sources, which, however, seem to present divergent testimonies regarding this practice. Some authors apparently provide proof for its widespread acceptance, whereas others, particularly later authors, emphasized its prohibition. Considering the many difficulties involved in the reconstruction of Persian history through the eyes of classical Greeks and Romans, this article aims to provide a brief overview of the subject, with some clues to the question of the origin, form, and tolerance of same-sex love in Achaemenid Persia. We agree that homoerotic practices were attested and likely accepted at some level in Achaemenid Persia. However, we believe that the evidence available to us is not enough to obtain a full understanding of this phenomenon. It is also stressed that not every Greek or Roman reference to Persian male homoeroticism should be taken at face value, as some are distorted and fictitious or lack firsthand knowledge. Finally, we briefly address the image of eunuchs as sexual partners of Achaemenid kings.

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Books

Navigating the Worlds of History

Ruffing, Kai, Brigitte Truschnegg, Andreas Rudigier, Julian Degen, Sebastian Fink & Kordula Schnegg (eds.). 2024. Navigating the worlds of history. Studies in honor of Robert Rollinger on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

These studies in honor of Robert Rollinger, a scholar who dedicated and dedicates himself to the study of the Ancient Worlds and their Afro-Eurasian entanglements, are published on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Accordingly, the three volumes bring together contributions from friends, colleagues, and students of Robert Rollinger. The themes of these some 80 articles are in line with Rollinger’s research foci. Therefore, there are articles dealing with themes from the field of classical studies and thus the ancient Mediterranean world, the Ancient Near East and Persia as well as Iran. In addition – also in line with Robert Rollinger’s academic activities and his own research interests – there are essays on the history of Austria, in particular on that of Vorarlberg, the honoree’s homeland. Old America is also given thematic consideration. Moreover, the reception of the Ancient Worlds is also addressed.

The work consists of three volumes and is divided into five sections. The first deals with the classical world and its entanglement with the Ancient Near East; the second section focusses on the Ancient Near East. The third section is dedicated to the Iranian world in its imperial longue durée, while the fourth section looks at the global as well as the local history taking into account the perspective of Global and Universal History. Finally, the fifth and last section is dedicated to the dialogue between the ancient world and the present.

Categories
Books

Wine Cultures

Antonetti, Claudia, Bryan De Notariis & Marco Enrico (eds.). 2024. Wine cultures: Gandhāra and beyond (Antichistica 40). Venezia: Venice University Press.

The volume Wine Cultures. Gandhāra and Beyond represents the primary outcome of the MALIWI project (SPIN Ca’ Foscari 2021) directed by Claudia Antonetti. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this work seeks to explore the production techniques, social functions, and cultural significance of intoxicating drinks with particular reference to wine – an extraordinary beverage that has been intertwined with human history for millennia. This volume gathers contributions by scholars interested in studying wine and drinking culture in Gandhāra and neighbouring regions, including Ancient Assyria, Arachosia, and present-day India. The topic is explored from three fundamental perspectives, employing a diverse range of sources, including literary and historical texts, as well as linguistic, iconographic, archaeological, and anthropological evidence.

Abstract
Continue reading “Wine Cultures”
Categories
Events Online resources

On Middle Persian Documents

The 2nd Berkeley Workshop on Middle Persian Documents and Sealings

This is the second workshop in a series that began in Spring 2023 with the idea of bringing together scholars around the world who were actively working on, or interested in working on Middle Persian documents and sealings. The workshop is organised by Adam Benkato (UC Berkeley) and Arash Zeini (University of Oxford).

To attend the workshop, which takes place on Zoom, register here. The programme is below.

Berkeley Workshop 2024Download
Categories
Books

Gorani in its Historical and Linguistic Context

Karim, Shuan Osman & Saloumeh Gholami (eds.). 2024. Gorani in its historical and linguistic context (Trends in Linguistics. Documentation 41) Berlin: De Gruyter.

Gorani refers to under-documented, endangered varieties spoken in a cluster within the Zagros mountains (Iran/Iraq). These varieties possess conservative features of importance to linguists. However, their study has been plagued by nomenclature and taxonomy issues. Traditional names for these languages have been supplanted first by orientalists’ prescriptions and then by their linguist heirs. Inaccurate terminology has sewn discord between speaker communities, disturbing the sociolinguistic landscape. This volume represents the state of the art of Gorani’s historical and socio-linguistics, documentation, and literature, as well as an effort to aid the “decolonization” of Gorani linguistics.

Table of contents:

  • Shuan Osman Karim and Saloumeh Gholami: Gorani in its historical and linguistic context
  • Saeed Karami and Saloumeh Gholami: Examining the structural differences and similarities between literary Gorani and Hawrami through the lens of diglossia
  • Parvin Mahmoudveysi: The Gūrānī variety of Bzɫāna and the literary language of Saydī
  • Hamidreza Nikravesh: Judeo-Gūrānī: Tracing the emergence of a literary corpus
  • Geoffrey Khan and Masoud Mohammadirad: Gorani influence on NENA
  • Shuan Osman Karim: Pattern borrowing/convergence in the Southern Kurdish Zone
  • Mohammad Rasekh-Mahand: The Laki of the Ahl-e Haqq community in Češin: Some morphosyntactic features
  • Mahîr Dogan: Problems in Zazakî nomenclature
Categories
Books

Contact Zones in the Eastern Mediterranean

Niesiołowski-Spano, Łukasz & Kacper Ziemba (eds.). 2024. Contact zones in the Eastern Mediterranean: Judeans and their neighbours in intercultural contexts: places, middlemen, transcultural contacts. –– Sixth to second century BCE. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Two contributions of this open-access volume investigate aspects of the Achaemenid Persian Empire:

  • Giulia Francesca Grassi: Religious Interactions in Achaemenid Elephantine and Syene as Reflected in the Aramaic Documents
  • Jason M. Silverman: Prolegomena to an Analysis of the Persian “Royal Road” as a Social Network in the Southern Levant
Categories
Events

The Vanishing Zoroastrian Presence in Ahvaz

A lecture by Saloumeh Gholami, University of Cambridge, and Mehraban Pouladi, Mōbedān Council (Iran), entitled:

The vanishing Zoroastrian presence in Ahvaz: Historical evolution, migration and the threat to cultural heritage

Mobed Sohrab Hengami and Mobed Mehraban Pouladi performing Gahanbar at the Hall of the Zoroastrian Association of Ahvaz, 2004.

Friday 18 October 5:30pm, AIIT, Cambridge.

This lecture offers an exploration of the complex history of the Zoroastrian community in Ahvaz, a city in the province of Khuzestan in Iran. Because of economic hardship and agricultural decline in Yazd, Zoroastrians started migrating there in the early 20th century. Earlier censuses from the 19th century, such as those by Hataria in 1854 and Houtum-Schindler in 1882, record no Zoroastrian presence in Ahvaz. The earliest mention of Zoroastrians in the city appears in the 1963 census, which was prepared for the National Zoroastrian Congress held in Kerman that same year. The Zoroastrian community in Ahvaz has so far found little, if any scholarly attention due to the dearth of documentation. However, as a result of new archival evidence from the Pouladi Collection, unearthed by the speakers in 2016, new data has emerged that throws light on the reasons for the migration from Yazd to Ahvaz. The new documents provide evidence that Zoroastrian settlements were established in the 1920s along the Karun River through the agricultural enterprise, the Mazdyasnān Company. This lecture examines how the Zoroastrian community of Ahvaz flourished in their new home, contributing to the prosperity of the region, but later, despite its successes, gradually declined. This development raises critical questions regarding the preservation of minority heritage in Iran.

Summary
Categories
Books

Bridging the Gap: Disciplines, Times, and Spaces in Dialogue

Kallas, Nathalie (ed.). 2024. Bridging the gap: Disciplines, times, and spaces in dialogue – Volume 2: Sessions 3, 7 and 8 from the Conference Broadening Horizons 6 Held at the Freie Universität Berlin, 24–28 June 2019. Oxford: Archaeopress.

The second volume compiles papers presented in three enlightening sessions: Session 3 – Visual and Textual Forms of Communication; Session 7 – The Future of the Past. Archaeologists and Historians in Cultural Heritage Studies; and Session 8 – Produce, Consume, Repeat. History and Archaeology of Ancient Near Eastern Economies. Within this volume, the 20 papers traverse diverse topics spanning multiple periods, from the 5th millennium BCE to the Roman Empire, and encompass a wide array of geographical regions within the Near East.

Among other interesting contributions, the following papers deal with aspects of ancient Iranian history and culture:

  • Delphine Poinsot: Sexuation of animals’ bodies in the bullae from Qasr-I Abu Nasr
  • Olivia Ramble: Generations of Writing: The Secondary Inscriptions of Darius’ tacara at Persepolis
  • Takehiro Miki: Deciphering the Skills of the Prehistoric Painting Technique: Case Study of the Painted Pottery of the 5th Millennium BCE from Tall-e Bakun A (Fars province, Iran)
  • Yazdan Safaee: Persian Female Weavers in the Persepolis Economy