Categories
Journal

Getting to know Sogdian

When I started this bibliographic blog my main goal was to keep things simple, hoping that a modest and well-defined goal would allow me to update the site on a regular basis. I am very excited that with the help of my SOAS colleague and friend, Adam Benkato, we now take a first step towards hosting original content. Adam has written a very useful introduction to Sogdian, of which I post the first part today. The goal of this and hopefully forthcoming introductions is to offer brief and somewhat informal overviews. We hope that scholars from neighbouring disciplines and non-specialists will find them useful.

Read the first part of the introduction here.

Categories
Books

Ancient settlement systems and cultures in the Ram Hormuz plain

Alizadeh, Abbas. 2014. Ancient settlement systems and cultures in the Ram Hormuz plain, Southwestern Iran: Excavations at Tall-e Geser and regional survey of the Ram Hormuz area (Oriental Institute Publications 140). Chicago: The Oriental Institute. With contributions by Loghman Ahmadzadeh and Mehdi Omidfar, and appendices by John R. Alden, Leah Minc, Jacques Connan, John Zumberge and Kendra Imbus.

For more information see the AWOL announcement. Download the book here.

Categories
Reviews

Review: Medieval Christian and Manichaean remains

Dickens, Mark. 2014. Review of Samuel Lieu, Lance Eccles, Majella Franzmann, Iain Gardner & Ken Parry (eds.): Medieval Christian and Manichaean remains from Quanzhou (Zayton) (Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum, Series Archaeologica et Iconographica 2). Turnhout: Brepols. 395–429.

Read the review here.

Categories
Books

The Jews of Iran

Houman Sarshar (ed.). 2014. The Jews of Iran: The history, religion and culture of a community in the Islamic world. London: I.B.Tauris

Living continuously in Iran for over 2700 years, Jews have played an integral role in the history of the country. Frequently understood as a passive minority group, and often marginalized by the Zoroastrian and succeeding Muslim hegemony, the Jews of Iran are instead portrayed in this book as having had an active role in the development of Iranian history, society, and culture. Examining ancient texts, objects, and art from a wide range of times and places throughout Iranian history, as well as the medieval trade routes along which these would have travelled, The Jews of Iran offers in-depth analysis of the material and visual culture of this community.

To find out more, see here.

Categories
Articles

Una pagina da un libro sogdiano manicheo

Morano, Enrico. 2013. Una pagina da un libro sogdiano manicheo di storielle, parabole e aforismi. In Mario Capaldo, Patrizia Lendinara & Mario Negri (eds.), ΦΙΛΟΙΝ: Scritti in onore di Mario Enrietti e Renato Gendre, 327–334. Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso.

Read the article here.

Categories
Books

Intangible spirits and graven images

Congratulations to Michael Shenkar for publishing his book, which is already being endorsed by many scholars.

Shenkar, Michael. 2014. Intangible spirits and graven images: The iconography of deities in the pre-Islamic Iranian world. Leiden: Brill.

In Intangible Spirits and Graven Images, Michael Shenkar investigates the perception of ancient Iranian deities and their representation in the Iranian cults. This ground-breaking study traces the evolution of the images of these deities, analyses the origin of their iconography, and evaluates their significance. Shenkar also explores the perception of anthropomorphism and aniconism in ancient Iranian religious imagery, with reference to the material evidence and the written sources, and reassesses the value of the Avestan and Middle Persian texts that are traditionally employed to illuminate Iranian religious imagery. In doing so, this book provides important new insights into the religion and culture of ancient Iran prior to the Islamic conquest.

See here for more.

Categories
Articles

The image of cosmos reflected in the body

Delaini, Paolo. 2014. The image of cosmos reflected in the body. The theory of microcosm-macrocosm and its spread in Sasanian Iran. In Antonio Panaino (ed.), Studies on astronomy and its history offered to Salvo De Meis (Indo-Iranica et Orientali 13). Milan: Memesis.

Read the article here.

Categories
Events

Symposium: British Library Persian manuscripts

The British Library is holding a one-day symposium on the theme of digitisation and new research on its collection of Persian manuscripts, one of the most significant in the world in both size and importance.

British Library Persian Manuscripts: Collections and Research
British Library Conference Centre, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
Friday, 31 October 2014, 9.30-18.00

Registration:
Booking will be available from Monday 22 September from British Library Events. Tickets include a light lunch and refreshments and are priced at £15 (£10 concessions).
For more information, see here.
Categories
Reviews

Review: The transmission of the Avesta

Piras, Andrea. 2014. Review of Alberto Cantera (ed.): The transmission of the Avesta. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 104. 365–368.

Read the review here. More information on the volume is available here.

Categories
Articles

The last ruling woman of Ērānšhahr

Daryaee, Touraj. 2014. The last ruling woman of Ērānšahr: Queen Āzarmīgduxt. International Journal of the Society of Iranian Archaeologists 1(1). 77–81.

Queen Āzarmīgduxt was the last queen from the Sasanid dynasty who ruled Ērānšahr during the 7th century CE. In this paper we intend to review her life and her decision to revive the memory of her father Khusro the Second (Parwez). One of Āzarmīgduxt’s actions was to mint coins with the image of her father, but her own name. In this paper, we propose a new theory about Āzarmīgduxt’s decision to do so. The paper concludes with an analysis of the reasons behind Āzarmīgduxt’s assassination by a group of Arsacid nobility Spāhbed Farrox-Hormizd and his son, Rustam ī Farroxzādān.

Read the article here.