Tag: Iranian Studies

Categories
Journal Online resources

Newly launched peer-reviewed journal for Iranian Studies

Image: Detail from "Youth reading", Persian miniature by Reza Abbasi (1565-1635), ca. 1625-26, Isfahan. © The Trustees of the British Museum, ME 1920.0917.02
Image: Detail from “Youth reading”, Persian miniature by Reza Abbasi (1565-1635), ca. 1625-26, Isfahan. © The Trustees of the British Museum, ME 1920.0917.02

DABIR: Digital Archive of Brief notes & Iran Review, 2015, Vol 1, No. 1.

The first issue of the Digital Archive of Brief notes & Iran Review (DABIR) has been published and is available from the official website of DABIR.

The Digital Archive of Brief notes & Iran Review (DABIR) is an open access, peer-reviewed online open access journal published by the Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture at the University of California, Irvine. DABIR aims to quickly and efficiently publish brief notes and reviews relating to the pre-modern world in contact with Iran and Persianate cultures. The journal accepts submissions on art history, archaeology, history, linguistics, literature, manuscript studies, numismatics, philology and religion, from Jaxartes to the Mediterranean and from the Sumerian period through to the Safavid era (3500 BCE-1500 CE). Work dealing with later periods can be considered on request.

Table of Contents:
Articles

  1. Saber Amiri Pariyan: “A re-examination of two terms in the Elamite version of the Behistun inscription”
  2. Touraj Daryaee: “Alexander and the Arsacids in the manuscript MU29”
  3. Shervin Farridnejad: “Take care of the xrafstars! A note on Nēr. 7.5″
  4. Leonardo Gregoratti: “The kings of Parthia and Persia: Some considerations on the ‘Iranic’ identity in the Parthian Empire”
  5. Götz König: “Brief comments on the so-called Xorde Avesta (1)”
  6. Ali Mousavi: “Some thoughts on the rock-reliefs of ancient Iran”
  7. Khodadad Rezakhani: “A note on the Alkhan coin type 39 and its legend”
  8. Shai Secunda: “Relieving monthly sexual needs: On Pahlavi daštān-māh wizārdan“
  9. Arash Zeini: “Preliminary observations on word order correspondence in the Zand”

Reviews

  1. Sajad Amiri Bavandpoor: “Review of Smith, Kyle. 2014. The Martyrdom and History of Blessed Simeon bar Sabba’e”
  2. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones: “Review of Mayor, Adrienne. 2014. The Amazons. Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World”
  3. Yazdan Safaee: “Llewellyn-Jones, Lloyd & James Robson. 2010. CTESIAS’ History of Persia: Tales of the Orient”

Special Issue

  1. Bruce Lincoln “Of dirt, diet, and religious others”

 

DABIR

Editor-in-Chief: Touraj Daryaee (University of California, Irvine)
Editors: Parsa Daneshmand (Oxford University) and Arash Zeini (University of St Andrews)
Book Review Editor: Shervin Farridnejad (Freie Universität Berlin)

Categories
Articles

Iranian Materilas in Roman Mithraism

König, Götz. 2015. Iranisches im römischen Mithraskult: Iranische Wörter. In Richard Faber & Achim Lichtenberger (eds.), Ein pluriverses Universum: Zivilisationen und Religonen im antiken Mittelmeerraum, 301–331. (Mittelmeerstudien 7). Wilhelm Fink.
Tauroctony scene on side A of a two-sided Roman bas-relief. 2nd or 3rd century, found at Fiano Romano, near Rome, now on display in the Louvre.
Götz König discusses the origin and roots of some “Iranian words” in Mithraism under the Roman Empire from linguistic and philological point of view . Begining with the question of “Mithra” or “Mithras”, he addresses the history of scholarship regarding of “Mithraic Studies” connected with ancient Iranian studies. Other sub-chapters of his article is dedicated to analytical investigation of some Iranian linguistic materials, namely the greeting nama, the terms sebesio and nabarze, as well as the divine names Arimanius, Cautēs/Cautopatēs/ ˚is, Atar, Ōromazdēs and Miθra and also the liturgical term amara.
About the Author:
Götz König is a scholar of the Ancient and Middle Iranian Studies and presently the substitute head of the Institute of Iranian Studies, Freie Universität Berlin.
Categories
Books

A manual for Iranian Studies

Paul, Ludwig (ed.). 2013. Handbuch der Iranistik. Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert Verlag.
This manual for Iranian Studies  presents a comprehensive survey of status and trends of current research in the filed of Iranian Studies.  In 34 contributions, the most important disciplines of the field, namely history, literature, religion and language were examined by 33 authors on almost 500 pages. It comprised both the current state of Iran as well as  the Iranian cultural sphere in its geographic breadth and historical depth, from Anatolia to Central Asia and from the early history (7th millennium BC) Until today. The manual aims to provide a methodical presentation of research developments and tries to answer the questions such as: what research questions are fresh and interesting? why and in which research contexts they are important?
All contributions of the manual are divided into three sections A, B and C.  The section A guides the reader through fundamental and self-reflexive methodological considerations to approach the subject. The section B provides a research overview, and the section C gives an alphabetical bibliography on each subject.
Continue reading “A manual for Iranian Studies”
Categories
Books

Studies on Iran and the Caucasus

Bläsing, Uwe, Victoria Arakelova & Matthias Weinreich (eds.). 2015. Studies on Iran and the Caucasus: In honour of Garnik Asatrian. Leiden: Brill.

This unique collection of essays by leading international scholars gives a profound introduction into the great diversity and richness of facets forming the study of one of earth’s most exciting areas, the Iranian and Caucasian lands. Each of the 37 contributions sheds light on a very special topic, the range of which comprises historical, cultural, ethnographical, religious, political and last but not least literary and linguistic issues, beginning from the late antiquity up to current times. Especially during the last decennia these two regions gained greater interest worldwide due to several developments in politics and culture. This fact grants the book, intended as a festschrift for Prof. Garnik Asatrian, a special relevance.

Table of Contents:

History and texts
I. Early Mediaeval Period
  • Marco Bais: “Like a Flame Through the Reeds”: An Iranian Image in the Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘
  • Jost Gippert: “The “Bun-Turks” in Ancient Georgia”
  • Dan Shapira: “On the Relative Value of Armenian Sources for the Khazar Studies: The Case of the Siege of Tbilisi”
  • Giusto Traina: “Some Remarks on the Inscription of Maris, Casit filius (Classical-Oriental Notes, 9)”
II. Late Mediaeval Period
  • Kaveh Farrokh: “The Military Campaigns of Shah Abbas I in Azerbaijan and the Caucasus (1603-1618)”
  • Aldo Ferrari: “Persia and Persians in Raffi’s Xamsayi Melikʻutiwnnerə”
  • Hirotake Maeda: “New Information on the History of the Caucasus in the Third Volume of Afzal al-tavarikh”
  • Irène Natchkebia: “Unrealized Project: Rousseaus’ Plan of Franco-Persian Trade in the Context of the Indian Expedition (1807)”
  • Roman Smbatian: “Nadir’s Religious Policy Towards Armenians”
Religion and Ethnography
  • Victoria Arakelova: “The Song Unveiling the Hidden”
  • Viacheslav A. Chirikba: “Between Christianity and Islam: Heathen Heritage in the Caucasus”
  • Matteo Compareti: “Armenian Pre-Christian Divinities: Some Evidence from the History of Art and Archaeological Investigation”
  • Peter Nicolaus: “The Taming of the Fairies”
  • Antonio Panaino: “The Classification of Astral Bodies in the Framework of a Historical Survey of Iranian Traditions”
  • Vahe S. Boyajian: “From Muscat to Sarhadd: Remarks on gwātī Healing Ritual within the Social Context”
Linguistics
  • Uwe Bläsing: “Georgische Gewächse auf türkischer Erde: Ein Beitrag zur Phytonomie in Nordostanatolien”
  • Johnny Cheung: “The Persian Verbal Suffixes -ān and -andeh (-andag)”
  • Claudia A. Ciancaglini: “Allomorphic Variability in the Middle Persian Continuants of the Old Iranian suffix *-ka-“
  • Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst: “Vowel Length in Middle Persian Verbal Endings”
  • Vladimir Livshits: “Some Khwarezmian Names”
  • Ela Filippone: “Kurdish bažn, Persian bašn and Other Iranian Cognates”
  • Adriano V. Rossi: “Once Again on Iranian *kund”
  • James R. Russell: “A Note on Armenian hrmštk-el”
  • Wolfgang Schulze: “Aspects of Udi-Iranian Language Contact”
  • Martin Schwarz: “Armenian varkaparazi and Its Iranian Background”
  • Donald Stilo: “The Poligenetic Origins of the Northern Talishi Language”
  • Matthias Weinreich: “Not only in the Caucasus: Ethno-linguistic Diversity on the Roof of the World”
Ritual and Folklore
  • Anna Krasnawolska: “Hedayat’s Nationalism and His Concepts of Folklore”
  • Mikhail Pelevin: “Early Specimens of Pashto Folklore”
  • Nagihan Haliloğlu: “Activist, Professional, Family Man: Masculinities in Marjane Satrapi’s Work”
  • Khachik Gevorgian: “On the Interpretation of the Term “Futuwwa” in Persian Fotovvatnamehs“
Historico-Political Issues
  • Çakır Ceyhan Suvari, Elif Kanca: “The Alevi Discourse in Turkey”
  • Pascal Kluge: “Turkey’s Border with Armenia: Obstacle and Chance for Turkish Politics”
  • Irina Morozova: “On the Causes of Socialism’s Deconstruction:
    Conventional Debates and Popular Rhetoric in Contemporary
    Kazakhstan and Mongolia”
  • Caspar ten Dam: “The Limitations of Military Psychology: Combat-stress and Violence-values among the Chechens and Albanians”
  • Garry W. Trompf: “The Ararat Factor: Moral Basics in Western Political Theory from Isaac Newton to John Stuart Mill”
  • Eberhard Werner: “Communication and the Oral-Aural Traditions of an East-Anatolian Ethnicity: What us Stories tell!”
Categories
Journal

The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi as World Literature

The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi as World Literature

Iranian Studies, volume 48, Number 3, May 2015. Special issue: “The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi as World Literature”

The special issue of the Journal of Iranian Studies, guest-edited by Franklin Lewis is dedicated to studies on Shahname within a  “world literature”  framework.

Iranian Studies is a peer reviewed journal of history, literature, culture and society, covering everywhere with a Persian or Iranian legacy, especially Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Caucasus and northern India.

Continue reading “The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi as World Literature”
Categories
Journal

Iran Nameh: Volume 30, Number 2 (Summer 2015)

Irannameh-30-2Iran Nameh is a quarterly journal of Iranian Studies. A special issue, volume 30, Number 2 (Summer 2015), is  dedicated to Ehsan Yarshater
for his lifetime service to Iranian Studies.

Continue reading “Iran Nameh: Volume 30, Number 2 (Summer 2015)”
Categories
Articles

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.

 

Categories
Journal

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. 

Continue reading “Iranica Antiqua, Volume 50”
Categories
Events

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

Categories
Books

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.