Erst jenseits der Kastanien ist die Welt.
Paul Celan
Whose is Zoroastrianism?
As scholars studying Zoroastrianism, we must ask this question more often: What is the subject of our academic gaze, and whose is the subject of our study? We must ask, not to confront, but to challenge ourselves and our enquiries. We must ask and debate, lest our tools become blunt and rusty. Brought up in…
Navigating Zoroastrian Communal Identity in the Early Islamic Era
On Friday, 28 November, I will be speaking about the Epistles of Manuščihr (881 CE) and their early Islamic context at the Ancient India and Iran Trust. Navigating Zoroastrian Communal Identity in the Early Islamic Era Friday 28 November, 5:30pmRefreshments from 5pmAll welcome The Abbāsid Caliphate came to power around 750 CE. In 881 CE,…
Endurance of thought
At the beginning of 2025, I was working on an article on the Middle Persian term frahang (‘education, culture’), examining it as a Sasanian concept. One of the objectives of the article was to investigate frahang in the light of Greek paideia. There are quite a number of Greek sources that are relevant, but I…