Kellens, Jean. 2014. Sur l’origine des Amǝṣ̌as Spǝṇtas. Studia Iranica 43(2). 163-175.
The group of the seven Aməšas Spəṇtas of the Young Avesta is not yet constituted in Old Avesta, but its members are joined together once in each polyhâtic Gāthā as a special phase of the liturgical process by the intervention of certain mediatory entities.
Shavarebi, Ehsan. 2014. Some remarks on a newly-discovered coin type of Shāpūr I. Studia Iranica 43(2). 281–290.
In this paper a unique gold coin of Shāpūr I, first published by Michael Alram, is reexamined from some iconographic details as well as from an epigraphic point of view, comparing the legend of the coin’s obverse with the Sasanian royal inscriptions.
Agostini, Domenico, Eva Kiesele & Shai Secunda. 2014. Ohrmazd’s better judgement (meh-dādestānīh). A Middle Persian legal and theological discourse. Studia Iranica 43(2). 177–202.
This article presents a transcription, translation, commentary, and discussion of a ritual and theological passage taken from the long-neglected Middle Persian work, the Zand ī fragard ī Jud-dēw-dād. The selection is notable for the way it mixes theological and ritual forms of discourse while considering situations in which impure or Evil things, like corpses, wolves, and sins, naturally come into contact with pure and Good elements, like water, fire, and good deeds. Along with explaining this rich text and its various textual parallels, the article considers the potential research value of the Zand ī fragard ī Jud-dēw-dād for Iranists and scholars of late antique religious literature.
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 pleasure. Below is the official announcement of the preview:
(more…)Etienne de la Vaissière has shared another map on his academia.edu page. This time it is of the Tarim basin in the 10th century. He writes about this map:
Map drawn for a review published in Journal Asiatique, 291 1-2, 2003, p. 295-300 of Bregel, Yuri, An Historical Atlas of Central Asia, (Handbuch der Orientalistik, VIII : Central Asia, 9), Leiden : Brill, 2003, 109 p. Please feel free to modify and adapt it to your needs: the layers can be modified in Illustrator. Although I have drawn it I claim no copyright, but would welcome that you mention the source. Actually, the best map of this region and this period has been published in J. Hamilton, Manuscrits Ouïghours du IXe-Xe de Touen-Houang, Louvain, 1986.
The long awaited Wiley-Blackwell companion to Zoroastrianism, edited by M. Stausberg and Y. Vevaina, is finally out. I have not seen the volume, but those who have, praise it highly, expecting it to have an impact on the ailing field of Iranian and Zoroastrian Studies!!!
Stausberg, Michael & Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina (eds.). 2015. The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism. John Wiley & Sons.
Juan Jose, Ferrer-Losilla. 2014. Final -y in Non-Manichaean Parthian and the Proto-Parthian ‘rhytmic law’ (Cahiers de Studia Iranica 52). Peeters Publishers.
This work traces the uses of the co-called “final -y” in Inscriptional Parthian, and provides the distributional rules that govern its presence or absence in certain words. Following the introduction, the bulk of this study consists of three main headings involving, firstly, the presentation of the Aramaeographic forms and the words outside the nominal inflexion, secondly, the classification of the nominal forms in connection with the final -y and, finally, a feasible history of the Parthian nominal inflection.
I haven’t seen the ToC of this book, but know that Matthew Canepa has a chapter here, entitled Dynastic sanctuaries and the transformation of Iranian kingship between Alexander and Islam, focusing on the ‘Middle Iranian’ period. It is an excellent article and will hopefully be available soon.
Babaie, Sussan & Talinn Grigor (eds.). 2015. Persian kingship and architecture: Strategies of power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B.Tauris.
(more…)Etienne de la Vaissière has kindly shared this map of the Zerafshan valley in the 7th century on academia.edu. He states:
Map drawn for my Histoire des marchands sogdiens, Paris: Collège de France, 2002, map 5. Please feel free to modify and adapt it to your needs: the layers can be modified in Illustrator. Although I have drawn it I claim no copyright, but would welcome that you mention the source.
Gregoratti, Leonardo. 2015. Palmyra: trade families, city and territory through the epigraphic sources. In Giorgio Affanni, Cristina Baccarin, Laura Cordera, Angelo Di Michele & Katia Gavagnin (eds.), Broadening Horizons 4, Conference of young researchers working in the Ancient Near East, Egypt and Central Asia, University of Torino, October 2011 (British Archaeological Reports International Series 2698), 55–59 . Oxford: Archaeopress.
12 March 2015 09:00–13 March 2015 18:00, Workshop Room: FNO 02/ 40-46
Contact: Kianoosh Rezania
For more information, see the workshop schedule
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Lecture by François de Blois, University College London, at the Ancient India and Iran Trust, Cambridge, Friday 06March, 5.30pm.
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Haw, Stephen. 2014. The Persian language in Yuan-Dynasty China: A reappraisal. East Asian History 39. 5–32.
It has often been claimed that Persian was an important lingua franca in the Yuan empire. A recent article by Professor David Morgan has discussed this premise at some length, setting out what seems to be impressive evidence in its favour.[1] For some time, however, I have entertained doubts about the validity of some of this evidence. Although I have no doubt that there were a significant number of Persian speakers in the Yuan empire, of whom a number may have held important official positions, I believe that the Persian language was never a genuine lingua franca in China and Mongolia.
Hutter, Manfred. 2015. Iranische Personennamen in der Hebräischen Bibel (Iranisches Personennamenbuch Bd. 7 / Faszikel 2, Iranische Onomastik 14, Sitzungsberichte der Philosophisch-historischen Klasse 860). Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Der Band verbucht insgesamt 54 Namen der Hebräischen Bibel (einschließlich der Abschnitte in Aramäisch), für die eine iranische Deutung sicher oder plausibel ist; ferner werden 17 Namen kritisch diskutiert, für die in der Forschung unterschiedliche iranische Herleitungen vorgeschlagen wurden, die jedoch abzulehnen sind. Mit dem Band liegt somit ein verlässliches Referenzwerk vor, durch das die Einträge dieser Namen in Ferdinand Justis „Iranischem Namenbuch“ (1895) und die Analyse von Isidor Scheftelowitz („Arisches im Alten Testament I“, Königsberg 1901), auf die in Studien zur Bibel im letzten Jahrhundert regelmäßig verwiesen wurde, überholt sind. Für alle 71 Namen werden – soweit eine Entsprechung vorliegt – für spätere Studien die Namensform der Septuaginta sowie die Belege nachgewiesen. Nach in der Regel kurzen Angaben zur Prosopographie liegt der Schwerpunkt des Textes in der Diskussion der etymologischen Deutungsmöglichkeit(en), wobei auch Herleitungen der Namen aus semitischem Sprachgut evaluiert werden. Ausführliche Register erschließen das onomastische Vergleichsmaterial. Neben dem Ertrag für die Iranistik ist der Band von besonderem Interesse für die Bibelwissenschaften.
Gregoratti, Leonardo. 2015. In the land West of the Euphrates: The Parthians in the Roman Empire. In Pietro Maria Militello & Hakan Öniz (eds.), Proceedings of the 15th symposium on Mediterranean archaeology, held at the University of Catania 3–5 March 2011, vol. II (British Archaeological Reports International Series 2695), 731–735. Oxford: Archaeopress.