In the first article, I investigate the collocation bun ud bar, known primarily from Zoroastrian legal texts, and show how the Zand’s insertion of it in Pahlavi Yasna 37.1 (Yasna Haptaŋhāiti) ultimately connects to the idea of martyrdom in Zoroastrianism. I briefly touch on the collocation’s theological implications, something I intend to explore further in forthcoming publications.
In the second article, co-written with my friend Shervin Farridnejad, we examine the position of dogs and its possible relationship with issues related to the consumption of meat in Zoroastrian Middle Persian texts.
Farridnejad, Shervin & Arash Zeini. 2024. “Who will protect the cattle”? On dogs and the sin of meat consumption in Zoroastrianism. In Maria Macuch & Arash Zeini (eds.), Deciphering the illegible: Festschrift in honour of Dieter Weber (Iranica 33). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Deciphering the Illegible, a Festschrift in honour of Dieter Weber, has now been published, celebrating his profound and life-long contributions to the study of Middle Persian documents.
On Monday, 21 October 2024, Maria and I drove to Dieter’s house to present him with the Festschrift in anticipation of his 83rd birthday the next day. Dieter lives with his wife in a rural setting near the town of Göttingen. I decided to drive from the UK to Köln on Sunday, to meet Maria and Claudius on Monday in the village. Maria had already involved Dieter’s wife earlier in 2024. To our surprise, the Festschrift had remained a secret, and Dieter was genuinely delighted to see the volume. I will never forget his “Ach, nein!” when he saw the title of the book. It was an emotional moment to finally gift him the volume after four years. We spent nearly three hours with him, his wife, and daughter, having coffee, lunch, and a birthday cake. It was a pleasant visit, laced with reminiscences, and lovely to see Dieter after such a long time.
When I approached Maria Macuch in early 2020 about a Festschrift for Dieter Weber, I had no way of foreseeing the impending crisis. Maria and I initiated work on this project in March 2020, at a time of global uncertainty and anxiety. Despite the challenges, over the next four years the collaborative efforts of our respected and patient colleagues came together to explore Weber’s research and contributions in new and illuminating ways. Each contribution in the Festschrift provides insights that resonate with Weber’s dedication to philology and the decipherment of the elusive script of the Middle Persian documents, contributing meaningfully to ongoing inquiries in the field. The completion of this work honours Weber’s legacy but also symbolises a shared resilience and commitment to advancing knowledge, even in the face of extraordinary circumstances.
The commemorative publication Deciphering the Illegible is dedicated to Dieter Weber, one of the most important scholars in the field of Iranian Studies, who is best known for his work on deciphering original documents in the extremely ambiguous Pahlavi cursive script, which was long considered ‘illegible’. In addition to an appreciation of his research and a bibliography of his publications, the volume contains twenty-eight contributions by renowned experts, reflecting the broad spectrum of the dedicatee’s academic interests and research work. The articles cover a wide range of topics and offer many new insights and original perspectives on religious, linguistic and historical problems, including several editions of previously unpublished texts.
Summary
With 28 contributions and 524 pages, this volume delves into complex topics at the heart of Weber’s research, including philology, epigraphy, and the intricate analysis of documentary material.
The team at Harrassowitz Verlag demonstrated exceptional professionalism, dedication, and support throughout the publishing process. Our sincere thanks to all involved.
Finally, I owe personal gratitude to Maria Macuch for her tireless and skilful navigation through each stage of this project. Working alongside her was both a privilege and an exhilarating experience.
This forthcoming series published by Brill, entitled ‘Non-Mainstream Religion in the Middle East’, is great news. It’s about time we have more studies on contemporary, lived and living religions.
The peer-reviewed series Non-Mainstream Religion in the Middle East aims to bring out scholarly monographs, handbooks, and edited volumes on historical, social, comparative, textual, and cultural aspects of the study of groups that are often described as “religious minorities,” in and from the Middle East. The term “non-mainstream” is intended to cover both non-orthodox, self-confessed Muslim traditions (e.g. Ismaili groups from Syria to Tajikistan, Syrian Alawites, and Shiʿite groups in Afghanistan; the Rawshaniya movement among Pashtuns); those whose status as Islamic groups is disputed either by themselves or by the outside world (such as the Yaresan or Ahl-e Ḥaqq of Iran and Iraq, and the Alevis from Turkey); and those who live in mainly Islamic societies without belonging to the mainstream by any definition (e.g. Zoroastrians, Yezidis, Druzes, Mandaeans, Jews outside Israel, and Christian minorities). The diaspora communities of the traditions in question, as well as critical editions and translations of their religious texts, are intended to be part of the remit of the Series.
‘Parzor is delighted to announce its long awaited TISS-Parzor Online Academic Programme on Culture & Heritage Studies’. As part of this programme, you can ‘learn, gain credits, explore exciting issues of environment and sociology, craft, art, literature, theatre, cuisine as well as business and philanthropy’.
For admissions and programme details, visit the TISS Website.
Last month, we celebrated the publication of Yuhan’s books at a launch event at Wolfson College (@WolfsonCollege), wonderfully organised and convened by Christian Sahner (@ccsahner). I really enjoyed doing this with Elizabeth Tucker and Christian. It seemed to us that Yuhan enjoyed it, which is perhaps the main point.
I don’t know The Collector, having only recently been alerted to it by Google, but their article entitled Rise of the Sasanian Empire: The Persians (205-310 CE) looks interesting. I have not had a chance to read the article in detail, but it looks generally good and offers photos to illustrate the art and archaeology of the empire.
I am delighted to be giving a lecture as part of the Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series on 11 January 2023. I will talk about the role of the Sasanians and philology in the creation and transmission of the abestāg, which is my preferred term for the collection of the texts we have come to know as the Avesta.
Scholars have often discussed Zoroastrianism as an ancient Iranian religion that reaches back thousands of years into the middle of the second millennium BCE. For a long time, the idea of monolithic continuity has dominated the scholarly discourse in the study of this religion. While Boyce preferred a theological continuity, a view mostly rejected today, others have ardently, but to my mind unconvincingly, argued for ritual continuity. Both camps have at some point associated all pre-Islamic empires, but particularly the Achaemenid and Sasanian eras, with the religious system of Zoroastrianism. After a brief examination of these views, I will lay out some methodological concerns as a challenge to the discipline, before turning my attention to the reception of an antique Iranian heritage in the Sasanian era (224–651 CE). I will argue that the late antique response played a major role in forming the heritage it was claiming as its own.
I am delighted and honoured to be the recipient of the inaugural AIS Book Prize for Ancient Iranian Studies for my book, Zoroastrian Scholasticism in Late Antiquity: The Pahlavi version of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti. The prize was announced at the 13th Biennial Iranian Studies Conference, which took place in Salamanca, Spain. As I have said before, I am grateful to the Edinburgh University Press for their support, Prof. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, the series editor, for giving this book a home early on, and to all publishing staff for putting up with my XeLaTeX shenanigans so patiently. I look forward to my forthcoming projects with the EUP.
با کمال خوشحالی به اطلاع دوستان میرسانم که کتابم، با عنوان “اسکولاستیک زرتشتی در دوره پساباستان”، در سیزدهمین کنفرانس دوسالانهی ایران شناسی در سالامانکای اسپانیا موفق به دریافت اولین «جایزه کتاب AIS برای مطالعات ایران باستان» گردید. از حمایتهای انتشارات دانشگاه ادینبورگ و ویراستار محترم، پروفسور لوید لولین جونز برای پذیریش زودهنگام کتاب و دیگر همکاران انتشارات بهسبب تحمل شیطنتهای XeLaTeX من قدردانی می کنم و مشتاقانه منتظر پروژه های بعدی خود با EUP هستم.
The paperback of my book is here! You can order a copy from the Edinburgh University Press. I am grateful to the series editor, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, for giving this book a home and to the editors at the EUP for guiding me through the publication process.
I list the reviews of my book here, and wrote for the EUP a blog about the content of the book and my approach which you can read here.
I’ve been thinking about writing a blog on Zoroastrianism in popular culture, keeping my eyes open for connections. But these days, as I follow the news, I feel I can constantly quote Jarmusch’s entire ‘The Dead Don’t Die’. Here is one dialogue from a scene when the characters try to make sense of the events and the impending apocalypse:
– It’s strange! – What can I say? The world is kinda strange lately. – Yeah, it sure is. You ask me, this whole thing is gonna end badly.
Part II contains the newly established text of the Pahlavi YH (in transcription) together with an English translation. The text-critical edition (in transliteration) and apparatus are included in an appendix. This edition of the Pahlavi YH must be considered the new reference point for any future work involving the text.
From the review, par. 4
Since the discussions refer to a wide range of related passages in the wider realm of Pahlavi literature, the book will be essential to consult not only for those working on other parts of the Zand, but also those engaged with Pahlavi literature in general.
The New York Times has an article on Parsis’ involvement in building modern India and their dwindling numbers. Access it here.
Parsis have supported many of the country’s institutions and nurtured business and the arts. But their numbers have dwindled at an alarming pace. From the porch of his century-old home, Khurshed Dastoor has a front-row seat to a tragedy that he fears may be too late to reverse: the slow extinction of a people who helped build modern India.
I have a new article in a volume I edited with Adam Benkato for the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. More details on the volume will follow soon, but my article is already available on the Journal’s FirstView:
This article examines the extent of the concluding section (Y 41) of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti in light of the manuscript evidence and the section’s divergent reception in a Middle Persian text known as the “Supplementary Texts to the Šāyest nē Šāyest” (Suppl.ŠnŠ). This investigation will entertain the possibility of an alternative ritual being described in the Suppl.ŠnŠ. Moreover, it argues that the manuscripts transmit the ritual text along with certain variations and repetitions while the descriptions of the extent of each section preserve the necessary boundaries of the text as a textual composition or unit.
