Auch Gedanken fallen manchmal unreif vom Baum.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
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 […]
Mann, Fischer, KI!
Wie ich heute zufällig entdeckt habe, hat Fischer Taschenbuch einige Bücher von Thomas Mann neu aufgelegt. Meines Wissens sind es derzeit sieben an der Zahl. Den Schrifttyp finde ich sehr schön, zum Umschlag habe ich keine Meinung. Die Buchhändlerin hingegen fand die Gestaltung des Umschlags nicht sehr gelungen. Geschmackssache. Der Buchrücken wiederum sieht sehr gut […]
Professionals of Writing in Late Antiquity
I had the pleasure of giving the closing remarks at the workshop Professionals of Writing in Late Antiquity, convened by Olivia Ramble, Yuhan S-D Vevaina, and Alessia Zubani on 13 June 2025 in Oxford. By way of summary, I share my remarks here. They have been edited for clarity, though, admittedly, they lack the charm […]
The Scallop
‘The Scallop’ is a sculpture installed on the beach at Aldeburgh, in Suffolk. It is by the local artist Maggi Hambling and dedicated to Benjamin Britten. Onto it, are cut the words: ‘I hear those voices that will not be drowned’. When you read the words, you see behind each character the endless sky. Cut […]
“Zoroastrianism, Esotericism and Race”
On 31 May, a workshop took place at SOAS on Zoroastrianism, Esotericism and Race. Convened by Mariano Errichiello (SOAS) and Afshin Marashi (Oklahoma), this closed-door workshop aimed to explore ideas around esotericism in modernity, which remains an understudied topic within Zoroastrianism. Six papers, arranged across three panels, addressed themes spanning the 19th to the 21st […]
Groups in the Abbasid Caliphate
I will be presenting a paper, provisionally entitled Negotiating Zoroastrian Communal Identity in the Early Islamic Era, at the final workshop of the Abbasid Identities research project: Religious, Ethnic and Professional Groups in the Abbasid Caliphate, 750-1000. The ways that ethno-religious minorities relate to majorities is a salient feature of twenty-first century politics. However, the […]