Sasanian Conference Book Display Tables
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Dēnkard III Language Variation and the Defence of Socio-Religious Identity in the Context of Early-Islamic Iran
Open Linguistics 2017; 3: 396–418 Research Article Gianfilippo Terribili* Dēnkard III Language Variation and the Defence of Socio-Religious Identity in the Context of Early-Islamic Iran https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2017-0020 Received January 25, 2017; accepted August 10, 2017 Abstract: The aim of the present paper is to illustrate as a case study, the linguistic and stylistic peculiarities characterizing the third book of the Dēnkard, one of the most authoritative texts in Zoroastrian Pahlavi literature (9th-10 th CE). The analysis will consider these features as part of a coherent system, styled to serve the dialectic strategies pursued by the Zoroastrian high priests in response to the pressures their own community was facing in the early Islamic period. In order to provide a more comprehensive overview on DkIII language distinctiveness, the research will underline the outward/inward dynamics, addressing both the relation of this theological dialectic with the surrounding socio-cultural environment and the leading- role claims of a group within a politically subordinated community. Keywords: Middle Persian, Pahlavi Literature, Iranian Philology 1 Introduction In tune with the present volume, seeking to integrate linguistic data concerning a specific text within the socio-cultural dynamics of the period in which a specific textual production flourished, may yield extremely interesting elements for scholars aiming to survey the development of broader acculturation processes. Within Iranian history, the early Islamic period offers a very rich field of investigation for sociolinguistic studies; the abundance of sources in our possession is in fact due to the activity of the multifaceted constituents of that society, while the presence of various and interacting agents offers a remarkable opportunity to adopt multiple point of views. -
The Last Empire of Iran by Michael R.J
The Last Empire of Iran By Michael R.J. Bonner In 330 BCE, Alexander the Great destroyed the Persian imperial capital at Persepolis. This was the end of the world’s first great international empire. The ancient imperial traditions of the Near East had culminated in the rule of the Persian king Cyrus the Great. He and his successors united nearly all the civilised people of western Eurasia into a single state stretching, at its height, from Egypt to India. This state perished in the flames of Persepolis, but the dream of world empire never died. The Macedonian conquerors were gradually overthrown and replaced by a loose assemblage of Iranian kingdoms. The so-called Parthian Empire was a decentralised and disorderly state, but it bound together much of the sedentary Near East for about 500 years. When this empire fell in its turn, Iran got a new leader and new empire with a vengeance. The third and last pre-Islamic Iranian empire was ruled by the Sasanian dynasty from the 220s to 651 CE. Map of the Sasanian Empire. Silver coin of Ardashir I, struck at the Hamadan mint. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Silver_coin_of_Ardashir_I,_struck_at_the_Hamadan _mint.jpg) The Last Empire of Iran. This period was arguably the heyday of ancient Iran – a time when Iranian military power nearly conquered the eastern Roman Empire, and when Persian culture reached its apogee before the coming of Islam. The founder of the Sasamian dynasty was Ardashir I who claimed descent from a mysterious ancestor called Sasan. Ardashir was the governor of Fars, a province in southern Iran, in the twilight days of the Parthian Empire. -
Classical Persian Literature Bahman Solati (Ph.D), 2015 University of California, Berkeley [email protected]
Classical Persian Literature Bahman Solati (Ph.D), 2015 University of California, Berkeley [email protected] Introduction Studying the roots of a particular literary history enables us to better understand the allusions the literature transmits and why we appreciate them. It also allows us to foresee how the literature may progress.1 I will try to keep this attitude in the reader’s mind in offering this brief summary of medieval Persian literature, a formidable task considering the variety and wealth of the texts and documentation on the subject.2 In this study we will pay special attention to the development of the Persian literature over the last millennia, focusing in particular on the initial development and background of various literary genres in Persian. Although the concept of literary genres is rather subjective and unstable,3 reviewing them is nonetheless a useful approach for a synopsis, facilitating greater understanding, deeper argumentation, and further speculation than would a simple listing of dates, titles, and basic biographical facts of the giants of Persian literature. Also key to literary examination is diachronicity, or the outlining of literary development through successive generations and periods. Thriving Persian literature, undoubtedly shaped by historic events, lends itself to this approach: one can observe vast differences between the Persian literature of the tenth century and that of the eleventh or the twelfth, and so on.4 The fourteenth century stands as a bridge between the previous and the later periods, the Mongol and Timurid, followed by the Ṣafavids in Persia and the Mughals in India. Given the importance of local courts and their support of poets and writers, it is quite understandable that literature would be significantly influenced by schools of thought in different provinces of the Persian world.5 In this essay, I use the word literature to refer to the written word adeptly and artistically created. -
The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Philosophy
Book Review The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Philosophy. Edited by Khaled El-Rouayheb and Sabine Schmidtke. Oxford Handbooks (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 720 pp. ISBN 978-0-19991-738-9. Price: $175 (cloth). Coleman Connelly Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University ([email protected]) he modern academic study of and wrote in Arabic, New Persian, Ottoman philosophy in the Islamic world Turkish, and other languages were in has, since its nineteenth-century dialogue with a tradition inaugurated in Tinception, privileged works written in this formative century. Arabic from the ninth to the twelfth Yet the focus on the ninth through centuries. To some extent, this focus twelfth centuries has rested on several far makes intellectual-historical sense. For less defensible assumptions as well. First, one thing, the period hinges on the European and Middle Eastern scholars floruit of an inarguably central figure, alike have long designated the first two the philosopher and scientist Avicenna centuries of the Abbasid caliphate as a (d. 428/1037). For another, if origins are “Golden Age” or a “classical period” of important, the ninth century certainly “Islamic civilization.”1 Scholarship has deserves scholars’ attention. Philosophy unduly privileged philosophy in this (falsafa) performed in Arabic by self- period and in its immediate aftermath just identified philosophers living in Islamic as it has privileged the period’s theology, lands begins only in the ninth century, science, belles-lettres, historiography, and a movement in part conditioned by and other fields of literary production. Second, in part conditioning the translation of scholars writing in European languages Aristotle and other ancient Greek authors long labored under the nineteenth- into Arabic, sometimes via Syriac Aramaic century theory that the twelfth-century or, less commonly, Middle Persian. -
Encyclopaedia Iranica
KINGS, WHORES AND CHILDREN www.mehripublication.com www.mehripublication.com www.mehripublication.com www.mehripublication.com TOURAJ DARYAEE KINGS, WHORES AND CHILDREN Passing Notes On Ancient Iran And The World That We Live In www.mehripublication.com www.mehripublication.com MEHRI PUBLICATION Research * 1 Kings, Whores And Children Passing Notes On Ancient Iran And The World That We Live In By: Touraj Daryaee British Library Cataloguing Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library | ISBN: 978-1-64255-267-6 | |Second Edition. 224.pages | |Printed in the United Kingdom, 2018 | | Book Design: Christian Rezaie | | Cover Design: Parsua Bashi | Copyright © Touraj Daryaee, 2018 © 2018 by Mehri Publication Ltd. \ London. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photograpying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior writen permission of Mehri Publication. www.mehripublication.com [email protected] www.mehripublication.com CONTENTS Introduction 9 1 On the Earliest Reference to Stoning in 13 Iran 2 Šābuhr I’s New Gold Coin Depicting the 17 Roman Emperor 3 Dura-Europos, Jews, Middle Persian 21 Graffiti and the Sasanians 4 How to Banquet in Late Ancient Iran 25 5 The Caspian World: Borj-e Lājīm and a 43 Post-Sasanian Tomb Tower with Pahlavi and Arabic Inscriptions 6 Cyrus & Mithra: On the Religion of 47 Teispids 7 Dancing in Sasanian -
From Small States to Universalism in the Pre-Islamic Near East
REVOLUTIONIZING REVOLUTIONIZING Mark Altaweel and Andrea Squitieri and Andrea Mark Altaweel From Small States to Universalism in the Pre-Islamic Near East This book investigates the long-term continuity of large-scale states and empires, and its effect on the Near East’s social fabric, including the fundamental changes that occurred to major social institutions. Its geographical coverage spans, from east to west, modern- day Libya and Egypt to Central Asia, and from north to south, Anatolia to southern Arabia, incorporating modern-day Oman and Yemen. Its temporal coverage spans from the late eighth century BCE to the seventh century CE during the rise of Islam and collapse of the Sasanian Empire. The authors argue that the persistence of large states and empires starting in the eighth/ seventh centuries BCE, which continued for many centuries, led to new socio-political structures and institutions emerging in the Near East. The primary processes that enabled this emergence were large-scale and long-distance movements, or population migrations. These patterns of social developments are analysed under different aspects: settlement patterns, urban structure, material culture, trade, governance, language spread and religion, all pointing at population movement as the main catalyst for social change. This book’s argument Mark Altaweel is framed within a larger theoretical framework termed as ‘universalism’, a theory that explains WORLD A many of the social transformations that happened to societies in the Near East, starting from Andrea Squitieri the Neo-Assyrian period and continuing for centuries. Among other infl uences, the effects of these transformations are today manifested in modern languages, concepts of government, universal religions and monetized and globalized economies. -
The Persian-Toledan Astronomical Connection and the European Renaissance
Academia Europaea 19th Annual Conference in cooperation with: Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales, Ministerio de Cultura (Spain) “The Dialogue of Three Cultures and our European Heritage” (Toledo Crucible of the Culture and the Dawn of the Renaissance) 2 - 5 September 2007, Toledo, Spain Chair, Organizing Committee: Prof. Manuel G. Velarde The Persian-Toledan Astronomical Connection and the European Renaissance M. Heydari-Malayeri Paris Observatory Summary This paper aims at presenting a brief overview of astronomical exchanges between the Eastern and Western parts of the Islamic world from the 8th to 14th century. These cultural interactions were in fact vaster involving Persian, Indian, Greek, and Chinese traditions. I will particularly focus on some interesting relations between the Persian astronomical heritage and the Andalusian (Spanish) achievements in that period. After a brief introduction dealing mainly with a couple of terminological remarks, I will present a glimpse of the historical context in which Muslim science developed. In Section 3, the origins of Muslim astronomy will be briefly examined. Section 4 will be concerned with Khwârizmi, the Persian astronomer/mathematician who wrote the first major astronomical work in the Muslim world. His influence on later Andalusian astronomy will be looked into in Section 5. Andalusian astronomy flourished in the 11th century, as will be studied in Section 6. Among its major achievements were the Toledan Tables and the Alfonsine Tables, which will be presented in Section 7. The Tables had a major position in European astronomy until the advent of Copernicus in the 16th century. Since Ptolemy’s models were not satisfactory, Muslim astronomers tried to improve them, as we will see in Section 8. -
Astrology and Religion in the Zoroastrian Pahlavi Texts*
Astrology anD Religion in the Zoroastrian Pahlavi TeXts* ENRICO G. RAFFAELLI Abstract This article overviews the references to astrology found in the Zoroastrian religious texts in Middle Persian (or Pahlavi) dating from the Sasanian period to the 10th century. Through their analysis, it highlights how astrology was integrated in the Zoro- astrian doctrinal corpus from the Sasanian times to the early Islamic period. The basic view underlying the astrological refer- ences in the Pahlavi texts, is that the good astral entities (which include the zodiacal constellations, the sun, and the moon), fight against the evil astral entities (which include planets and lunar nodes). The main astrological doctrines documented in these texts are that of the horoscope of birth of the world and of Gayōmard (the first man), the astrological explanation of the death of Gayōmard at age 30, the millenary chronocratoria, that is, the rule over time, of zodiacal constellations and of Saturn, and the melothesia, that is, the attribution of the parts of the body, to celestial entities. The article argues that these doctrines express the Zoroastrian view that the malefic influence of the evil astral bodies contributes to the pollution characterizing the present state of existence of the world. The article also touches upon astrological doctrines documented in Zoroastrian New Persian texts. Keywords: Astrology – Sasanian Zoroastrianism – Early Islamic Zoroastrianism –– Avesta – Pahlavi literature – Zand litera- ture – Magi– Zurvanism – Horoscope of the world – Chronocratoria – Melothesia – New Persian Literature INTRODUCTION These two groups of texts are the only direct sources of information about the interaction between astrology and This article focuses on the way in which astrology Zoroastrian theology in the Sasanian period, and in the was integrated into the corpus of the Zoroastrian doc- first centuries following it3. -
Firdawsi: a Scholium
Firdawsi: A Scholium by Burzine Waghmar and Sunil Sharma Hakim Abu’l-Qasim Mansur b. al-Hasan al-Firdawsi al-Tusi (ca. 940/41-ca. 1020/25), a middle- ranking aristocrat recognised by his nom de plume, Firdawsi (‘paradisiacal’), was a central figure in the history of classical Persian literature.1 His monumental epic poem, Shahnama (‘Book of Kings’), conjures Homeric as well as Miltonic associations to the Iranian mind thus ensuring him a niche in the universal literary canon.2 This mytho-poetic masterpiece, dealing with Persian legendary and recorded history from the first man to the Arab conquest in AD 652, has been continuously read, recited, remembered, and re-enacted across the Iranian-speaking oecumene straddling West, Central and South Asia for over a millennium.3 Starting from the nineteenth century, a virtual school of Shahnama studies has flourished as successive generations of scholars interpreted and contextualised the text in published abridgements, translations and new editions. Animated productions of Rustam’s adventures, as those of Hercules, are keenly enjoyed by adults and children in contemporary Iran and the diaspora.4 Although Firdawsi dedicated his work to Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (r. 998-1030), his life was spent in the town of Tus, Khurasan, away from the courts of princes and paladins. For almost a generation, about thirty years, he quietly worked on his magnum opus and interspersed it with brief vignettes of his personal life for the reader. As Shahpur Shahbazi has noted: Much has been written on Ferdowsī and his work, but even learned studies have given inharmonious results for the simple reasons that our sources are late, uncritical and contradictory, and that … [t]he best authority is the Šāhnāma itself as the poet frequently breaks his narrative to insert a few lines about his age, work and thoughts.5 Firdawsi belonged to the traditional squirearchy or dihqan class emotively tied to its land and ancient Persian culture. -
ASPS 2015 Program
THE SEVENTH BIENNIAL CONVENTION OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF PERSIANATE SOCIETIES (ASPS) ASPS/Istanbul 2015 September 8-11, 2015 Istanbul, Turkey VENUE MIMAR SINAN FINE ARTS UNIVERSITY, FINDIKLI CAMPUS Address: Meclis-i Mebusan Caddesi No: 24 Fındıklı 34427, Beyoğlu, İstanbul Website: http://www.msgsu.edu.tr/tr-TR/findikli/606/Page.aspx Telephone: 0212 252 16 00 THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF PERSIANATE SOCIETIES PRESIDENT Saïd Amir Arjomand State University of New York, Stony Brook VICE PRESIDENT Jo-Ann Gross The College of New Jersey ACTING TREASURER Pooriya Alimoradi University of Toronto PAST-PRESIDENTS Parvaneh Pourshariati Institute for the Study of Ancient World (ISAW/NYU and CUNY) Rudi Matthee University of Delaware FOUNDER & PAST-PRESIDENT Saïd Amir Arjomand State University of New York Stony Brook BOARD OF DIRECTORS Pooriya Alimoradi University of Toronto Sussan Babaie The Courtauld Institute of Art Kathryn Babayan University of Michigan 2 Houchang Chehabi Boston University Ghazzal Dabiri University of Ghent Rudi Matthee University of Delaware Jawid Mojaddedi Rutgers University Judith Pfeiffer University of Oxford 3 REGIONAL OFFICE DIRECTORS ARMENIA Garnik Asatrian Caucasian Center for Iranian Studies, Yerevan BALKANS Ahmed Zildžić, The Oriental Institute, Sarajevo COUNCIL FOR EURASIA Florian Schwarz Austrian Academy of Sciences GEORGIA George Sanikidze Institute of Oriental Studies, Tbilisi INDIA Isthtiyaq Ahmad Zilli Aligarh Muslim University IRAN Kourosh Kamali Fars Encyclopedia, Shiraz, Iran PAKISTAN Muhammad Saleem -
On the Roman Frontier1
Rome and the Worlds Beyond Its Frontiers Impact of Empire Roman Empire, c. 200 B.C.–A.D. 476 Edited by Olivier Hekster (Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands) Editorial Board Lukas de Blois Angelos Chaniotis Ségolène Demougin Olivier Hekster Gerda de Kleijn Luuk de Ligt Elio Lo Cascio Michael Peachin John Rich Christian Witschel VOLUME 21 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/imem Rome and the Worlds Beyond Its Frontiers Edited by Daniëlle Slootjes and Michael Peachin LEIDEN | BOSTON This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC 4.0 License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016036673 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1572-0500 isbn 978-90-04-32561-6 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-32675-0 (e-book) Copyright 2016 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. -
A Modern Archaeology of the Sasanian Period: Former Limitations and New Perspectives
Newsletter di Archeologia CISA, Volume 7, 2016, pp. 35-88 A MODERN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE SASANIAN PERIOD: FORMER LIMITATIONS AND NEW PERSPECTIVES Bruno Genito, Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale” Introduction* It is never easy to handle theoretical and methodological issues arising from a particular scientific topic in a kind of review of studies, which is, in its way, what is being presented here. Studies of the archaeology of the Sasanian period have been the subject of numerous acute and critical comments by distinguished scholars in the past, including Huff (1986, 302-308) and more recently as well (1998-2011). Those issues which have been handled, too, have clearly always somewhat suffered from a complex of inferiority to other periods of the history of ancient Iran which are considered by far, the most formative and important: the Achaemenid and the Islamic eras. And this in spite of the fact that the majority of scholars have looked upon the period in question as a real golden age of Persian culture and art, and that it was quite often mentioned in later Islamic sources (including the Shah-nameh by Firdousi), as in many ways an apogee of the fabulous, formidable and legendary Persian Empires. For many scholars the archaeology of the Sasanian period and also that of the early Islamic period, as Whitcomb rightly has pointed out (2010, 5), has always been considered a part of history, and especially of the history of art. This classification, set in stone, has had a long and respectable tradition so far, but at last it has begun to be seen from a different perspective by a growing number of scholars.