Author: Arash Zeini

  • Building a new vision of the past in the Sasanian Empire

    Canepa, Matthew. 2013. Building a new vision of the past in the Sasanian Empire: The sanctuaries of Kayānsīh and the great fires of Iran. Journal of Persianate Studies 6. 64–90. This article analyzes how Zoroastrian holy sites as celebrated in the Avesta or elaborated in later, related traditions, emerged as important architectural and ritual centers…

  • The ethics and praxis of Mehr and Mithras

    Pourshariati, Parvaneh. 2013. The ethics and praxis of Mehr and Mithras and the social institution of the ʿayyārs in the epic romance of Samak-e ʿayyār*. Journal of Persianate Studies 6. 15–38. Giving a very brief and introductory summary of the many avatars of the Iranian god, Mithra, throughout Eurasia, as well as the primordial functions…

  • Yaghnobi Studies

    A collection of papers resulting from the Italian ‘expeditions’ to the Yaghnob Valley: Panaino, Antonio, Andrea Gariboldi & Paolo Ognibene (eds.). 2013. Papers from the Italian missions in Tajikistan (Yaghnobi Studies I). Mimesis.

  • To convert a Persian

    Kiperwasser, Reuven. 2014. To convert a Persian and to teach him the holy scriptures: A Zoroastrian proselyte in Rabbinic and Syriac Christian narratives. In Geoffrey Herman (ed.), Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians: Religious dynamics in a Sasanian context, 91–127. Gorgias Press. Read the article here.

  • A good indological problem

    Not strictly related to Iranian Studies, but this article by Dominik Wujastyk contains an insightful discussion of what constitutes a good indological problem: Wujastyk, Dominik. 2014. How to choose a good indological problem. In Joe Pellegrino (ed.), Open pages in South Asian studies, 173–192. California: South Asian Studies Association. Read the article here.

  • Review: The Iranian Talmud

    Hezser, Catherine. 2014. Review of Shai Secunda: The Iranian Talmud. Reading the Bavli in its Sasanian context. Theologische Literaturzeitung 139(7/8). 867–869. Catherine Hezser, SOAS, has reviewed Shai Secunda’s excellent The Iranian Talmud. The last paragraph of the review says it all: This relatively short (the body of text has 146 pages only) but excellent and…

  • A Sasanian taxation list or an early Islamic booty?

    Sárközy, Miklós. 2014. A Sasanian taxation list or an early Islamic booty? A Medieval Persian source and the Sasanian taxation system. In Zoltán Csabai (ed.), Studies in economic and social history of the Ancient Near East in memory of Péter Vargyas, 701–714. Budapest: L’Harmattan.  The present paper aims at throwing light on a less known…

  • Review: Remembering and forgetting the Persian past

    Elizabeth Urban has reviewed Sarah Bowen Savant’s very important The New Muslims of Post-Conquest Iran: Tradition, Memory, and Conversion for Marginalia: However, The New Muslims of Post-Conquest Iran will prove fascinating to anyone interested in identity narratives and how authors shape the past in the service of the present. Savant builds a bridge between the…

  • Digital Critical Editions

    After a hiatus: Apollon, Daniel, Claire Belisle & Philippe Regnier (eds.). 2014. Digital Critical Editions. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. This edited volume explores intersections of traditional and digital textual scholarship. For more information, see here.

  • Eighth European Conference of Iranian Studies

    The first call for the eighth European Conference of Iranian Studies (ECIS8), St. Petersburg, 15–19.09.2015: The President and the Board of the Societas Iranologica Europaea have the pleasure to invite you to the 8th Conference of Iranian Studies to be held in Saint Petersburg, at the State Hermitage Museum and Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, from…

  • Graffito from Dura-Europos

    Wójcikowski, Robert S. 2013. The graffito from Dura-Europos: Hybrid armor in Parthian-Sasanian Iran. Anabasis 4. 233–248. Read the article here. Abstract: The graffito from Dura-Europos depicting a heavily armored cavalryman is one of the most important sources used to reconstruct the armament of Iranian cavalry units seen in the middle of the third century A.D.…

  • Sixth International Conference on Iranian Linguistics

    Abstracts are invited for the Sixth International Conference on Iranian Linguistics (ICIL6), to be held in Tbilisi / Georgia in June 2015. We expressly solicit contributions from the full range of Iranian linguistics, including formal theoretical perspectives, computational linguistics, neurolinguistics, typological and functional perspectives, as well as diachronic and areal perspectives.

  • Kingship in Ancient Iran

    I want to express my gratitude to all who came to St Andrews for the workshop. Your presence, the excellent contributions and the stimulating discussions all made the workshop a wonderful success. Thank you.As we have seen, St Andrews is the right place for this type of workshop, and the Institute of Iranian Studies has…

  • Kingship in Ancient Iran

    This interdisciplinary workshop, organised by the Institute of Iranian Studies (University of St Andrews), seeks to investigate and re-examine intersections between religious ideology and sovereignty in pre-Islamic Iran. Date: June 12–13, 2014 Convener: Arash Zeini Sponsors: BIPS, IIS, SoH and SAIMS For more information, see the workshop’s website.

  • Raumkonzeptionen in antiken Religionen

    Rezania, Kianoosh (ed.). 2014. Raumkonzeptionen in antiken Religionen. Beiträge des internationalen Symposiums in Göttingen, 28. und 29. Juni 2012 (Philippika 69). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. More information and an abstract are here.