Arash Zeini

Category: Blog

  • »Zur Kritik der Gewalt«

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    Die Aufgabe einer Kritik der Gewalt läßt sich als die Darstellung ihres Verhältnisses zu Recht und Gerechtigkeit umschreiben. Walter Benjamin

  • »Die Welt von Gestern«

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    Yesterday, I chanced upon the English translation of Stefan Zweig’s memoirs, The World of Yesterday. Looking through the book, I found Shakespeare’s brilliant words in the epigraph: »Let’s withdraw, and meet the time as it seeks us.« Anyone familiar with Stefan Zweig’s decision to end his life together with his wife will read »let’s withdraw«…

  • A history of decline?

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    Arash Zeini
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    On 12 December 2023, The Guardian reported a set of questions directed at Keir Starmer as part of its coverage of the Rwanda Bill: ‘MPs back Rwanda bill’. As I read through these questions, I couldn’t help but imagine them as part of a Socratic dialogue. Imagine the conversation was not between a modern-day politician…

  • Rise of the Sasanian Empire

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    Arash Zeini
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    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…

  • A Lost Parsi Fire Temple

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    Arash Zeini
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    A short report with some photos in India Times on The Lost Parsi Fire Temple Of Kolkata’s Ezra Street. The Parsi community’s connection with Kolkata dates back to more than 240 years. Relying on the written records, in 1767, Dadabhai Behramji became the first Parsi who settled in Kolkata. He was friends with John Cartier,…

  • Interreligious Dialogue in Medieval Bamiyan

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    Arash Zeini
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    This blog first appeared on the website of the Invisible East Programme. Historical documents, as opposed to narrative and religious primary source material, are an invaluable resource for the historical study of daily life and ordinary people. Micro-historical research, thus moves away from panoptic imperial historiography and often focuses on the history of smaller states,…

  • Bahari Research Fellow

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    Arash Zeini
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    As of today, I continue my work at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford, as a senior ‘Bahari Research Fellow’. I resume work on my usual research topics: Zoroastrianism in late antiquity and epistolary traditions within the Iranian world. I’m grateful to Yuhan Vevaina for the friendship, opportunity & the…

  • Mastodon

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    Arash Zeini
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    I am about to finally close my Twitter account. Maybe I use this moment to be off social media entirely, but if not, I will continue over at Mastodon.

  • Were Sogdians Iranian?

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    Arash Zeini
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    This question is being discussed on Twitter, and I was tagged to respond. I honestly don’t know how to do it in a meaningful way on Twitter, as embedded responses are often lost and not seen. I stay away from sub-tweets and believe this topic is too hot to be touched on Twitter anyway :)…

  • Not on Twitter

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    Arash Zeini
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    I have been thinking about leaving Twitter for a while now. Not for one, but for many reasons which are not important. I joined Twitter in 2013 and a couple of years later deleted my Facebook account. I have never regretted that decision and feel the time has come to make a soft exit on…

  • Zoroastrian Scholasticism

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    Arash Zeini
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    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…

  • Voice, privilege and writing

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    Arash Zeini
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    The debate about privilege and representing others in writing fascinates me. Who gets to be whose voice? How do you represent others and what role do publishers play in these debates? Does art need to node to the vagaries of social media? Can art provoke? If so, what are the limits, who defines them and…

  • TEI Template

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    Arash Zeini
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    <news>A first and hopefully usable draft of my #TEI template is finally ready! I have created this template for our @invisible_east corpus that will host a range of documents in Middle Persian, Bactrian, Sogdian, Khotanese, Arabic and New Persian.</news> اولین پیش‌نویس الگو TEI که برای اسناد فارسی میانه، بلخی، سغدی، ختنی، فارس و عربی نوشتم،…

  • The Dead Don’t Die

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    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…

  • New review

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    Arash Zeini
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    The Abstracta Iranica website has published a new review of my book. This one is by Benedikt Peschl:Peschl, Benedikt. 2021. Arash Zeini. Zoroastrian scholasticism in Late Antiquity. The Pahlavi version of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti. Abstracta Iranica 42-43 (5).The paperback will be out in May 2022. Part II contains the newly established text of the Pahlavi…