Touraj Daryaee | University of California, Irvine (original) (raw)
Afshar Pub, 2013
This book is a collection of articles dealing with Cyrus the Great
This book is a translation of the Middle Persian work on Chess and Backgammon
Brill’s Companion to War in the Ancient Iranian Empires , 2024
It is rather difficult to outline the development of Iranian fighting forces from the earliest li... more It is rather difficult to outline the development of Iranian fighting forces from the earliest literary and archaeological evidence to the coming of the Muslims on the Iranian plateau. However, we can attempt to contextualise specific periods where developments and changes took place, from the first millennium BCE to the seventh century CE. One can point to several specific phases in the development of the Iranian army in ancient times, with new tactics and new forces. The first phase of what can be termed a distinctive Iranian military force, and its specific technology and weapons, can be identified with the Indo-European Iranians.1 The Sintashta Culture is usually associated with the first signs of Iranian presence on the Russian steppes. What is striking is the importance of two-wheeled chariots, which were most probably used for movement and combat in this Indo-Iranian culture.2 There are large numbers of such chariots which were buried in this region, providing some of the earliest clues on the use of chariots in the third millennium BCE.3 Indo-Iranian poetics also provide us with some of the most complete descriptions of chariots, their parts, and their use in terms of racecourse competition and winning,4 as metaphorically used in the oldest stratum of Iranian poetic tradition in Yasna 30.10,5 where men achieve glory and imperishable fame.6 The chariot also appears metaphorically when the movement of the sun is likened to the ritual chariot race.7 In the Avestan hymn to Mithra (X.76), the chariot (raθa-) and charioteer (raθi-) are well attested, as in the reference to 'good horses and a good chariot-driver' .8 The term for 'warrior' in Indo-Iranian is derived from raθaēštā, which means 'one who stands on the chariot' .
Iranian Studies, 1998
This is a review of articles on the Sasanians in the Encyclopaedia Iranica till 1998
Deciphering the Illegible Festschrift in Honour of Dieter Weber, 2024
This essay discusses the place of the owl in the Zoroastrian tradition and argues that it was con... more This essay discusses the place of the owl in the Zoroastrian tradition and argues that it was considered a beneficent animal.
Navigating the World of History: Robert Rollinger Festschrfit, 2024
This paper discusses the maximalist-minimalist approach to the kingdom of the Medes, and argues t... more This paper discusses the maximalist-minimalist approach to the kingdom of the Medes, and argues that Scythian invasion impacted Median ideology and world-view
Shapur Shahbazi Memorial Volume, 2024
پزوهنده نامه باستان یادنامه دکتر ابوالفضل خطیبی, 2024
This articles discusses the reason why Tahmures is given knowledge of writing in the Iranian trad... more This articles discusses the reason why Tahmures is given knowledge of writing in the Iranian tradition
Religion in den Bergen: Sakrale Orte, Heiligtumer, Performanz, Mythos und Altagsleben, 2023
How did the story of Arash the Archer of the Aryas/Iranians impact Iranian historical tradition? ... more How did the story of Arash the Archer of the Aryas/Iranians impact Iranian historical tradition? Can we read Arash's shot from one mountain to another in other historical documents/inscriptions?
Electrum, 2002
This essay discusses the use of Avestan geographical concepts in royal propaganda in the Achaemen... more This essay discusses the use of Avestan geographical concepts in royal propaganda in the Achaemenid and the Sasanian period
The Cambridge History of Socialism, 2023
Antiquité Tardive 30, 2022
This article reviews the financial affairs of Ardashir I, the founder of the Sasanian dynasty
Sasanian Studies I, 2022
This essay proposes a new connection between the Sasanians and the past dynasties on the Iranian ... more This essay proposes a new connection between the Sasanians and the past dynasties on the Iranian Plateau
The World of Alexander in Persepective, 2022
This essay discusses the importance of Alexander's visit to the tome of Cyrus the Great
The End of Empires, 2022
In this essay, I look at some of the issues that caused the Sasanian Empire to lose its strength ... more In this essay, I look at some of the issues that caused the Sasanian Empire to lose its strength and stability in the face of the invaders from the south. In order to understand the structural weaknesses that appeared at the end of the Sasanian Empire, we should briefly view how such a large kingdom was able to maintain itself for more than four centuries, something that was never to be repeated by any other centralized power in the Near East, until the Ottoman Empire. The Sasanian Empire was known as Ērānšahr (Kingdom of the Iranians).
ELECTRUM, 2022
This essay discusses the importance of Ctesiphon in the historical and literary tradition of Sasa... more This essay discusses the importance of Ctesiphon in the historical and literary tradition of Sasanian and Post-Sasanian Iran. It is proposed that there was a significant buildup of the Ctesiphon's defenses in the third century that it made its conquest by the Roman Empire impossible and its gave it an aura of impregnability. By the last Sasanian period the city was not only inhabited by Iranian speaking people and a capital, but it also became part of Iranian lore and tradition, tied to mythical Iranian culture-heroes and kings. Even with the fall of the Sasanian Empire, in Arabic and Persian poetry the grandeur and memory of Ctesiphon was preserved as part of memory of the great empires of the past.
Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World, 2022
Sasanian-Roman relations
Palmyra and the East , 2022
Historia, 2006
L’expansion de l’empire sassanide est souvent vue comme une renaissance de l’empire achemenide. N... more L’expansion de l’empire sassanide est souvent vue comme une renaissance de l’empire achemenide. Neanmoins, les inscriptions sassanides ne se placent pas dans le lignage achemenides, ce qui a conduit a penser que ceux-ci avaient ete oublies. L’A. revient sur cette position : plusieurs indices montrent que les Sassanides connaissaient le passe achemenide, mais, placant leur legitimite dans une historiographie religieuse avestique, ils ont prefere se situer dans le lignage de la dynastie Kayānide.
Iran, 2016
This essay discusses the contribution of the Iranians to the understanding of their own past and ... more This essay discusses the contribution of the Iranians to the understanding of their own past and how the Qajars attempted to place themselves within the ancient history of their realm. The first Iranian archaeological excavations and study of monuments and history are analysed and it is concluded that the choice of the Arsacid empire as an ancestor of the Qajars was part of their efforts to become nativised and connected with Iran's distant past.
Welcome and Introductory Remarks Sabine Schmidtke An Afterlife of Persepolitan Polychromy: What I... more Welcome and Introductory Remarks Sabine Schmidtke An Afterlife of Persepolitan Polychromy: What I Learned From, and How I Made Friends in Iran Alexander Nagel The Sacred Topography of Ancient Iran Touraj Daryaee Lasting Impact of Peace and Communion: Sasanian Iran and Christianity Ani Honarshiansaky The Beautiful Faces of Persian Culture: Love and Beauty in Persian Poetry and Spirituality Matthew Thomas Miller The Safavids and Modern Iranian Identity Rudi Matthee Protecting Heritage and People: A False Choice Thomas G. Weiss Why Heritage Matters Today Irina Bokova
This essay discusses the shifts brought on the Iranian Plateau by the founder of the Sasanian Emp... more This essay discusses the shifts brought on the Iranian Plateau by the founder of the Sasanian Empire, Ardaxšīr ī Pābagān, in the third century CE. I contend that these structural changes in rule, religion, physical boundaries, and political propaganda ushered in a new period in Iranian and Middle Eastern history that coincides with the period of Late Antiquity.
The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires, 2016
Choice Reviews Online, 2014
Choice Reviews Online, 2001
Preface The geography of the Persian Empire. Cyrus in Australia architecture sculpture the monume... more Preface The geography of the Persian Empire. Cyrus in Australia architecture sculpture the monumental arts, genesis and function otherarts.
Frontiers in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 2005
1 Gherardo Gnoli, The Idea of Iran: An Essay on its Origin (Rome, 1989). Aman Allah Ghoreyī, Irā... more 1 Gherardo Gnoli, The Idea of Iran: An Essay on its Origin (Rome, 1989). Aman Allah Ghoreyī, Irān-Nāmak, Negareī now be Tārīx va nām-e Iran (Tehran, 1994), has discussed the same issue in a more general manner. In 1994, the second biannual conference of ...
Quaternary Science Reviews, 2015
The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism, 2015
Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, 2012
ABSTRACT Human civilizations around the globe have been influenced by abrupt climate change throu... more ABSTRACT Human civilizations around the globe have been influenced by abrupt climate change throughout the Holocene. The paucity of high-resolution palaeoclimate data from the "Cradle of Civilization" in West Asia, however, has limited our ability to evaluate the potential role of Holocene climate variability on early societies. We present a high-resolution, multi-proxy reconstruction of aeolian input and palaeoenvironmental conditions based on a 13-kyr record of ombrotrophic (rain fed) peat from Neor Lake in Northwest Iran. Variations in relative abundances of major and trace elements, total organic carbon (TOC), stable carbon isotopes of TOC (δ 13 C TOC) and compound-specific leaf wax hydrogen isotope (δD) compositions suggest dry and dusty conditions prevailed during the Younger Dryas, and a substantial increase in atmospheric dust loading and decrease in moisture availability occurred between the early and late Holocene. In addition, variations in radiogenic Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic composition and REE anomalies in samples from Neor peat core indicate significant shifts occurred in source contributions of eolian material to the study area between the Younger Dryas, early and late Holocene. Time-series analysis of aeolian input to NE Iran reveals periodicities at 540, 1050 and 2940 years that correspond with solar variability and internal climate feedbacks identified in other records of Holocene climate change from the northern hemisphere. Transitions in major Mesopotamian and Persian civilizations, including the collapse of the Akkadian empire at 4,200 yr BP, the fall of the Ur III empire at 3,955 yr BP, the fall of Elam empire at 2,500 yr BP and the demise of the Achaemenids around 2,280 BP overlap with major dust events from this study. Several other episodes of enhanced atmospheric dust, however, are not reflected in historical or archaeological accounts of the late Holocene. This indicates either abrupt climate change was not the sole driver of societal changes in the region, or that historical records of these events are incomplete.
... The Safavids in Iranian History (1501???1722), 285 Kathryn Babayan 13. The Afghan Interlude a... more ... The Safavids in Iranian History (1501???1722), 285 Kathryn Babayan 13. The Afghan Interlude and the Zand and Afshar Dynasties (1722???95), 306 Kamran ScotAghaie 14. ... Kamran Aghaie received his PhD in history from the University of California, Los Angeles. ...
Journal of Persianate Studies, 2010
This is my Medieval Persia syllabus
مارلیک
مصاحبه ایی درباره ایرانشهر
یلدا، شب چلّه و آذرجشن زرتشتی کهنترین یادکرد نام یلدا را میتوان در کتاب «آثارالباقیه» بیرونی ... more یلدا، شب چلّه و آذرجشن زرتشتی
کهنترین یادکرد نام یلدا را میتوان در کتاب «آثارالباقیه» بیرونی از سده چهارم و پنجم هجری یافت که یلدا یا «میلاد مسیح» را به نقل از مسیحیان خوارزم، از جشنهای مشترک مسیحیان ملکایی، یعقوبی و نسطوری و زمان آن را بیست و پنجم دسامبر میداند
Archaeology, 2008
An interview about the Darband Wall from late antiquity