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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20231004T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20231004T180000
DTSTAMP:20230919T181136Z
CREATED:20230828T181304Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230919T181136Z
UID:18395-1696435200-1696442400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Fall Reception 2023
DESCRIPTION:Pourdavoud Center Fall 2023 Welcome Reception\nWednesday\, October 4\, 2023\n4:00 – 6:00 pm\nRoyce Hall 306\nRegistration Required\n  \nThe Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World invites you to join us for a fall reception. \nIn the company of our supporters\, colleagues\, academic affiliates\, students\, and esteemed guests\, we shall be introducing the Center’s stimulating programming and research agenda for the academic year 2023–24. \nLight refreshments will be served. Parking in Lot 2 or Lot 5 is recommended. \nPlease click here to RSVP.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-fall-reception-2023/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ornate-ceiling-of-ucla-royce-hall.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230412
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230415
DTSTAMP:20230222T221909Z
CREATED:20230222T221909Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230222T221909Z
UID:17600-1681257600-1681516799@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:AchWorks 1 - Identity\, Alterity\, and the Imperial Impress in the Achaemenid World
DESCRIPTION:Identity\, Alterity\, and the Imperial Impress in the Achaemenid World\nThe Inaugural Symposium of the Achaemenid Workshops Series\nApril 12–14\, 2023 | 314 Royce Hall\nWatch Livestream\nMorning refreshments and check-in begin at 8:00 am.  Panels begin at 9:00 am.\n  \nThe Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World is convening an international workshop on Identity\, Alterity\, and the Imperial Impress in the Achaemenid World\, held on April 12–14\, 2023 at UCLA. The symposium will include invited speakers whose research pertain to the history\, structures\, and reception of the Achaemenid empire. The overarching themes covered by the workshop are: current trends in Achaemenid scholarship; new horizons in art and archaeology; and the notions of identity\, alterity\, and the imperial impress in Achaemenid Elam and Persis\, Anatolia\, the Caucasus\, and Egypt. \nThe present workshop introduces a new series of symposia\, dubbed Achaemenid Workshops (AchWorks)\, which\, building on the achievements of Achaemenid studies in the past decades\, strive to revisit and reassess the state of Achaemenid scholarship over the coming years. with a dozen workshops hosted at leading institutions of ancient studies around the globe. \nCoordinated by the Pourdavoud Center in conjunction with our partner institutions and AchWorks’ Organizing Board\, these workshops aspire to become an intellectual hub for Achaemenid studies\, while affording an institutional framework to foster the next generation of scholars working on the Achaemenid world. \nClick here to register.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/achworks-1-identity-alterity-and-the-imperial-impress-in-the-achaemenid-world/
LOCATION:314 Royce Hall
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Secondary-Logo.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230303T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230303T130000
DTSTAMP:20221122T164632Z
CREATED:20221122T164632Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221122T164632Z
UID:17333-1677841200-1677848400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Eve MacDonald
DESCRIPTION:Telling Tales: Constructing Sasanian History in the Landscape\nThe narrative stories and physical landscapes of the Sasanian Empire run parallel to each other\, intersecting in areas where historical source and physical remnant of the material culture collide.  This is specifically relevant in the borderlands of the Sasanian’s vast realm\, between the lands of Eran and An-Eran\, where monumental structures survived for centuries after the fall of the empire and the memory of epic and traumatic events of a powerful dynasty lived on in the landscape.  This paper seeks to explore the interface between history and the landscape to try to glimpse the ways in which a population living in the lands of the Sasanian Empire remembered the history of the dynasty through the stories told. \nAbout the Speaker\nEve MacDonald is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Cardiff University. Broadly interested in the social history and archaeology of many places in the ancient Mediterranean and near east\, she has worked previously on the history and archaeology of Carthage and continues to research on the archaeological legacy of 19th and 20th century colonial occupation in North Africa. She is currently writing a history of the Sasanian Empire for Yale University Press and has worked on excavations in Iran and the Caucasus\, as well as more widely across the Mediterranean and the Ancient Near East.  She is currently working in the field on the Sasanian period fort at Fulayj\, Oman.  Her research aims to highlight different periods and cultures that make up our global ancient worlds – especially those outside the traditional Greco-Roman narrative. \nClick here to register for this event.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-eve-macdonald/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MacDonald-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230222T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230222T130000
DTSTAMP:20221205T182306Z
CREATED:20221205T182306Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221205T182306Z
UID:17352-1677063600-1677070800@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Anahita Mittertrainer
DESCRIPTION:Symbols of Royal Authority?  Early Sasanian Cityscapes in Southwestern Iran\n  \nThe early Sasanian royal city foundations of Gūr and Bīšāpūr and their respective surrounding areas were actively shaped by the new ruling dynasty with the goal of making an imprint of identity on the landscape and – especially in the initial phase – decisively influenced the development of the spatial\, structural\, and pictorial formal language of the new empire to be created. This lecture argues that the cities and their irrigated hinterlands were the first instances of early Sasanian territorialisation and possibly intended to convey an initial vision of the new empire – not only to the inhabitants of the cities\, but also to the long-established noble families in the surrounding areas. Thus\, these imperial power structures served as symbols of political identity and played an essential role in the formation of the early Sasanian state. \nAbout the Speaker\n Anahita Nasrin Mittertrainer is curator for the department of South West Asia and North Africa at Museum Fünf Kontinente in Munich\, Germany. In 2019\, she received her Ph.D. at Ludwig-Maximilians- University (Munich\, Germany) for her doctoral thesis on Sasanian cities in Southwest Iran\, which was published in 2020 as Sinnbilder politischer Autorität? Frühsasanidische Städtebilder im Südwesten Irans. She has worked on excavations in Iran\, the Caucasus\, and Central Asia\, among other places. \n  \nMain image © Dr. Farzin Rezaeian; Speaker image © Nicolai Kaestner \nClick here to RSVP and receive the Zoom information.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-anahita-mittertrainer/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Mittertrainer-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230215T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230215T180000
DTSTAMP:20221215T001923Z
CREATED:20221215T001923Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221215T001923Z
UID:17358-1676476800-1676484000@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Anne Hunnell Chen
DESCRIPTION:Dislodging Disciplinary Silos at Dura-Europos\nFounded by the Seleucids\, successively occupied by the Arsacids (Parthians) and Romans\, and spectacularly conquered in a Sasanian siege\, the borderland town of Dura-Europos (Syria) was home throughout its history to a fascinatingly diverse population. Since its initial excavation\, the site has become justly famous thanks to unique circumstances of preservation that resulted in the site’s retention of significant organic materials and other traces of daily life long-vanished elsewhere. Together\, the multiethnicity and significance of the site’s finds make it a rare (and invaluable) archaeological resource that transcends modern disciplinary boundaries. And yet\, the site and its important archaeological resources have been too often considered the purview of ‘Western’ disciplines\, despite the fact that the site’s Arsacid occupation was indeed its longest phase. This talk will first explore how the original excavators’ choices with regard to data-processing and publication strategies have had an enduring impact on who mobilizes Durene data and to what intellectual ends. It will then turn to introduce the efforts of the International (Digital) Dura-Europos Archive (IDEA)\, a project recently funded by the NEH and designed to help cut across the disciplinary silos that still very much shape research on the site. \nAbout the Speaker\nAnne Hunnell Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Art History and Visual Culture and Experimental Humanities Programs at Bard College. She specializes in the art and archaeology of the globally-connected Sasanian and Roman worlds. She has held a fellowship in the Department of the Ancient Near East at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and a postdoctoral associateship in Yale University’s ARCHAIA program for the Study of Premodern Cultures and Societies. She has published on Roman\, Persian\, and Digital Humanities topics\, and is also the founder and co-director of the International (Digital) Dura-Europos Archive (IDEA). Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities\, IDEA is aimed at dislodging enduring impacts of colonialism through digital reassembly and recontextualization of legacy archaeological data from the site of Dura-Europos (Syria). Dr. Chen also serves as network co-chair and Annotations Activity co-coordinator for the international Pelagios Network. \n  \nThe Zoom webinar link for those wishing to watch the live stream is: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/94721468611\n  \nClick here to RSVP.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-anne-hunnell-chen/
LOCATION:314 Royce Hall
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Chen-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230111T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230111T130000
DTSTAMP:20221102T173923Z
CREATED:20221102T173923Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221102T173923Z
UID:17277-1673434800-1673442000@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Arash Zeini
DESCRIPTION:The Birth of the Abestāg from the Spirit of Philology\nScholars have often discussed Zoroastrianism as an ancient Iranian religion that reaches back thousands of years into the middle of the second millennium BCE. For a long time\, the idea of monolithic continuity has dominated the scholarly discourse in the study of this religion. While Boyce preferred a theological continuity\, a view mostly rejected today\, others have ardently\, but to my mind unconvincingly\, argued for ritual continuity. Both camps have at some point associated all pre-Islamic empires\, but particularly the Achaemenid and Sasanian eras\, with the religious system of Zoroastrianism. After a brief examination of these views\, I will lay out some methodological concerns as a challenge to the discipline\, before turning my attention to the reception of an antique Iranian heritage in the Sasanian era (224–651 CE). I will argue that the late antique response played a major role in forming the heritage it was claiming as its own. \nAbout the Speaker\nArash Zeini engages with pre-Islamic Iranian cultures and languages\, focusing on Zoroastrianism\, particularly the late antique reception of the Avesta. In 2021\, Arash published The Roar of Silence\, a Festschrift in honor of François de Blois\, jointly edited with Adam Benkato. His monograph\, Zoroastrian Scholasticism in Late Antiquity\, published in 2020\, received the inaugural ‘AIS Book Prize for Ancient Iranian Studies’ in 2022. As a postdoctoral researcher on the Invisible East project (University of Oxford)\, Arash primarily works on Middle Persian and New Persian documents from the medieval East\, contextualizing these within the wider research questions of the project\, such as the idea of religiosity and conversion in Iranian cultures. Arash has previously worked and taught at Freie Universität Berlin and the University of St Andrews. \nPlease click here to register.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-arash-zeini/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/35-5_T6.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220519
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220521
DTSTAMP:20220517T191208Z
CREATED:20220509T211419Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220517T191208Z
UID:16987-1652918400-1653091199@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:The World of Ancient Iran and the West
DESCRIPTION:An International Symposium\nConvened by M. Rahim Shayegan (University of California\, Los Angeles) and  Jeffrey Spier (J. Paul Getty Museum)\nMay 19–20\, 2022 | 314 Royce Hall\nMorning Refreshments: 8:00 am\nSymposium Begins: 9:00 am\nThe Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World and the J. Paul Getty Museum are convening for a third year an international symposium on the exchanges between ancient Iran and the Classical world. This year’s symposium\, held at UCLA over two days (May 19 and 20\, 2022)\, will mark the launch of the exhibit\, Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World at the Getty Villa in the spring of 2022. The symposium will include invited speakers\, UC faculty\, and Getty scholars\, whose research pertains to the nexus between ancient Persia and the West. The overarching themes covered by the symposium are: Achaemenid Persia and the West; Iran and the Hellenistic World; and Eastern and Western Entanglements in the Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Periods. \n  \nThe link for online hybrid attendance is: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/92658651250 \n  \nClick here to download the full program.\nClick here to download the speaker abstract book.\nDr. Jeffrey Spier has a handout as part of his presentation.  To download the PDF of this handout\, please click here.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/the-world-of-ancient-iran-and-the-west-2/
LOCATION:314 Royce Hall
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-16-at-8.42.51-PM.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220420T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220420T173000
DTSTAMP:20220330T190930Z
CREATED:20220308T000011Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220330T190930Z
UID:16748-1650470400-1650475800@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series – Empire and Borderlands at Interplay: A Structural Approach (First Millennium BCE – First Millennium CE)
DESCRIPTION:The 2022 Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series\nFeaturing Professor Robert Rollinger (University of Innsbruck)\nThe Achaemenid Persian World Empire\nThe series of lectures offers a novel and fresh perspective on one of the largest and most successful empires in world history\, namely\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire (sixth to fourth century BCE)\, the central power of a (proto-)globalized world\, and the driving force behind many cultural developments\, whose manifold repercussions we may observe from Gibraltar to the Taklamakan Desert\, from the Aegean and Scythian lands to the sub-Saharan worlds\, and from the Bay of Bengal to eastern Africa. Our sources\, both written and archaeological\, are but a faint palimpsest bearing witness to the grandeur of the Achaemenid civilization\, and its impress on the antique world. The present Yarshater Lectures are an attempt at deducing\, from among the many ideological layers still cluttering our (narrative) sources\, including the many biases\, old and new\, that still guide modern scholarship\, the unique identity\, sense of purpose\, and political awareness that distinguished the Achaemenids\, eventually enabling them to forge a capacious vision of the world. In these lectures\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire will be presented as a political formation that not only profoundly impacted its immediate and more distant surroundings\, but also served as an imperial model that most lastingly transformed its posterity.\n\nLecture 4: Empire and Borderlands at Interplay: A Structural Approach (First Millennium BCE – First Millennium CE)\nThe Achaemenid Empire represents a major evolutionary step in the longue durée of Afro-Asian state formations. The fourth lecture aims at illustrating the indebtedness of the Achaemenid polity to ancient Near Eastern and Afro-Asian precedents\, while exploring its unicity in light of the interplay between the imperial center and the borderlands. \n  \nAbout the Speaker\n\nRobert Rollinger is Professor of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Innsbruck\, Austria\, where he has held since 2005 the Chair for “Cultural Interactions between the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean” in the Department of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. \nDr. Rollinger’s scholarly interests are wide-ranging and encompass the cultural expanse between the Aegean world and the ancient Near East\, with a special focus on ancient historiography\, the comparative history of empires\, and the Achaemenid Empire. \nIn addition to his tenure at the University of Innsbruck\, he has held a number of prestigious chairs and fellowships worldwide: from 2010 to 2015\, he was the Finland Distinguished Professor at the University of Helsinki in the Department of World Cultures\, heading the research project “Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East”; in 2020\, he was a Getty Scholar at the Getty Villa; since 2020\, he has been the NAWA Chair at the University of Wrocław\, Poland\, where he heads the international project “From the Achaemenid to the Roman Rule.” \nDr. Rollinger is also known for his numerous publications and important editorial work: he has been (co-)editing among others the prestigious series: Oriens et Occidens (Franz Steiner Verlag); Classica et Orientalia (Harrassowitz); Studies in Universal and Cultural History (Springer); Philippika (Harrassowitz); (The Proceedings of the) Melammu Symposia (Austrian Academy of Sciences); and Empires Through the Ages in Global Perspective (de Gruyter). More recently\, he published together with Bruno Jacobs the Blackwell Companion to the Achaemenid Empire (Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021)\, which shall serve as the new work of reference in the field. \nHis recent publications include: Imperien und Reiche in der Weltgeschichte: Epochenübergreifende und globalhistorische Vergleiche (coedited; Harrassowitz\, 2014); Mesopotamia in the Ancient World: Impact\, Continuities\, Parallels (coedited; Ugarit-Verlag\, 2015); Alexander und die großen Ströme: Die Flussüberquerungen im Lichte altorientalischer Pioniertechniken (Harrassowitz\, 2013); Short-term Empires in World History (coedited; Springer\, 2020); A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire\, 2 volumes (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World) (coedited; Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021); Empires to be Remembered (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, 2022); Decline\, Erosion and Implosion of Empires (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, forthcoming). \nHe is a member of numerous academic organizations and research groups\, among them: the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW); the German Archaeological Institute (DAI); and the Academia Europaea. \n  \n\nDownload the lecture series program here.\n  \n  \n\nClick here to RSVP.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/biennial-ehsan-yarshater-lecture-series-empire-and-borderlands-at-interplay-a-structural-approach-tenth-century-bce-tenth-century-ce/
LOCATION:314 Royce Hall
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Persia_TEAMFINAL_4.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220418T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220418T173000
DTSTAMP:20220330T190959Z
CREATED:20220307T235850Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220330T190959Z
UID:16744-1650297600-1650303000@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series – Space and Universality: The Long Life of the Achaemenid Mental Map in Antiquity and Beyond (Sixth Century BCE – Sixth Century CE)
DESCRIPTION:The 2022 Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series\nFeaturing Professor Robert Rollinger (University of Innsbruck)\nThe Achaemenid Persian World Empire\nThe series of lectures offers a novel and fresh perspective on one of the largest and most successful empires in world history\, namely\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire (sixth to fourth century BCE)\, the central power of a (proto-)globalized world\, and the driving force behind many cultural developments\, whose manifold repercussions we may observe from Gibraltar to the Taklamakan Desert\, from the Aegean and Scythian lands to the sub-Saharan worlds\, and from the Bay of Bengal to eastern Africa. Our sources\, both written and archaeological\, are but a faint palimpsest bearing witness to the grandeur of the Achaemenid civilization\, and its impress on the antique world. The present Yarshater Lectures are an attempt at deducing\, from among the many ideological layers still cluttering our (narrative) sources\, including the many biases\, old and new\, that still guide modern scholarship\, the unique identity\, sense of purpose\, and political awareness that distinguished the Achaemenids\, eventually enabling them to forge a capacious vision of the world. In these lectures\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire will be presented as a political formation that not only profoundly impacted its immediate and more distant surroundings\, but also served as an imperial model that most lastingly transformed its posterity. \nLecture 3: Space and Universality: The Long Life of the Achaemenid Mental Map in Antiquity and Beyond (Sixth Century BCE – Sixth Century CE)\nThe Achaemenid Empire ushered a new world order\, based on a novel conception of political geography\, which\, combined with an innovative language of power\, served to legitimize Achaemenid imperial/universalist claims. The longevity and impact of the Achaemenid imperial “model” and its language of power constitute the themes of the third lecture. \n  \nAbout the Speaker\n\nRobert Rollinger is Professor of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Innsbruck\, Austria\, where he has held since 2005 the Chair for “Cultural Interactions between the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean” in the Department of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. \nDr. Rollinger’s scholarly interests are wide-ranging and encompass the cultural expanse between the Aegean world and the ancient Near East\, with a special focus on ancient historiography\, the comparative history of empires\, and the Achaemenid Empire. \nIn addition to his tenure at the University of Innsbruck\, he has held a number of prestigious chairs and fellowships worldwide: from 2010 to 2015\, he was the Finland Distinguished Professor at the University of Helsinki in the Department of World Cultures\, heading the research project “Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East”; in 2020\, he was a Getty Scholar at the Getty Villa; since 2020\, he has been the NAWA Chair at the University of Wrocław\, Poland\, where he heads the international project “From the Achaemenid to the Roman Rule.” \nDr. Rollinger is also known for his numerous publications and important editorial work: he has been (co-)editing among others the prestigious series: Oriens et Occidens (Franz Steiner Verlag); Classica et Orientalia (Harrassowitz); Studies in Universal and Cultural History (Springer); Philippika (Harrassowitz); (The Proceedings of the) Melammu Symposia (Austrian Academy of Sciences); and Empires Through the Ages in Global Perspective (de Gruyter). More recently\, he published together with Bruno Jacobs the Blackwell Companion to the Achaemenid Empire (Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021)\, which shall serve as the new work of reference in the field. \nHis recent publications include: Imperien und Reiche in der Weltgeschichte: Epochenübergreifende und globalhistorische Vergleiche (coedited; Harrassowitz\, 2014); Mesopotamia in the Ancient World: Impact\, Continuities\, Parallels (coedited; Ugarit-Verlag\, 2015); Alexander und die großen Ströme: Die Flussüberquerungen im Lichte altorientalischer Pioniertechniken (Harrassowitz\, 2013); Short-term Empires in World History (coedited; Springer\, 2020); A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire\, 2 volumes (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World) (coedited; Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021); Empires to be Remembered (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, 2022); Decline\, Erosion and Implosion of Empires (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, forthcoming). \nHe is a member of numerous academic organizations and research groups\, among them: the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW); the German Archaeological Institute (DAI); and the Academia Europaea. \n  \n\nDownload the lecture series program here.\n  \nClick here to RSVP.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/biennial-ehsan-yarshater-lecture-series-space-and-universality-the-long-life-of-the-achaemenid-mental-map-in-antiquity-and-beyond-sixth-century-bce-sixth-century-ce/
LOCATION:314 Royce Hall
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Persia_TEAMFINAL_3.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220413T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220413T173000
DTSTAMP:20220330T191119Z
CREATED:20220307T235402Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220330T191119Z
UID:16742-1649865600-1649871000@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series – Whither the Achaemenid Empire? Towards a New Connected History of Afro-Eurasia in Antiquity
DESCRIPTION:The 2022 Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series\nFeaturing Professor Robert Rollinger (University of Innsbruck)\nThe Achaemenid Persian World Empire\nThe series of lectures offers a novel and fresh perspective on one of the largest and most successful empires in world history\, namely\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire (sixth to fourth century BCE)\, the central power of a (proto-)globalized world\, and the driving force behind many cultural developments\, whose manifold repercussions we may observe from Gibraltar to the Taklamakan Desert\, from the Aegean and Scythian lands to the sub-Saharan worlds\, and from the Bay of Bengal to eastern Africa. Our sources\, both written and archaeological\, are but a faint palimpsest bearing witness to the grandeur of the Achaemenid civilization\, and its impress on the antique world. The present Yarshater Lectures are an attempt at deducing\, from among the many ideological layers still cluttering our (narrative) sources\, including the many biases\, old and new\, that still guide modern scholarship\, the unique identity\, sense of purpose\, and political awareness that distinguished the Achaemenids\, eventually enabling them to forge a capacious vision of the world. In these lectures\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire will be presented as a political formation that not only profoundly impacted its immediate and more distant surroundings\, but also served as an imperial model that most lastingly transformed its posterity.\n\nLecture 2: Whither the Achaemenid Empire? Towards a New Connected History of Afro-Eurasia in Antiquity\nIn this lecture\, the history of the Achaemenid Empire as a powerful engine of transregional connectivity\, affecting all of Afro-Eurasia\, is explored. Of import is not only the Empire’s capacity to boost dynamic developments\, which may be qualified as an early example of globalization\, but also its ability to sustain cultural individuation processes and tolerate autonomous political formations. \nAbout the Speaker\n\nRobert Rollinger is Professor of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Innsbruck\, Austria\, where he has held since 2005 the Chair for “Cultural Interactions between the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean” in the Department of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. \nDr. Rollinger’s scholarly interests are wide-ranging and encompass the cultural expanse between the Aegean world and the ancient Near East\, with a special focus on ancient historiography\, the comparative history of empires\, and the Achaemenid Empire. \nIn addition to his tenure at the University of Innsbruck\, he has held a number of prestigious chairs and fellowships worldwide: from 2010 to 2015\, he was the Finland Distinguished Professor at the University of Helsinki in the Department of World Cultures\, heading the research project “Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East”; in 2020\, he was a Getty Scholar at the Getty Villa; since 2020\, he has been the NAWA Chair at the University of Wrocław\, Poland\, where he heads the international project “From the Achaemenid to the Roman Rule.” \nDr. Rollinger is also known for his numerous publications and important editorial work: he has been (co-)editing among others the prestigious series: Oriens et Occidens (Franz Steiner Verlag); Classica et Orientalia (Harrassowitz); Studies in Universal and Cultural History (Springer); Philippika (Harrassowitz); (The Proceedings of the) Melammu Symposia (Austrian Academy of Sciences); and Empires Through the Ages in Global Perspective (de Gruyter). More recently\, he published together with Bruno Jacobs the Blackwell Companion to the Achaemenid Empire (Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021)\, which shall serve as the new work of reference in the field. \nHis recent publications include: Imperien und Reiche in der Weltgeschichte: Epochenübergreifende und globalhistorische Vergleiche (coedited; Harrassowitz\, 2014); Mesopotamia in the Ancient World: Impact\, Continuities\, Parallels (coedited; Ugarit-Verlag\, 2015); Alexander und die großen Ströme: Die Flussüberquerungen im Lichte altorientalischer Pioniertechniken (Harrassowitz\, 2013); Short-term Empires in World History (coedited; Springer\, 2020); A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire\, 2 volumes (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World) (coedited; Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021); Empires to be Remembered (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, 2022); Decline\, Erosion and Implosion of Empires (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, forthcoming). \nHe is a member of numerous academic organizations and research groups\, among them: the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW); the German Archaeological Institute (DAI); and the Academia Europaea. \n  \n\nDownload the lecture series program here.\n  \n  \nClick here to RSVP.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/biennial-ehsan-yarshater-lecture-series-whither-the-achaemenid-empire-towards-a-new-connected-history-of-afro-eurasia-in-antiquity/
LOCATION:314 Royce Hall
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Persia_TEAMFINAL_2.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220411T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220411T173000
DTSTAMP:20220330T191054Z
CREATED:20220307T235227Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220330T191054Z
UID:16735-1649692800-1649698200@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series – An Afro-Eurasian “Hyperpower” and Its Ancient Near Eastern Roots (First Millennium BCE)
DESCRIPTION:The 2022 Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series\nFeaturing Professor Robert Rollinger (University of Innsbruck)\n  \nThe Achaemenid Persian World Empire\nThe series of lectures offers a novel and fresh perspective on one of the largest and most successful empires in world history\, namely\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire (sixth to fourth century BCE)\, the central power of a (proto-)globalized world\, and the driving force behind many cultural developments\, whose manifold repercussions we may observe from Gibraltar to the Taklamakan Desert\, from the Aegean and Scythian lands to the sub-Saharan worlds\, and from the Bay of Bengal to eastern Africa. Our sources\, both written and archaeological\, are but a faint palimpsest bearing witness to the grandeur of the Achaemenid civilization\, and its impress on the antique world. The present Yarshater Lectures are an attempt at deducing\, from among the many ideological layers still cluttering our (narrative) sources\, including the many biases\, old and new\, that still guide modern scholarship\, the unique identity\, sense of purpose\, and political awareness that distinguished the Achaemenids\, eventually enabling them to forge a capacious vision of the world. In these lectures\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire will be presented as a political formation that not only profoundly impacted its immediate and more distant surroundings\, but also served as an imperial model that most lastingly transformed its posterity.\n\nLecture 1: An Afro-Eurasian “Hyperpower” and Its Ancient Near Eastern Roots (First Millennium BCE)\nThe lecture focuses on the structure\, genesis\, and historical setting of the Achaemenid Empire. It discusses major aspects of the royal ideology\, the position of the Great King\, and the Empire’s resilience in periods of crisis. \n  \nAbout the Speaker\n\nRobert Rollinger is Professor of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Innsbruck\, Austria\, where he has held since 2005 the Chair for “Cultural Interactions between the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean” in the Department of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. \nDr. Rollinger’s scholarly interests are wide-ranging and encompass the cultural expanse between the Aegean world and the ancient Near East\, with a special focus on ancient historiography\, the comparative history of empires\, and the Achaemenid Empire. \nIn addition to his tenure at the University of Innsbruck\, he has held a number of prestigious chairs and fellowships worldwide: from 2010 to 2015\, he was the Finland Distinguished Professor at the University of Helsinki in the Department of World Cultures\, heading the research project “Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East”; in 2020\, he was a Getty Scholar at the Getty Villa; since 2020\, he has been the NAWA Chair at the University of Wrocław\, Poland\, where he heads the international project “From the Achaemenid to the Roman Rule.” \nDr. Rollinger is also known for his numerous publications and important editorial work: he has been (co-)editing among others the prestigious series: Oriens et Occidens (Franz Steiner Verlag); Classica et Orientalia (Harrassowitz); Studies in Universal and Cultural History (Springer); Philippika (Harrassowitz); (The Proceedings of the) Melammu Symposia (Austrian Academy of Sciences); and Empires Through the Ages in Global Perspective (de Gruyter). More recently\, he published together with Bruno Jacobs the Blackwell Companion to the Achaemenid Empire (Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021)\, which shall serve as the new work of reference in the field. \nHis recent publications include: Imperien und Reiche in der Weltgeschichte: Epochenübergreifende und globalhistorische Vergleiche (coedited; Harrassowitz\, 2014); Mesopotamia in the Ancient World: Impact\, Continuities\, Parallels (coedited; Ugarit-Verlag\, 2015); Alexander und die großen Ströme: Die Flussüberquerungen im Lichte altorientalischer Pioniertechniken (Harrassowitz\, 2013); Short-term Empires in World History (coedited; Springer\, 2020); A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire\, 2 volumes (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World) (coedited; Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021); Empires to be Remembered (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, 2022); Decline\, Erosion and Implosion of Empires (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, forthcoming). \nHe is a member of numerous academic organizations and research groups\, among them: the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW); the German Archaeological Institute (DAI); and the Academia Europaea. \n  \n\nDownload the lecture series program here.\n  \nClick here to RSVP. \n 
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/biennial-ehsan-yarshater-lecture-series-an-afro-eurasian-hyperpower-and-its-ancient-near-eastern-roots-first-millennium-bce/
LOCATION:314 Royce Hall
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Main-Image.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220317T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220317T130000
DTSTAMP:20220317T203459Z
CREATED:20220317T203459Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220317T203459Z
UID:16781-1647518400-1647522000@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:The World of Ancient Iran and the West
DESCRIPTION:An International Symposium\nConvened by M. Rahim Shayegan (University of California\, Los Angeles) and  Jeffrey Spier (J. Paul Getty Museum)\nMay 19–20\, 2022 | 314 Royce Hall\nMorning Refreshments: 8:00 am\nPanels Begin: 9:00 am\nThe Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World and the Getty are convening for a third year an international symposium on the exchanges between ancient Iran and the Classical world. This year’s symposium\, held at UCLA over two days (May 19 and 20\, 2022)\, will mark the launch of the exhibit\, Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World at the Getty Villa in the spring of 2022. The symposium\, will include invited speakers\, UC faculty\, and Getty scholars\, whose research pertain to the nexus between ancient Persia and the West. The overarching themes covered by the symposium are: Achaemenid Persia and the West; Iran and the Hellenistic World; and Eastern and Western Entanglements in the Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Periods. \n  \nThe link for online hybrid attendance is: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/92658651250 \n  \nPlease click here to register.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/the-world-of-ancient-iran-and-the-west/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-16-at-8.42.51-PM.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220223T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220223T130000
DTSTAMP:20220126T170545Z
CREATED:20220125T175046Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220126T170545Z
UID:16656-1645614000-1645621200@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Kianoosh Rezania
DESCRIPTION:How Did the Ancient Iranians Coordinate Space? On the Old Iranian Absolute Frame of Reference\nFor verbal expression and nonverbal cognitive processing of spatial relations between two objects\, the speakers of a language use different frames of reference. (Psycho)linguistics classifies these into three main groups: intrinsic\, relative\, and absolute. This lecture aims to identify the old Iranian absolute frame of reference. After a short explanation of different frames of reference\, the presentation will examine four sorts of evidence to this end: Avestan and Old Persian textual testimonies\, the direction of Zoroastrian ritual in the Old Iranian period\, and the direction of some significant Achaemenid architectural constructions. The lecture will show that the ancient Iranians did not use the four geocentric cardinal points of east\, west\, south and north as the cardinal directions of their absolute frame of reference\, as research has implicitly taken for granted so far. The evidence\, conversely\, suggests that the old Iranian absolute frame of reference was constituted by the sunrise and sunset points of the winter and summer solstices. \nAbout the Speaker\nKianoosh Rezania is professor for the History of West Asian Religions at the Center for Religious Studies\, Ruhr University Bochum\, the co-director of the International Research Consortium Käte-Hamburger-Kolleg “Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe\,” and the PI of the long-term project “Zoroastrian Middle Persian: Digital Corpus and Dictionary (MPCD).” His main research interests cover history of Zoroastrianism\, Middle Persian literature\, the development of the concepts of time and space in (late) antiquity as well as Digital Humanities. \nHe holds a M.Sc. in Computer Science from Sharif University of Technology (Tehran 1998)\, a M.A. in Iranian Studies from the University of Tehran (2002) and a Ph.D. in Old Iranian Studies from the Georg-August University Göttingen (2008). \nKianoosh Rezania is the author of Die zoroastrische Zeitvorstellung: eine Untersuchung über Zeit- und Ewigkeitskonzepte und die Frage des Zurvanismus (Harrassowitz 2010) and Die Raumkonzeptionen im älteren Zoroastrismus: kosmische\, kultische und soziale Räume (Harrassowitz 2017). \nClick here to register for this event.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-kianoosh-rezania/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Rezania-Flyer-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220216T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220216T130000
DTSTAMP:20220112T174713Z
CREATED:20220112T174713Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220112T174713Z
UID:16641-1645009200-1645016400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Céline Redard
DESCRIPTION:Current Trends in Avestan Studies\nThis lecture discusses the major progress made in our understanding of the Avestan corpus/texts in the last years. Based on her recent publication co-written with Jean Kellens\, L’introduction à l’Avesta\, Céline Redard introduces the new vision of the Avesta\, leading to the new editions currently undertaken. The important ritual aspect will also be underlined\, with some concrete examples taken from her books The Srōš Drōn – Yasna 3 to 8\, and The Gujarati Ritual Directions of the Paragnā\, Yasna and Visperad Ceremonies (co-written with Kerman Daruwalla). \nAbout the Speaker\nBefore specializing in Iranian Studies\, Céline Redard studied Indo-European Linguistics\, Sanskrit and Latin in Switzerland. In 2010\, she obtained her PhD at EPHE (Paris\, France) for her doctoral thesis on the Vidēvdād 19. After working as a research assistant at the Collège de France (Paris) from 2008 to 2014\, she was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship at the University of Liège in Belgium (2014-2016). Since 2017\, she works for the Multimedia Yasna project based at SOAS (London). \n  \nClick here to register and receive the Zoom information.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-celine-redard/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Redard-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220128T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220128T130000
DTSTAMP:20211209T193613Z
CREATED:20211209T193613Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211209T193613Z
UID:16541-1643367600-1643374800@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Eberhard Sauer
DESCRIPTION:From the Gorgan Wall to the Alan Gates/Dariali: The Northern Defenses of the Sasanian Empire\nA lecture by Eberhard W. Sauer \nBased on collaborative research with Jebrael Nokandeh\, Hamid Omrani Rekavandi\, \nLana Chologauri and Davit Naskidashvili \n  \nIt was only in December 2005 that radiocarbon samples established beyond doubt a Sasanian-era construction date for the Gorgan Wall\, the longest fort-lined barrier of the late antique world. Until then\, majority opinion had favored a date half a millennium before. Over the 16 years since\, our knowledge of the northern defenses of the Sasanian Empire has grown rapidly. In the early 2000s\, few large Sasanian military fortifications had been securely identified; today\, their combined size arguably exceeds that of those in the contemporary late Roman world. Scholars have frequently argued that the Sasanian army was much smaller than that of the Roman Empire or even that there was no standing army at all. Our most recent excavations have demonstrated that the Gorgan Wall forts were densely filled with large barracks\, rising in part to a height of two storeys. Later\, annexes were added. Huge storage pits\, storage jars and a series of ovens and fire-places\, as well as finds\, demonstrate dense occupation for one-and-a-half to two centuries. Fortresses in the hinterland\, some of them earlier than the Gorgan Wall\, housed extensive tent cities\, probably for the field army. The Sasanian state was also the first external power to fortify the Caucasus passes\, turning Europe’s highest mountain range into a formidable barrier. Fieldwork in Dariali Gorge have enabled our team to date fortifications controlling Transcaucasian traffic to the time not long before or after a famous Hunnic invasion via the same mountain pass in AD 395. Our joint fieldwork has not only revealed the extraordinary scale and sophistication of Sasanian military infrastructure\, it has also shed new light on its purpose and effectiveness. The empire’s strong fortification belt in the north far from being merely symbolic\, as some have argued\, enabled the empire to hold its ground and protect its core territories\, to launch counter-offenses\, and even to conquer temporarily the Levant in the early seventh century. \n  \nAbout the Speaker\nEberhard W. Sauer is Professor of Roman Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh and one of the directors of the joint fieldwork projects in Iran and Georgia.  Since 2012 he has been the Project Leader in the ERC Persia Project\, which has been involved with fieldwork on Sasanian military monuments in Iran\, Georgia\, and Oman. His many publications include Dariali: The ‘Caspian Gates’ in the Caucasus from Antiquity to the Age of the Huns and the Middle Ages (co-authored 2020); Sasanian Persia: Between Rome and the Steppes of Eurasia (edited 2017); and Persia’s Imperial Power in Late Antiquity: The Great Wall of Gorgān and Frontier Landscapes of Sasanian Iran (co-authored 2013). \n  \nTo register and receive the Zoom information\, please click here.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-eberhard-sauer/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Sauer-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220119T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220119T130000
DTSTAMP:20211214T235441Z
CREATED:20211214T183459Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211214T235441Z
UID:16559-1642590000-1642597200@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: John W.I. Lee
DESCRIPTION:Greek ‘Concubines’ and Achaemenid Dynastic Politics\nThe civil war of 401 BC between Cyrus the Younger and his older brother King Artaxerxes II (r. 405/4-359/8 BC) is well known to Achaemenid historians\, thanks especially to the famous account of Xenophon’s Anabasis.  While the military aspects of this conflict have been much studied\, this lecture focuses on the two Ionian Greek women who accompanied Cyrus on his campaign.   Xenophon describes them as “concubines\,” but setting these two women into the broader contexts of Achaemenid court culture and of intermarriage between Persians and local people in Achaemenid Anatolia reveals a more complex story. \nAbout the Speaker\n\n\nJohn W.I. Lee is Associate Professor of History at UC Santa Barbara.  He studies ancient Greece and West Asia\, especially the Archaic-Classical Greek world and its relations with the Achaemenid Persian Empire. He is interested in the social and cultural aspects of ancient warfare as well as in the equipment\, tactics\, and logistics of ancient armies.  His publications include A Greek Army on the March: Soldiers and Survival in Xenophon’s Anabasis (Cambridge 2007)\, The Persian Empire (The Great Courses 2012)\, and The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert (Oxford 2022).  At UCSB\, he teaches classes on Achaemenid and Greek history\, and on the history of ancient warfare. \n\n\n  \n\nPlease click here to register for the event and receive the Zoom information.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-john-w-i-lee/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Lee-Flyer-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220107T113000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220107T130000
DTSTAMP:20211202T175624Z
CREATED:20211202T175524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211202T175624Z
UID:16515-1641555000-1641560400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: James Howard-Johnston
DESCRIPTION:Official Sources and the Reconstruction of History: The Case of the Last Great War of Antiquity\nThe last and longest war of classical antiquity was fought in the early 7th century\, opening in 603 when Persian armies launched coordinated attacks across the Roman frontier. For twenty-five years\, the conflict raged on an unprecedented scale\, and its end brought the classical phase of history to a close. Despite all this\, it has left a conspicuous gap in the history of warfare. James Howard-Johnston’s The Last Great War of Antiquity aims to finally fill that gap by piecing together the scattered and fragmentary evidence of this period to form a coherent story of the dramatic events\, as well as an introduction to key players – Turks\, Arabs\, and Avars\, Persians\, and Romans – and a tour of the vast lands over which the fighting took place. The result is a solidly founded\, critical history of a conflict of immense significance in the final episode of classical history. \nAbout the Speaker\nJames Howard-Johnston was University Lecturer in Byzantine Studies at Oxford and Fellow of Corpus Christi College from 1971 to 2009. He complemented academic activity with involvement in local politics between 1972 and 1987. His historical interests range from the later Roman empire in the fourth century up to Byzantium on the eve of the Fourth Crusade. He is primarily concerned with the institutional\, social and economic structures of Byzantium\, and with international relations in the Middle East in late antiquity and the early middle ages. His principal publications are The Armenian history attributed to Sebeos (Liverpool\, 1999 – co-authored with Robert Thomson)\, Witnesses to a World Crisis: Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century (Oxford\, 2010)\, and Historical Writing in Byzantium (Heidelberg\, 2014). \nPlease click here to register and receive the Zoom information.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-james-howard-johnston/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Howard-Johnston-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20211105T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20211105T123000
DTSTAMP:20211020T221834Z
CREATED:20211020T221834Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211020T221834Z
UID:16372-1636110000-1636115400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Bruno Jacobs and Robert Rollinger
DESCRIPTION:The Achaemenid Persian Empire: A Two-Volume Companion\nOften called the first world empire\, the Achaemenid Empire is rooted in older Near Eastern traditions. A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire offers a perspective in which the history of the empire is embedded in the preceding and subsequent epochs. In this way\, the traditions that shaped the Achaemenid Empire become as visible as the powerful impact it had on further historical development. But the work does not only break new ground in this respect\, but also in the fact that\, in addition to written testimonies of all kinds\, it also considers material tradition as an equal factor in historical reconstruction. This comprehensive two-volume set features contributions by internationally-recognized experts that offer balanced coverage of the whole of the empire from Anatolia and Egypt across western Asia to northern India and Central Asia. \nComprehensive in scope\, the Companion provides readers with a panoramic view of the diversity\, richness\, and complexity of the Achaemenid Empire\, dealing with all the many aspects of history\, event history\, administration\, economy\, society\, communication\, art\, science and religion\, illustrating the multifaceted nature of the first true empire. \nPart of the acclaimed Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World series\, A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire is an indispensable work for students\, instructors\, and scholars of Persian and ancient world history\, particularly the First Persian Empire. \n  \nPlease click here to register and receive the Zoom information.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-bruno-jacobs-and-robert-rollinger/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Rollinger-and-Jacobs-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20211022T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20211022T130000
DTSTAMP:20211005T171409Z
CREATED:20211005T171409Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211005T171409Z
UID:16339-1634900400-1634907600@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Fall Welcome Event
DESCRIPTION:Please join us for a digital fall reception to celebrate the continued success of the Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World. In the company of Dr. Anahita Naficy Lovelace and Mr. Jim Lovelace\, the Center’s benefactors\, David Schaberg\, Dean of Humanities\, M. Rahim Shayegan\, the Center’s director\, our staff\, academic affiliates\, colleagues\, students\, and esteemed guests\, we shall be introducing the Center’s stimulating programming and research agenda for the academic year 2021–22. \nZoom registration is required.  Please click here to register.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-fall-welcome-event/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Pourdavoud-Fall-Welcome-2021-Title-Slide.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210521T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210521T130000
DTSTAMP:20210419T162637Z
CREATED:20210419T162637Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210419T162637Z
UID:15926-1621594800-1621602000@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Almut Hintze
DESCRIPTION:The Yasna Ritual in Performance\nUp to the present day Zoroastrian priests perform a millennia old ritual\, the Yasna\, in which the recitation of ancient Avestan texts accompanies the performance of ritual actions. Using new visual source material of images and film clips\, this lecture discusses the performance of the Yasna and its significance for the Zoroastrian tradition. \nAbout the Speaker\nAlmut Hintze studied Indo-European philology at the Universities of Heidelberg and Oxford and earned her PhD in Indo-Iranian Studies at the University of Erlangen. After her habilitation in Berlin with a study of the semantics of “reward” in Ancient Iranian (Avestan) and Vedic Sanskrit texts\, she spent a term at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. Subsequently she became Research Fellow at Clare Hall\, Cambridge and was appointed to the Zartoshty Brothers post at SOAS in 2001. She was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2015. \n  \nTo RSVP and receive the Zoom information\, please click here.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-almut-hintze/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Hintze-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210507T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210507T130000
DTSTAMP:20210413T174810Z
CREATED:20210413T174709Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210413T174810Z
UID:15917-1620381600-1620392400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Workshop: Udjahorresnet’s Egypt
DESCRIPTION:Udjahorresnet’s Egypt: The Crossroads of Conquest and Identity under Achaemenid Rule\nThe concept for this workshop was inspired by the open access volume\, Udjahorresnet and His World (JAEI 26\, 2020)\, which contextualizes the life of Udjahorresnet\, an elite politician and chief physician of Egypt’s 26th and 27th Dynasties in the 6th century BCE.  His career spanned the end of the Egyptian Saite period and the beginning of Achaemenid Persian dominion in Egypt\, and his (auto)biographical inscriptions suggest he played a key role in establishing the authority of the Persian kings on the Egyptian throne.  His social background\, professional functions\, and political agency within the Saite and the Achaemenid courts in Egypt and abroad are the topics of intense scholarly discussion and debate.  By looking through Udjahorresnet’s eyes to study the world he witnessed\, this workshop aims to address the current research on the culturally diverse Achaemenid world\, the associated intricate cross-regional diplomacy\, and the social and political techniques for empire consolidation used by the Persians. \nPlease click here to RSVP and receive the Zoom link.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-workshop-udjahorresnets-egypt/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Udjahorresnets-Egypt-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210302T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210302T170000
DTSTAMP:20210227T003102Z
CREATED:20210205T232147Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210227T003102Z
UID:15700-1614693600-1614704400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Workshop: Current Trends in Manichaeism Studies Day 2
DESCRIPTION:The origin of the Manichaean religion stands at the intersection of multiple cultural worlds: Iranian\, Semitic\, & Greco-Roman. Its literary and artistic remains enrich our understanding of those cultures and the exchange that went on among them in late antiquity. The scholars assembled for this workshop offer the latest insights obtained from the painstaking work of extracting information from the fragmentary and effaced relics of this religion with the aid of new research technologies and approaches. They report on work in progress related specifically to conditions and developments in 3rd century CE Iran in which Mani and Manichaeism served as a cultural catalyst\, explaining how these new insights are reshaping our understanding of both the religion and the world in which it emerged. \nIain Gardner\, Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Sydney\n\n\nNew Research and Sources for the Life of Mani \n  \n\nThis presentation will outline recent trajectories in research on the Life of Mani. Evidence from in-process work on new sources will be presented\, with particular reference to the editing of surviving remnants from Mani’s letters. Copies of these compositions were revered\, collected\, translated into many languages and circulated throughout the Manichaean communities\, and they provide a remarkable insight into the life of the apostle and his immediate circle.\n\n\n\nJason BeDuhn\, Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions and Asian Studies at Northern Arizona University\n\n\nManichaean Interpretation of Iranian Religious Traditions \n  \n\nNew sources such as the Chester Beatty Kephalaia Codex allow us to begin to break down the long-standing division between “Western” and “Eastern” Manichaeism in modern scholarship\, and discover connections especially between Coptic and Middle Iranian Manichaean texts that shed light on the earliest centuries of the Manichaean religion. We are now in a better position to see how Mani and his early followers set out to acculturate their Christian movement to an Iranian context by identifying their teachings as the true interpretations of old Iranian religious traditions\, contesting the authority of an emerging Zoroastrian leadership.\n\n\n\n\nPlease click here to RSVP and receive the Zoom information.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-workshop-current-trends-in-manichaeism-studies-day-2/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Manichaeism-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210301T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210301T170000
DTSTAMP:20210227T003036Z
CREATED:20210205T232008Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210227T003036Z
UID:15697-1614607200-1614618000@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Workshop: Current Trends in Manichaeism Studies Day 1
DESCRIPTION:The origin of the Manichaean religion stands at the intersection of multiple cultural worlds: Iranian\, Semitic\, & Greco-Roman. Its literary and artistic remains enrich our understanding of those cultures and the exchange that went on among them in late antiquity. The scholars assembled for this workshop offer the latest insights obtained from the painstaking work of extracting information from the fragmentary and effaced relics of this religion with the aid of new research technologies and approaches. They report on work in progress related specifically to conditions and developments in 3rd century CE Iran in which Mani and Manichaeism served as a cultural catalyst\, explaining how these new insights are reshaping our understanding of both the religion and the world in which it emerged.\n\n\nPaul Dilley\, Associate Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Religions at the University of Iowa\n\nAlso Schrieb Zarathustra? New Manichaean Sources for the “Law of Zarades” & His Otherworldly Journeys \n  \n\nThe second volume of the Kephalaia\, a Coptic papyrus manuscript held at the Chester Beatty library\, is a major source for the history of early Manichaeism in its Iranian context.  In this talk\, I will give an overview of the multispectral imaging of the codex\, reporting on the latest results which have significantly improved its legibility. I will then discuss the various references to and quotations of the so-called “Law of Zarades\,” comparing them to both Iranian and Greco-Roman sources\, and assess their rhetorical significance in the Kephalaia as well as their importance for understanding the Sasanian background of third-century Manichaeism. Finally\, I will contextualize the Kephalaia passage on the journey to heaven and hell by Zarades and other apostles of light\, connecting it to rival claims of inspired vision by Mani and Kartir.\n\n\n\n\nZsuzsanna Gulácsi\, Professor of Art History at Northern Arizona University\n\n\nThe Footprint of Mani’s Book of Pictures in Late Antique Sources: An Assessment of Social & Geographical Data about Teaching with Images During the 3rd and 4th Centuries \n  \n\nUnlike other religions\, Manichaeism had canonical images\, not just canonical texts. Primary and secondary textual sources document that the Manichaean canon included a solely pictorial volume—a picture book—that was authored by Mani\, circulated in multiple copies already during Mani’s life\, and issued in many later editions. From late antiquity\, 13 passages mention the Book of Pictures (Copt. Hikōn\, Syr. Yuqnā\, Parth. Ārdhang\, MPers. Nigār). They convey that Mani commissioned its images to be painted as visual aids for teaching. The goal of this study is to assess who had access to this pictorial volume of the canon and where it was used during the first 120 years of Manichaean history. Mapping this data reveals the geographic footprint of teaching with images among the followers of Mani.\n\n\n\nPlease click here to RSVP and receive the Zoom information.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-workshop-current-trends-in-manichaeism-studies-day-1/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Manichaeism-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210219T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210219T123000
DTSTAMP:20210128T164821Z
CREATED:20210128T164705Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210128T164821Z
UID:15658-1613732400-1613737800@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Carlo G. Cereti
DESCRIPTION:Narseh’s Diadem: Religion\, Royalty\, and Power under the Early Sasanians\nThis talk focuses on the Sasanian king Narseh (293-302 CE)\, who celebrated his accession to the throne through the bilingual inscription (Middle Persian and Parthian) and commemorative monument built in Paikuli\, the site currently studied by the archaeological mission of Sapienza-University of Rome: The Italian Archaeological Mission to Iraqi Kurdistan (MAIKI – Missione Archeologica Italiana nel Kurdistan Iracheno). The mission’s work in Paikuli focuses on the reconstruction and preservation of the monument and its unique inscription. Choosing a holistic scholarly approach and joining methodologies of historical linguistics and philology with those of archaeology\, field campaigns were organised in 2007\, 2008\, 2018\, and 2019\, revealing a number of previously unknown inscribed blocks; a first volume of these new inscriptions was published in 2014\, and the remaining inscriptions will be published in the final report. This lecture will present the multiple scientific methodologies and research approaches applied over the years and will also illustrate strategies to promote the monument in the framework of Kurdistan’s cultural heritage\, including the Paikuli Gallery built by MAIKI in the Slemani Museum and the recent realization of an exhibition at Sapienza\, which features a tactile 3D printing of one of the\nNarseh’s sculptures (once decorating the Paikuli monument and now preserved at the Slemani Museum). These strategies offer clear examples of the potential of interaction between field documentation and the application of innovative technologies aimed at promoting full accessibility of Cultural Heritage. \n  \nAbout the Speaker\nCarlo G. Cereti is a Professor at Sapienza – University of Rome in Iranian Philology\, Religions and History.  He also serves as the Coordinator of the Class in Humanities at the Scuola Superiore di Studi Avanzati – Sapienza\, the Director of the Winter School in Cultural Heritage of the Near and Middle East\, a Rector’s delegate for International cooperation\, and a Senior Fellow at the Scuola Superiore di Studi Avanzati – Sapienza. He studied at the Istituto Universitario Orientale of Naples where in 1985\, he obtained his Master’s (Laurea) degree in Oriental languages and civilizations focusing on Iranian and Indian Studies. In 1992\, he obtained his Ph.D. in the same field.  From 1997 to 1999\, Professor Cereti was engaged in research at the Kommission für Iranistik of the Austrian Academy of Sciences\, while at the same time teaching Iranian Languages at the Seminar für  Sprachwissenschaft of the Vienna University. In 1999\, he served as a visiting professor at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Parism and in 2002 acted as Directeur de Recherche at the UMRS “Monde Iranien” of the French CNRS. He has published extensively in Iranian Studies\, mainly on Middle Persian and Zoroastrianism. His publications include: An 18th  century Account of Parsi History\, The Qesse-ye Zartoštiān-e Hendustān\, The Zand ī Wahman Yasn: A Zoroastrian Apocalypse\, and La Letteratura Pahlavi. Introduzione ai testi con riferimenti alla storia degli studi ed alla tradizione manoscritta.  Professor Cereti is also a Consulting editor of Encyclopaedia Iranica\, a Member of the Editorial Board of Iran and the Caucasus and The Journal of Persianate Studies\, and a Member of the Advisory Board of Vicino Oriente and Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni. \nPlease click here to RSVP and receive the Zoom information.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/15658/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Cereti-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210203T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210203T160000
DTSTAMP:20210120T234535Z
CREATED:20210120T234511Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210120T234535Z
UID:15624-1612368000-1612368000@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Nikolaus Overtoom
DESCRIPTION:Reconsidering the Emergence of the Parthian State: The Crisis of the 240s-230s BCE in the Hellenistic Middle East\nNikolaus Overtoom’s study of the rise of the Parthian Empire\, Reign of Arrows: The Rise of the Parthian Empire in the Hellenistic Middle East\, brings a new perspective to this important development in the history of the Hellenistic Middle East. By emphasizing the changing international-systems elements that led to the expansion of the Arsacid kings\, Overtoom allows scholars to develop a more sophisticated view of how this expansion occurred\, with less causal emphasis merely on the warlike nature of Parthian society or the personalities of individual rulers — important though these were. This monograph draws on a wide variety of sources to explain the political and military encounters that shaped the international environment of the Hellenistic Middle East from the middle third to the early first centuries BCE. This study combines traditional historical approaches\, such as source criticism and the integration of material evidence\, with the incorporation of modern international relations theory to better reconstruct the rise of the Parthians (or Arsacids) to dominance over their Greek\, Persian\, and nomadic neighbors in the ancient Middle East. \nAbout the Speaker\nNikolaus Overtoom is an Assistant Professor of Ancient History at Washington State University.  He is the author of Reign of Arrows: The Rise of the Parthian Empire in the Hellenistic Middle East (Oxford Studies in Early Empires Series\, 2020). He earned his Ph.D. in Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern History from Louisiana State University in 2016. His reserach interests include geopolitics in the ancient world\, ancient international relations\, ancient propaganda\, and imperial rivalries. \n  \nPlease click here to register for this event.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-nikolaus-overtoom/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Overtoom-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210127T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210127T130000
DTSTAMP:20210115T165822Z
CREATED:20210115T163810Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210115T165822Z
UID:15600-1611741600-1611752400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Book launch: Domenico Ingenito's Beholding Beauty: Saʿdi of Shiraz and the Aesthetics of Desire in Medieval Persian Poetry (Brill\, 2020)
DESCRIPTION:A conversation with Paul Losensky (Indiana University) and Jane Mikkelson (University of Virginia) \nWednesday\, January 27\, 2021\n10:00 AM (Pacific Time) \nTo RSVP\, please click here.\n  \nBeholding Beauty: Saʿdi of Shiraz and the Aesthetics of Desire in Medieval Persian Poetry explores the relationship between sexuality\, politics\, and spirituality in the lyrics of Saʿdi Shirazi (d. 1292 CE)\, one of the most revered masters of classical Persian literature. Relying on a variety of sources\, including unstudied manuscripts\, Domenico Ingenito presents the so-called “inimitable smoothness” of Saʿdi’s lyric style as a serene yet multifaceted window into the uncanny beauty of the world\, the human body\, and the realm of the unseen. \nThe book constitutes the first attempt to study Saʿdi’s lyric meditations on beauty in the context of the major artistic\, scientific and intellectual trends of his time. By charting unexplored connections between Islamic philosophy and mysticism\, obscene verses and courtly ideals of love\, Ingenito approaches Saʿdi’s literary genius from the perspective of sacred homoeroticism and the psychology of performative lyricism in their historical context. \n  \nSponsor(s):  Center for Near Eastern Studies\, Iranian Studies\, Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/book-launch-domenico-ingenitos-beholding-beauty-sa%ca%bfdi-of-shiraz-and-the-aesthetics-of-desire-in-medieval-persian-poetry-brill-2020/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Iranian Studies":MAILTO:iranianstudies@humnet.ucla.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210122T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210122T173000
DTSTAMP:20210107T200055Z
CREATED:20210107T200055Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210107T200055Z
UID:15543-1611331200-1611336600@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Jason Schlude
DESCRIPTION:Book Talk: Rome\, Parthia\, and the Politics of Peace\n\nThis volume offers an informed survey of the problematic relationship between the ancient empires of Rome and Parthia from c. 96/95 BCE to 224 CE. Schlude explores the rhythms of this relationship and invites its readers to reconsider the past and our relationship with it. \nSome have looked to this confrontation to help explain the roots of the long-lived conflict between the West and the Middle East. It is a reading symptomatic of most scholarship on the subject\, which emphasizes fundamental incompatibility and bellicosity in Roman–Parthian relations. Rather than focusing on the relationship as a series of conflicts\, Rome\, Parthia\, and the Politics of Peace responds to this common misconception by highlighting instead the more cooperative elements in the relationship and shows how a reconciliation of these two perspectives is possible. There was\, in fact\, a cyclical pattern in the Roman–Parthian interaction\, where a reality of peace and collaboration became overshadowed by images of aggressive posturing projected by powerful Roman statesmen and emperors for a domestic population conditioned to expect conflict. The result was the eventual realization of these images by later Roman opportunists who\, unsatisfied with imagined war\, sought active conflict with Parthia. \nRome\, Parthia\, and the Politics of Peace is a fascinating new study of these two superpowers that will be of interest not only to students of Rome and the Near East but also to anyone with an interest in diplomatic relations and conflict in the ancient world and today. \nAbout the Speaker\n\n\nJason Schlude is an Associate Professor of Classics and Chair of the Department of Languages and Cultures at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University in Minnesota and Co-Director of the Omrit Settlement Excavation Project in Israel. A former Getty scholar\, he is an ancient historian and archaeologist who specializes in the Roman Near East and the relationship between the Roman and Parthian Empires. He published Rome\, Parthia\, and the Politics of Peace: The Origins of War in the Ancient Middle East in 2020 (Routledge Press) and co-edited Arsacids\, Romans\, and Local Elites: Cross-Cultural Interactions of the Parthian Empire in 2017 (Oxbow Books)\, with related articles appearing in journals including Latomus\, Athenaeum\, and Anabasis. A member of the Avon Hills Salon (https://avonhillssalon.com)\, he also engages in public scholarship exploring the significance of the liberal arts and Classics in the modern world.​ His essays have appeared in Foreign Policy Journal (“Rome\, Iran\, and the Specters of Antiquity”)\, Minneapolis Star Tribune (e.g.\, “A Minnesota scholar shows how we could find common ground with\, and through\, Shia Islam”; “Ted Cruz\, Cicero\, and the classics”)\, The Activist History Review (e.g.\, “The Problem of White People\, with Insight from St. Paul”; “The Politics of Consumption: From Trimalchio and Gatsby to Trump and Beyond”)\, Bible History Daily (“Herod the Great: Friend of the Romans and Parthians?”)\, and Avon Hills Salon (e.g.\, “The Art of Liberation: Life in the Liberal Arts”; “Infectious Nationalism: Pericles and Public Health Crises”). His poetry has appeared in Pericles at Play (“We Lived among the Bones”)\, with more forthcoming in Jesuits Magazine (“The Teacher”). \nClick here to RSVP and receive the Zoom information.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-jason-schlude-2/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Schlude-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210113T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210113T173000
DTSTAMP:20201130T193522Z
CREATED:20201130T193522Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201130T193522Z
UID:15427-1610553600-1610559000@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center/Amuzegar Lecture Series: Afshin Marashi
DESCRIPTION:The Parsi Community of India and the Making of Modern Iran\nThis book talk will provide an overview of Exile and the Nation: The Parsi Community of India and the Making of Modern Iran (University of Texas Press\, 2020). In the aftermath of the 7th century Islamic conquest of Iran\, large numbers of Zoroastrians departed for India. Known as the Parsis\, they slowly lost contact with their ancestral homeland until the 19th century\, when stream-powered sea travel and the philanthropic efforts of wealthy Parsi benefactors sparked a new era of interaction between Parsis and Iranians. Tracing the late 19th and early 20th century cultural and intellectual exchange between Iranian nationalists and India’s Parsi community\, Exile and the Nation shows how this interchange led to a collective re-imagining of Parsi and Iranian national identity and to the revival of antiquity in 20th century Iran thought. \nAbout the Speaker\nAfshin Marashi is Professor and Farzaneh Family Chair in Modern Iranian History at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author most recently of Exile and the Nation: The Parsi Community of India and the Making of Modern Iran (University of Texas Press\, 2020). His previous books include Nationalizing Iran: Culture\, Power\, and the State\, 1870-1940 (University of Washington Press\, 2008)\, and the volume (co-edited with Kamran Aghaie) Rethinking Iranian Nationalism and Modernity (University of Texas Press\, 2014). He has also served on the editorial board of the International Journal of Middle East Studies and on the council of the Association for Iranian Studies. \nPlease click here to register for this event.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-amuzegar-lecture-series-afshin-marashi/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Marashi-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20201202T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20201202T173000
DTSTAMP:20201114T001212Z
CREATED:20201114T001212Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201114T001212Z
UID:15377-1606924800-1606930200@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Michael Jackson Bonner
DESCRIPTION:Sasanian Iran: A Personal View\nThis talk will focus on topics included in Dr. Bonner’s new book\, The Last Empire of Iran\, a narrative history of Sasanian Persia. Throughout this lecture\, Dr. Bonner will share with the audience the impetus for writing this book. The principle motivation was to portray the Sasanian state as the great world power that it was and to situate it properly between Rome and the nomad powers of Inner Asia. It addresses the classicising and Perso-Arabic historiographical traditions\, but special emphasis has also been given to Armenian and Syriac sources. Discussion will cover some of the key themes of the book\, including: the origins of the Sasanian state; the wider context of Eurasian history; interactions between Iran and the world of the steppe; and\, finally\, historiographical problems and the use of sources. \nAbout the Speaker\nDr. Michael Jackson Bonner is a Canadian political adviser and historian of Iran. A former classicist and student of James Howard-Johnston and Robert Hoyland\, he read for a master’s degree and doctorate in late-antique Iranian history at the University of Oxford. Dr. Bonner has advised members of Cabinet in both federal and provincial Canadian governments\, and is now a Director of Policy within the Government of Ontario. \n  \n  \nPlease click here to register for this event.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-michael-jackson-bonner/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Bonner-Flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20201118T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20201118T130000
DTSTAMP:20201026T165458Z
CREATED:20201006T213401Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201026T165458Z
UID:15290-1605693600-1605704400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Workshop: Papyrus Amherst 63
DESCRIPTION:The Puzzling Papyrus: New Perspectives on Papyrus Amherst 63\nIn this workshop\, two of the world’s leading experts on Papyrus Amherst 63\, Professors Tawny Holm and Karel van der Toorn\, will reflect on recent scholarship on the Aramaic texts of this papyrus written in Demotic Egyptian script during the Persian Period. Since the decipherment of the papyrus\, scholars have turned to investigating the papyrus’ compositional setting\, as well as the hymns\, prayers\, and stories found in the papyrus\, some of which correspond to texts of the Hebrew Bible. Though the language\, script choice\, and other features of the papyrus have puzzled scholars for decades\, it speaks to the rich texts preserved by Aramaic-speaking populations in the region and provides access to Judean\, Aramean\, and other traditions. This workshop will discuss the content and organization of the papyrus and examine how its texts illuminate the diverse landscapes of peoples\, places\, traditions\, and languages in the ancient Near East under the Achaemenid Empire. \nThis workshop will feature the research of Professor Tawny Holm (Pennsylvania State University) and Professor Karel van der Toorn (University of Amsterdam). \nTextualizing Aramean Identities in Egypt: Papyrus Amherst 63\nProfessor Holm’s presentation highlights the new evidence that Papyrus Amherst 63 brings to our understanding of the Aramean and Aramaic-speaking diaspora in Egypt. The papyrus\, written in approximately the fourth century BCE in Aramaic but using Demotic Egyptian script\, is an anthology of Aramaic texts that reflect the traditions and collective cultural memory of a group of Aramean émigrés\, including Judeans and Samarians\, to Egypt in the first millennium BCE. The papyrus marries East and West in its nostalgia for lost landscapes\, cities\, and cult centers from across the Near East\, yet it also joins this nostalgia with themes of renewal and rejuvenation in a new land. It seems likely that the various compositions on the papyrus became anthologized as such in Egypt. \nThe Internal Organization of Papyrus Amherst 63\nBased on the 2018 published edition of Papyrus Amherst 63 Professor van der Toorn’s lecture will allow attendees of the workshop to engage with the most recent scholarship on the subject of the internal organization of the document.  His general subject will focus on how the document is organized\, but will also engage with students and other participants about any issue that arises in connection with the papyrus. \nProfessor Tawyn Holm’s Bio\nTawny Holm earned her Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Languages at The Johns Hopkins University\, and is now an Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and the Jewish Studies Program at Pennsylvania State University. Her main research areas are Hebrew Bible and Aramaic studies\, including Aramaic language and Aramean religion and culture. She is the author of Of Courtiers and Kings: The Biblical Daniel Narratives and Ancient Story-Collections (Eisenbrauns\, 2013)\, and Aramaic Literary Texts\, soon to appear in the SBL series “Writings from the Ancient World.” The latter is a bilingual edition of Aramaic literary texts from the Levant to Egypt\, in particular the multi-composition Papyrus Amherst 63\, written in Aramaic language but with Demotic Egyptian script. Other projects include a monograph on ancient Aramaic literature generally (under contract with de Gruyter)\, a critical edition of Papyrus Amherst 63 (also with de Gruyter)\, and a textbook of Imperial Aramaic currently under review. Professor Holm is also editing a collective volume\, Handbook of Religions in the Ancient Near East\, for Oxford University Press\, and co-editing with Juan Pedro Monferrer Sala the Proceedings volume of the 8th Biennial Meeting of the International Association of Comparative Semitics in 2019. Among other professional service\, she is an editorial board member of the Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions\, a member of the Eisenbrauns Editorial Committeee for Penn State University Press\, and Aramaic epigrapher for The University of Vienna Middle Egypt Project at Sheikh Faḍl. \nProfessor Karel van der Toorn’s Bio\nKarel van der Toorn is currently professor of Religion and Society at the University of Amsterdam. He studied Hebrew Bible and Semitic languages in Paris and Amsterdam; did his PhD on Sin and Sanction in Israel and Mesopotamia (1985). He wrote extensively on Israelite religion in the context of ancient Near Eastern civilisation. He published an edition of Papyrus Amherst 63\, along with translation and commentary\, in 2018 (in the series Alter Orient und Altes Testament\, 448; Münster: Ugarit-Verlag). His latest book Becoming Diaspora Jews: Behind the Story of Elephantine (Yale University Press\, 2019) explores the significance of Papyrus Amherst 63 for the history of the Jewish community at fifth century BCE Elephantine\, Egypt. \n  \nPlease click here to register for the Zoom Webinar.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-workshop-papyrus-amherst-63/
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/352215v_0001.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR