This blog connects the reader with the rich past and present of Eurasia. The aim is to promote interest in and discussion of history, philology, archaeology and anthropology without forcing the subject to be viewed through the prevalent prisms of Orientalism, Hellenocentrism, and Islamocentrism
Written by Afsheen Sharifzadeh, a graduate of Tufts University focusing on Iran and the Caucasus. This article provides a brief history of the Zoroastrian (Mazdean) religion and the Ādur Gušnasp fire temple located at Taḵt-e Solaymān (Shīz), Iran, which served an important role in the religious and political framework of the Sasanian Persian Empire (1-5) …
Continue reading Eternal Fires of Ancient Iran–On the Sasanian-era Ādur Gušnasp Zoroastrian Temple
Written by Afsheen Sharifzadeh, a graduate of Tufts University focusing on Iran and the Caucasus. This article surveys the Iranian presence in pre-Islamic Arabia and the medieval Islamic world and addresses Classical Arabic loans in Modern Persian. It features an exclusive English-language appendix of 200 Middle Iranian loans into Classical Arabic and their etymologies, compiled by …
Continue reading The Iranian Presence in Classical Arabic and Medieval Islamic Learning