Recent Trends in Late Antique Iranian Studies

Recent Trends in Late Antique Iranian Studies. Panel I: Legal Structures of Iran in Late Antiquity. Chair: Parvaneh Pourshariati, The Ohio State University. Discussant: Said Arjomand, Stony Brook University. Maria Macuch, Free U Berlin, "The Clause on Property in the Pahlavi Marriage Contract" -- Yaakov Elman, Harvard University, "The Chronology of the Sasanian Lawbook and the Fall of the Empire" -- Haleh Emrani, UCLA, "Family Law in Religious Communities of Late Sasanian and Early Islamic Iran: An Indicator of Social Change and Continuity" -- Richard Payne, Princeton University, "Elite Families in Crisis: Fatherless and Sonless Households in the Seventh Century Iranian World".Recent Trends in Late Antique Iranian Studies. Panel II: Problematics in Chronological Demarcation of Late Antique Iran. Chair: Rosemary Stanfield-Johnson, University of Minnesota, Duluth. Discussant: Elton L. Daniel, University of Hawaii, Manoa. Parvaneh Pourshariati, The Ohio State University, "A Revised Chronology of the Early Arab Conquests of Iraq and Its Implications" -- Touraj Daryaee, University of California, Irvine, "Competing Rulers and Dynasts in Face of the Muslim Conquest: Periodizing the End of Sasanians" -- Ghazzal Dabiri, Columbia University, "Ninth Century Historians and the Shu‘ūbīyah Movement" -- Asef Kholdani, "A Long Duree Perspective of Iranian History: A Chronological Schema".Recent Trends in Late Antique Iranian Studies. Panel III: Sacred, and Martial Expressions of Iran in the Late Antique Period. Chair: Maria Macuch, Freie Universitaet Berlin. Discussant: Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, British Museum. Hossein Kamaly, Columbia University, "Whence Came the Aswārān?: Where Did They Disappear?" -- Joel Walker, University of Washington, "The Gentleman Wore Pearls: Pearled Vestments and Male Jewelry in the Sasanian and Early Islamic Middle East" -- Abolala Soudavar, Independent Scholar, "Mithraic Societies: A Lasting Structure for Iranian Brotherhoods" -- Matthew Canepa, Merton College, Oxford/College of Charleston, "Building a New Vision of the Past in the Late Sasanian Empire: The Creation and Experience of the Avestan".Recent Trends in Late Antique Iranian Studies. Part IV: Urban, Agriculture, and Administrative Processes and Transformations in Late Antique Iran. Chair: Ghazzal Dabiri, Columbia University. Discussant: Michael G. Morony, UCLA. Richard W. Bulliet, Columbia University, "Cotton Farming and the Transition from a Sasanid to an Islamic Economy" -- Hugh Kennedy, SOAS, "Early Islamic Iraq and the Heritage of Late Sasanian Administrative Practice" -- Khodadad Rezakhani, UCLA, "Late Antique Economy of Iran: Empires, Microsystems, and Economic Boundaries, 500-800 CE".Four panels at the Middle East Studies Association Conference, Boston, November 20-24, 2009 organized by Parvaneh Pourshariati, The Ohio State University. The four panels were entitled "Recent Trends in Late Antique Iranian Studies." Each panel was dedicated to a specific theme: "Legal Structures of Iran in Late Antiquity", "Problematics in Chronological Demarcation of Late Antique Iran", "Sacred, and Martial Expressions of Iran in the Late Antique Period", and "Urban, Agriculture, and Administrative Processes and Transformations in Late Antique Iran".Association for the Study of Persianate Societie

Ethics of War and Peace in the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi

This article provides an overview of the ethics of war and peace in the most important and normatively influential work of epic literature known in the eastern lands of Islam, namely the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi (d. 1020 CE). As one of the greatest sources of the Iranian cultural identity for over a millennium, Shahnameh (lit. The book of kings) defines normative ideals in the ethics of war and peace within narratives that connect the ancient history of Iran to its mythical eras and in effect to both the medieval time of the epic\u27s authorship and modern Iranian identity. By identifying limits, standards and legitimacy for war and peace in Shahnameh, this article aims to facilitate an Iranian contribution to the global literature and practice on peacemaking that has deep roots in the Islamo-Persian tradition