Persia

Archaeology · Political History

Queens, Crisis, and Coinage at the End of the Sasanian World

Coins were more than currency in the pre-modern world. They were among the most public expressions of political authority. In the final decades of the Sasanian Empire, the coinage of female rulers offers a rare glimpse into how authority was asserted amid dynastic crisis and imperial collapse.

Religious history

Imagining Zoroaster’s Domestic Life

How did medieval Zoroastrians imagine the family of Zoroaster, the founding figure of their religion?

“Layla, you got me on my knees, Layla…”

What is my favourite medieval Persian poet Nezami (d. 1209) doing on the cover of an English rock album? Why was Eric Clapton so attracted to the romance Layla and Majnun that he composed his seminal song Layla?

Literature

There was a Door to which I found no Key

The quatrains of Omar Khayyam, in Edward FitzGerald’s adaptation, have a special appeal worldwide. In this blog, the English adaptation of one of the most popular quatrains is compared to the original Persian. How has Khayyam’s worldview been translated?

Literature

The Moving Finger: Glimpses into the Life of a Persian Quatrain

How did the Rubáiyát attributed to the medieval philosopher Omar Khayyam find its way on board of the R.M.S. Titanic, into a parody of Mark Twain, and even into a speech of President Bill Clinton?