CIS NEWSLETTER

MEALAC–Columbia University–New York

NEWSLETTERCENTER FOR IRANIAN STUDIES

Vol. 13, No.2 Fall 2001

Encyclopædia Iranica: Volume X PublishedFascicle 1, Volume XI in Press

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With the publication of fascicle6 in the Summer of 2001, VolumeX of the Encyclopædia Iranica wascompleted. The first fascicle of Vol-ume XI is in press and will be pub-lished in December 2001. The firstfascicle of volume XI features over 60articles on various aspects of Persianculture and history.

PRE-ISLAMIC PERSIA

Nine entries feature Persia’s Pre-Is-lamic history and religions: “Gnosti-cism” in pre-Islamic Iranian world, byK. Rudolph. “Gobryas,” the most widelyknown form of the old Persian nameGaub(a)ruva, by R. Schmitt. “GiyanTepe,” large archeological mound lo-cated in Lorestan province, by E. O.Negahban. “Godin Tepe,” Median ar-chaeological site in central Zagros, byT. Cuyler Young, Jr. “Gobadshah,”name of a mythical ruler first appear-ing in medieval Zoroastrianism, by D.N. Mackenzie. “Golinduch,” 6th cen-tury female Christian martyr, by S.Brock. “Robert Gobl,” noted Austriannumismatist, by M. Alram. “Gobayra,”medieval township in Kerman province,by A. D. H. Bivar. And “Gold” i.e. pro-duction of gold in Persia in the pre-Is-lamic period, by J. Ross.

ISLAMIC PERSIA: HISTORY AND

BIOGRAPHY

Eight entries treat Persian his-tory from medieval to moderntimes, including “Golden Horde,”name given to the Mongol Khanate

ruled by the descendents of Juji, theeldest son of Genghis Khan, by P. Jack-son. “Golshan-e Morad,” a history of theZand Dynasty, authored by MirzaMohammad Abu’l-Hasan Ghaffari, by J.Perry. “Golestan Treaty,” agreementarranged under British auspices to endthe Russo-Persian War of 1804-13, byE. Daniel. “Joseph Arthur deGobineau,” French man of letters, art-ist, polemist, Orientalist, and diplomatwho served as Ambassador of France inthe court of Naser al-Din shah and wroteon Persia, by J. Calmard. “JacobusGolius,” Orientalist of the Safavid pe-riod, by J. T. P. De Bruijn. “Major Gen-

Continued on page 6

Shirin NeshatShirin NeshatShirin NeshatShirin NeshatShirin Neshat

at Iranian-at Iranian-at Iranian-at Iranian-at Iranian-American FAmerican FAmerican FAmerican FAmerican Forumorumorumorumorum

On the 22nd of September, theEncyclopædia Iranica’s Iranian-Ameri-can Forum (IAF) organized it’s inau-gural event: a cocktail party and pre-sentation by Shrin Neshat at the PlumBlossoms Gallery in the Chelsea neigh-borhood of Manhattan. IAF’s lectureseries are organized to raiseawareness and understanding forEncyclopædia Iranica, promotedialogue among those interested inPersian culture, particularly youngprofessionals, and explore Persian arts,poetry, literature, and cinema.

Internationally renowned photogra-phy and video artist Shirin Neshatproved an excellent choice for thisevent. Neshat’s works, which ques-tion presumptions about gender rolesin Islam, have been exhibited in manycountries, and her solo shows havebeen held at the Whitney Museum ofAmerican Art, London’s Tate Galleryof Modern Art, and the Art Instituteof Chicago.

In his opening remarks Prof.Yarshater extended the appreciationof the staff of Encyclopædia Iranicato Shirin Neshat and the ExecutiveCommittee of the Iranian-American

Gala Benefit DinnerLos Angeles,

March 9, 2002Annual gala benefit dinners

organized by Friends of theEncyclopædia Iranica arebecoming a feature of ourfundraising activities. Therecent series of such galasbegan in New York in 1999,followed by a gala in Washing-ton D.C. in 2001, both charac-terized by excellent programs,large attendance, and splendidresults. The next gala benefitdinner will take place in LosAngeles at the Beverly HillsHotel on March 9, 2002 and itpromises to be one of the most

Continued on page 4• Gold cup from 8th-7th B.C.E.,

Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran; fromthe entry “Gold.”

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name of the20th centurypoet Majd al-D i nMirfakhra’i, byA. Karimi-Hakkak. “A.A h m a dG o l c h i n - eMa’ani,” liter-ary scholar,bibliographer,and poet, by I.Afshar . And“Barnama-yeGolha,” (lit.,Flower Pro-gram) a seriesof radio pro-grams combin-ing classicalPersian musicand Persianpoetry, thatwas on the airfor almost 23years from1956-79, by D.Pirnia and E. Nakjavani.

Also related to literature is the entry“Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von” onHafez’s influence on the German poet,by H. Tafazoli; and “Goethe Institutein Tehran,” German institute for teach-ing German abroad founded in 1951, byH. Chehabi.

PRESS:A number of Persian newspapers,

magazines, and publishers are treatedin this fascicle, including “Gity,” leftistdaily paper published in 1943; “Gol-eZard,” literary, socio-satirical newspa-per published from 1918-24; “Golestan,”several newspapers by that name pub-lished in Tehran; and “Golshan,” cul-tural magazine published in the earlydays of 1917 in Tehran, all by N. Parvin.“Farid al-Dawla Golgun,” Constitution-alist and journalist, publisher and edi-tor of Golgun newspaper published inHamadan, by P. Azkai. And “Golaqa,” aweekly satirical magazine founded byKayumart Saberi in 1990, by EIr.

SHI’ISM AND SUFISM

Shi’ism and Sufism are the subjectof five enties: “Gholat,” Arabic term for“exaggerators” applied to extremistShi’ites, by H. Halm. “Ala’-al-Din

2

eral Goldsmid,” British scholar, nego-tiator and arbitrator of the Perso-Afghanboundary dispute in 1870s, by D.Wright. “Arbab Rostam Giv,” Zoroas-trian philanthropist and Senator, by F.Mehr. “Abbasqoli Golshaian,” civil ser-vant, minister in several cabinets, andgovernor-general of major provinces inthe Pahlavi period, by A. Milani.

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

Art and Architecture is the subject

of six entries, com-prising “AndreGodard,” French ar-chitect, archeologist,and art historian, byE. Gran-Aymerichand M. Marefat. “Golo Bolbol,” (rose andnightingale), a popu-lar literary and deco-rative theme, by L.Diba. “GholamrezaK h o s h n e v i sEsfahani,” calligra-pher and epigraphistof late 19th centuryPersia; and “Ali AkbarGolestana,” a calligra-pher, scholar, andmystic of late 19thcentury Persia, bothby M. Ekhtiar.“Golshan Album,” asumptuous 16th-cen-tury album of paint-ings, drawings, callig-raphy, and engravingsby Mughal, Persian,Deccani, Turkish, and

European artists in the Golestan Pal-ace Library; “Golestan-e Honar,” a 16thcentury treatise on the art of calligra-phy, both by K. Eslami.

LITERATURE AND LINGUISTICS:Persian language and literature is the

subject of seven entries. An entry onSadi’s “Golestan,” probably the singlemost influential work of prose in thePersian tradition, by F. Lewis. “HosaynGolgolab,” botanist, musician, poet,

scholar, andmember of thePersian Academyof Language, byH. Ettehad-Baboli. “Gioni,” aPersian dialect ofthe Northern LoriType, by C.M a c k i n n o n .“ F r a n c i sGladwin,” lexi-cographer andtranslator ofworks of Persianliterature intoEnglish, by P.Loloi. “GolchinGilani,” pen-

• Mirror Case, from the entry “Gol o Bolbol.”

• Gold bracelet, 11th-12th Century; Smithsonian Institution.From the entry “Gold”

“J. A. de Gobineau”

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• Calligraphy from the entry “Golshan Album”• Ewer with cut decoration, 10th-12th Century

from the entry “Glass”

3

• A pair of Giva, from the entry“Giva.”

Golestana,” prominent religious scholarof the Safavid period from Shiraz, by H.Algar. Grand Ayatollah SayyedMohammad “Golpayagani,” a prominentShi’ite source of emulation (marja-etaqlid) at Qom in the early 1960s-early

1990s, by A.K a z e m iM o u s a v i .“Gisudaraz,”popular titleof SayyedMohammadb. YusofHosayni, In-dian trans-mitter of Sufitraditions, byR. M. Eaton.“Go lshan -eRaz,” (TheRose Garden

of Mysteries), a concise didacticmathnavi explaining over 1,000 termsand concepts of Sufism, by H. Algar.

MATERIAL CULTURE & GEOGRAPHY

Five entries treat material culture, in-cluding “Giva,” a traditional footwear in

Persia, by J. Sadaqat-Khish. “Golab,”rosewater, by H. A’lam. “Glass,” i.e.,production of glass in Persia from pre-Islamic period, by J. Kroger. “Gold,” i.e.,production of gold in Persia in the pre-Islamic period by, J. Ross and in IslamicPeriod by J. Allan.

Also presented in this fascicle arethree entries on flora of Persia: two ofthem thorough articles under the title“Gol,” one in the sense of “Rose,” theother in the sense of “Flower”; and“Golpar,” any of several perennial aro-matic herbaceous plants of the genusHeracleum, both by H. A’lam.

Geography of Persia is the subject oftwo entries: “Glaciers and Ice Fields inPersia”, by E. Ehlers; and “Golpayagan,”sub-province and town located inIsfahan province, by M. Yousofnezhad.

CENTRAL ASIA, INDIA,AND OTTOMAN EMPIRE

Cultural relations between Persia andneighboring countries of Central Asia,Indian Sub-continent, and OttomanEmpire is the subject of eight entries:“Gojdavan,” town and districtclose to Bukhara, by H.

Borjian . “Ghobari,Abd-al-Rahman b. Abd-Allah,” Ottoman poet,calligrapher, and Sufiwho wrote in bothTurkish and Persian;“Golpinarli Abdolbaki,”Turkish scholar, notedin particular for hisstudies of the TurkishSufi orders; “Gol-shahri Solayman,” Ot-toman Sufi and poetwho wrote in Persianand Turkish, all by T.Yazici. “GolshaniEbrahim,” Sufi, poet,and the founder of theGolshaniya branch ofthe Khalwati Sufi Or-der, by EIr. “Gholam-sarvar Lahuri,” 19thcentury historian,hagio-grapher, andpoet in Persian andUrdu; and “GholamHosayn Khan Taba-tabai,” both by A.Naushahi. “GolbadanBegom,” 16th century

• “Andrè Godard”historian and daughter of Zahir-al-DinBabor, the founder of Mughal Dynastyin India, who wrote her historical worksin Persian, by M. Rahman.

“Golshan Dehlavi,”Naqshbandi Sufiand prolific poet in Persian with the penname Golshan by M. Aqeel.

CIS NEWSLETTER 4

Friends of theEncyclopædia Iranica

In the course of the past six monthsthe Editor of the EncyclopædiaIranica visited Paris, Lausanne,Geneva, London, Los Angeles, Seattle,Vancouver, San Francisco, and Wash-ington, D.C., in order to meet withfriends and prospective supporters ofthe Encyclopædia Iranica.

ParisThe Association des Amis de

l’Encyclopedie Iranica in Paris orga-nized a gathering at the National Insti-tute for Oriental Languages and Cul-tures on June 7, 2001 in support ofIranica. The meeting was attended byover thirty members of the Associationand other friends of Iranica. Profes-sor Iraj Ganjbakhch, the President ofthe Association, gave a report of thepast activities and future programs ofthe Association and called on the audi-ence and others to support the Ency-clopedia so that the project may becompleted in years to come. Dr.Yarshater followed by presenting adetailed report on the activities of En-cyclopedia Iranica and its Foundationand he then extended the gratitude ofthe staff of the Encyclopædia Iranicato Prof. Ganjbakhch, Dr. AbbasSassanfar, Vice President, Mr.Abdolhamid Eshragh, Secretary, andMrs. Farideh Ahi, Treasurer of theAssociation. He pointed out that theAssociation has been among the mostactive and successful ever to promotethe Encyclopedia Iranica. He espe-cially praised the indefatigable Mr.Eshragh for his relentless efforts on be-half of the Encyclopædia.

Mr. Eshragh, in his turn, expressedhis gratitude to the Friends ofEncyclopædia Iranica in Paris whohad so enthusiastically embraced thecause of the project. As evidence ofthis, he pointed out a few of the suc-cesses achieved in just the past twoyears. Chief among these was the for-mation of the “1000 Club” in France,which totaled fifteen members andadded two more members before theevening’s proceedings came to a close.The evening ended on a happy notewhen Mr. Eshragh handed over acheck in the amount of $10,000 for theEncyclopædia Iranica. The donationcame from Mrs. Houri Moghadam(Mostowfi), a loyal friend of the

Encyclopædia and an ac-tive philanthropist andhelper of various chari-table causes.

Lausanne & GenevaIn Switzerland the

Editor first visitedLausanne on June 9,where he met with Prof.Hossein Sadeghi, and Dr.Houchang Hadji, twofriends and supporters ofthe Encyclopædia. FromLausanne he proceededto Geneva where he at-tended a meeting organized by a groupof Encyclopædia Iranica’s friends, fol-lowed by cocktails, all generously spon-sored by Mr. Mansour Afshar. Mr.Abolfath Mahvi, an erstwhile sup-porter of the Encyclopædia and thefounder of the Mahvi Foundation (un-fortunately no longer in existence), anda number of supporters of theEncyclopædia also attended, includingMrs. Barazandeh Achraf-Arjomand;the Editor gave a report of the Project’sactivities. At a subsequent meeting, an“association” of the Friends of theEncyclopædia Iranica for fundraisingwas formed with Dr. NasseredinParvin, Dr. Shapur Rassekh, Dr.Mohammad-Reza Djalili, Mr. FarokhDerakhshani, and Mrs. Vakili as itsmembers. It is hoped that the commit-tee will become active soon.

LondonOn June 14 of this year, the Editor,

together with Mr. Abdol HamidEshragh who kindly took time off toaccompany him, attended a receptionorganized in London at the residenceof Dr. Azar Ebtehaj . Dr. Ebtehajopened the session by extending hergratitude to Prof. Yarshater, andcalled for support of the EncyclopædiaIranica. Dr. Yarshater discussed thechallenges and prospects of the Iranicaproject.

Los AngelesAt the invitation of Dr. Ata

Montazeri, the founding President ofthe Keyan Foundation, the Editorvisited Los Angeles in early Octoberwhere he met with the ExecutiveCommittee of the Gala 2002 (March 9).He was briefed about the progress ofthe venture and the activities plannedby the Committee. The first announce-

ment of the Gala is already out, andthe hard work and dedicated effortsof the Committee and the various sub-committees promise excellent results.

SeattleOn 5th of October at the invitation

of Dr. Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, Prof.of Persian Language and Literature atthe University of Washington, Prof.Yarshater attended a gathering atthe Henry Art Gallery of the Univer-sity of Washington to acquaint the Per-sian community of Seattle with theEncyclopædia Iranica and encouragetheir support. Over 150 communitymembers and a number of prominentofficials of the University attended thegathering.

Prof. Karimi opened the meetingwith a description of the EncyclopædiaIranica, its mission, and its need forsupport. Prof. Michael Halleran, theAssociate Dean of the College of Artsand Sciences, and Prof. MichaelWilliams, the Chair of the Departmentof Near Eastern Languages andCultures, also pointed out the signifi-cance of the project, and expressedtheir appreciation to Prof. Karimi fororganizing the gathering. Prof. JereBachrach, Director of Jackson Schoolof International Studies who was outof town, had sent a message of support.

Prof. Yarshater briefly spoke aboutthe Encyclopædia Iranica project, itshistory, the support it received over theyears from the National Endowmentfor the Humanities, and its need for theassistance of all those who appreciatea reliable record of the facts ofPersian history and culture. A ques-tion and answer session followed.After the meeting a delightful dinner

new

s

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• Mrs. Ahi, Dr. Sassanfar, Prof. Ganjbakhch and Mr. Eshragh

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SUPPORT FORENCYCLOPÆDIA IRANICA

5fu

nd

ing

The Encyclopædia Iranica is a projectof Columbia University carried out by itsCenter for Iranian Studies. Partially sup-ported by the National Endowment for theHumanities, the project is being madepossible by donations from institutions andindividuals. We acknowledge with thanksthe donations by the following for the pe-riod of April 21-November 15, 2001.

PatronsPatronsPatronsPatronsPatronsAhoora FoundationSoudavar Memorial Foundation

BenefactorsBenefactorsBenefactorsBenefactorsBenefactorsAmirsaleh, Hossein AmirsalehFoundationDiba, Dr. LaylaGhassemieh, AliInstitute for Ismaili StudiesMimran, Patrick

SponsorsSponsorsSponsorsSponsorsSponsorsAllison, Herbert & SiminMoghadam, Hamid & Christina

Rastegar, SedighehBekhrad, FereshtehGhahary, Dr. AkbarFriends of Iranica in ParisBijan & Soraya Amin FoundationIranian Jewish Cultual Org. of CAKhalili, Nardjes

2000 Club2000 Club2000 Club2000 Club2000 ClubAchraf-Arjomand, BarazandehGhavami, Dr. & Mrs. ZiaIranian American Society, NYZandieh, Dr. & Mrs. Mansour

1000 Club1000 Club1000 Club1000 Club1000 ClubAhmadi, Dr. CyrusAtai, Dr. S. BazarganFateh, Dr. MajidHakimi, Dr. NargessKhan-Mohamadi, Dr. MHoutan, Dr. MinaMirlohi, Dr. HooshangSAFAS CorporationShafaie, Dr. FarrokhVaseghi, Dr. Mehdi

1000 Club of Paris1000 Club of Paris1000 Club of Paris1000 Club of Paris1000 Club of ParisAhi, Farideh & Farhad

Farhangi, ManouchehrGhiai-Chamlou, MarietteMonaghah, Amir NosratShahidi, SorayaZanganeh, Ghodsi

SustainersSustainersSustainersSustainersSustainersAmanat, BesharatNajafi, SaidTaghinia-Heller, LeilaZartoshty, Rostam

SupportersSupportersSupportersSupportersSupportersEdison InternationalRassekh, Mr. & Mrs. ChapurSamimi/Ghazinouri

FriendsFriendsFriendsFriendsFriendsAbbasian, GitiAbrar, HeschmatollahAzimi, Dr. SadeghGoudarznia, SaeedMirjalili, EbrahimMortezai, Morteza & FausiaNaimi, KhodadadSafaie, MohammadShahrivar, Shahriar

was held at theresidence of Dr.and Mrs. SohrabMoshiri sponsoredby Mr. and Mrs.M a h m o u dKhalighi.

Thanks to thededicated efforts ofProfessor Karimi,and Mr. And Mrs.Iraj Khademi, aswell as some other members of the Per-sian community of Seattle, 15 sets of theEncyclopædia Iranica were purchased,making Seattle proportionately the rich-est city in terms of possession of setsof the Encyclopædia Iranica.

VancouverOn the 6th of October the Editor

attended a dinner meeting arranged byMrs. Nezhat Khosrowshahi, a trusteeof the Encyclopædia Iranica Founda-tion, at her residence, where the pos-sibility of a Gala in 2003 or 2004 wasdiscussed. The following day he metwith Mr. Abbasgholi Bakhtiar and Mr.Majid Mohseni, an active and gener-ous supporter of the EncyclopædiaIranica to further discuss the prospects

Continued from previous page

• Mr. IrajKhademi

of fundraising in Vancouver.

San FranciscoA meeting was organized by Dr.

Keyvan Tabari, Esq. on the 8th ofOctober in order to explore the possi-bility of a gala benefit dinner in the SanFrancisco Bay area. The meeting wasattended by a number of successful andsocially active younger Iranian-Ameri-cans (in fact the stars of the Persiancommunity in the Bay area).

The Editor was much heartened bythe support of those who attended.A committee was formed of the attend-ees, namely, Ms. Susan Akbarpour,Mr. Mahmood Firoozbakht, Mr.Noosheen Hashemi, Ms. GitaKashani, Ms. Ziba Marashi, Ms. NazliMonihan, Ms. Jaleh Miller, Ms. Chris-tina Moghadam, Ms. Niloofar Nouri(Ms. Ladan Afrasiabi, Ms. AzadehHariri, and Mr. Shahin Tabrizi whocould not attend were also invited toparticipate). The date for the 2003Gala was tentatively set for March 1st.

Washington DCOn the 17th of November, the

Editor was present at a meetingattended by Dr. Abulfath Ardalan,Mrs. Gazelle Hashemian, Mr.

Behrooz Guerami, Ms. Goli Kashani,and Dr. Farnoosh Shahrokhi, inMcLean, Virginia to discuss thepossibility of further fundraisingactivities for the Encyclopædia Iranicain the Washington, D.C. area. (Mrs.Iran Davar-Ardalan, Mrs. RoyaHakim-zadeh, Mrs. Bahareh Sharghi,and Mr. Sasan Kimiavi, who could notattend, will join the group).

It was agreed by all to keep up thegood work of the Washington GalaBenefit Committee and plan one or twofundraisers each year.

Friends of EncylopædiaIranica in Dubai

A group of friends of EncyclopædiaIranica in Dubai, including Dr.Ahmad Ahmadi, Mr. HoushangDidehban , Mr. ManouchehrHoushmand, Mr. MohammadSotoudeh, and Dr. Hamid Mousavian,met on November 11 to gather supportfor the Encyclopædia. They organizeda gathering on November 26 in whicha number of philanthropists in thePersian community of Dubai attendedand pledged their support for theEncyclopædia.

CIS NEWSLETTER 6

Seyhoun ReceivesRudaki FoundationAward

At a colorful ceremony, with a fullhouse, held in Vancouver’s Pacific Cen-ter in the Vancouver Museum on Octo-ber 7, 2001 the fourth RudakiFoundation’s Ehsan Yarshater Award wasoffered to the noted Iranian architect andartist, Houshang Seyhoun who had beenchosen by a committee headed by Dr.Monir Taha, the founding director of theFoundation.

Houshang Seyhoun, formerly profes-sor of architecture at Tehran University’sFaculty of Fine Arts and its Dean from1962-1968, was born in August 22,1920 in Tehran. He studied first in Iranand then at the Ecole NationaleSuperieure des Beaux Arts of Paris, fromwhich he graduated as an architect in1948. He was one of the pioneers ofmodern architecture in Iran and has anumber of well-known monuments to hisname, including the Ebn Sina’s (Avicenna)mausoleum in Hamedan, Nader Shah’sin Mashhad, Khayyam’s in Nishabur, theSepah Bank in Tehran, and a number ofprivate houses and offices.

In his appreciation speech, before hehanded the Award Plaque to Mr. Seyhoun,Prof. Yarshater gave an account of Seyhoun’sartistic achievements, emphasizing inparticular his painting which has occupiedmost of his time since the revolution of1979. He pointed out the exceptionalstrength of his drawing, his compositionalskill and his imaginative creation of a greatvariety of shapes and figures.

In his response, Seyhoun gave a sin-

cere and engaging account of his life, thechallenges he had met, and the principleshe had followed. He mentioned his evercritical attitude towards his own work andhis constant striving for perfection.

Part of the celebration consisted of aperformance by master MahmudZolfonoun (violin), Jamshid Zarrin-Qalam(avaz) and Faramarz Birjandian (Persiandrum).

As the celebration coincided with theMehregan Festival and the fiftieth yearof the activity of the Rudaki Foundation,the award ceremony was preceded byintroductory remarks of Dr. Taha aboutthe Foundation and Dr. MehrbanShahrvini on Mehregan.

The earlier recipients of the awardwere Prof. Zabihollah Safa, the eminenthistorian of Persian literature; NaderNaderpour, the outstanding contemporarypoet, and Ali Tajvidi, the well-knownviolinist and composer.

• Dr. Monir Taha and Prof.Houshang Seyhoun

Continued from page One

successful. The program is spon-sored by a number of supportersof the Encyclopædia Iranicaincluding Mr. Khosrow Semnani,Vice-Chairman of our Board ofTrustees and Dr. Akbar Ghahary,the Trustee and Treasurer of theFoundation.

The evening will honor a num-ber of outstanding individualsfrom the Persian community andthose who have rendered singu-lar service to Persian culture. The

Gala Benefit DinnerExecutive Committee, consistingof Dr. Shirin Semnani (Chair),Mrs. Homa Sarshar (Co-chair) andMr. Shan Fazeli (Co-chair), areworking full speed on the pro-gram. They invite participationfrom the United States as wellas abroad to attend, to make do-nations, and to offer items ofvalue for auction on the night ofthe gala. We would like to en-courage al l fr iends of theEncyclopædia to take part. Hav-ing a good time is guaranteed!

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Forum for their initiative in organizingthe event: Ms. Hasti Azar, Ms. FatiGhahary, Ms. Tamila Ghodsi, Ms.Marjan Khalili, Ms. Emily Moghtaderi,Mr. Ali Naraghi, Mr. Sharif NezamMafi, Mr. Sasan Safai, and Ms.Maryam Salari.

Ms. Neshat, who was introduced byProf. Hamid Dabashi of Columbia Uni-versity, showed slides of her pho-tographs and film stills before screen-ing a portion of Turbulent, one of hershort films. Ms. Neshat also delved intothe motivations and methods be-hind her work, and ended by graciouslyanswering questions from the audi-ence. The lecture and screening werefollowed by a lively cocktail reception.The event was thoroughly enjoyed byall who attended.

• Detail of Ferver, 2000, art by ShirinNeshat, featuring Houshang Touzi &

Mitra Ghamsari.

Shirin Neshatat Iranian-American Forum

CIS NEWSLETTER7

Columbia University Seminaron Iranian StudiesFESTIVALS, AUTHENTIC CULTURE

AND THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION

On March 28,2001, Dr. NeginNabavi, AssistantProfessor in theDepartment ofNear EasternStudies, PrincetonUniversity, led adiscussion on“Festivals, Au-thentic Cultureand the Islamic

Revolution.” She introduced the sub-ject-matter by posing a few ques-tions: Why was it that in the earlymonths following the revolution,when secular and left-leaning intel-lectuals were increasingly being sub-jected to accusations of ‘propagatingwestern values’, they hesitated topose a challenge? Why was it thatintellectuals who, in their capacityas intellectuals, would have consid-ered contesting authority and takinga political stance as being part andparcel of being an intellectual, de-cided against taking a stance, andinstead engaged in what was pub-licly called ‘revolutionary self-censor-ship’?

While there may have been an el-ement of exhilaration and awe athaving witnessed a mass movementoverthrow the shah, Dr. Nabavicontended that their hesitation mayhave been partly because the viewsthat had been propagated at the timeof the revolution by Islamistsconcerning the need for ‘culturalrevival’ and ‘regaining one’s past’were not so different from those thatthe secularists had been preachingfor some fifteen years. She then pro-ceeded to discuss what she describedas a discourse of ‘authentic culture’,which had become all-prevalent inintellectual circles in the late 1960sand 1970s.

Dr. Nabavi outlined the back-ground to the emergence of this dis-course and explained how it had de-veloped initially in the context of the

restrictions that had been imposedin the mid-1960s by the regime onthe one hand, the inspiration thatthird-worldist movements had pro-vided for intellectuals on the other,as well as the counterculture in theWest. In fact, she added, even thoughthe notion of an ‘authentic culture’remained vague, the idea of regain-ing an ‘authentic culture’ became sopopular and widespread that eventhe establishment could not remainimpervious to it for long. So it, too,attempted to reinforce an ‘authenticculture’ through several means,among them the formulation of a cul-tural policy, and the organization ofdifferent cultural festivals, such asthe Festival of Culture and Art, theShiraz Arts Festival, the Festival ofTus, and the Festival of Popular Cul-ture. They shared the aim of famil-iarization with and promotion of pasttraditions, primarily through display,both to unite the nation and to de-fine an identity for the country, asan ‘Eastern’ nation in the predomi-nantly ‘Western’ world.

Disenchanted intellectuals, how-ever, found this stance unsatisfac-tory on two levels; firstly, because itwas the proposition put forward bythe state, and secondly, because itwas far too conservative and elitist.Dr. Nabavi, then, went on to discussthe broad arguments that were putforth by disenchanted intellectualsto distinguish themselves from thecultural policy undertaken by thestate. On the one hand, there werethose who questioned both the wis-dom of a cultural policy, as well asthe selectivity involved in the under-standing of ‘authentic culture’ by thestate, since it was not clear to whatextent the drawing of a culturalpolicy sanctioned government inter-ference in the task of the ‘creators ofculture’. (Among them, one couldfind the names of Daryush Ashuriand Hamid Enayat.) On the other,there were those who argued thatreal ‘authentic culture’ could only befound in the strong religious rootsof the society, and hence wrote

articles outlining the advantages ofreviving some sort of spiritual life inthe form of mysticism and religion.However, as Dr. Nabavi pointed out,these were not religious intellectu-als, but secularists who had to writearticles in order to convince them-selves together with their readersthat mysticism and religion offeredfeasible alternatives, and had the po-tential of bringing about a more eq-uitable society. This did not meanthat secularists had suddenly be-come religious. Rather if mysticismand religion appealed now, it wasbecause it conformed to the third-worldist discourse of authenticity,coincided with the suggestions putforward by anti-technocratic think-ers of the West, and proposed analternative to the principle of authen-ticity put forth by the establishment.(Among those advancing such anargument, she mentioned theexample of Mehdi Parham.)

In conclusion, Dr. Nabavi reiter-ated that in an atmosphere wheredefining the characteristics of an‘Eastern’ as opposed to a ‘Western’culture was of importance to all theparties involved, the festivals weremore than the absurd marginaliathat they have often been made outto be.

Even though they may have beenan attempt by the establishment toremove the discussion of ‘authenticculture’ from the exclusivity of dis-enchanted intellectuals, they mayhave ironically played a role in mak-ing secular intellectuals reach theconclusion that ‘authentic culture’had to be other than the appearanceof the culture that had been put onshow by the establishment, thus en-couraging them to look for an alter-native. The trend towards mysticismand/or religion was one such alter-native. Of course, this did not meanthat the secularists ever imaginedthat a revolution resulting in an Is-lamic state would take place. Butwhat it did mean was that once thefirst manifestations of a religiousopposition to the regime began,advocating the cause of ‘authenticculture’, secular progressive intellec-tuals did not hesitate to embrace it.

• Dr. NeginNabavi

CIS NEWSLETTER

The past six months must be considered one of the saddest periods for Ira-nian Studies as the field lost three of its leading scholars: Ilya Gershevitch,Ronald E. Emmerick, and Neil David MacKenzie passed away. We were indebtedto all three in different ways.

In 1956, I had the pleasure of receiving Ilya Gershevitch when he came to Iranin order to study the Bashkerdi dialect in Baluchistan. In 1966 he taught atColumbia University as a visiting professor, when I was on sabbatical leave. Iconsulted him frequently at the planning stage of the Encyclopædia Iranica in theearly seventies. He later contributed at my request the chapter on Bactrianlanguage to the Volume III of Cambridge History of Iran which I edited. Manystudents of Iran gravitated to his house which was always open to receive friendsand scholars. He had intended to write a number of basic articles for theEncyclopædia Iranica, but disliked the limitation of time and space that system-atic encyclopedias must of necessity impose. In the end, the Encyclopædia didnot benefit from his direct contribution, but he continued to give the editor thebenefit of his advise from time to time.

Neil D. MacKenzie was a most valued contributor to the Encyclopædia Iranica.He also helped Iran Center’s publication program in many instances by his me-ticulous editing and frank counseling. He was always a trusted advisor to me,on whose exacting scholarship I could count.

Ronald Emmerick was first a Consulting Editor of the Encyclopædia Iranica forLinguistics and later Philology and, since 1997, a member of its InternationalAdvisory Committee. He was also a frequent contributor and a true friend of theEncyclopædia. In 1997 he agreed to my proposal to edit a volume on pre-IslamicIranian literatures as a companion volume to the projected “A History of PersianLiterature”. As usual he was prompt and efficient, before his illness preventedhim from carrying on the task, now taken over by Prof. Maria Macuch of the FreiUniversität of Berlin.

We are most grateful to Prof. Nicholas Sims-Williams of the University ofLondon for having provided us with the obituary that he wrote for Ilya Gerchevitchand Neil MacKenzie in The Independent which we have adopted, and to Prof.Macuch who wrote the obituary of Ronald Emmerick.

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Ronald E. Emmerick(1937-2001)When Ronald E. Emmerick wrote an

obituary on his mentor and co-researcherSir Harold W. Bailey, published in 1999,he cited a quotation from Shakespeare’sHamlet which also fits perfectly the au-thor himself: “Thou art a scholar.” Pro-fessor Emmerick, who died on the 31stof August this year in Hamburg, Germany,was indeed one of the foremost and mostdistinguished scholars in the field of Ira-nian Studies whose enthusiasm and in-spiring interest never ceased, even dur-ing the long years of his serious illness.He specialized in Old and Middle Iranianlanguages and is best known for his out-standing research in the f ield ofKhotanese studies to which he dedicatednumerous books and articles.

Ronald E. Emmerick was born on the9th of March 1937 in Sydney, Australia,as the only son of his parents. His bril-

liance was already acknowledged at anearly stage, when he finished his stud-ies in Latin, Greek, French and Germanat the University of Sydney in 1959,receiving a B.A. with First Class Honorsand the University Medal for Classics.He worked as a Teaching Fellow in theLatin Department of the Sydney Univer-sity only for a short time in 1959, be-fore going to England in the same year,where, eventually, he would find his truecalling in the field of Oriental Studies.He specialized in Oriental Studies from1959 to 1965 at the University of Cam-bridge, again receiving prizes (theBrotherton Sanskrit Prize; the BhaonagarMedal for Sanskrit) and the RapsonScholarship. In 1962 two memorableevents took place: he married MargaretAnn Frohnsdorff, beginning a successfuland exemplary marriage in the course ofwhich three children were born, and hebegan his fruitful research work underHarold W. Bailey in the field of Indo-Iranian grammatical studies. He was a

Research Fellowof St. John’sCollege in Cam-bridge in 1964(unti l 1967),when he re-ceived his M.A.and Ph.D. in1965. At thesame time heworked as a Lec-turer in IranianStudies from1964 to 1971 at

the University of London, School ofOriental and African Studies. From 1967-8 he was a Visiting Associate Professorof Old and Middle Iranian at the OrientalInstitute of the University of Chicago.

In 1971 he accepted a cal l as“Ordentlicher Professor” for Iranian Phi-lology of the University of Hamburg,Germany, and lived in Quickborn nearHamburg with his family until his “pass-ing this summer.

Due to his broad background in Indo-Iranian studies, Emmerick’s scholarlywork is by no means restricted to thestudy of Khotanese. His numerous pub-lications deal with different fields of re-search, including especially philologicalwork on Sanskrit, Avesta, Sogdian,Pahlavi, and Chorasmian, among others.But he seems to have been especiallyfascinated by the comparatively new andstill badly explored field of Khotanese eversince he became a research studentunder Harold Bailey in 1962. After hav-ing copied three large handwritten vol-umes of Bailey’s - as he called it –“Khotanese Dictionary” (not yet pub-lished) in 1963 by hand (a copy extend-ing to 1332 pages!), he began collect-ing material on Khotanese grammar. Inthe course of this work it became nec-essary to make a fresh close study ofthe largest extant Old Khotanese text.This was published in 1968 under thetit le The Book of Zambasta, AKhotanese Poem on Buddhism.Emmerick’s grammatical studies werealso published in the same year underthe title Saka Grammatical Studies. Inthe following years he published numer-ous edit ions of Khotanese andTumshuqese texts as well as the originalSaka documents (for CII), and continuedhis work on Khotanese grammar andlexicology. As one of the few expertsin the field, he was extremely critical ofBailey’s Dictionary of Khotan Saka whenit finally appeared in 1979, even to thepoint of risking a break-up of their per-

Passing of Three Leading Iranists

• Ronald E. Emmerick

CIS NEWSLETTER9

sonal relationship. Since he was - despitehis criticism - nevertheless convinced thatBailey’s dictionary would remain an in-dispensable tool for the study ofKhotanese, he decided to initiate a seriesof volumes entitled Studies in the Vo-cabulary of Khotanese (together withP.O. Skjærvø, volumes I-III, published1982, 1987 and 1997) in order to presentthe different results of his own work.

Besides his scholarly work ProfessorEmmerick developed numerous activitiesduring his stay in Hamburg in the courseof which he was not only honored as aProfesseur au Collège de France in March1988, but was also elected as Consult-ing Editor for Linguistics by theEncyclopædia Iranica (later for Philology),Corresponding Fellow of the British Acad-emy and Corresponding Member of theIstituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente inRome in 1990.

He was “Projektleiter” of theAkademienvorhaben Turfanforschung ofthe Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademieder Wissenschaften since 1994, waselected as Corresponding Member of theÖsterreichische Akademie derWissenschaften in Vienna in 1997 andHonorary Fellow of the Australian Acad-emy of the Humanities in 1999. He wasthe President of the WordPerfect Clubsince the eighties and developed con-siderable knowledge in the field of soft-ware programming.

Ronald Eric Emmerick was buriedSeptember 11, 2001 in Quickborn, nearHamburg, Germany.

Maria Macuch

Ilya Gershevitch(1914-2001)Ilya Gershevitch was an exceptionally

gifted scholar who devoted his life to thelanguages of Iran and Central Asia, solv-ing innumerable linguistic and historicalriddles by a combination of keen intel-lect and insatiable curiosity. He was bornin Zurich in 1914, the son of Russian par-ents who had fled to Switzerland on theoutbreak of war to escape internment inGermany. The young Ilya displayed anearly interest in languages -as was per-haps natural for a Russian-speaking boyin multi-lingual Switzerland - as well as amusical talent inherited from his mother,a professional pianist. During his school-ing in Locarno and Lugano it was for awhile uncertain whether his career wouldlie in music or languages, but the ques-

tion was settledwhen he enteredthe University ofRome in 1933 tostudy classicsand comparativephilology.

After com-pleting his Ro-man doctorate,he came toEngland in 1938with the inten-

tion of staying for three months. In fact,he remained for the rest of his life.Though his decision not to return to Romewas no doubt influenced by politicalevents in Italy and the approach of war,an equally important motive was a new-found desire to pursue the study of Ira-nian languages under the guidance ofW.B. Henning at the School of OrientalStudies, London University.

Henning was clearly an inspiringteacher, whom Gershevitch revered andon whom he modelled himself in manyways. He could hardly have chosen bet-ter. Although Henning was only six yearsolder than Gershevitch, he had alreadygained a deserved reputation as a scholarof exceptional authority, one of theworld’s leading specialists both in theManichean religion and in the Middle Ira-nian languages. Henning had recentlyedited the longest surviving Manicheanmanuscript written in Sogdian, one of theleast-known of these languages.

Gershevitch took on the daunting taskof analysing the structure and develop-ment of this complex language on thebasis of the fragmentary manuscriptsources, completing it so successfully thathis Grammar of Manichean Sogdian, sub-mitted as a doctoral thesis in 1943 andpublished in 1954, remains a standardwork of reference half a century later.

In 1948 Gershevitch became the firstholder of a new Lectureship in IranianStudies at Cambridge University. Havingdrawn up an elaborate syllabus coveringno less than seven Iranian languages, hedevoted his energies to making himselfexpert in each of them, studyingKhotanese with his senior colleague SirHarold Bailey, Professor of Sanskrit, andOssetic, anarchaic Iranian language stillspoken in the Caucasus, with a “nativeinformant” employed for the purpose. Inpreparation for teaching Avestan, the lan-guage of the earliest Zoroastrian scrip-tures, he began his second book, TheAvestan Hymn to Mithra (1959), a work

which came to be recognised as inaugu-rating a new era in Avestan scholarship.

Gershevitch customarily used thisbook to introduce students to Avestan,though it is hard to imagine a textbookwhich makes fewer concessions to thebeginner: almost every page of the com-mentary contains references to cognatesin half a dozen obscure languages, notto mentin quotations in French, Germanor Russian. But the book is characteris-tic of Gershevitch’s attitude to teaching,which was dedicated but wholly uncom-promising. As I can vouch from my ownexperience, if he felt that he had failed toconvey a point to a student he wasprepared to worry away at the problemfor hour after hour, until long after thepangs of hunger had rendered thestudent incapable of following the subtle-ties of the argument. Not content withsetting new standards in the study of Oldand Middle Iranian, Gershevitch felt theurge to investigate Iranian languages intheir spoken forms. In 1956 he and hiswife,Lisbeth, set off for Iran, where theyspent three months in Bashakard, an areaof the Western Makran that scarcely anyEuropean had penetrated. Gershevitchmade good use of his field-notes on thepreviously unknown dialects of Bashakardin many publications, though sadly henever found time to write a full accountof the Bashkardi language.

Another major work that never reachedpublication in its complete form was hisseries of Ratanbai Katrak lectures deliv-ered in Oxford in 1968, in whichGershevitch put forward the apparentlyaudacious argument that the Elamitetexts issued by the Persian imperial min-istration in the sixth century BC were notintended to be read as Elamite but as OldPersian. In fact he never publishedanother book, though a volume ofcollected papers, Philologia Iranica,appeared in 1985. He preferred to writearticles, all but the shortest of which arefull of fascinating digressions and asideson matters which one would neversuspect from their title.

After settling in England Gershevitchalways wrote in English, a languagewhich he employed with fastidious ac-curacy though with unexpected touchesof colour. (A delightful phrase of his was“a chip off the old shoulder”, though thecontext in which it was uttered now es-capes me.)Conversation and congenialcompany being amongst his chiefpleasures, he was in his element as a Fel-

Continued on page 10

• Ilya Gershevitch

CIS NEWSLETTER 10

low of Jesus College, which he servedfor many years as Praelector.

I lya Gershevitch received manyhonours, including an honorary doctor-ate from the University of Berne, whichgave him the rare opportunity to employhis Schwyzerdutsch in public. Hewaselected a Fellow of the British Academyin 1967 and later a corresponding mem-ber of several foreign academies. For fouryears (1980-84) he served as Presidentof the Philological Society, for which hehad great affection. It was as a philolo-gist that he would wish to be remem-bered; a student of texts for whom theircontent and context were neither morenor less important than the language inwhich they were expressed.

Ilya Gershevitch, philologist: born Zurich24 October 1914; Lecturer in Iranian Stud-ies, Cambridge University 1948-65, Reader1965-82 (Emeritus); Fellow, Jesus College,Cambridge 1962-2001; FBA 1967; mar-ried 1951 Lisbeth Syfrig (one daughter);died Cambridge 11 April 2001.

Nicholas Sims-WilliamsRepinted by permission from The

Independent, Obituaries, May 10, 2001

D. N. MacKenzieD. N. MacKenzieD. N. MacKenzieD. N. MacKenzieD. N. MacKenzie(1926-2001)(1926-2001)(1926-2001)(1926-2001)(1926-2001)D.N. MacKenzie was a polyglot whose

linguistic knowledge was remarkable inboth range and depth. Generally recog-nized as the world’s leading authority onmodern Kurdish and mediaevalKhwarezmian, he also made distinguishedcontributions to the study of many otherIranian languages, including Pashto, Pahlaviand Sogdian, at the same time displayingenviable competence in non-Iranian lan-guages such as Arabic and Chinese.

Neil MacKenzie — he never used hisfirst name — was born in London in 1926and attended a succession of schools inSlough, Windsor and Cambridge beforeenlisting as a “boy soldier” in 1943. Dur-ing the two years preceding the partitionof India in 1947 he was stationed in theNorth-West Frontier Province, where helearned Pashto and thus became inter-ested in the Iranian family of languages.On his return to civilian life he enrolledat London’s School of Oriental and Afri-can Studies, where he graduated with aB.A. in Persian and an M.A. in Old andMiddle Iranian. After f ieldwork inKurdistan, MacKenzie obtained his PhDin 1957 with a thesis later published asKurdish Dialect Studies (1961-2). Thiswork provided for the first time a sound

basis for a clas-sification of thenumerous dia-lects of Kurdish.Together with aseries of early ar-ticles on the his-tory of Kurdishand its relation-ship to otherWest Iranian lan-guages it imme-diately estab-l i s h e d

MacKenzie’s reputation both as an Iranistand as a general linguist.

MacKenzie had been appointed Lec-turer in Kurdish at SOAS in 1955, butthe title did not do justice to the breadthof his interests. In 1961 it was changedto Lecturer in Iranian Languages and in1965 he was promoted to Reader. Dur-ing the sixties he wrote and publishedimportant books on Pashto literature andon the Gorani dialect of Awroman as wellas on Kurdish, his ever-expanding rangegiving the lie to a former colleague’s de-scription of “poor MacKenzie” as “theman who knows all the dialects and noneof the languages”, a phrase that he en-joyed quoting. At the same time he be-gan to turn his attention to earlier Ira-nian languages, immersing himself suc-cessively in Middle Persian or Pahlavi (to-gether with Judaeo-Persian and other ar-chaic forms of Persian), Sogdian andKhwarezmian.

A particularly important achievementwas his elaboration of the first scientificsystem of transcribing Pahlavi. This sys-tem, presented in two modestly titledworks, “Notes on the transcription ofPahlavi” (SOAS Bulletin 1967) and Aconcise Pahlavi dictionary (1971), hassince been widely adopted. The modestywas typical of a scholar who never tookhis scholarship too seriously and whoonce wrote of his work: “At times I thinkthat etymology should be classed as a‘social disease’ — perhaps requiring oneto ring a little bell to warn the healthy”.

In 1975 MacKenzie was appointed tothe Chair of Oriental Philology at the Uni-versity of Göttingen, an appointmentwhich was all the more gratifying becausehe thus became the successor (at severalremoves) of F. C. Andreas, the teacher ofhis own much-revered mentor, W. B.Henning. During his twenty years inGöttingen his productivity continued un-abated, and by 1990 he had ten books tohis credit as sole or joint author.MacKenzie’s scholarly output was sub-

stantial by any standards. It would surelyhave been even more so if he had not de-voted so much of his time to the work ofothers. He was the de facto editor of manyimportant publications, though seldomcredited as such on the title-page. Havingacquired a personal computer earlier thanmost in his field, he came to be known asan expert in the production of camera-ready copy, a chore which he generouslyundertook for many pupils and colleagues.

An upholder of the highest standardsof scholarship, MacKenzie was fearsomeas an examiner or reviewer. His criticismcould be caustic, since he detested slop-piness and had no time for tactful cir-cumlocutions; but those who had thecourage to submit their work to him inadvance of publication knew that it wouldbe worth their while to endure a certainamount of mortification for the sake ofhis penetrating comments. A friend oncewrote that MacKenzie’s “spirited direct-ness of speech” was respected by thosewho knew him well as an indication ofhis personal integrity. One aspect of thisintegrity was to apply the same standardsto his own work as to others’, to acceptcriticism and admit mistakes, often withself-deprecating humour.

After his retirement in 1994 MacKenziesettled in North Wales. His return to Britainwas immediately followed by his electionas a Fellow of the British Academy. He hadalready been honoured in 1991 by aFestschrift, Corolla Iranica, and in 1999 hiscollected papers were published in two vol-umes as Iranica diversa. In retirement hewas not content to rest on his laurels butcontinued to seek new challenges, investi-gating the little-known Zaza language atthe same time as working on a longstandingproject, the compilation of a Khwarezmiandictionary. It is a matter of extreme regretthat the latter remains unfinished.

Nicholas Sims-WilliamsRepinted by permission from The

Independent, Obituaries, October 22, 2001

Professor David Neil MacKenzie, lin-guist: born London 8 April 1926; Lecturerin Kurdish, SOAS, London University1955-61, Lecturer in Iranian Studies 1961-65, Reader 1965-75; Professor, GöttingenUniversity, 1975-94 (Emeritus); FBA1996; married (1) 1951 Gina (néeSchaefer), 3 sons, 1 daughter, marriagedissolved 1981 (2) 1981 Gabriela (néeHoffmann), marriage dissolved 1988; diedBangor 13 October 2001. NS-W

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• D. N. MacKenzie

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Ahmad Ashraf gave a number oflectures and radio talks in May 2001 onthe significance of the EncyclopædiaIranica as a research tool for variousHumanities disciplines at Stockholm,Uppsala, and Paris. On May 19 he par-ticipated in a talk show on “The Contri-bution of Encyclopædia Iranica to thePromotion of Persian Heritage” at RadioHambastegi in Stockholm. On May 20he participated in a gathering of facultyand graduate students at the Universityof Stockholm and discussed with themthe new Iranica website.

On May 21, Prof. Ashraf visited theDepartment of Asian and African Lan-

guages at the University of Uppsala atthe invitation of Prof. Bo Utas, a notedscholar of mysticism and a contributorto Iranica, and participated in a discus-sion group with a number of faculty andgraduate students regarding theEncyclopædia.

While in Paris, Dr. Ashraf participatedin a series of three radio interviews onthe development of Iranian Studies in the19th and 20th centuries and the signifi-cance of Iranica to the promotion of thefield worldwide. These interviews wereconducted by Prof. Ehsan Naraghi ofUNESCO, and Dr. Jean Khakzad ofRadio Free Europe, Radio Liberty.

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1000/2000 ClubCelebrating the publication of

vol. X of the Encyclopædia Iranica,the Membership Committee of1000/2000 Club, consisting ofMrs. Nahid Ahkami, Mrs. NinaGhavami, and Dr. FarhadHakimi organized a splendidcultural dinner party with anexcellent evening program onNovember 2nd at the Chart Houserestaurant in Weehawken, NewJersey. The event began withcocktails before Mrs. Ghavamiproceeded to give a brief accountof the purpose of the evening’sgathering. Mrs.Ahkami ably orga-nized the program’s itinerary. Dr.Hakimi’s enthusiasm and persis-tent effort to make the program asuccess was reflected in a largenumber of the people whoattended – beyond the expectednumber.

The event began with a perfor-mance of the popular Iraniannational anthem, Sorud-e Ey Iran,by an ensemble of three youngviolinists: Ms. Ida Ahmadi, Ms.Kimia Zahedi, and Ms. DinaZarandi. The musical programconsisted of performances by Mr.Dalia Monasebian (santur), andRon Erikson (zarb).

This event was organized withthe aim to establish a more activeclub, and to provide opportunitiesfor members and guests to social-ize and form closer ties. All whoattended had, by all accounts, awonderful time. A number of par-ticipants pledged to join the1000/2000 Club. We are gratefulto the Membership Committee fortheir relentless efforts to help thecause of Encyclopædia Iranica.

• From left: Mrs. Nina Ghavami, Dr. FarhadHakimi, Mrs. Nahid Ahkami.

Dr. Djalal Khaleghi’s awaitedexplanatory notes on the text ofthe Sahnameh has finally beensent to printers and should be outin two months time. The noteswhich are published in 931 pagesand two volumes constitute ex-planations and comments of thefirst two volumes of the text, thatis, from the beginning to the endof Kay Kavus’ reign.

This is the first time that a Per-sian work has been subjected toso detailed and comprehensiveexplication. Even Hafez’ Divan,which has been the subjectof numerous clarifications and in-terpretations, has not receivedsuch an extensive and minutetreatment as the aim of Hafez’commentators has generally beento explain his difficult or ambigu-ous verses, or else to offer mys-tical interpretations of his lyrics.Dr. Khaleghi’s explanations gomuch farther. They consist of:1) clarifying the form and mean-ing of words; 2) mentioning theMiddle Persian form of words,when it is thought of advantage;3) commenting on the variationsof the words and their historicaldevelopment; 4) discussing theorthography of the words, par-ticularly compound words; 5) dis-cussing the meaning of lines af-ter analyzing their lexical ele-ments, wherever there is a pos-sibility of ambiguity; 6) justify-ing the preference given to a formof a word for inclusion in the text,when a different form occurs in

some significant manuscript oredition; 7) citing examples fromearly Persian works to elucidatethe meaning of words or phrasesand also in order to justify thechoice of one form over others;8) providing the general senseof a group of closely related linesto facilitate an understandingof the individual lines; 9) refer-r ing to the views of otherShahnameh scholars in interpret-ing a word, a phrase or a lineand providing a critique of theirviews, particularly when theauthenticity or spuriousness ofa line or lines is discussed; 10)citing parallel myths and legendsfrom other literatures, whenconsidered helpful.

The reader will find the notesa treasure-house of useful infor-mation, not only about the lan-guage of the Shahnameh, butalso about Persian usages duringthe 10th, 11th, and 12th centuries.They are also a useful instrumentin understanding and appreciat-ing other Persian epics such asGarshasp-nameh, Borzu-nameh,Faramarz-nameh, Bahman-nameh, and Kush-nameh as wellas romantic epics such asGorgani’s Vis o Ramin andNezami’s Khosrow o Shirin andHaft Peykar, as well as the po-etry of the Samanid, Ghaznavidand Saljuq periods in general.

Orders may be placed withEisenbrauns, Inc. at PO Box 257Winona, IN 46590 or atwww.eisenbrauns.com

Notes on the Shahnameh

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Please note that you can now order individualvolumes, or the complete set of volumes publishedthus far at the website.In addition, Dr. AkbarAkbarAkbarAkbarAkbarGhaharGhaharGhaharGhaharGhaharyyyyy, the treasurer for the Encyclopædia IranicaFoundation, will maintain a section on the websiteentitled “Iranica News & Events,” an informativepage containing the latest edition of the newsletter,as well as any current events concerning theEncyclopædia.

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