Telling Tales: Constructing Sasanian History in the Landscape The 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 Entangled Empire: Dress, Reciprocal Construction, and the Experience of Kingship at Persepolis In reliefs across Persepolis, the Achaemenid administrative center, depictions of mediated bodies offer insight into an imperial ideology that generates inclusion through categorical and material slippages. The crown of the king parallels the crenellations of the architecture that surround him even as...
The Collapse of Empire: Gordion’s Transition from the Achaemenid to the Hellenistic World This talk will highlight the huge changes that characterized Gordion’s transition from the Achaemenid to the Hellenistic periods. Gordion, ancient capital of Phrygia, was a large and thriving city of secondary importance during the period of the Achaemenid Persian empire (ca 550–333...
How Zoroastrians Argued with Muslims in the Early Islamic Period This lecture will explore the early conflict between Zoroastrians and Muslims by examining the most important polemical treatise in the Zoroastrian tradition, the Škand Gumānīg-Wizār (“The Doubt-Dispelling Disquisition”), written by the ninth/tenth century theologian and philosopher Mardānfarrox son of Ohrmazddād. A sophisticated work of rationalist theology,...
Consolidation of Law, Legal Order, and the Question of Constitutionalizing Processes in the Achaemenid Empire The Old Persian inscriptions of Darius I deal with a range of legal, particularly constitutional questions. The famous grave inscription from Naqsh-i Rustam (DNb) constitutes the conceptional center of a thematical text corpus, exemplified in specific details and different legal...
Due to recent events on campus resulting in the cancellations of classes at UCLA today, Professor Robert Rollinger's lecture has been canceled. We apologize for any inconvienence and thank you for your understanding. We look forward to hosting you at one of our upcoming events soon. The “Persian Wars”: An Alternative Perspective? The “Persian...
Byzantium Within a Medieval Eurafricasian Literary Polysystem: Historiography, Fictional Tales, and the Practices of Narrative Representation Byzantium and its literature has been excluded from the national canons of European literatures. While there are some obvious reasons for this exclusion in the 18th–19th century, it is worth noting that also Byzantinists supported this exclusion by...
The Rise of Persian: Understanding the Evolution of Writing in the Sasanian and Early Islamic Periods This talk explores the evolution of writing during the Sasanian and early Islamic periods, shedding light on the long-term process that led to Persian becoming the lingua franca in Western and Central Asia from Iran to the borders of...
Imperial Foundations of the Silk Road: Persian Roads and Han Walls While the Silk Road is often celebrated as a pivotal example of early globalization, scholarship has primarily focused on the consequences of its connectivity, neglecting the crucial question of its formation and operational logistics. This lecture re-examines the origins and mechanisms of this trans-Eurasian...
The Denavar Satyrs as Time Travelers: From Ancient Persia to Greece, Rome, and 20th Century Collections The influence of Greco-Roman artistic traditions on the Parthian Empire (c. 250 BCE–225 CE) remains a subject of debate, with little direct evidence attesting to their presence. One long-overlooked artifact that challenges this assumption is the recently reconstructed Denavar...
