Please join the Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World for a lecture by Dr. Mehrnoush Soroush of Harvard University as part of the 2018-2019 Lecture Series. The Lords of Canals: Re-Examining the Sasanian Hydraulic Landscapes and Their Heritage in the Islamic Period Sasanian kings are known as builders of impressive hydraulic projects...
Motivations in the Ancient Middle East: Rome, Parthia, and Realpolitik The Roman and Parthian Empires enjoyed no shortage of wars. From the 50s BCE through the 200s CE, they frequently clashed. Why? The dominant explanation is realpolitik. In the zero-sum game of international relations, each state, out for its own interests, sought the aggressive...
Please join the Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World for a lecture by Dr. Pollet Samvelian as part of the 2018-2019 Lecture Series. Word Order Variation and Change in the Languages of Western Asia Western Asia is an area of linguistic diversity and longstanding contact between languages of different families (Indo-European, Semitic,...
Please join the Pourdavoud Center for a lecture by Dr. Antigoni Zournatzi as part of the 2018-2019 Lecture Series. Mapping Ancient Cultural Encounters: Greeks in Iran ca. 550 BC - ca. AD 650: Aims, Prospects, and Case Studies Greco-Iranian cultural interactions within the territory of the modern state of Iran are attested since the Achaemenid...
Dr. Everett Wheeler of Duke University will present his research on "Parthians in the Roman Army" for the Pourdavoud Center on January 15, 2020. Parthians in the Roman Army The open frontier along the Euphrates River between the Roman and Parthian empires by no means marked a cultural divide. From the time of Pompey on,...
Please join the Iranian Studies Program for a lecture by Dr. Robert Steele. Ancient Persia in Pahlavi Politics: The Imperial Celebrations of 1971 and Cultural Policy under the Shah In October 1971, heads of state, political and cultural figures, business leaders, and journalists from around the world came to Persepolis at the invitation of Shah...
Please join the Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World for a lecture by Professor Gil Stein. Achaemenids or Persians? Burials, Material Culture, and Imperial Identities in the Euphrates Valley (5th-4th centuries BCE) The Achaemenid empire was the largest empire in the world in the 5th-4th centuries BCE, encompassing numerous polities and cultural...
Achaemenid Egypt: The Archaeology of a Colonial Encounter Traditionally, Egyptologists have regarded the period of Achaemenid Persian rule (the 27th Dynasty, c. 526-404 BCE) as an unmitigated disaster for the Egyptians. This view, however, is based primarily on the perception that there is a scarcity of material from this period; in turn this scarcity is...
Sasanian Iran: A Personal View This talk will focus on topics included in Dr. Bonner's new book, The Last Empire of Iran, a narrative history of Sasanian Persia. Throughout this lecture, Dr. Bonner will share with the audience the impetus for writing this book. The principle motivation was to portray the Sasanian state as the...
The Parsi Community of India and the Making of Modern Iran This book talk will provide an overview of Exile and the Nation: The Parsi Community of India and the Making of Modern Iran (University of Texas Press, 2020). In the aftermath of the 7th century Islamic conquest of Iran, large numbers of Zoroastrians departed...
