Middle Persian Literacy and Scholarship in Sasanian Iran
Dr. Kevin van Bladel, Associate Professor & Chair, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, The Ohio State University
December 10, 2014 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Oriental Institute, Breasted Hall
Free
It has been said that "The primarily oral nature of the ancient Iranian literature is an established fact." This presentation challenges that idea by paying attention to genres of pre-Islamic Iranian-language literature that have been neglected in favor of the near-total attention to liturgy and its oral exegesis and to epic poetry. Middle Persian written works of other genres do survive, only not where Iran specialists are looking. This opens the prospects for important new directions in Sasanian studies.
