The need for a rights-centred approach to peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan

  • The Horse, the Wheel, and Language

    In this study of language, archaeology and culture, Hartwick College anthropology professor Anthony hypothesizes that a proto-Indo-European culture emerged in the Ponto-Caspian steppes 4,000 years ago, speaking an ur-language ancestor to the Romance, German and Slavic family of languages, Sanskrit, Persian and modern English. Citing discoveries in the Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan made possible only after the fall of the Iron Curtain brought together Soviet and western scientists, Anthony combines evidence from radioactive dating, demographic analysis of migration patterns, linguistic analysis and the study of epics such as the Iliad and the Rig Veda to substantiate his contention. Central to his thesis is the role of the (...)

  • Late antique motifs in Yezidi oral tradition

    Yezidis are a Kurdish religious minority of a few hundred thousand souls, living mainly in Northern Iraq, as well as Syria, Turkey and the Caucasus. Yazidi religious practices have been described as a blend of Eastern religions with hints of the ancient Zoroastrian and Mithraic practices, as well as elements of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. All the monotheistic prophets are recognized, but Abraham and Noah are especially venerated. Yezidis follow a highly syncretistic religion of their own, based (...)

  • Greeks and Parthians in Mesopotomia

    Wolfram Grajetzki has participated in excavations in Egypt and Pakistan and has taught Egyptology at Humboldt University, Berlin. Palmyra Gate in the defensive walls of Doura Europos Doura Europos has served as a military colony, a fortress and a caravan city, and still offers great views over the Euphrates river to the present-day visitor. The coming of the Parthians changed Mesopotamia even less than the establishment of the Seleucid kingdom had, for as early as the middle of the 2nd century BC (...)

  • Old Avestan Syntax and Stylistics

    There are also substantial sections on word order, stylistics, and figures of speech. Translations are provided for almost all passages quoted. The work will be welcomed by Iranianists as well as by historical linguists with wider Indo-European interests. Old Iranian Avestan and Old Persian are the two languages which have been preserved from the oldest recorded period in the development of the Iranian language family. They are inflected languages, which are closely comparable to Vedic Sanskrit, and, more remotely, to other ancient Indo-European languages such as Greek, Latin or Hittite. Old Persian is the distant but direct ancestor of present day Persian. It was the native language of the Achaemenian Kings of Iran (6th- 4th centuries BC), who employed it in their monumental (...)

  • Alexander and the East: The Tragedy of Triumph

    At the same time Alexander’s views of empire are investigated, his attitude to his subjects, and the development of his concepts of personal divinity and universal monarchy. Analogies are thus drawn with the Spanish conquest of Mexico, which has a comparable historiographical tradition and parallels many of Alexander’s dealings with his subjects. Although of concern to the specialist, this book is equally directed at the general reader interested in the history of Alexander and the morality of empire. Excerpts: The tendency to idealize began in antiquity. Within a generation of Alexander’s demise the rumours and slanders of poisoning gave impetus to full-blown fiction. A body of romance gradually accrued which had reached the dimensions of a novel by the Roman period and continued to (...)

  • فردوسی و آرامگاهش

    کوشش ارزنده‌ای که آرمانی بنيادين دارد. آرمان و هدفِ به راه خردگرائی رهنمون شدن مردمان کشور و یا کشورهای سرزمینهای پهناور ایران، که بنا به خواست دشمن، زبان مادریشان داشت به فراموشی سپرده می شد. مردمان پشتۀ ايران، از هر تيره و تباری، زبان پارسی را چون زبانی ملی و همگانی برگزیده بودند و به ياری آن به آسانی می توانستند از تاريکی چند سده‌ای بيرون بيايند و به گلستان فرهنگی خود از دريچۀ شاهکاری نوين که همان شاهنامۀ فردوسی باشد، به نيکی بنگرند و بار برگيرند. پی بردن به (...)

  • Zoroastrian toponyms in the Republic of Azerbaijan

    Mentioned in Avesta, the Vourukash sea is actually associated by some scientists with the Caspian Sea [1]. By tradition, Zoroastrian doctrine later was perceived by the Median tribe of Magi/Mugi. The name of this tribe is preserved in the name of Mugan (مغان), which is an area located east of Karabakh to the Caspian Sea coast. Starting from the early Middle Ages the word mug (مغ) has come to mean “Zoroastrian” in (...)

  • Two Sasanian ossuaries from Bushehr, Iran

    Specifically, several bones were missing, others were damaged on their surfaces, were stained, or broken, all of which can be interpreted as resulting from exposure, carrion feeding, as well as being placed in an ossuary. An overall lack of tooth marks on surviving bones and the observed differential pattern of limb and torso survival suggest that bones from the ossuaries had been exposed to bird carrion (...)

  • Dakhma in Quba district of Azerbaijan Republic

    A few such structures are found in some areas of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The approximate date of construction of the remaining dakhmas of Azerbaijan is early Middle Age. Dakhma near Buduh village. Consider one dakhma, which remained near the Buduh village in Quba district. This dakhma composed of roughly worked stones and has the main towers and buttress. The height of this dakhma is equal to 8.0 m. The (...)

  • Bombay Duck

    Part One Scenes in London, Edinburgh and Delhi. Gerald Bloom, unacclaimed actor of Caribbean origin, assumes the name of Ali Abdul Rahman and finds fame and fortune. His greatest moment arrives when David Stream, international impresario and guru of cross-cultural hype, casts him as Lord Ram in his dream project – a stage adaptation of the Hindu epic, Ramayana. Success attends them until fate and religious (...)

  • مانتراهای زرتشتی

    راستی بهترين نيكی است. خرسندی است. خرسندی راستين از آن كسی است كه راستی را برای بهترين راستی بخواهد. دیرزمانی بود که چشم به آن داشتم تا شاید بتوانم این مانتراها را با دبیرۀ اوستائی و برگردان انگلیسی کاملتر کرده، به چاپ برسانم که تا کنون چنین نشد. امّا از آنجا که برخی از دوستان خواهان در دسترس داشتنش هستند، بر آن شدم تا برای دوستان منتشر سازم. با امید که آنان که دوست دارند بهره ببرند و آنان که نمی خواهند پوزش مرا بپذیرند و شاید به دست آشنای دیگری برسانند. با (...)

  • Tbilisi Ateshgah

    Authentic Zoroastrian fire temples are extremely rare, especially outside Iran (the Atashgah at Baku is an 18th century Parsi construction). According to the sign outside the Tbilisi temple, it is believed that it was built between the 5th and 7th centuries, and later spend a while as a mosque, while retaining its old name as “Ateshgah”. This seems reasonably plausible as (...)

  • No Romans needed to explain Chinese blondes

    Uyghur boy from Kashgar (© Gusjer) This is almost like the “vanishing blonde” meme which always pops right back up. First, let’s quote from The Daily Mail [*] DNA tests show Chinese villagers with green eyes could be descendants of lost Roman legion: For years the residents of the remote north western Chinese village of Liqian have believed they were special. Many of the (...)

  • املا و انشاء فارسی دری

    این مجموعه در سال ۱۳٦۷ی (۱۹۹٨) به کوشش رسول رهین تألیف گردیده، در کشورهای اروپائی و آمریکا پخش می شود. هدف از چاپ آن، زنده کردن قواعد دستوری و املائی و انشائی برای جوانان و کسانی است که در دوران دوری از میهن آنها را از یاد برده باشند، و یا در نوشتن دچار اشتباه می گردند. برای آسانی دوباره بخاطر آوردن واژه‌ها و اصطلاحاتی که جوانان در نوشتن آنها شک و تردید دارند، و نیز برای شکل دادن شیوه یادگیری واژه‌ها، نگارنده این مجموعۀ (...)
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