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Iranian studies (Persian: ايران‌شناسی - Īrānšenāsī), is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of history, literature, art and culture of the Iranian people. It is a part of the wider field of Oriental studies.

Iranian studies is broader than and distinct from Persian studies, which is the study of the modern Persian language (known as "Farsi" or "Parsi" to the natives) and literature specifically. The discipline of Iranian Studies focuses on broad trends in culture, history, language and other aspects of only Persians, but not a variety of other contemporary and historical Iranic peoples, such as Baluchis, Kurds, Pashtuns, Ossetians, Scythians, Parthians, Sogdians, Bactrians, etc.

Iranian Studies in pre-modern Iran

Ferdowsi, a Persian poet and thinker, is known as the founder of Iranian Studies^{[citation needed]}. In his masterpiece Shahnameh, he tried extensively to address Persian culture, literature, art, history and anthropology^{[citation needed]}.

In the ninth century, the Persian historian Jarir e Tabari made a distinct contribution to Iranian Studies^{[citation needed]} with his book entitled History of the Prophets and Kings, which covers historical events till 915 AD. Tarikh-e Mas'oudi, by the Persian historian and author Abolfazl Beyhaghi (995-1077), is one of the most creditable sources about the Ghaznavid Empire, and his fluent prose style has made the book considerable in Persian literature, too.

The Persian historian Ata Malek Joveyni was the first of several brilliant representatives of Persian historiography who flourished during the period of Mongol domination in Iran (1220–1336). Joveyni's magnum opus, the Tarikh-i jehan-gusha, is one of the most important works of Persian historiography.[1]

Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi was one of the greatest historians of 15th-century Persia. The work for which he is best known is the Zafernameh (The Book of Victory). It is a history of the Mongolian conqueror Timur (Tamerlane; 1370–1405) and was probably based on the history of the same name by Nizam ad-Din Shami, a work written at Timur's request.[2]

Iranian Studies in modern Iran

Tehran University established several Iranian studies^{[citation needed]} chairs, as ancient Iranian linguistics and culture, Persian literature, history and archeology. Many prominent figures held these chairs during last century such as Badiozzaman Forouzanfar, Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub, Zabihollah Safa, Mojtaba Minovi and Ahmad Tafazzoli. Shiraz University also has chairs in Iranian studies and many notable figures have been conducting world class research on Iranology there (e.g. Alireza Shapour Shahbazi, the world class Achaemenid archaeologist).

Early in 20th century a huge project was started by Persian linguist and historian Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda. His encyclopedic collection is the largest comprehensive Persian dictionary ever published, in 15 volumes (26000 pages).

Iranian Studies in Europe

University of Goettingen is the pioneer of Iranian studies in the West. In 2003 the hundredth anniversary of Iranian studies Department was held at Göttingen University. Among European countries, Germany contributed most to Iranian studies and Persian studies.[3] and [4]

European Iranologist Society has many international meetings in its periodical conferences in different universities and scientific centers all over the world.

[http://www.soas.ac.uk/iranianstudies/ Centre for Iranian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews
Iranian Studies at the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies in Marburg, Germany
The Centre for Iranian Studies at the University of Durham
Oxford, UK
British Institute for Persian Studies
Institut Für Iranistik, Freier Universität Berlin
Zakład Iranistyki (Department of Iranian Studies), Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
Zakład Iranistyki UW (Department of Iranian Studies) Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland

Iranian Studies in North America

Academic studies and instruction of Persian language were launched in the United States in 1958. Since then, Iranology departments have been founded in numerous American universities such as UCLA and Columbia University. Columbia University's Encyclopædia Iranica for example, which is the most reputable source of Iranian culture, involves prominent Iranists like Richard Nelson Frye and Ehsan Yarshater. The encyclopedia remains the only precise and reliable large scale reference work on the lands, life, culture and history of all Iranian peoples and their interaction with other societies.

Other academic centers such as UT Austin operate Archnet, which is a database archiving documents pertaining to Iranian and Islamic architecture, in addition to offering PhD degrees in Persian language and culture.

Journals

Abstracta Iranica
Acta Iranica
Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan
Ars Orientalis
Farhang-i Kerman
Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies
Indo-Iranica
Indo-Iranian Journal (Previous publisher page, current publisher)
Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies
Iran Analysis Quarterly (ISG Journal)
Iranica Antiqua edited by Department of Near Eastern Studies of Gent University
Iran & the Caucasus
Iranian Studies
Iran-nameh: Armenian Journal of Oriental Studies
Iranshinakht
Iran Shenasi
Persian (Iranian) Studies Journal
Iranica Antiqua
Iranistische Mitteilungen
Majallah-yi Zabanshinasi
Manuscripta Orientalia (indludes articles on Persian manuscripts etc.)
Namah-i Farhangistan
Persica. Jaarboek van het Genootschap Nederland-Iran
Rahavard
Studia Iranica
Zabanshinasi

Yarshater lectureship

The Yarshater lectureship is today the most prestigious honor in the field.

References

Pashto and Pashtuns in the light of Arianian Iranian Philology (by : Dr. M.A Zyar
Encyclopædia Iranica, Columbia University.
A step toward developing Iranology researches, Khosrow Naghed.[5]
Chelle i.e. Bokhara, Mehdi Jami (2005)[6]

List of Iranologists

(Note some of these authors have also written articles for the Encyclopædia Iranica)

External links

Iranistics.com Records of Iranian Studies
Iranology Foundation
Societas Iranologica Europea
Scandinavian Society for Iranian Studies
Sasanika
Fravardyn
Videvdad
Foundation for Iranian Studies
The American Institute of Iranian Studies
Iranology in Canada
International Society for Iranian Studies
Bonyad e farhang e Iran
Interview with Khosrow Naghed (in Persian/pdf)
Iran and Persian language in the western world (in Persian)
From Sa'di to Simin: Iranology in the lands of germanic people (BBC Persian)
70-year-old problem of understanding Persian culture in the west (in Persian)
Persian Studies پژوهش‌های ایرانی (in Persian & English)
American Councils of International Studies:Tajikistan-Dushanbe
[7]
[8]
Iranian and Persian Study at Harvard University

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 [[File:Shahnameh3-1.jpg|right|thumb|Ferdowsi's ''Shahnameh'']]
-'''Iranian studies''' ({{lang-fa|ايران‌شناسی}} - ''Īrānšenāsī''), is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of history, literature, art and culture of the [[Iran|Iranian people]] ("Iran"). It is a part of the wider field of [[Oriental studies]].
+'''Iranian studies''' ({{lang-fa|ايران‌شناسی}} - ''Īrānšenāsī''), is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of history, literature, art and culture of the [[Iranian people]]. It is a part of the wider field of [[Oriental studies]].
 Iranian studies is broader than and distinct from [[Persian studies]], which is the study of the modern [[Persian language]] (known as "Farsi" or "Parsi" to the natives) and [[Persian literature|literature]] specifically. The discipline of Iranian Studies focuses on broad trends in culture, history, language and other aspects of only [[Persian people|Persians]], but not a variety of other contemporary and historical [[Iranic peoples]], such as [[Baluchis]], [[Kurds]], [[Pashtuns]], [[Ossetians]], [[Scythians]], [[Parthians]], [[Sogdians]], [[Bactrians]], etc.