Bibliographica Iranica

Bibliographia Iranica describes itself as "a predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies."

It seems to have a strong (but not exclusive) focus on pre-Islamic Iran, both historical and linguistic, and on Zoroastrian studies, though some of the works deal with later periods, It appears to be a great resource for those fields.

Chaharshanbe Suri

This evening and tomorrow Iranians, and those whose heritage shares in Iranian cultural traditions from the Middle East to Central Asia, will celebrate Chaharshanbe Suri, the eve of the "Red Wednesday" that precedes Nowruz, the ancient Persian New Year, and begins on the previous Tuesday evening.  [Clarification: this was based on dating Nowruz on March 20 this year, which some are claiming.. Those celebrating Nowruz on the 21st will celebrate Chaharshanbe Suri next week.] Bonfires are lit and celebrations continue into the night; the feast is a survival of a pre-Islamic Zoroastrian celebration of the last week of the year, and honored the souls of the dead and the approach of spring.

Since Nowruz falls on a Wednesday this year, Chaharshanbe Suri begins a full week ahead. It is also a time for spring cleaning. Though not celebrated as far afield as Nowruz (which extends to the Balkans), the fire festival is celebrated in Iran, Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and parts of Central Asia that are culturally in the Iranian sphere.

There were reports in 2010 that Ayatollah Khamene'i had banned celebrations of Chaharshanbe Suri, though if true that may have been to prevent public gatherings in that first spring after the post-election revolts of 2009. Though not essentially a religious feast in its present form, and celebrated by Christian and Jewish and Zoroastrian Iranians as well as Muslims, the presence of the bonfires may evoke Zoroastrian fire rituals for some conservative Muslim clerics.

The Cyrus Cylinder Comes to DC

Opening this weekend at the Smithsonian Institution's Sackler Gallery of Art is the visit to the US of one of the British Museum's prizes: the so-called Cyrus Cylinder.

The Sackler exhibition "The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia: a New Beginning" opens tomorrow and runs through April 28. It's the first stop on a national tour that will include Houston, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The cylinder contains a decree by Cyrus the Great on the occasion of his conquest of Babylon in 539 BC. In addition to praising Cyrus it mentions that those peoples taken captive by the Babylonians may return to their own countries and rebuild the temples of their gods, and thus is seen as both reflecting the decree of Cyrus as described in the Bible (allowing he Jews to return from their Babylonian Captivity and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem), and thus as a pioneering landmark in religious freedom.

I'll post more after I have a chance to see it.

Lost Army of Cambyses Found?

Any ancient Egypt/Ancient Near East buffs out there may find this one interesting: two Italian archaeologists have found human bones and Achaemenid era jewelry that they suggest could be the lost army of Cambyses, one of those historical mysteries derived from Herodotus' tale-telling; if they're right, then the army took a different route between Kharga and Siwa than most searchers had believed.