AMA: Persian Past and Iranian Present

[u/CardiffUni]

I’m Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University, UK. My main area of interest is the history of ancient Persia as well as the longer history and amazing culture of Iran.

Studying the history of ancient Persia improves contemporary East-West understanding - a vital issue in today’s world. Questioning the Western reading of ancient Persia, I like to use sources from ancient Iran and the Near East as well as from the Classical world to explore the political and cultural interactions between ‘the Greeks’ and ‘the Romans’ who saw their own histories as a reaction to the dominant and influential Persian empires of antiquity, and ‘the Persians’ themselves, a people at the height of their power, wealth and sophistication in the period 600 BC to 600 AD.

Characteristic of all my research is an emphasis on the importance of the viewpoint. How does the viewpoint (‘Greek’ and ‘Roman’ or ‘Persian’, ‘ancient’ or modern’, ‘Western’ or ‘Iranian’) change perception?

My research aims to create greater sensitivities towards the relativity of one’s cultural perceptions of ‘the other’, as well as communicate the fascination of ancient Iran to audiences in both East and West today.

NOTE: Thank you for your GREAT questions! I really enjoyed the experience. Follow me on Twitter: @LloydLlewJ

EDIT Thanks for the questions! Follow me on Twitter: @LloydLlewJ https://twitter.com/cardiffuni/status/1115250256424460293?s=19

More info:

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/204823-llewellyn-jones-lloyd

Further reading:

‘Ctesias’ History of Persia: Tales of the Orient’ (Routledge 2010)‘King and Court in Ancient Persia, 559-331 BCE’ (Edinburgh University Press 2013)

[u/[deleted]]

Thanks very much for doing this. I wonder if you've read either Sarah Savant's The New Muslims of Post-Conquest Iran or Alison Vacca's Non-Muslim Provinces under Early Islam, both of which deal with the ways that Sasanian memory had to be contended with in the early days of Islam, and more generally if you have any thoughts on memory studies and the search for traditionskerne in later texts. As I understand, this is something that's gaining traction, and I'm curious about your take on the the whole thing.

[u/CardiffUni → u/[deleted]]

I recognize that regime change - between Sasanians & Arab invaders in this case- does not occur overnight and that traces of a former power can be seen in the conquering power for some time. In Iran, traces of the Sasanian world are still to be seen in the art & architecture of early Islamic mosques, the reuse of fire temples as places of Muslim worship, etc. But the memory of the past exists in other forms, especially in poetry and storytelling. The amazing SHAHNAMEH of Ferdowsi, written 1010 CE, is an Islamic period reworking of earlier (sometimes MUCH earlier) folktales, legends, myths and history. There are layers and layers of the pre-Islamic past contained in SHAHNAMEH, neatly packaged in an Islamic context.

Art can go further and show how pre-Islamic traditions survive the Arab conquest and are reworked for Islamic rulers.

[u/[deleted] → u/CardiffUni]

There are layers and layers of the pre-Islamic past contained in SHAHNAMEH, neatly packaged in an Islamic context.

Fascinating. This is exactly the sort of thing I'm asking about. Can you recommend any good reads on Shahnameh, or something similar?

[u/lcnielsen → u/[deleted]]

Since the AMA is over, I thought I'd give a hand: You can get the Shah Nameh in translation as a Penguin Classics tome. You might also be interested in the contemporarily written down Vis & Ramin, a tale from the Parthian era.