HU Credits: 4

Degree/Cycle: 1st degree (Bachelor)

Responsible Department: islamic & middle east stud.

Semester: Yearly

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Dr. Michael Shenkar

Coordinator Email: michael.shenkar@gmail.com

Coordinator Office Hours: Sunday 14:00-15:00.

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Shenkar Michael

Course/Module description:
The course offers an introduction to the civilization of Iran and Central Asia from the emergence of the Iranian tribes until the Muslim conquest. We shall focus on chosen topics in history, religion, and art of the pre-Islamic Iranian world and discuss its central place as a cross-cultural bridge between cultures and civilizations in Eurasia.

Course/Module aims:
General survey of cultures and principal historical evens in the history of Pre-Islamic Iran and Central Asia.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
Be acquainted with the basic historical narrative and the cultural processes of the pre-Islamic Iranian World.

Attendance requirements(%):
80%

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Frontal instruction and discussion of the reading material.

Course/Module Content:
1. What is the "Iranian World"?

2. The autochthonous civilizations of Eastern Iran.

3. The autochthonous civilizations of the Iranian Plateau.

4. The origin and the spread of the speakers of Iranian languages.

5. The rise of the Medians: the first Iranian Empire?

6. About what spoke Zarathustra? The Zoroastrian religion.

7. Iran conquers the World: The Teispid Dynasty.

8. Darius the "Great" or Darius the "Liar"? The rise of the Achaemenians.

9. "Pax Achaemenica": The Achaemenian Empire at its peak.

10. The last Achaemenians.

11. The Nomadic Iranian world: The Scythians and the Saka.

12. Hellenism in Iran: The Macedonian conquest and the Seleucid Kingdom.

13. Farther than Alexander: The Greeks in Bactria and India.

14. The Nomads are coming. Yuezhi and Saka on the ruins of Hellenistic Bactria.

15. The Parthians: The "Iranian Renaissance" in the West?

16. The Parthian Empire.

17. The Kushans: The "Iranian Renaissance" in the East?

18. The Kushan Empire in Eastern Iran and India.

19. The Return of the Persians: the rise of the Sasanians.

20. The Early Sasanian Empire: Society, Religion and Art.

21. The Late Sasanian Empire.

22. Bactria between the Kushans and the Arab conquest.

23. Chorasmia.

24. The Rise and Fall of the Sogdian culture.

25. The Arab conquest of the Iranian World.

26. The Pre-Islamic Iranian World in World History.

Required Reading:
1.
Frye, R.N. (1963), The Heritage of Persia, New York, Part One.

Frye, R.N. (1984), The History of Ancient Iran, München, pp. 6-21.

2.
Lamberg-Karlovsky, C.C. (2013), “The Oxus Civilization”, CuPAUAM 39, pp. 21-63.

Frachetti, M.D. and Rouse, L.M. (2012), “Central Asia, the Steppe and the Near East, 2500-1500 BC”, in D. Potts, (ed.), Companion to the Archaeology of the Near East, pp. 687-705.

3.
Frye, R.N. (1984), The History of Ancient Iran, München, pp. 46-54.

Potts, D. T. (2012), “The Elamites”, in Daryaee, T. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History, Oxford, pp. 37-56.

Henkelman, W.F.M. (2008), The Other Gods who are: Studies in Elamite-Iranian Acculturation Based on the Persepolis Fortification Texts, Leiden, pp. 2-8, 41-49.

4.
Anthony, D.W. (2007), The Horse, The Wheel and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from Eurasian Steppe Shaped the Modern World, Princeton – Oxford, pp. 3-21, 458-467.

Witzel, M. (2013), “Iranian Migration”, in Potts, D. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, Oxford, pp. 423-442.

5.
Liverani, M. (2003), “The Rise and Fall of Media”, in Lanfranchi, G.B., Roaff, M. and Rollinger, R. (eds.), Continuity of Empire (?). Assyria, Media, Persia, Padova, 1-12.

Radner, K. (2013), “Assyria and the Medes”, in Potts, D. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, Oxford, pp. 442-457.

6.
Shaked, S. (2005), “Zoroastrian Origins: Indian and Iranian Connections”, in Arnason, J.P., Eisenstadt, S.N., and Wittrock, B. (eds.), Axial Civilizations and World History, Leiden, pp. 183-201.

Boyce, M. (1979), Zoroastrians. Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, London, Chapter 2.

10-7
Waters, M. (2014), Ancient Persia A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550–330 BCE, Cambridge, pp. 35-54.

Kuhrt, A. (2001), “The Achaemenid Persian Empire (c. 550-c. 330 BCE): Continuities, Adaptations, Transformations”, in Alcock, S. et al., Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History, Cambridge, 93-125.

Briant, P. (2002), From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire, Winona Lake, pp. 873-877.

11.
Parzinger, H. (2008), “The Scythians: Nomadic Horsemen of the Eurasian Steppe”, Preservation of the Frozen Tombs in the Mountains of Altai, pp. 19-25.

Melyukova, A.I. (1994), “The Scythians and Sarmatians”, in Sinor, D. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Cambridge, pp. 97-118.

12.
Kosmin, P. (2013), “Alexander the Great and the Seleucids in Iran”, in Potts, D. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, Oxford, pp. 671-690.

Olbrycht, M.J. (2013), “Iranians in the Diadochi Period”, in Alonso Troncoso, V. and Anson, V.M. (eds.), After Alexander. The Time of the Diadochi (323-281 BC), Oxford, pp. 159-182.

Wiesehöfer, J. (2013), “Fratarakā and the Seleucids”, in Potts, D. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, Oxford, pp. 718-728.

13.
Bernard, P. (1994), “The Greek States in Central Asia”, in Harmatta, J. (ed.), History of Civilizations of Central Asia, vol. II, Paris, pp. 99-131.

Mairs, R. (2014), The Hellenistic Far East. Archaeology, Language, and Identity in Greek Central Asia, Oakland, Introduction.

14.
Mairs, R. (2014), The Hellenistic Far East. Archaeology, Language, and Identity in Greek Central Asia, Oakland, pp. 146-176.

16-15
Koshelenko, G.A. and Pilipko, V.N. (1994), “Parthia” in Harmatta, J. (ed.), History of Civilizations of Central Asia, vol. II, Paris, pp. 131-151.

Wiesehöfer, J. (2001), Ancient Persia, 550 BC to 650 AD, London - New York, pp. 130-145.

Hauser, S.R. (2014), “The Arsacids (Parthians)”, in Potts, D. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, Oxford, pp. 728-751.

Invernizzi, A. (2007), “The Culture of Parthian Nisa between Steppe and Empire”, in Cribb, J. and Herrmann, G. (eds.), After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam, Oxford, pp. 163-177.

18-17
Frye, R.N. (1984), The History of Ancient Iran, München, pp. 250-271.

Bivar, A.D.H. (2009), “Kushan Dynasty i. Dynastic History”, Encyclopædia Iranica Online Edition, July 15, 2009, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-dynasty-i-history

21-19
Wiesehöfer, J. (2001), Ancient Persia, 550 BC to 650 AD, London - New York, pp. 151-182.

Daryaee, T. (2012), “The Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE)”, in Daryaee, T. (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Iranian History, Oxford, pp. 187-207.

Wiesehöfer, J. (2010), “The Late Sasanian Near East”, in Robinson, C.F. (ed.), The New Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. 1: The Formation of the Islamic World Sixth to Eleventh Centuries, Cambridge, pp. 107-133.

22.
Grenet, F. (2002), “Regional Interaction in Central Asia and Northwest India in the Kidarite and Hephthalite periods”, in Sims-Williams, N. (ed.), Indo-Iranian Languages and People, (PBA 116), pp. 203–224.

Sims-Williams, N. (2002), “Ancient Afghanistan and Its Invaders: Linguistic Evidence From the Bactrian Documents and Inscriptions”, in Sims-Williams, N. (ed.), Indo-Iranian Languages and People, (PBA 116), pp. 225–243.

23.
Nerazik, E.E. and Bulgakov, P.G. (1996), “Khwarizm”, in History of Civilizations of Central Asia, vol. III, Paris, pp. 207-233.

Kidd, F., Negus Cleary, M. and Baker Brite, E. (2012), “Public Vs Private: Perspectives on the Communication of Power in Ancient Chorasmia”, in Hartley, Ch. W., Yazıcıoğlu, G.B. and Smith, A.T. (eds.), The Archaeology of Power and Politics in Central Asia: Regimes and Revolutions, Cambridge, pp. 91-121.

24.
Marshak, B.I. and Negmatov, N.N. (1996), “Sogdiana”, in Litvinsky, B.A. (ed.), History of Civilizations of Central Asia, vol. 3, Paris, 233-281.

Hansen, V. (2012), The Silk Road. A New History, Oxford, pp. 113-141.

25.
Morony, M.G. (2013), “The Islamic Conquest of Sasanian Iran”, in Potts, D. (eåd.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, Oxford, pp. 975-987.

Additional Reading Material:
1.
Frye, R.N. (1996), The Heritage of Central Asia, Princeton, Chapters 1 and 2.

3.
Zadok, R. (2013), “Linguistic Groups in Iran”, in Potts, D. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, Oxford, pp. 407-423.

Potts, D. (2004), The Archaeology of Elam. Formation and Transformation of the Ancient Iranian State, Cambridge, Chapters 1 and 9.

4.
Lamberg-Karlovsky, C.C. (2005), “Archaeology and Language: The Case of the Bronze Age Indo-Iranians”, in Bryant, E.F. and Patton, L.L. (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History, London - New York, pp. 142-179.

5.
Dandamayev, M. and Medvedskaya, I. (2006), “Media”, Encyclopædia Iranica Online Edition, August 15, 2006, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/media

6.
Skjærvø, P.O. (2011), “Zoroastrian Dualism”, in Lange, A. (ed.) et al. Light Against Darkness: Dualism in Ancient Mediterranean Religion and the Contemporary World, Göttingen, pp. 55-76.

10-7
Henkelman, W. (2011), “Cyrus the Persian and Darius the Elamite: a Case of Mistaken Identity”, in Rollinger, R., Truschnegg, B. and Bichler, R. (eds.), Herodot und das Persische Weltreich, Weisbaden, pp. 577-635.

Van der Spek, R.J. (2014), “Cyrus the Great, Exiles and Foreign Gods A Comparison of Assyrian and Persian Policies on Subject Nations”, in Henkelman, W. et al. (eds.), Extraction and Control: Studies in Honor of Matthew W. Stolper, Chicago, pp. 233-265.

12.
Olbrycht, M.J. (2010), “Macedonia and Persia”, in Roisman, J. and Worthington, I. (eds.), A Companion to Ancient Macedonia, Blackwell Publishing, pp. 342-371.

13.
Martinez-Sève, L. (2014), “The Spatial Organization of Ai Khanoum, a Greek City in Afghanistan”, American Journal of Archaeology 118.2, pp. 267-283.

14.
Rapin, C. (2007), “Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan period”, in Cribb, J. and Herrmann, G. (eds.), After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam, Oxford, pp. 29-72.

16-15
Frye, R.N. (1984), The History of Ancient Iran, München, pp. 191-249.

18-17
Frye, R.N. (1996), The Heritage of Central Asia, Princeton, Chapter 9.

21-19
Shahbazi, A.Sh. (2005), “Sassanian Dynasty”, Encyclopædia Iranica Online Edition, July 20, 2005, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sasanian-dynasty

22.
Sims-Williams, N. (1997), New Light on Ancient Afghanistan: the Decipherment of Bactrian, London.

24.
de La Vaissière, É. (2011), “Sogdiana iii. History and Archaeology”, Encyclopædia Iranica Online Edition, March 4, 2011, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 90 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 0 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 10 %
Other 0 %

Additional information: