Zoroastrian Scholasticism in Late Antiquity: The Pahlavi Version of the Yasna Hapta?H?Iti

Zeini examines Zoroastrian exegesis by translating a late antique translation of an ancient Iranian text, challenging the view that considers it an auxiliary science to Avestan studies. He offers a variorum edition of the Middle Persian text and a fresh edition of the Middle Persian version of the Avestan Yasna Haptahiti, challenging the view that considers the Zand s study an auxiliary science to Avestan studies.

Format: Hardback
Length: 344 pages
Publication date: 31 March 2020
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Zoroastrian exegesis is explored through the examination of a late antique translation of an ancient Iranian text. The study challenges the notion that the Zand, a collection of texts associated with the Zoroastrian religion, is merely an auxiliary science to Avestan studies. Instead, the Zand is viewed as a text in its own right and is investigated within the broader Pahlavi literature. Additionally, the so-called glosses in the Zand, which have been previously overlooked, are considered integral parts of the text. The study presents a variorum edition of the Middle Persian text, refraining from establishing an Urtext. In late antiquity, Zoroastrian exegetes undertook the task of translating their ancient canonical texts into Middle Persian, a vernacular language of their time. These translations, known as the Zand, are often associated with the Sasanian era (224-651 CE). Despite the numerous challenges posed by the Zand, it remains essential for investigations of late antique exegesis of the Avesta, a collection of religious and ritual texts considered the Zoroastrians' scripture. Arash Zeini also offers a fresh edition of the Middle Persian version of the Avestan Yasna Haptahiti, a ritual text composed in the Old Iranian language of Avestan, which is commonly dated to the middle of the second millennium BCE. Zeini challenges the view that considers the Zand's study an auxiliary science to Avestan studies, framing the text instead within the exegetical context from which it emerged.

Weight: 812g
Dimension: 241 x 303 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474442886