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BIBLE i. The Bible as a source for Median and Achaemenid history. ii. Persian elements in the Bible. iii. Chronology of translations. iv. Middle Persian translations of the Bible. v. Sogdian translations of the Bible. vi. Judeo-Persian translations of the Bible. vii. Persian translations of the Bible. viii. Translations of…

BIBLE i. The Bible as a Source for Median and Achaemenid History The old biblical texts arose in various historic periods. Except for some parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel, composed in Aramaic, all these texts are written in Hebrew. The books of the prophets Nahum and Habakkuk,…

BIBLE ii. Persian Elements in the Bible Identification of Persian elements in the Bible is difficult because: (1) nobody knows just what was “Persian” when the biblical books were being written. (2) many things then “Persian” were also elements of other cultures. These are only the first of the difficulties….

BIBLE iii.  Chronology of Selected Persian Translations of Parts or the Whole of the Bible The Bible contains the Scriptures of Jews and Christians and is regarded by Muslims as “former scriptures” (cf. Qurʾan, 20:133: ṣoḥof al-ulā).  Parts or the whole of the Bible have been translated into Persian by…

BIBLE iv. Middle Persian Translations of the Bible We have knowledge of Bible translations into Middle Persian at least from the fifth century A.D. onwards. Such versions may have been used by Persian adherents to Christianity, as well as by members of the Jewish communities of Iran. We have of…

BIBLE v. Sogdian Translations of the Bible The following manuscripts containing biblical texts in Sogdian have been made known. None of them survives in anything like complete form, and some are mere fragments. (1) The Gospel lectionary C5, comprising substan­tial portions of the Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John. (No…

BIBLE vi. Judeo-Persian Translations of the Bible Judeo-Persian or Jewish-Persian is the common designation for, Persian written with Hebrew characters. Among the earliest and most important Judeo-Persian texts are the Bible translations, which at the same time count among the earliest monuments of New Persian. The oldest known documents are:…

BIBLE vii. Persian Translations of the Bible The following parts of the Bible have been translated into Persian: the Pentateuch (Pers. Tawrāt, Ar. Tawrāh, Heb. Tōrāh), the books of the prophets (Pers. and Ar. anbiāʾ, Heb. nabīīm), and the writings (Heb. ketūbīm), including the Psalms (Pers. zabur; Ar. mazāmir; Heb. mīzmōr), from the Hebrew, collectively titled by…

BIBLE viii. Translations of the Bible into other Modern Iranian Languages The earliest known translations of the Bible into modern Iranian languages other than Persian were made in the early 19th century. John Leyden, a gifted Scottish linguist and poet who went to Calcutta in 1803 as a surgeon’s assistant…

BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND CATALOGUES i. In the West. ii. In Iran.     Search terms: کتاب شناسی و فهرست نویسی  ketab shenasi va fehrest nevisi     

BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND CATALOGUES i. In the West Catalogues of manuscripts and bibliographies of printed works on Iran compiled by scholars in Europe (including Russia) and North America are the focus here. Description by others of Iranian materials in Western collections or published in Western languages will also be considered. 1….

BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND CATALOGUES ii. In Iran 1. Catalogues. Persian-language catalogues of manuscripts preserved in libraries in Iran and elsewhere range from detailed works published in book form to articles in journals and short lists published separately or as supplements to other publications. (For catalogues in Western languages, see i above)….

2. Bibliographies. The Arabic and Persian word fehrest (lit. list, index) was the traditional term for a catalogue or a bibliography; in the latter sense it has now generally been superseded in Persian by ketāb-šenāsī. This section is concerned with bibliographies of the works of individual authors or on particular…

Search terms:  دریاچه بیچگان daryacheh bichagan     

BICKERMAN, ELIAS JOSEPH (1897-1981), a lead­ing scholar of Greco-Roman history and the Hellenistic world, whose research interests extended to Judaism, some aspects of Iranian history, and even Russian literature of the 18th-20th centuries. He was born in Kishinev and studied under M. Rostovtzeff at the University of Petrograd between 1915…