External Event - The Bundahišn, translated by Domenico Agostini and Samual Thrope
9 December 2020
Book Talk - The Bundahišn: The Zoroastrian Book of Creation
Edited and translated by Domenico Agostini (Tel Aviv University) and Samual Thrope (National Library of Israel and University of Haifa)
Thursday 17th December, 2-4pm GMT
Click here to view the webinar
Domenico Agostini and Samual Thrope will be disucssing their new translation of the Bundahišn on Thursday 17th December from 2-4pm GMT. The event will begin with introductory remarks from Carlo G. Cereti (Sapienza University of Rome), followed by selected readings and an open Q&A discussion with the two translators, and concluding with remarks by Antonio C. Panaino (University of Bologna).
This event is free and advanced registration is not required.
About the book
The Bundahisn , meaning primal or foundational creation, is the central Zoroastrian account of creation, cosmology, and eschatology. Compiled sometime in the ninth century CE, it is one of the most important surviving testaments to Zoroastrian literature in the Middle Persian language and to pre-Islamic Iranian culture. Despite having been composed some two millennia after the Prophet Zoroaster's revelation, it is nonetheless a concise compendium of ancient Zoroastrian knowledge that draws on and reshapes earlier layers of the tradition.
Well known in the field of Iranian Studies as an essential primary source for scholars of ancient Iran's history, religions, literatures, and languages, the Bundahisn is also a great work of literature in and of itself, ranking alongside the creation myths of other ancient traditions. The book's thirty-six diverse chapters, which touch on astronomy, eschatology, zoology, medicine, and more, are composed in a variety of styles, registers, and genres, from spare lists and concise commentaries to philosophical discourses and poetic eschatological visions. This new translation, the first in English in nearly a century, highlights the aesthetic quality, literary style, and complexity and raises the profile of pre-Islamic Zoroastrian literature.