Ehsan Yar-Shater
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Ehsan Yarshater ( fa, احسان يارشاطر, April 3, 1920 – September 1, 2018) was an Iranian historian and linguist who specialized in Iranology. He was the founder and director of The Center for Iranian Studies, and Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. He was the first Persian full-time professor at a U.S. university since World War II. He was one of the 40 editors of the ''
Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encycl ...
'', with articles by 300 authors from various academic institutions. He also edited the third volume of the Cambridge History of Iran, comprising the history of the Seleucid, the
Parthians Parthian may be: Historical * A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran * Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD) * Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language * Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...
, and the
Sassanians The Sasanian dynasty was the house that founded the Sasanian Empire, ruling this empire from 224 to 651 AD in Persia (modern-day Iran). It began with Ardashir I, who named the dynasty as ''Sasanian'' in honour of his grandfather (or father), Sa ...
, and a volume entitled ''Persian Literature''. He was also an editor of a sixteen-volume series named ''History of Persian Literature''. He had won several International awards for scholarship, including a
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
award in 1959, and the Giorgio Levi Della Vida Medal for Achievement in Islamic Studies from UCLA in 1991. Lecture series in his name have been instituted at the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
, and the
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
, and at the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique in Paris.


Life and career

Born in Hamedan,
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, Ehsan Yarshater studied
Persian language Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...
and literature at the
University of Tehran The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching pro ...
and Iranian
philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
(Old and Middle Iranian) at the
School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...
(SOAS),
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
with Walter Bruno Henning. His Tehran University dissertation dealt with
Persian poetry Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...
under the
Timurid Timurid refers to those descended from Timur (Tamerlane), a 14th-century conqueror: * Timurid dynasty, a dynasty of Turco-Mongol lineage descended from Timur who established empires in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent ** Timurid Empire of C ...
Shahrukh Shah Rukh or Shahrukh ( fa, شاهرخ, ''Šāhrokh'') (20 August 1377 – 13 March 1447) was the ruler of the Timurid Empire between 1405 and 1447. He was the son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), who founded the Timurid dynast ...
(15th century). His University of London dissertation, elaborated and published later as ''A Grammar of Southern Tati Dialects'' (Mouton, 1969), describes a series of Tati dialects spoken in the southwest of
Qazvin Qazvin (; fa, قزوین, , also Romanized as ''Qazvīn'', ''Qazwin'', ''Kazvin'', ''Kasvin'', ''Caspin'', ''Casbin'', ''Casbeen'', or ''Ghazvin'') is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran. Qazvin was a capital of the ...
. He had published a number of articles on modern western Iranian dialects, notably Tati and Taleshi, and the
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
dialects of Persian (including Lotara'i), and on Persian mythology. His parents were
Iranian Jews Persian Jews or Iranian Jews ( fa, یهودیان ایرانی, ''yahudiān-e-Irāni''; he, יהודים פרסים ''Yəhūdīm Parsīm'') are the descendants of Jews who were historically associated with the Persian Empire, whose successor s ...
who had converted to the
Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
, but he had no affiliation with the Baháʼí Faith as an adult.


Bibliography

* ''Theorems and Remarks'' (''al-Isharat wa'l-tanbihat'') by Avicenna, tr. into Persian in the 13th century; annotated edition. Tehran, National Monuments Society, 1953. *'' Five Treaties in Arabic and Persian'' (''Panj Resala'') by Ibn Sina, annotated edition. Tehran, National Monuments Society, 1953. *''Šeʿr-e fārsi dar ʿahd-e Šāhroḵ yā āḡāz-e enḥeṭāṭ dar šeʿr-e farsi'' ("Persian Poetry under Shah Rokh: The Second Half of the 15th Century or the beginning of decline in Persian poetry"). Tehran, Tehran University Press, 1955. * ''Legends of the Epic of Kings'' (''Dastanha-ye Shahnama''). Tehran: Iran-American Joint Fund Publications, 1957, 1958, 1964; 2nd ed. 1974, 1982 (awarded a
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
prize in 1959). * ''Old Iranian Myths and Legends'' (''Dastanha-ye Iran-e bastan''). Tehran: Iran-American Joint Fund Publications, 1957, 1958, 1964 (Royal Award for the best book of the year, 1959). * With W.B. Henning (eds.). ''A Locust's Leg: Studies in Honour of S.H. Taqizadeh''. London, 1962. * ''Modern Painting'' (''Naqqashi-e novin)''. 2 vols. Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1965–66; 2nd printing, 1975. * ''A Grammar of Southern Tati Dialects'', Median Dialect Studies I. The Hague and Paris, Mouton and Co., 1969. * ''Iran Faces the Seventies'' (ed.). New York, Praeger Publishers, 1971. * With D. Bishop (eds.).'' Biruni Symposium''. New York, Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University, 1976. * ''Selected Stories from the Shahnama'' (''Bargozida-ye dastanha-ye Shahnama''), Vol. I. Tehran, BTNK, 1974; reprint, Washington, D.C., Iranian Cultural Foundation, 1982. * With David Bivar (eds.). ''Inscriptions of Eastern Mazandaran'', Corpus Inscriptionem Iranicarum. London, Lund and Humphries, 1978. * With Richard Ettinghausen (eds.). ''Highlights of Persian Art''. New York, Bibliotheca Persica, 1982. * ''Sadeq Hedayat: An Anthology'' (ed.). New York, Bibliotheca Persica, 1979. * ''Cambridge History of Iran'', Vol. III: Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanian Periods (ed.). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983. * ''Persian Literature'' (ed.). New York, State University of New York Press, 1988. * ''History of Al-Tabari'': Volumes 1-40 (ed.). New York, State Univ of New York Press, 2007.


See also

* Iranistics *
List of Iranian scientists The following is a non-comprehensive list of Iranian scientists, engineers, and scholars who lived from antiquity up until the beginning of the modern age. For the modern era, see List of contemporary Iranian scientists, scholars, and engineers ...


References


External links


Professor Ehsan Yarshater's Authorized Website

Ehsan Yarshater
on Open Library
Interview with Iranian.com
* Farangis Mohebbi, ''Dr Yarshater: Lambton predicted the
Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...
'', An interview with Professor Yarshater concerning the late Professor
Ann Lambton Ann Katharine Swynford Lambton, (8 February 1912 – 19 July 2008), usually known as A.K.S. Lambton or "Nancy" Lambton, was a British historian and expert on medieval and early modern Persian history, Persian language, Islamic political the ...
, in Persian, Radio Zamaneh, August 13, 2008

Audio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yarshater, Ehsan Iranian Iranologists 20th-century Iranian historians Linguists of Iranian languages Linguists of Persian Iranian expatriate academics Linguists from Iran Historians of Iran People from Hamadan Columbia University faculty University of Tehran alumni 1920 births 2018 deaths Zoroastrian studies scholars Iranian expatriates in the United States Faculty of Letters and Humanities of the University of Tehran alumni 20th-century translators