Richard Nelson Frye (January 10, 1920 – March 27, 2014) was an American scholar of

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

and

Central Asian studies Central Asian studies is the discipline of studying the culture, history, and languages of the region of Central Asia. The roots of Central Asian studies as a social science discipline goes to 19th century Anglo-Russian Great Game. During the 19th ...

, and

Aga Khan Aga Khan (; ; also transliterated as ''Aqa Khan'' and ''Agha Khan'') is a title held by the Imamate in Nizari doctrine, Imām of the Nizari Isma'ilism, Nizari Isma'ilism, Ismāʿīli Shia Islam, Shias. The current holder of the title is the ...

Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. His professional areas of interest were Iranian

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

and the history of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

before 1000 CE. Born in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, to a family of immigrants from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, "Freij" had four children, his second marriage being to a scholar, who teaches at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He spoke fluent

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, Uzbek, and

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

, and had extensive knowledge of

Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...

, Pahlavi, Sogdian, and other Iranian languages and dialects, both extinct and current. Although Frye is mostly known for his works about

, the Iranian peoples and Iranian Central Asia, the scope of his studies was much wider and includes

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Common meanings *Anything from the Caucasus region or related to it ** Ethnic groups in the Caucasus ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus re ...

, and Ottoman history, Eastern Turkistan,

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

and the

Assyrian people Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group Indigenous peoples, indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians Assyrian continuity, share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesop ...

, ancient and medieval

Iranian art Persian art or Iranian art () has one of the richest art heritages in world history and has been strong in many media including architecture, painting, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, metalworking and sculpture. At different times, influences ...

Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslims, Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across ...

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

, Chinese and Japanese archeology, and a variety of Iranian and non-Iranian languages including

Old Persian Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as (I ...

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

Parthian Parthian may refer to: Historical * Parthian people * 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 sk ...

, Sogdian, Khotanese, and Bactrian,

New Persian New Persian (), also known as Modern Persian () is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian (8th ...

, Turkish, and even Chinese, beside research languages which include French, German, Italian, and Russian.

Early life and career

Frye was born in

. He first attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, where he received a BA in history and philosophy in 1939. He received his MA from

in 1940 and his PhD from Harvard in 1946, in Asiatic history. Frye served with the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the first intelligence agency of the United States, formed during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was stationed in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and traveled extensively in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, and

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

. In 1948, he visited Sar Masshad, and was the first European to find and report the existence of the Gur-e Dokhtar tomb (meaning "Tomb of the Maiden" in

). He returned to Harvard to teach. He was a member of the Harvard faculty from 1948 to 1990. He then became a professor emeritus at Harvard. He also served as faculty, guest lecturer, or visiting scholar at the following: * Habibiya College in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

(1942–1944) *

Frankfurt University Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

(1959–1960) *

Hamburg University The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen''), the Hamburg Colon ...

(1968–1969) * Pahlavi University of

Shiraz Shiraz (; ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the popu ...

(1970–1976) * Tajik National University (1990–1992). Professor Frye helped found the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard, the first

Iranian studies Iranian studies ( '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It is a part of the wider field ...

program in America. He also served as Director of the ''Asia Institute'' in

(1970–1975), was on the Board of Trustees of the Pahlavi University at

(1974–1978), and Chairman, ''Committee on Inner Asian Studies'', at Harvard (1983–1989), and as Editor of the ''Bulletin of the Asia Institute'' (1970–1975 and 1987–1999). Among Frye's students were

Annemarie Schimmel Annemarie Schimmel SI HI TCLN (7 April 1922 – 26 January 2003) was an influential German Orientalist and scholar who wrote extensively on Islam, especially Sufism. She was a professor at Harvard University from 1967 to 1992. Early life a ...

Oleg Grabar Oleg Grabar (November 3, 1929 – January 8, 2011) was a French-born art historian and archeologist, who spent most of his career in the United States, as a leading figure in the field of Islamic art and architecture in the Western academ ...

, Frank Huddle (former US Ambassador to

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

John Limbert John W. Limbert (born 1943) is an American diplomat. He is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iran in the US State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. He is a veteran U.S. diplomat and a former official at the U.S. Emba ...

, and

Michael Crichton John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author, screenwriter and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavil ...

, whose

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

film ''

The 13th Warrior ''The 13th Warrior'' is a 1999 American historical fiction action film based on Michael Crichton's 1976 novel '' Eaters of the Dead'', which is a loose adaptation of the tale of ''Beowulf'' combined with Ahmad ibn Fadlan's historical account of ...

'' is loosely based on Frye's translation of

Ibn Fadlan Ahmad ibn Fadlan ibn al-Abbas al-Baghdadi () or simply known as Ibn Fadlan, was a 10th-century traveler from Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate, famous for his account of his travels as a member of an embassy of the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir to the king ...

's account of his travels up the

Volga River The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

. Frye was also directly responsible for inviting Iranian scholars as distinguished visiting fellows to Harvard University, under a fellowship program initiated by

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...

. Examples of such guests include Mehdi Haeri Yazdi (1923–1999), Sadegh Choubak, Jalal al Ahmad, and others.

Proponent of Persian culture

Frye felt that Persian civilization was under-appreciated by other

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, particularly

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

. Frye wrote: In August 1953, shortly before the fall of

Mosaddegh Mohammad Mosaddegh (, ; 16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 30th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, elected by the 1950 Iranian legislative election, 16th Majlis. He was a membe ...

, the prominent Iranian linguist

Ali Akbar Dehkhoda Allameh Ali-Akbar Dehkhodā (; 1879 – March 9, 1956) was a prominent Iranian literary writer, philologist, and lexicographer. He was the author of the ''Dehkhoda Dictionary'', the most extensive dictionary of the Persian language publish ...

gave Frye the title "Irandoost" (meaning 'iranophile'). In addition, Frye was a long-standing supporter of

Assyrian continuity Assyrian continuity is the study of continuity between the modern Assyrian people, a recognised Semitic indigenous ethnic, religious, and linguistic minority in Western Asia (particularly in Iraq, northeast Syria, southeast Turkey, northwest ...

, and valued the historical and ancestral connection between modern

Assyrians Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

and the Ancient Mesopotamians. A ceremony was held in Iran on June 27, 2004, to pay tribute to the six-decade endeavors of Frye on his lifetime contribution to

, research work on the

Persian language Persian ( ), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision ...

, and the history and culture of

. In his will, Frye expressed his wish to be buried next to the

Zayandeh River The Zayanderud or Zayandehrud (; from "fertile" or "life-giver", and "river"), also spelled as ''Zayanderud'' or ''Zayanderood, ...'', is the largest river of the Iranian Plateau in central Iran. Geography The Zayandeh starts in the Zard- ...

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

. The request was approved by Iranian President

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born Mahmoud Sabbaghian on 28 October 1956) is an Iranian Iranian principlists, principlist and Iranian nationalism, nationalist politician who served as the sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. He is currently a mem ...

in September 2007. Two other American scholars of Iranian studies, Arthur Pope and

Phyllis Ackerman Phyllis Ackerman (1893–1977), was an American art historian, interior designer and author. She was a scholar of Persian art and architecture and she worked alongside her husband Arthur Upham Pope. Her legacy was as an editor of the six volume p ...

, are already buried there. In 2010 the Iranian government gave a house in

to Professor Frye in recognition of his services to Iranian studies. On June 8, 2014, the family of Frye decided to cremate his remains after waiting more than two months for official Iranian permission to bury him in Isfahan. His death coincided with growing resentment by Iranian hardliners over signs of reconciliation with the United States after decades of estrangement. It is not clear what the family intended to do with his ashes.

Richard Foltz Richard Foltz is a Canadian historian who specializes in the history of Iranian civilization — sometimes referred to as " Greater Iran". He has also been active in the areas of environmental ethics and animal rights. Biography Foltz is a ful ...

dedicated his book ''A History of the Tajiks: Iranians of the East'' to Frye's memory.

Public speaker

Frye was a popular public speaker at numerous Iran-related gatherings. In 2005, he spoke at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and encouraged the Iranians present to cherish their culture and identity.Professor Richard Nelson Frye Lecture at UCLA Royce Hall – March 13, 2005
/ref> In 2004, he spoke at an architectural conference in Tehran and expressed his dismay at hasty modernization that ignores the beauties of traditional Iranian architectural styles (see Architecture of Tehran).

Bibliography

* ''Notes on the Early Coinage of Transoxania; Numismatic Notes, 113'', American Numismatic Association, New York 1949 * ''The Near East and the Great Powers'', Harvard University Press, 1951 * ''Iran'', George Allen and Unwin, London, 1960 * ''The Heritage of Persia: The pre-Islamic History of One of the World's Great Civilizations'', World Publishing Company, New York, 1963. Reprinted by Mazda Publishers, 2004. www.mazdapublishers.com * ''Bukhara: The Medieval Achievement'', University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. Reprinted by Mazda Publishers, 1997. www.mazdapublishers.com * ''The Histories of Nishapur'', Harvard University Press, (

Harvard Oriental Series The ''Harvard Oriental Series'' is a book series founded in 1891 by Charles Rockwell Lanman and Henry Clarke Warren. Lanman served as its inaugural editor (1891–1934) for the first 37 volumes. Other editors of the series include Walter Eugene ...

, 45) 1965 * ''Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum, vol. III'', Dura-Europos, London, 1968 * ''Persia'' (3rd edition) Allen and Unwin, London, 1969 * ''The United States and Turkey and Iran'', Archon Books, 1971 * ''Sasanian Remains from Qasr-i Abu Nasr. Seals, Sealings, and Coins'', Harvard University Press, 1973 * ''Neue Methodologie in der Iranistik'', Wiesbaden, 1974 * ''The Golden Age Of Persia: The Arabs in the East'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1988 * * ''The heritage of Central Asia from antiquity to the Turkish expansion'' Markus Wiener, Princeton, 1996 * * * ''Greater Iran'', Mazda Publishers, 2005, * ''Ibn Fadlan's Journey To Russia'', 2005, Markus Wiener Publisher,

References

External links

Iranians pay tribute to Richard Nelson Frye
''Mehr News Agency'', July 5, 2004. * Waghmar, Burzine. Obituary: Richard Nelson Frye (1920–2014). ''Societas Iranologica Europaea'

.

ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060223023921/http://www.persianmirror.com/community/2005/opinion/opinionRichardFRye.cfm anotherbr>Dr. Frye's statements at UCLA in March 2005
* ttp://www.iranian.com/Books/2004/June/Iran/ Excerpts from ''The Greater Iran: A 20th-Century Odyssey'', the memoirs of R. N. Fryebr>Dr. Frye's page at the ''Iran Heritage'' website
*Frye, R. N

''The History of Ancient Iran'', 1983. * Syria and Assyria

*Frye, R. N
"Ethnic Identity in Iran." 2002.
*Prof. Richard Frye's Memoirs in Persia

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frye, Richard Nelson American historians American Iranologists American Turkologists American people of Swedish descent University of Illinois alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Harvard University faculty People of the Office of Strategic Services Academic staff of Shiraz University 1920 births 2014 deaths Farabi International Award recipients Zoroastrian studies scholars American expatriates in Afghanistan American expatriates in Iran American expatriates in Germany American expatriates in Tajikistan Academic staff of the University of Hamburg

Early life and career

Proponent of Persian culture

Public speaker

Bibliography

See also

References

External links