Sara Ashurbeyli, sometimes known as Sara Balabey gyzy Ashurbeyli (), (27 January 1906 – 17 July 2001 in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

) was an eminent Azerbaijani historian, orientalist and scholar. She was an expert in Baku's early and medieval history of Baku and published many papers and books.

Biography

The daughter of a rich oil magnate, Sara Ashurbeyli had a perfect education and finished Jeanne D’Arc College in

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in 1925 and entered

Baku State University Baku State University (BSU) (BDU; ) is a public university located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Established on 1 September 1919 by the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the university started with faculties of history and philology, physics ...

in 1930 this time in Soviet Azerbaijan. She graduated as an orientalist, and she also studied European languages at Azerbaijan Pedagogical Institute, thus besides her native

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she knew

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, Turkish,

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, and

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. She was also an artist and joined the Union of Azerbaijan's Artists in 1946. During her lifetime she also taught in various institutions and was a dean for a while. She got her Ph.D. in 1966. A Doctor of History Sciences she was an Azerbaijan State prize laureate. Her famous works include “History of Baku: Mediaeval period” and “Shirvanshah State”. She has postulated that the origin of name of "Baku" has its origins from

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zoroaster, Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, ...

, taken from the word “baga” which means “the Sun” or “the God” in several ancient middle-eastern languages. She died in 2001 at age 95.

References

Azerbaijani orientalists Azerbaijani nobility 1906 births 2001 deaths Writers from Baku Azerbaijani women artists 20th-century Azerbaijani historians Azerbaijani women historians 20th-century Azerbaijani women writers Women orientalists Ashurbeyli family Recipients of the Shohrat Order Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples {{Azerbaijan-historian-stub