Two Centuries Of Silence

Two Centuries of Silence is an English translation of Do Qarn Sokout, Dr. Zarrinkub's celebrated work on the history of Iran in the lead-up to and after the Arab conquest in the mid 7th century. The author begins with a question that puzzles many: How was a world civilization with all of its achievements in art and architecture, religion and law, agriculture and engineering, and civil and military organization, overthrown by a nomadic people with limited literacy and few accomplishments? The title refers to the two-hundred-year period when Persian virtually went mute, when almost all traces of Iran's rich literary heritage were erased, and when Zoroastrianism gave way to Islam. Zarrinkub's history is not an unmitigated tale of draconian cultural change, however. He speaks of how Iranian identity went underground, occasionally surfacing in open rebellion against Arab and Muslim supremacy. Drawing on a variety of original sources, Zarrinkub looks into the "savage darkness" of nearly two hundred years and detects glimmers of Persian resurgence in various parts of Iran and Muslim Central Asia. In fits and starts forms of the indigenous language broke their long silence, and Iranians began to speak about and for themselves.

How Farsi language broke its two centuries of silence. This book is the translation of Do Gharn Sokoot, into English by an Iranian scientist and scholar. Two Centuries of silence is the saga of 200 years of struggle by Iranians in order to free themselves from the yoke of Muslim Arabs- elegantly and passionately told by Abdolhossein Zarinkoob. The book elucidates thekey reasons for the success of Muslim Arabs in their assault on Iran- a fact that was not written in the stars, nor was it an act of God. For its readers, this translation hopes to shed light on what forms the foundation of todays Iran and helpbring some understanding of Iranians and their culture. The fall of Nahavand in 642 CE marked the end of a glorious fourteenth-century history of Iran-a fascinating and dynamic history spanning the years from 700 BCE to 700 CE. For two centuries thereafter, a brutally long, chilling silence cast its shadow over the history and language of Iran. Professor Zarinkoob explores the reason behind the Sasanian downfall and how the uncouth Bedouins triumphed over an immense and glorious civilization such as that? During these two centuries- about which our recent historians have remained silent-why did Farsi become a "lost" language, obscure and traceless? In the time when Iranian swordsmen revolted against the Arabs under any pretext, fighting the Arabs and Muslims, how did Zoroastrian priests argue and debate in the light of knowledge and wisdom against the Muslim faith? Finally, why a book that tells the tale of a most turbulent period of Iran's history is titlesTwo Centuries of Silenceand not Two Centuries of Chaos and Uproar? Prof. Zarinkoob's colorful narrative unravels these mysteries through Iranian eyes and is delivered here only as they may.

Investigating the rise and shape of the earliest churches in Rome, Lampe integrates history, archaeology, theology, and social analysis. He also takes a close look at inscriptional evidence to complement the reading of the great literary texts: from Paul's letter to the Romans to the writings of Clement of Rome, Montanus and Valentinus. 'I want to learn about the daily lives of the urban Roman Christians of the first two centuries, the realities of their social lives... my ultimate goal is to contribute at least one element to a multidimensional interpretation of texts and faith expressions of early Christianity.' Peter Lampe

Disputation literature is a type of text in which usually two non-human entities (such as trees, animals, drinks, or seasons) try to establish their superiority over each other by means of a series of speeches written in an elaborate, flowery register. As opposed to other dialogue literature, in disputation texts there is no serious matter at stake only the preeminence of one of the litigants over its rival. These light-hearted texts are known in virtually every culture that flourished in the Middle East from Antiquity to the present day, and they constitute one of the most enduring genres in world literature. The present volume collects over twenty contributions on disputation literature by a diverse group of world-renowned scholars. From ancient Sumer to modern-day Bahrain, from Egyptian to Neo-Aramaic, including Latin, French, Middle English, Armenian, Chinese and Japanese, the chapters of this book study the multiple avatars of this venerable text type.

Reproduction of the original: The Religions of Japan From the Dawn of History To the Era of Meiji by Willliam Elliot Griffis

This wide-ranging volume offers a detailed exploration of coloniality in the discipline of linguistics, with case studies drawn from Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. Colonial meanings and legacies have returned to the forefront of many academic fields in recent years and linguistics, like several other disciplines, has had an ambivalent relationship with its own histories of practice in colonial and postcolonial worlds. The implications of these histories are still felt today, as colonial paradigms of knowledge production continue to shape both academic linguistic practices and non-specialist discussion of language and culture. The chapters in this volume adopt a range of different conceptual frameworks - including postcolonial theory, southern theory, and decolonial thinking - to provide a nuanced account of the coloniality of linguistics at the level of knowledge and disciplinary practice; crucially, the contributors also expand their investigations beyond this ambivalent inheritance to imagine a decolonial linguistics. The volume will be of interest to all linguists looking to critically assess their own practices and to engage with debates at the cutting-edge of their discipline, particularly in the areas of sociolinguistics, field linguistics, typology, and linguistic anthropology, as well as to those outside the discipline engaging with questions of coloniality.

Who really rules Iran today? Are the men in official positions merely puppets activated by hidden hands? How are decisions made in a system that appears so chaotic at first glance? Is the current political structure doomed to conflict? These are some of the questions that Amir Taheri addresses in this riveting and timely book. An anatomy of one of the most secretive regimes in the contemporary world, The Persian Night traces the historical, religious, cultural, and political roots of the Khomeinist revolution and analyzes the way it has grown into a pseudo-religious ideology over the past three decades. Taheri dissects a regime that has hijacked a nation of seventy million people and mobilized its resources for global “holy war” against the United States and its allies. From Khomeini’s “divine mission” to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s messianic campaign in the name of the “Hidden Imam,” Iran is on a trajectory towards war. The Persian Night looks into the actual links between the Islamic Republic and terrorist networks including al-Qaeda and Hezballah; the reality of the Iranian nuclear program; the Islamic Republic’s war-making capabilities and strategies; and the origins of the three Khomeinist phobias—women, Jews, and the United States. But as Taheri demonstrates, Khomeinism is not Iran. Today there are two competing Irans: the one manifested in the negative Khomeinist energies that have dragged the nation into its dark night; the other drawing from the long and celebrated history of Persian culture while extending a friendly hand to the West. Successive U.S. administrations, along with most European governments, have failed to understand the reality of the Khomeinist regime and at times have even aided its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, including a nuclear arsenal. Taheri provides a set of imaginative suggestions for more effective ways of dealing with Iran.

The architecture of the Islamic world is predominantly considered in terms of a dual division between 'tradition' and 'modernity' - a division which, Saeid Khaghani here argues, has shaped and limited the narrative applied to this architecture. Khaghani introduces and reconsiders the mosques of eighth- to fifteenth-century Iran in terms of poststructural theory and developments in historiography in order to develop a brand new dialectical framework. Using the examples of mosques such as the Friday Mosques in Isfahan and Yazd as well as the Imam mosque in Isfahan, Khaghani presents a new way of thinking about and discussing Islamic architecture, making this valuable reading for all interested in the study of the art, architecture and material culture of the Islamic world.