Ehsan Yarshater

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Ehsan Yarshater (2011)

Ehsan Yarshater ( Persian احسان یارشاطر, DMG Eḥsān-e Yāršāṭer ; * April 3, 1920 in Hamadan , Iran ; † September 2, 2018 in Fresno , California , United States ) was Director of the Center for Iranian Studies and Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Columbia University , New York .

Ehsan Yarshater studied Persian Philology at the University of Tehran and Iranian Philology (Old and Central Iranian) with WB Henning at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London . His dissertation at the University of Tehran dealt with Persian poetry under the Timurid Shahruch (15th century). His dissertation at London University was later expanded and published as A Grammar of Southern Tati Dialects (Mouton, 1969). It describes a series of Tati dialects that are spoken in the southwest of Qazvin .

Yarshater is considered one of the most important Iranists of his generation. He became internationally known, in particular, as the co-founder and editor of the Encyclopædia Iranica , in whose realization a total of 40 other editors and 300 authors from various institutions in the United States, Europe and Asia are involved. He was also editor of the third volume of the Cambridge History of Iran , published in 1983, which covers the history of the Seleucids , Parthians and Sassanids . Another project initiated by Yarshater is the now twenty-volume History of Persian Literature .

He also published a number of articles on the modern western Iranian dialects Tati and Taleshi , on the Jewish dialects of Persian (such as the Lotara ) and on Persian mythology . Yarshater has won several international awards, including a UNESCO award in 1959 .

The Yarshater Lectureship Prize is the most prestigious award in the field of Iranian studies today.

Until her death in 1999, Yarshater was married to Latifeh Alvieh, a former cultural advisor in the cultural office of the US Embassy in Tehran. He died in California in 2018 at the age of 98.

Publications (selection)

  • Legends of the Epic of Kings (Dastanha-ye Shahnama) , Tehran 1957ff .; 2nd ed. 1974, 1982 (UNESCO Prize 1959).
  • Selected Stories from the Shahnama (Bargozida-ye dastanha-ye Shahnama) , Vol. I, Tehran 1974 (ND Washington, DC 1982).
  • Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. III: Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanian Periods , Cambridge 1983 (as editor and author of several articles).
  • Encyclopaedia Iranica , Costa Mesa 1985ff
  • Persian Literature , New York 1988.

Web links

Commons : Ehsan Yarshater  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

The Tehran Times lists September 1st as the date of death.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Amir-Hussein Radjy: Obituaries: Ehsan Yarshater, Iran Scholar With a Monumental Vision, Dies at 98. In: The New York Times of September 18, 2018
  2. ^ A b Joint announcement by The Ehsan Yarshater Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University; The Persian Heritage Foundation; and The Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation: Professor Ehsan Yarshater (1920-2018)
  3. ↑ Ehsan Yarshater , en: Financial Tribune , September 4, 2018
  4. ↑ a b Ehsan Yarshater, founder of Encyclopedia Iranica, dies at 98 , en: Tehran Times , September 3, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Yarshater, Ehsan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Iranian Iranist
DATE OF BIRTH April 3, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamadan
DATE OF DEATH 2nd September 2018
Place of death Fresno , California , United States