The Danish Orientalist Arthur Christensen’s Visit to Iran in 1929 and His Meeting with the Iranian Intelligentsia

Abstract

This article focuses on Arthur Christensen’s meeting with the Iranian intelligentsia in 1929. Arthur Christensen’s L’Iran sous les Sassanides had a tremendous influence on the Iranian nationalism at the beginning of the twentieth century. However, Christensen’s encounter with Iranian intellectuals in 1929 shows that from the very beginning they had much in common, and furthermore that Christensen was influenced by Iranian nationalism.