Abstract This paper examines three Sasanian bullae, to date unpublished, from the fire temple of Ādur Gušnasp at Takht-e Solaymān, located in the Northwestern Azerbaijan province of Iran. The bullae, excavated in 2003 by Yousef Moradi and his team, feature impressions of administrative seals with Middle Persian inscriptions. Additionally, these bullae display impressions of so-called “witness seals”, used by individuals who were required to authenticate the validity of the documents or objects to which the bullae were once affixed. The administrative seals represent juridico-religious, clerical, and civil administrations. The article discusses the significance of each office within the Sasanian administrative structure. Furthermore, it argues that, unlike other bullae archives, which were predominantly ‘local’ or ‘provincial’, the archive at Takht-e Solaymān functioned as a ‘supraregional’ archive. It contained impressions of both personal and administrative seals from not only Ādurbādagān but also from other provinces. The article also provides evidence for the first time, that the šahrab of Ādurbādagān held two different administrative seals.

Abstract Today, oral tradition continues within written culture and electronic media in transformed form. This evolution has been influenced by urbanization and technological developments. Media organizations and digital platforms have increased their influence, leading to transformations in social and cultural domains. Media organizations play an instrumental role in shaping oral heritage through the creation, utilization, and consumption of these traditions. In this new age—characterized by Ong as secondary oral culture and McLuhan as the global village—oral tradition persists within a contemporary framework. This research examines the utilitarian and performance-oriented dimensions of Turkish, Kurdish, and Armenian oral traditions in the Anatolian and Caucasian regions through concrete examples. Cultural components such as poetry, mâni (short, rhymed quatrains), folk melodies, narratives, and allegories are sustained in response to necessities and transformation processes. They are transmitted through digital platforms within a framework that includes bards, dengbêjs (traditional Kurdish minstrels), and gusan / ašuł (bards). These cultural elements become consumable commodities through mass distribution, reinforcing the influence of the cultural industries on radio, television, and cinema.

Abstract In the first part of this study (Gholami/Pouladi 2023), we provided a detailed linguistic analysis of a rare written text of Zoroastrian Dari (Behdīnī), preserved in a bilingual letter in the Perso-Arabic script. The analysis dealt with phonological, morphological, and syntactic aspects of the bilingual text, with a particular focus on the challenge of representing the phonetic distinctions of Zoroastrian Dari in a script not originally designed for it. We also considered the ways in which the scribe managed orthographic challenges, using creative ways of approaching the representation of Zoroastrian Dari. This second part turns to the broader concern of language contact as visible in written form, and more specifically examines the complexities of bilingualism as they materialised between Persian and Zoroastrian Dari, addressing key areas of focus including borrowing and code-switching.

Abstract Many Greek historians and their Western successors viewed the Achaemenid decline as beginning with Xerxes’ invasion of Greece. The return of Cyrus the Younger’s Greek mercenaries after the Battle of Cunaxa was seen as a sign of Persian weakness, foreshadowing Alexander’s invasion. This article examines the link between the Achaemenid Empire’s administrative structure and the successful march of the Ten Thousand . It argues that the empire’s hierarchical organization, divided into military territories, required local authorities to defend their regions while also supplying forces to the central government during crises such as Cyrus’s revolt. Although the grand satraps were preoccupied with civil war and could not effectively counter the Greeks, local authorities managed to resist them, suggesting that the Greeks’ return reflected the Achaemenids’ effective administrative system rather than their decline.

Abstract This review summarizes approximately twenty-five years of research into Armenians’ genetic history based on modern and ancient DNA samples. Studies of uniparentally inherited traits and whole-genome data indicate a rather homogeneous genetic structure among various geographical groups of historical Armenia. A significant level of genetic continuity, more than six thousand years, is observed in the eastern areas of the Armenian highlands. The genetic findings strongly dismiss the Balkan theory regarding the origins of Armenians and indicate a genetic influx from Levantine sources into the region during/after the second millennium B.C. Another significant finding is that there are almost no traces of Mongol, Turkic, or Arab conquerors in Armenians’ paternal and maternal gene pools, despite these groups having invaded the Armenian highlands multiple times after the region’s ethnogenetic processes were completed.

Abstract This paper explores the visual languages of monarchic self-fashioning deployed by King Agathokles I of Baktria (ca. 180–176 B.C. ). It does so by offering a reappraisal of the logic(s) behind the issue of the so-called “pedigree coins”, a striking local innovation in Baktrian language of royalty. The paper complicates current understandings of charismatic rule in the Hellenistic Far East by engaging with anthropological models of sacred kingship (divine and cosmic) across different cultural spaces (the Mediterranean World, the Near East, and India). Furthermore, it suggests Baktrian creative manipulation of Alexander’s memory. Indeed, it is argued that Agathokles may have pioneered “imperial leapfrogging” in Central Asia, in a skillful adaptation of visual cultures of power at the same time conversant with and reacting to Seleukid, Arsakid, and even Mauryan strategy of kingship validation.

Abstract Kirva , a social kinship practice, has been preserved in the post-Ottoman space, where it continues to play an important role in community life. Kirva has long been crucial for organising social and religious interactions, economic cooperation, political allegiances, the transmission of knowledge, and conflict resolution in Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Mesopotamia. Oral history provides vivid accounts of this practice, which is well known among religious communities such as the Alevis and Yezidis, as well as Orthodox Christians (Armenian, Greek and Syrian), and Shia and Sunni Muslims (Arab, Azeri, Georgian, Kurdish and Turkish). It serves to forge a close, kin-like covenant between two families, sometimes from different ethno-religious communities, who commit to supporting each other in good times and in bad. This article examines the extent to which this commitment to mutual aid is upheld during times of conflict. Through an analysis of this institution within the memories of Armenian and Yezidi communities, I explore the decline of kirva within the historical context of the transformation from empires to modern nation-states. I argue that the power alliances of these two socio-religious communities were significantly altered during the Tanzimat era, a period characterised by collective violence—the inevitable companion of nation-state building. The modern endeavour to eliminate all ambiguity continues to put this social kinship practice to a severe test until today.