The TeO2–B2O3–ZnO-Dy2O3 (TBZDyx) glasses were irradiated with 50 kGy gamma radiation using a60Co radioisotope source. The effect of gamma irradiation on the physical, optical and spectroscopic properties of TBZDyx glasses was studied. The glasses remained amorphous after gamma irradiation. The optical studies revealed that the band gap values decreased after irradiation. The spectroscopic properties such as stimulated emission cross-section, bandwidth, lifetime etc. got marginally modified. The characteristic photon shielding properties of the Dy3+- doped TeO2–B2O3–ZnO (TBZDyx) glasses were studied using Phy-X/PSD software. The photon shielding properties of the glasses were accessed in terms of mass attenuation coefficient, half value layer and effective atomic number. The mass attenuation coefficient decreased as photon energy increased with exception at 0.004 MeV. The maximum value of MAC was found to be at 0.0015 MeV for TBZDy2.5 glass. The half value layer and mean free path decreased with increase in Dy3+-concentration. Whereas, the effective atomic number increased with increasing Dy3+- concentration. The results suggested that the photon shielding properties of the glasses improved with the addition of Dy3+ and can be considered as candidates for photon shielding materials.