• A brightly lit hallway lined with red numbered mailboxes or storage lockers on both sides. The walls, drawers, and lighting fixtures are all red, creating a striking monochromatic design. The polished floor reflects the light, and a white desk is visible on the left side near the entrance.

Opium in Afghanistan, a glimpse from the past

By Sara Peterson In recent years, the cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan has become a news item, with reports from the United Nations and the United States Government documenting record highs (no pun intended) in opium production. Now we…

On translation and exegesis in the Zoroastrian religious tradition

The oldest layers of the surviving Zoroastrian texts are in Avestan language and commonly dated to the middle of the second millennium BCE. Exact dates and circumstances of composition, however, remain uncertain, so that little is known about the socio-political context from which these texts emerged. After two millennia of oral transmission, the texts were finally committed to writing, at a time when the language must have no longer been in active use.

1751 Map of Asia

Remapping Persian Literary History, 1700-1900

Read the blog post to find out more about writing the newly published book Remapping Persian Literary History, 1700-1900 by Kevin L. Schwartz. Remembering Iran, Forgetting the Persianate There was a time – roughly from 1000 to 1850 – when…

Lucretius II - Primavera

An extract from Lucretius II by Thomas Nail

Take a peek at the book extract from the recently published Lucretius II: An Ethics of Motion by Thomas Nail. How can the fear of death lead us to unethical action? In his didactic poem De Rerum Natura, Lucretius tell…

Photograph of Möbius strip with greek lettering

Aristotle and gender: form vs matter?

Even as strides toward gender equality have been made in the last century, the notion that gender is a binary divided between those who determine the social world – men – and those who need to be determined – women…

photo of Jan P. Stronk

An Ancient Library Full of Persia

by Jan P. Stronk Perspectives on Persia During most of the Archaic down to the Hellenistic Eras, Persia and/or the Persians have had an appeal to the Greeks. Certainly during the Archaic Period, the Greek judgement regarding the Persians was…