Description

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Armenian and Iranian Studies brings together select articles published in disparate journals and volumes over the past two decades. Some deal exclusively with either Armeniaca (ancient, medieval, and modern) or Iranica (pre-Islamic); in the case of the former, there is an emphasis on the sources and religious material of heroic epic and of folklore. A number of studies also deal with the visionaries of the Armenian tradition--Mashtots', Narekats'i, Ch'arents'. In the Iranian area, there are publications on Irano-Judaica and the culture of the Parsi Zoroastrians of India.

The majority of the articles here have to do with Armeno-Iranica. In some cases they serve to supplement the findings of the author's Zoroastrianism in Armenia (Harvard Iranian Series 5, 1987). Several articles deal with witchcraft and magic and relate to ancient Armenian pre- and non-Christian religion. With the same interest, the author examines some legendry belonging to the categories of belief condemned by the Armenian Church as heresy; translation and commentary on medieval lyric poetry enliven these glimpses into the life of the past.