Archaeology

CARLO GIOVANNI CERETI

The main scope of the course aims to provide the students with a more in-depth picture of the diachronic and cultural development of the Iranian history, identifying specific themes, events or periods that had a remarkable impact on the Iranian civilization. Following the methodology of the historical studies, the student will achieve specialized competences refining his skills in the analysis of historical dynamics and gaining a thorough knowledge of the issues related to the historiographical tradition of ancient Iran.

At the end of the course, you will have gained in-depth knowledge of a specific period in the history of pre-Islamic Iran.

At least two exams focusing on the Iranian cultural area, preferably one on history and one on religion.

The seminar-style course will focus on the Mazdakite movement in late Sasanian Iran.

Preliminary bibliography, to be integrated in class:
Yarshater, Ehsan. “Mazdakism.” In *The Cambridge History of Iran*, Vol. 3(2), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 991–1024. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Yarshater, Ehsan. “Mazdak.” *Encyclopaedia Iranica*. Available online: https://iranicaonline.org/articles/mazdak (accessed September 2025).
Crone, Patricia. “Kavād’s Heresy and Mazdak’s Revolt.” *Iran* 29 (1991): 21–42.
Crone, Patricia. *Zoroastrian Communism: Mazdak’s Doctrine and Its Sources*. Copenhagen: Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern Studies, 1994.
Shapira, Dan D. Y. “On the Scriptural Sources of Mazdak’s Teachings.” In *Irano-Judaica III: Studies Relating to Jewish Contacts with Persian Culture throughout the Ages*, edited by Shaul Shaked and Amnon Netzer, 181–199. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 1994.
Daryaee, Touraj. *Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire*. London: I.B. Tauris, 2009.
Procopius. *History of the Wars, Books I–II (Persian War)*. Translated by H. B. Dewing. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1914.
Al-Ṭabarī. *The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume V: The Sasanids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen*. Translated by C. E. Bosworth. Albany: SUNY Press, 1999.
Ferdowsi. *Shāhnāma: The Book of Kings*. Translated by Dick Davis. New York: Penguin Classics, 2007.
Daryaee, Touraj. “Mazdak and Late Antique ‘Socialism’.” In *The Cambridge History of Socialism, Volume 1: From Antiquity to the End of the Nineteenth Century*, edited by Marcel van der Linden and Gregory Claeys, 93–114. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.

The single exam will consist of writing an in-depth essay complete with a bibliography, which will then be discussed during an oral exam.