Education
- Ph.D., Iranian Philology and Ancient History, Harvard University
- Ph.D. Candidate, Iranian Philology, Seminar für Iranistik, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany
- M.A., Iranian Philology and Ancient History, Institut des Études Iraniennes, Université de la Sorbonne, Paris, France
- B.A., Philosophy, Comparative Philology, History, Philosophisches Seminar, Albertus-Magnus-Universität zu Köln, Cologne, Germany
Research
- Old and Middle Iranian philology
- Iranian epigraphy
- Achaemenid, Arsacid, Seleucid, and Sasanian history with special attention to interactions between Mesopotamia and Iran; as well as Greco-Roman and Iranian cultural and ideological exchanges
- Ancient Iranian religions
- Greek historiography; Hellenistic and Late Antique worlds
- Persian Church; Syriac literature; history of Exilarchate
- Epic and oral traditions
- Early New Persian epic poetry and prose
- Islamic historiography
Courses
- History of the Achaemenid Empire (Iranian M110A)
- History of the Arsacid (Parthian) Empire (Iranian M110B)
- History of the Sasanian Empire (Iranian M110C)
- Introduction to Western Middle Iranian Pahlavi; Manichaean Middle Persian (Iranian 161A)
- Religions of Ancient Iran Zoroastrianism; Manichaeism; Mazdakism (Iranian 170)
- Early New Persian Epic Poetry and Prose
Graduate
- Old Persian Cuneiform (Iranian M230A, Iranian M230B)
- Avestan Younger (Iranian M230A, Iranian M230B)
- Advanced Western Middle Persian Pahlavi; Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian; Sasanian Inscriptions (Iranian 231A, Iranian 231B)
- Introduction to Eastern Middle Iranian Sogdian; Bactrian (Iranian 161A)
- Elamite (Middle Elamite; Achaemenid)
Books
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- Arsacids and Sasanians
- Political Ideology in Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Persia
- Cambridge University Press, 2011
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- Aspects of History and Epic in Ancient Iran
- From Gaumāta to Wahnām
- Harvard University Press, 2012
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- The Talmud in its Iranian Context
- Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010
Articles
Edited Work
- Persia Beyond Oxus. Bulletin of the Asia Institute 21. Bloomfield Hills, MI: Bulletin of the Asia Institute, 2007 [2012]. Guest Editor.
Articles, Essays and Book Chapters
- “Prosopographical Notes: The Iranian Nobility during and after the Macedonian Conquest.” Bulletin of the Asia Institute 21, 2007 [2012]: 97–126.
- “Bardiya and Gaumāta: An Achaemenid Enigma Reconsidered.” Bulletin of the Asia Institute 20, 2006 [2010]: 65–76.
- “Nugae Epigraphicae.” In Festschrift for Prods Oktor Skjærvø. Edited by Nicholas and Ursula Sims-Williams. Bulletin of the Asia Institute 19. Bloomfield Hills, MI: Bulletin of the Asia Institute, 2005 [2009]: 169–179.
- “On the Rationale behind the Roman Wars of Šābuhr II the Great.” Bulletin of the Asia Institute 18, 2004 [2008]: 111–133.
- “On Demetrius II Nicator’s Arsacid Captivity and Second Rule.” Bulletin of the Asia Institute 17, 2003 [2007]: 83–103.
- “On the Function of the (h)argbed in Sasanian Iran.” In Ahmad Tafazzoli: A Commemorative. Iran Nameh: A Persian Journal of Iranian Studies. Vol. 17:2. Bethesda, MD: Foundation for Iranian Studies, 1999, 287–290.
- “The Evolution of the Concept of xwadāy in Middle Persian. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 51, no. 1–2 (1998): 31–54.
Book Chapters
- “The Arsacids and the Commagene.” In The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires: Adaptation and Expansion: Proceedings of a Conference Held at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 14−15 June 2012. BIPS Archaeological Monograph Series, Edited by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis and Michael Alram. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2016.
- “Sasanian Royal Ideology.” In The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran. Edited by D. T. Potts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
- “Philostratus’s Heroikos and the Ideation of Late Severan Policy toward Arsacid and Sasanian Iran” In Philostratus’s Heroikos: Religion and Cultural Identity in the Third Century CE. Edited by Ellen Bradshaw Aitken and Jennifer K. Berenson Maclean. Writings of the Greco-Roman World, Number 6, ser. ed. John T. Fitzgerald. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004, 285–315.
- “Approaches to the Study of Sasanian History.” In Paitimāna: Essays in Iranian, Indo-European, and Indian Studies in Honor of Hanns-Peter Schmidt. Edited by S. Adhami. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers, 2003, 363–384.
Encyclopaedia Entries
- “Hormizd I.” Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. 12, no. 5 (2004): 462–464.
- “Hazārbed.” Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. 12, no. 1 (2003): 93–95.
- “Ḵosrow I Anōširavān.” Encyclopædia Iranica. In preparation.
Reviews
- Macuch, Maria. Rechtskasuistik and Gerichtspraxis zu Beginn des siebenten Jahrhunderts in Iran: Die Rechtssammlung des Farroḫmard i Wahrāmān. Edited by Maria Macuch. Iranica, Band 1. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1993, xiv, 807 S. In Orientalische Literaturzeitung 93 (1998): 230–234.
- Wiesehöfer, Josef. Ancient Persia. London: I. B. Tauris, 1996. In Iranian Studies 33, 1-2 (2000): 238–240.
- Tafazzoli, Ahmad. Sasanian Society: I. Warriors; II. Scribes; III. Dehqāns. Ehsan Yarshater Distinguished Lectures in Iranian Studies, No. 1. New York: Bibliotheca Persica Press, 2000, 71. In Journal of the American Oriental Society 132:1 (2012): 124–125.
- Cantera, Alberto. Studien zur Pahlavi Übersetzung des Avesta. Edited by Maria Macuch. Iranica, Band 7. In Journal of the American Oriental Society 131:3 (2011): 504–506.