Enrico Giuseppe Raffaelli did his undergraduate studies at the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” specializing in Iranian studies, with a focus on Zoroastrianism and the languages of pre-Islamic Iran. Between 1999 and 2004, he did his PhD on Zoroastrianism at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” in conjunction with the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Religious Sciences Section, in Paris.
Raffaelli’s present areas of interest include the history of pre-Islamic Iranian literature, with a particular focus on the Avestan ritual texts, and on the Middle Persian texts of the apocalyptic genre. His book L’oroscopo del mondo deals with astrology in Zoroastrianism; its relationship with Mesopotamian, classical, and Indian astrology; and its influence on Islamic astrology. He has also published several articles and book chapters on astrology in pre-Islamic Iran, and on Avestan and Middle Persian literature. The Sih-rozag in Zoroastrianism focuses on the Avestan and Pahlavi versions of the Sih-rozag, a text worshipping Zoroastrian divine entities. It includes a translation and philological and historico-religious commentary on the two versions of the text.