Almut Hintze: On the Transmission of Zoroastrian Texts

Welcome back to Parse! Thank you for tuning in to listen to the premiere of our third season!
In this episode, join host Yasamin Jameh, in uncovering the role of the Zoroastrian laity in preserving their ancient sacred texts like the Avesta despite intense adversity and persecution.

The 21st episode of Parse is an excerpt from a presentation given by Dr. Almut Hintze on the complex process of transmitting millennia-old Zoroastrian traditions, particularly religious texts like the Avesta, among the Zoroastrian community after the Arab conquest of Iran in 656 AD when Zoroastrians were dispersed because of religious persecution. Hintze highlights the importance of the laity in preserving these ancient traditions, such as through the financing of priests to copy manuscripts and funding their travels between the Zoroastrian communities of Iran and India to acquire and protect these documents.  
 
Dr. Hintze is an academic, philologist, linguist and scholar of Indo-Iranian studies and Zoroastrianism. Since 2001, she has been Zartoshty Brothers Professor of Zoroastrianism at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Hintze’s research focuses on “the languages, religions and history of pre-Islamic Iran and Central Asia with special attention to Zoroastrianism” and “Ancient and Middle Iranian philology and linguistics”. She was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2015.  

To watch the full lecture, click here: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr6uNj84ogY&t=2366s