Pahlavi Texts

Still referenced in Indo-Iranian studies, this five-volume translation of the Pahlavi texts of Zoroastrianism was published between 1880 and 1897.

Edward William West (Edited and translated by)

9781108054324, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 December 2012

562 pages
21.6 x 14 x 3.2 cm, 0.71 kg

Published between 1880 and 1897 as part of Max Müller's Sacred Books of the East series, this five-volume translation of Pahlavi texts was the work of Edward William West (1824–1905). Largely self-taught, West developed his knowledge of ancient oriental languages in India, where he worked as a civil engineer. After returning to Europe, West focused on the study of sacred Zoroastrian texts and prepared these translations of Pahlavi manuscripts. His writings and editions are still referenced today in Indo-Iranian studies. The Nasks are the focus of Volume 4, wherein West collects, translates and analyses fragments such as names, summaries, digests and stray quotes from other books in order to present all that is known of the twenty-one original treatises containing Sassanid Zoroastrian literature. The treatises were themselves records of what was legendarily lost after Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia in the fourth century BCE.

Introduction
Abbreviations used in this volume
1. Dînkard, Book VIII
2. Dînkard, Book IX
Details of the Nasks from other sources
Index
Errata
Transliteration of oriental alphabets.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]