Open Access Journal: Berkeley Working Papers in Middle Iranian Philology

 [First posted in AWOL 3 April 2023, updated 9 August 2026]

 

Berkeley Working Papers in Middle Iranian Philology

Berkeley Working Papers in Middle Iranian Philology publishes short and longer articles or research reports on the philology and epigraphy of the Middle Iranian languages (Middle Persian, Parthian, Bactrian, Sogdian, Chorasmian, Khotanese). Submitted papers will be reviewed by the editors, and published on an ongoing basis and as annual volumes. The series is edited by Adam Benkato and Arash Zeini.

Three Middle Persian documents from Fārs dating to the reigns of Xusrō II and Ohrmazd IV

• Asefi, Nima;
• Farridnejad, Shervin

(2026)

In 2024, images of three previously unknown Middle Persian documents on leather became available, reportedly originating from an undisclosed location in Fārs province, Iran. All three documents are formal letters. In this article, we propose that the documents originate from the same site, Tang-e Bolāġī, as seven other documents which became known beginning in 2023. Based on an analysis of the opening sections of these three new documents, we argue that two date to the reign of Xusrō II (r. 590–628 CE), while the third is attributable to the reign of his father, Ohrmazd IV (r. 579–590 CE). We furthermore consider the evidence for the titulature of the Sasanian kings at the end of the 6th and beginning of the 7th centuries CE.

New readings in seven Middle Persian documents from the archive of Hastijan with an edition of Berk. 19

• Asefi, Nima

(2025)

This article proposes new readings and interpretations for parts of seven Middle Persian documents first published by Philippe Gignoux and Dieter Weber, namely: Berk. 80, Berk. 95, Berk. 43B, Tehran B, LA1, Berk. 149, and Berlin 28. It also provides the editio princeps of Berk. 19.

The Xorde Avesta and the structuring of time

• König, Götz

(2024)

The Xorde Avesta is considered a collection of shorter Zoroastrian liturgies. Until recently, neither the architecture of the manuscripts in which the Xorde Avesta was handed down was analyzed in detail, nor was the relationship between manuscript and practice adequately described. This article develops the thesis that the representation of the Xorde Avesta in manuscripts and liturgical practice can be understood from the point of a ritual structuring of circular units of time.

A New Middle Persian Document from Hastijan belonging to the Farroxzād Family

• Asefi, Nima

(2023)

This study publishes a first edition of a newly-discovered Middle Persian document located in a private collection but stemming from the area of Hastijan, Iran. It is related to the ‘Pahlavi Archive’, the majority of which is held in the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley, and the contents concern the family of a certain Farroxzād, mentioned in several other documents in the archive.

Notizen zum Xorde Avesta V: Das Avesta-Pahlavi Ms. T12 betrachtet im Rahmen der historischen Veränderungen des Xorde Avesta

• König, Götz

(2023)

Das „Xorde Avesta“ ist eine (in Handschriften und Drucken überlieferte) Sammlung von (größtenteils) kürzeren liturgischen Texten in avestischer Sprache (sowie in persischen und in indischen Sprachen) auf der Grundlage einer sie charakterisierenden, allgemein verbindlichen Struktur folgt. Diese Struktur zeigt typische Variationsmuster gemäß Klasse, Zeit und Ort der Handschrift. Im Rahmen von allgemeiner Struktur und partikularem Muster finden sich wiederum individuelle Differenzen in Material und in dessen Anordnung, die dafür verantwortlich sind, daß Xorde Avesta Handschriften fast immer Unikate sind (und vermutlich darum auch niemals im Rahmen der Hypothese der 'Stammhandschriften' diskutiert wurden). Die Hs. T12 aus der Mitte des 16. Jh. gehört zu jenen Handschriften des Xorde Avesta, die für unsere Rekonstruktion der Geschichte einer bestimmten Handschriftenklasse eine herausragende Position besitzen. Sie bildet zudem eine Schnittstelle von frühem iranischen Xorde Avesta (in Pahlavi) und der indischen Tradition, in die die Handschrift (wieder?) eingeführt wird.

A newly discovered Middle Persian funerary inscription from Mount Zaneh

• Doroodi, Mojtaba;
• Owladhoseyn, Mohammad Javad;
• Zeini, Arash

(2023)

Mount Zaneh is among the mountains of Marvdasht located in the current municipality of Abarj. The mountain has long attracted scholarly attention for housing a rich variety of scattered archeological remnants from the Elamite up to the Sasanian eras. In particular, there are two ancient ossuaries whose patterns resemble the ossuaries in Naqsh-e Rostam. This study introduces and deciphers a newly-discovered six-line Middle Persian inscription in the skirts of Mount Zaneh. The inscription is comparable with other funerary inscriptions in Middle Persian.

Towards a Manifesto for Middle Iranian Philology

• Zeini, Arash

(2023)

The purpose of this manifesto is to raise broad questions about philological inquiry as a background to the purpose of this occasional journal. It reflects both on general questions of philology (Section 2) and delves into an example from the Middle Persian translations (Zand) of the Avesta in which can be seen a clash between the traditional approach in that field and the type of inquiry that I advocate here (Section 3).

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