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تاریخ ایران: پژوهش آكسفورد
تاریخ ایران کتابی ارزنده و درخور توجه از نشریات دانشگاه آکسفورد است. این کتاب در عین مجمل بودن، منبعی راهگشا، مفید و قابل اعتماد دربارهی تاریخ ایران است. آنچه این کتاب را از دیگر آثاری که در این زمینه نوشته شدهاند متمایز میکند نگاه یکسان آن به دورههای مختلف تاریخ ایران است. کتاب با مقالهای دربارهی دوران پارینهسنگی و ظهور شاهنشاهی هخامنشی آغاز میشود و با مقالهای با عنوان «ایران پس از انقلاب (۱۳۸۸-۱۳۵۷ ه.ش)» پایان میپذیرد.
این پژوهش در شانزده مقالهی تخصصی، که حاصل تلاش کارشناسان دورههای مختلف تاریخ ایران است، اطلاعات مفید و ارزشمندی در اختیار علاقهمندان قرار میدهد.
این پژوهش در شانزده مقالهی تخصصی، که حاصل تلاش کارشناسان دورههای مختلف تاریخ ایران است، اطلاعات مفید و ارزشمندی در اختیار علاقهمندان قرار میدهد.
488 pages, Hardcover
First published July 26, 2011
25 people are currently reading
290 people want to read
About the author
Touraj Daryaee
43 books30 followersTouraj Daryaee holds the Maseeh Chair in Persian Studies and Culture and is the director of the Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies at the University of California, Irvine.
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June 15, 2024
مهمترین ویژگی کتاب اینه که هر بخش رو متخصص تاریخ همون دوره نوشته. این باعث میشه که مطالب دقیقتر باشه و یک زاویهی دید خاص هم بر کل کتاب حاکم نشه.
بزرگترین ایرادش از نظر من، چکیده بودنه. (و البته بخش هخامنشیان که به خاطر فوت استاد شاپورشهبازی آپدیت نشده و مطالبش قدیمیه و بعضی جاهاش با یافتههای جدید نمیخونه)
برای خودم اینجوری بود که بخشهای مربوط به ایلام، مادها، هخامنشیان، اشکانیان، ساسانیان، صفویان و پهلوی که ازشون اطلاعات قبلی داشتم خیلی جذاب و سودمند بود ولی تو بخشهایی که اطلاعات کمتری داشتم مطالب کمی گنگ به نظر میرسید و یک «خب که چی؟!» تو ذهنم جولان میداد و گاهی پیدا کردن رشتهی وقایع برام سخت میشد.
در کل؛
کتابیه که پیشنهادش میکنم ولی به نظرم برای شروع خوانش تاریخ خیلی مناسب نیست. (حداقل بعضی بخشهاش اینطوره)
پس از خوانش دوم:
این بار دقیقتر خوندم ولی اصلا دوستش نداشتم چون باید امتحان بدم. اگر برای خودتون میخونیدش، خوشبختید.
بزرگترین ایرادش از نظر من، چکیده بودنه. (و البته بخش هخامنشیان که به خاطر فوت استاد شاپورشهبازی آپدیت نشده و مطالبش قدیمیه و بعضی جاهاش با یافتههای جدید نمیخونه)
برای خودم اینجوری بود که بخشهای مربوط به ایلام، مادها، هخامنشیان، اشکانیان، ساسانیان، صفویان و پهلوی که ازشون اطلاعات قبلی داشتم خیلی جذاب و سودمند بود ولی تو بخشهایی که اطلاعات کمتری داشتم مطالب کمی گنگ به نظر میرسید و یک «خب که چی؟!» تو ذهنم جولان میداد و گاهی پیدا کردن رشتهی وقایع برام سخت میشد.
در کل؛
کتابیه که پیشنهادش میکنم ولی به نظرم برای شروع خوانش تاریخ خیلی مناسب نیست. (حداقل بعضی بخشهاش اینطوره)
پس از خوانش دوم:
این بار دقیقتر خوندم ولی اصلا دوستش نداشتم چون باید امتحان بدم. اگر برای خودتون میخونیدش، خوشبختید.
December 27, 2022
This is a really good collection of essays on each major period of Iran's history, full of insightful observations. The authors have a great variety of approaches, some giving blow-by-blow accounts of events, and others critiquing popular perceptions of major actors such as Arab intellectuals or Mongol invaders The section on Avestan (early Zorostrian) literature and society is especially extensive.
February 12, 2022
بعد از هزارسال تموم شد🤭
مرور خیلی چکیده و خلاصهی تاریخ ایران از دوران هخامنشی تا انتخابات سال ۸۸؛ این خلاصهگویی از طرفی خوب بود چون صرفا باعث آشنایی کلی با تاریخ ایران میشد. اما دوتا نکتهی منفی:
یک اینکه دیگه واقعا خیلی خلاصه شده بود و خیلی از اتفاقات و اسامی مهم حذف شده بودند که باید بهشون میپرداخت مخصوصا تو دوران معاصر،
دوم هم اینکه از یه کتاب ۴۵۰ صفحهای حدود صد صفحهاش مربوط به دوران هخامنشی بود با ذکر جزییات! اما معاصر و کمی ماقبل اون رو خیلی کوتاه نوشته بود که جای خالیش به وضوح حس میشد.
مرور خیلی چکیده و خلاصهی تاریخ ایران از دوران هخامنشی تا انتخابات سال ۸۸؛ این خلاصهگویی از طرفی خوب بود چون صرفا باعث آشنایی کلی با تاریخ ایران میشد. اما دوتا نکتهی منفی:
یک اینکه دیگه واقعا خیلی خلاصه شده بود و خیلی از اتفاقات و اسامی مهم حذف شده بودند که باید بهشون میپرداخت مخصوصا تو دوران معاصر،
دوم هم اینکه از یه کتاب ۴۵۰ صفحهای حدود صد صفحهاش مربوط به دوران هخامنشی بود با ذکر جزییات! اما معاصر و کمی ماقبل اون رو خیلی کوتاه نوشته بود که جای خالیش به وضوح حس میشد.
December 2, 2023
کتابسازی محض. افتضاح بود
May 2, 2023
به نظرم نیازی به تعریف اضافه نیست چون هرکدام از مقاله ها کامل و دقیق نوشته شده اند اما هرکدام مباحث و نگاه های جداگانه ای را دنبال می کنند که همه بسیار تخصصی و دقیق هستند بنابراین کتاب برای کسانی مناسب است که پیش زمینه ای درباره ی موضوعات داشته باشند و شاید همین موضوع باعث می شود که نیازی به خواندن همه کتاب نباشد و مقاله ها در زمان های مختلف متناسب با نیاز علمی و پرسشهای ذهنی شخصی انتخاب و خوانده شوند.
March 27, 2022
After an introductory chapter by the book’s editor, the material on Iranian history is presented in 16 chapters by various authors. These chapters are followed by a chronological list of ruling dynasties in Iran and an extensive index.
01. The Iranian Plateau from Paleolithic Times to the Rise of the Achaemenid Empire (Kamyar Abdi)
02. [~2470 years] [-3000 to -530] The Elamites (Daniel T. Potts)
03. Avestan Society (Prods Oktor Skjoervo)
04. [220 years] [-550 to -330] The Achaemenid Persian Empire (A. Shapour Shahbazi)
05. [184 years] [-330 to -146] Iran at the Time of Alexander the Great and the Seleucids (Evangelos Venetis)
06. [471 years] [-247 to 224] The Arsacid Empire (Edward Dabrova)
07. [427 years] [224 to 651] The Sasanian Empire (Touraj Daryaee)
08. [~170 years] [661 to ~830] Iran in the Early Islamic Period (Michael G. Morony)
09. [~600 years] [661to ~1258] Medieval Iran (Neguin Yavari)
10. [80 years] [1256 to 1336]The Mongols in Iran (George E, Lane)
11. [138 years] [1370 to1508] Timurids and Turcomans: Transition and Flowering in the Fifteenth Century (Ali Anooshahr)
12. [221 years] [1501 to1722] The Safavid in Iranian History (Kathryn Babayan)
13. [73 years] [1722 to 1795] The Afghan Interlude and the Zand and Afshar Dynasties (Kamran Scot Aghaie)
14. [126 years] [1795 to 1921] Qajar Iran (Mansoureh Ettehadieh Nezam-Mafi)
15. [54 years] [1925 to 1979] The Pahlavi Era: Iranian Modernity in Global Context (Afshin Matin-Asgari)
16. [30 years] [1979 to 2009] Iran after Revolution (Maziar Behrooz)
We learn in Chapter 1 that Iranian-speaking people arrived in Iran between the Bronze and Iron Ages, more than 3000 years ago. They originated from somewhere north of modern Iran; exactly where, it isn’t quite known [p. 31].
The description of Zorastrianism in Chapter 3 makes it clear that Islam, at least in the form it took in Iran, borrowed many ideas and practices from that earlier religion. Use of horsewhip strokes to punish someone who raised a weapon with intent to harm [p. 105] and considering a menstruating woman to be in a state of impurity [p. 107] are just two examples.
In Chapter 4, we learn that by the late second millennium BCE, groups of the eastern branch of the Indo-Europeans, which called itself Airya (from the Greek aristos, the root of aristocracy), settled around the Hindu Kush mountains and nearby regions, ultimately giving the name “Iran,” the land of the Aryans, to their home [p. 122]. Cyrus II, the Great, derived much of his power and authority by virtue of the fact that he was the heir to both the Median and Persian thrones, from his mother’s and father’s sides, respectively [p. 122]. King Darius went to Egypt and ordered that the Red Sea be connected to the Nile. The envisioned canal was dug, allowing ships to go from Egypt to Persia [p. 127].
Iran’s takeover by the Muslim Arab invaders was caused in part because the Sasanians had been weakened by a recent defeat at the hands of the Byzantines and suffered from infighting among the nobles [p. 208]. Iranians adapted Islam to their culture, in a way that surpassed Islam’s initial message. In fact, by the 11th century, the Persian language became the main vehicle for the spread of Islam in the east [p. 6]. Later, Iran also became a major influence in the spread of Shi’ite Islam, when “[t]he force of [the Safavids’] militant piety changed Iran from a largely Sunni Muslim population with sizable Jewish, Zoroastrian, and Christian minorities into a Shi’ite empire, pressed between the Ottoman and Mughal gunpowder empires” [p. 8].
During the Pahlavi dynasty, the semicolonial status of the Qajar Iran began to change, although later Iran became a client state of the US (which reinstated Shah Mohammad Reza via a CIA-sponsored coup in 1953, after he had fled the country) and a close ally in America’s Cold War with the former Soviet Union [p. 356]. Reza Shah tried to use Turkey’s model for modernizing Iran, but there were key differences between the two countries that thwarted his efforts. One important difference was that Turkey already had the requisite institutions and physical infrastructure to rely on from the late Ottoman period, whereas Reza Shah had to build the Iranian nation-state almost from scratch [p. 348].
History of Iran after the Islamic Revolution is discussed in three stages: 1979-81 (power grab by fundamentalists and an intensifying conflict between the ruling sect and the opposition), 1981-1989 (the clergy establishing themselves as the center of power; by Khomeini’s death in 1989, the power was too concentrated to be challenged by the opposition, including the left faction within the clergy), 1989-1997 (Khamenei’s usurping of power, despite his relatively low status within the clergy, and the sidelining of all other factions, religious and otherwise), 1997-2004 (Khatami’s presidency, and the resulting opening up of political discourse and the so-called “dialog of civilizations,” later rendered ineffective by the election of George W. Bush and the September 11 tragedy), 2005-2009 (Ahmadinejad’s first-term presidency on a populist platform, along with the rigged elections of 2009; the subsequent souring of relations between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei falls outside the period covered in this book).
I learned many new facts from this book. However, I do not believe that spending time on this book (which is an academic tome and not a casual history) is the most efficient way of learning about Iran’s past. Reading through page after page of prose, consisting of linear narratives and page-long paragraphs, with almost nothing in way of diagrams, photos, maps, and charts, is quite difficult. In reading such books, I often wonder when fields of humanities are going to catch up not just with advanced technology, but with methods of presenting information in a user-friendly and readily digestible form.
Someday soon we’ll have an interactive history book of Iran, which allows the reader to explore the events along the time dimension or within geographic regions, easily seeing the temporal and spatial relationships of historical figures and events. Furthermore, this ideal source will allow us to search for specific ideas and personalities via a few clicks and to move back and forth through time, from one ruler to the prior one or the next, and across space, from region to region. Color-coded maps will show the time-varying distribution of tribes and ethnic populations, movement of armies, and changes in borders. Until then, we have no choice but to avail ourselves of existing imperfect and reader-unfriendly sources.
[P.S.: I have tried to provide an example of visual aids to understanding history in my table of contents at the beginning of this review, where time periods and dates help the reader grasp the relative significance of each era or ruling dynasty.]
01. The Iranian Plateau from Paleolithic Times to the Rise of the Achaemenid Empire (Kamyar Abdi)
02. [~2470 years] [-3000 to -530] The Elamites (Daniel T. Potts)
03. Avestan Society (Prods Oktor Skjoervo)
04. [220 years] [-550 to -330] The Achaemenid Persian Empire (A. Shapour Shahbazi)
05. [184 years] [-330 to -146] Iran at the Time of Alexander the Great and the Seleucids (Evangelos Venetis)
06. [471 years] [-247 to 224] The Arsacid Empire (Edward Dabrova)
07. [427 years] [224 to 651] The Sasanian Empire (Touraj Daryaee)
08. [~170 years] [661 to ~830] Iran in the Early Islamic Period (Michael G. Morony)
09. [~600 years] [661to ~1258] Medieval Iran (Neguin Yavari)
10. [80 years] [1256 to 1336]The Mongols in Iran (George E, Lane)
11. [138 years] [1370 to1508] Timurids and Turcomans: Transition and Flowering in the Fifteenth Century (Ali Anooshahr)
12. [221 years] [1501 to1722] The Safavid in Iranian History (Kathryn Babayan)
13. [73 years] [1722 to 1795] The Afghan Interlude and the Zand and Afshar Dynasties (Kamran Scot Aghaie)
14. [126 years] [1795 to 1921] Qajar Iran (Mansoureh Ettehadieh Nezam-Mafi)
15. [54 years] [1925 to 1979] The Pahlavi Era: Iranian Modernity in Global Context (Afshin Matin-Asgari)
16. [30 years] [1979 to 2009] Iran after Revolution (Maziar Behrooz)
We learn in Chapter 1 that Iranian-speaking people arrived in Iran between the Bronze and Iron Ages, more than 3000 years ago. They originated from somewhere north of modern Iran; exactly where, it isn’t quite known [p. 31].
The description of Zorastrianism in Chapter 3 makes it clear that Islam, at least in the form it took in Iran, borrowed many ideas and practices from that earlier religion. Use of horsewhip strokes to punish someone who raised a weapon with intent to harm [p. 105] and considering a menstruating woman to be in a state of impurity [p. 107] are just two examples.
In Chapter 4, we learn that by the late second millennium BCE, groups of the eastern branch of the Indo-Europeans, which called itself Airya (from the Greek aristos, the root of aristocracy), settled around the Hindu Kush mountains and nearby regions, ultimately giving the name “Iran,” the land of the Aryans, to their home [p. 122]. Cyrus II, the Great, derived much of his power and authority by virtue of the fact that he was the heir to both the Median and Persian thrones, from his mother’s and father’s sides, respectively [p. 122]. King Darius went to Egypt and ordered that the Red Sea be connected to the Nile. The envisioned canal was dug, allowing ships to go from Egypt to Persia [p. 127].
Iran’s takeover by the Muslim Arab invaders was caused in part because the Sasanians had been weakened by a recent defeat at the hands of the Byzantines and suffered from infighting among the nobles [p. 208]. Iranians adapted Islam to their culture, in a way that surpassed Islam’s initial message. In fact, by the 11th century, the Persian language became the main vehicle for the spread of Islam in the east [p. 6]. Later, Iran also became a major influence in the spread of Shi’ite Islam, when “[t]he force of [the Safavids’] militant piety changed Iran from a largely Sunni Muslim population with sizable Jewish, Zoroastrian, and Christian minorities into a Shi’ite empire, pressed between the Ottoman and Mughal gunpowder empires” [p. 8].
During the Pahlavi dynasty, the semicolonial status of the Qajar Iran began to change, although later Iran became a client state of the US (which reinstated Shah Mohammad Reza via a CIA-sponsored coup in 1953, after he had fled the country) and a close ally in America’s Cold War with the former Soviet Union [p. 356]. Reza Shah tried to use Turkey’s model for modernizing Iran, but there were key differences between the two countries that thwarted his efforts. One important difference was that Turkey already had the requisite institutions and physical infrastructure to rely on from the late Ottoman period, whereas Reza Shah had to build the Iranian nation-state almost from scratch [p. 348].
History of Iran after the Islamic Revolution is discussed in three stages: 1979-81 (power grab by fundamentalists and an intensifying conflict between the ruling sect and the opposition), 1981-1989 (the clergy establishing themselves as the center of power; by Khomeini’s death in 1989, the power was too concentrated to be challenged by the opposition, including the left faction within the clergy), 1989-1997 (Khamenei’s usurping of power, despite his relatively low status within the clergy, and the sidelining of all other factions, religious and otherwise), 1997-2004 (Khatami’s presidency, and the resulting opening up of political discourse and the so-called “dialog of civilizations,” later rendered ineffective by the election of George W. Bush and the September 11 tragedy), 2005-2009 (Ahmadinejad’s first-term presidency on a populist platform, along with the rigged elections of 2009; the subsequent souring of relations between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei falls outside the period covered in this book).
I learned many new facts from this book. However, I do not believe that spending time on this book (which is an academic tome and not a casual history) is the most efficient way of learning about Iran’s past. Reading through page after page of prose, consisting of linear narratives and page-long paragraphs, with almost nothing in way of diagrams, photos, maps, and charts, is quite difficult. In reading such books, I often wonder when fields of humanities are going to catch up not just with advanced technology, but with methods of presenting information in a user-friendly and readily digestible form.
Someday soon we’ll have an interactive history book of Iran, which allows the reader to explore the events along the time dimension or within geographic regions, easily seeing the temporal and spatial relationships of historical figures and events. Furthermore, this ideal source will allow us to search for specific ideas and personalities via a few clicks and to move back and forth through time, from one ruler to the prior one or the next, and across space, from region to region. Color-coded maps will show the time-varying distribution of tribes and ethnic populations, movement of armies, and changes in borders. Until then, we have no choice but to avail ourselves of existing imperfect and reader-unfriendly sources.
[P.S.: I have tried to provide an example of visual aids to understanding history in my table of contents at the beginning of this review, where time periods and dates help the reader grasp the relative significance of each era or ruling dynasty.]
December 10, 2025
A concise and still informative review of Iranian history.
August 27, 2022
اصلیترین ویژگی این کتاب نبود یکدستی و خط مشی مشخص در تدوین مطالب است. در واقع مجموعه مقالاتی است که بدون یکدست سازی و صرفا با رعایت تقدم و تأخر زمانی در پی هم جمع شدهاند. در برخی دورهها به فرهنگ توجه شده در برخی دورهها به اقتصاد. بعضی دورهها تاریخ سیاسی و نظامی عنوان میگردد و بعضی دورهها حتی به نام بردن از شاهان و امرا نمیپردازد. عملا هیچ سخنی از غزنویان و سلجوقیان و سامانیان گفته نمیشود.
با همه اینها اگر با تاریخ آشنایی کم و زیادی داشته باشید در این کتاب هم نکات خواندنی خواهید یافت و اگر هم کمتر آشنا باشید باز هم شاید برخی فصلهایش برایتان نکاتی دربر داشته باشد.
با همه اینها اگر با تاریخ آشنایی کم و زیادی داشته باشید در این کتاب هم نکات خواندنی خواهید یافت و اگر هم کمتر آشنا باشید باز هم شاید برخی فصلهایش برایتان نکاتی دربر داشته باشد.
July 24, 2022
I don’t know if the history genre within the non fiction form is my cup of tea, but this was a generally solid encapsulation of Iran’s history. I loved learning new things and drawing comparisons to the modern day. As someone who had learnt a lot of the nation’s history through historical fiction, oral lessons and shared lived experiences, I felt there was a lot missing in the last fifth of the book. I felt the writers were trying to be so incredibly objective that their words came out subjective anyway. I’d still recommend this to anyone who wants a comprehensive guide to an ancient nation’s history.
December 28, 2022
برای کسی که میخواد کتابی در مورد تاریخ ایران از باستان تا معاصر بخونه که حال و هوای علمی دانشگاهی داشته باشه انتخاب خوبیه
برای کسایی که میخوان تازه شروع کنن به خوندن تاریخ ایران هم خوبه
خلاصه ست ، کم حجمه و به نظرم اهم مطالب گفته شده
معمولا به غلط اولین کتابی که تازه کارها از تاریخ ایران میخونن کتاب "ایران بین دوانقلاب" آبراهامیانه
که برای تازه کارها اصلا انتخاب خوبی نیست به نظرم
ولی بصورت سنتی گاماول محسوب میشه
!
اینکه نویسنده ها مختلف هستن لذت خوندن یک نگاه جامع رو از آدم میگیره ولی خوب مزیتش اینه که کتاب حس منتسب بودن به جریان خاصی رپ هم به خواننده نمیده که کم نعمتی نیست .
برای کسایی که میخوان تازه شروع کنن به خوندن تاریخ ایران هم خوبه
خلاصه ست ، کم حجمه و به نظرم اهم مطالب گفته شده
معمولا به غلط اولین کتابی که تازه کارها از تاریخ ایران میخونن کتاب "ایران بین دوانقلاب" آبراهامیانه
که برای تازه کارها اصلا انتخاب خوبی نیست به نظرم
ولی بصورت سنتی گاماول محسوب میشه
!
اینکه نویسنده ها مختلف هستن لذت خوندن یک نگاه جامع رو از آدم میگیره ولی خوب مزیتش اینه که کتاب حس منتسب بودن به جریان خاصی رپ هم به خواننده نمیده که کم نعمتی نیست .
August 5, 2023
من ترجمهی خشایار بهاری و محمدرضا جعفری را خواندم
فصلهای اول کتاب نیاز به توضیحات بیشتری دربارهی واژگان تخصصی دارد و همچنین یک ویرایش مجدد
باوجود چند نقشه در ابتدای کتاب اما کتاب از کمبود نقشه دربارهی جنگها و ادوار مختلف تاریخی رنج میبرد
و درنهایت آنکه که بخشهای مختلف کتاب درمجموع فاقد یکدستی و شاکلهی شبیه بهم است که در صورت هماهنگی بیشتر میان نویسندگان میشد به وجوه مشترک و موضوعات مشابه و بررسی تطبیقی در دورههای مختلف نسبت بهم رسید. اما در کل کتاب دورنمای قابلتوجهی از تاریخ چند هزارساله فلات ایران ارائه میدهد
فصلهای اول کتاب نیاز به توضیحات بیشتری دربارهی واژگان تخصصی دارد و همچنین یک ویرایش مجدد
باوجود چند نقشه در ابتدای کتاب اما کتاب از کمبود نقشه دربارهی جنگها و ادوار مختلف تاریخی رنج میبرد
و درنهایت آنکه که بخشهای مختلف کتاب درمجموع فاقد یکدستی و شاکلهی شبیه بهم است که در صورت هماهنگی بیشتر میان نویسندگان میشد به وجوه مشترک و موضوعات مشابه و بررسی تطبیقی در دورههای مختلف نسبت بهم رسید. اما در کل کتاب دورنمای قابلتوجهی از تاریخ چند هزارساله فلات ایران ارائه میدهد
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