An article on Achaemenid Cylinders and Stelae has been published in the special edition academic text book dedicated to prominent Iranologist scholar and literary specialist, Professor Jalal Khaleghi Motlagh:
Professor Jalal Khaleghi-Motlagh was born in 1937 in Tehran. Upon completion of his education in Iran, he enrolled in the University of Cologne in Germany where he obtained a degree in Eastern Studies, Anthropology and History. He then studied Persian language and literature at the University of Hamburg. Professor Khaleghi-Motlagh has conducted extensive research on the epic literature of Iran and the Shahnameh. His research papers have been published in the most prestigious international academic journals. Among his extensive works are his editing of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, which has been published in eight volumes under the late editor and founder of the Encyclopedia Iranica, Ehsan Yarshater. Too numerous to summarize here, professor Khaleghi-Motlagh’s numerous appointments include his teaching posts in Germany, faculty membership in the International Millennium Congress of the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi as well as being a board member of the Trustees of the Ferdowsi Foundation.
Select scholars were invited to write articles for the above textbook dedicated to the exemplary scholarship of Professor Khaleghi-Motlagh. These include prominent Iranologists such as Richard Davis, Dariush Akbarzadeh, Gholamreza Karamian, Kamyar Abedi, Touraj Daryaee and Shaul Shaked.
The article by Kaveh Farrokh and Tara Farhid re-examines the views of a select set of European scholars (based mainly in Holland, France and England) who since 1979 have worked extensively to place forward a certain perspective with respect to the Cyrus Cylinder and the historical role of Cyrus the Great in general. These views were first advertised in a public fashion by Spiegel Magazine and the Daily Telegraph newspaper in July 2008. Readers are encouraged to refer to Kaveh Farrokh’s responses to Spiegel Magazine and the Daily Telegraph shortly after their articles appeared in July 2008:
- Response by Kaveh Farrokh to Der Spiegel Magazine’s Attack on the Legacy of Cyrus the Great (posted originally by The Pasargad Foundation in 2008)
- Retort to Daily Telegraph article against Cyrus the Great; (posted originally by Iranscope and The Pasargad Foundation in 2008)
President Thomas Jefferson’s (1743-1826; US president in 1801-1809) copy of the Cyropaedia (Picture Source: Angelina Perri Birney). Like many of the founding fathers and those who wrote the US Constitution, President Jefferson regularly consulted the Cyropedia – an encyclopedia written by the ancient Greeks about Cyrus the Great. The two personal copies of Thomas Jefferson’s Cyropaedia are in the US Library of Congress in Washington DC. Thomas Jefferson’s initials “TJ” are seen clearly engraved at the bottom of each page.
