Websites worth visiting

Here is a list of some websites that offer information on Zoroastrianism based on solid academic research and work. While some of the websites are a little difficult to work with and the articles are often written in academic prose, I strongly recommend relying on these sites for facts on history and the religion. This is not an exhaustive list, of course, and there are many non-academic sites that also offer good information.

Your religion, heritage, culture, and history are extremely interesting — do yourself a favor and learn more about it!

Encyclopedia Iranica (http://www.iranica.com/newsite) contains articles on ancient Iran, medieval Iran, Zoroastrianism, other religions in ancient Iran, early Muslim Iran, Iranian Zoroastrians, Parsis, religious texts, and much, much more. Type in keywords to find articles. The articles here are written by some of the world’s top experts who have offered some new insights and scholarship that can often challenge common belief. Take a look at the article on Alexander, for example.

Musee Achemene (http://www. museum-achemenet.college-de-france.fr), on the Achemenids, is run by Pierre Briant who has authored a massive, walloping (and very interesting!) 1,100-page tome on the first Persian Empire.

Persepolis Tablets (http://persepolistablets.blogspot.com) Extremely little material survives from the Achemenid era. Learn more about the Persepolis tablets, the most important trove of written material from that era. The tablets are essentially account ledgers and other "bureaucratic” documents that shed light on Achemenid administration and, indirectly, religion. University of Chicago currently holds the so-called Fortification Tablets. They are also, at the moment, at the center of a major court battle.

Sasanika (http://www.humanities. uci.edu/sasanika/index.html) is run by Touraj Daryaee at University of California, Irvine who has recently come out with one of the first good academic books on the Sasanids in English published in decades. The site contains information on the Sasanids, their society, and current research. Great images, too!

Oriental Institute, University of Chicago (http://oi.uchicago.edu/museum/collections/pa/persepolis) has hundreds of images of Persepolis and other ancient Iranian sites. The images were taken in the 1930s which make them all the more interesting.

Videvdad Project (http://www. videvdad.com) is run by Alberto Cantera, University of Salamanca. Digitized images of Videvdad (Vendidad) texts.

PARZOR (http://www.unescoparzor. com/index.php) of the UNESCO-sponsored Parsi Zoroastrian Project, run by Dr Shernaz Cama of the University of Delhi has images and information on the Parsi community.

Iranian Studies at Harvard — Oktor Skjaervo (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian). Professor Skjaervo has put online an extremely large amount of material, including tutorials on ancient Persian languages, his translations of the holy texts, and his writing on Zoroastrianism.

Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies, SOAS (http://www.cais-soas.com) has articles and images, compliments of the School of Oriental and African Studies (London). DINYAR PATEL

PhD candidate, History

Harvard University, USA

dinyar.patel@gmail.com