Cultural history (philology, linguistic, literature, religion,
socio-political and istitutional) of pre-islamic Iran (Achaemenids,
Parthians, Sasanians), with an overview on the first centuries of
ègira and Islamic Iran (Omayyad and Abbasid remaking of
Sasanian themes); evaluation of the ancestral Indo-Iranian heritage
and further developments of intercultural contacts with
Mesopotamia, Classic ancient world, Hellenism, Late Antiquity
(Greece, Macedonians, Rome, Byzance) and with Central Asia
(Bactria, Sogdiana, Chinese Turkestan).
Researches on Zoroastrian religion (edition of Avestan and
Pahlavi texts; antropology, soteriology, eschatology, apocaliptic)
and Manichaean religion (Iranian Manichaean texts);
interrelationships between Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism,
Christianity and Buddhism in Central Asia
Writings, languages, texts and documents of pre-islamic Iran and
Central Asia; phaenomana of contacts and cultural interactions
between the several idioms of the cultural history of Iranism and
borderlines: Ancient Iranian (Avestan, Old Persian) and Ancient
Indian (Vedic and Sanscrit), Indo-Iranian heritage and
Indoeuropaean heritage; language and cultural contacts within
Semitic world and Near Eastern, the Mesopotamian culture
and its spread through Aramaic, to the Achamenid period and
later dinasties (Parthians, Sasanians; Kushana and Bactrian
inscriptions; Ashoka's edicts) until Central Asian documents
(Middle-Persian and Parthian manichaean texts, Sogdian
manichaean/buddhist/christian texts).
Iranian linguistic and thematic parallels, intertextuality in
the Iranian world, continuity and transmission of a common lexicon
of topics, concepts, mentalities, phraseologies and formular
stereotypes in a variety of texts: Achaemenid inscriptions,
Bactrian inscriptions, Sasanid inscriptions, and their relations
with other texts (Avesta, Pahlavi zoroastrian texts, manichaean
texts). The corpus of the Avesta, its tradition, paleography,
codicology and philology; the writing in simbolical and
metagraphemic emploies. The Gatha of Zarathustra and the role of
its criptical language in performative and cultic environment:
rhetoric, stylistic, prosody, pragmatics of oral comunication and
performance in ritual ideology and inner revelations (esoteric and
initiatical knowledges, symbolism, metaphors, visual and hearing
experiences). Avestan eschatological texts with Pahlavi translation
(Hadoxt Nask); researches on the visual lexicon and analysis of
contexts dealing with visual perception. The Yasht 16 to
Cista/Daena: edition, translation, commentary, basic tenets,
epithets and functions of the mythical scenario; stylistic, textual
composition, metric and literarian parallels with other Yashts. The
role of communication in the gender of epistolography inside the
Achaemenid documents and the Parthians and Sasanid ones; pragmatic
and ideology of letters in the royal correspondence, its effects on
the addressee/recipient (behaviours, state of minds) and social
implications (superior/inferior; hierarchies, obligations).
Developments and trasmission of the Achaemenid legagy in
epistolography, via Aramaic: Arsacid and Sasanian correspondence,
Bactrian and Sogdian letters). Manichaeism as a "literarian
religion" and the letter as a medium of comunication with the gods,
and with soteriological implications (letter of rescue, letter of
consolation); text and illustration in manichaeism: soteriological
uses of writing and trasmission of doctrines; the scribes and the
commitents; didactical values of iconography in order to spread
Mani's teaching in the missionary and multilingual travels;
ethical, symbolic and soteriological values of writing
art (discipline, obeisance, compassion for believers).
Anthropology and religions of the Iranism: history, social
environment, political institutions. The Zoroastrian religion in
its historical dvelopment: time and homeland of Zarathustra, his
teachings in poetic, rituals and mythology (God and gods,
heavenly and "angelic" entities) and the conflicts with other
priests, bards, wizards and warriors. The Yashts and the Late
Avesta pantheon (Mithra, Anahita, Tishtrya, the Fravashis); the
zoroastrianism in Greek sources: the Magi and Zoroaster, the Greeks
and Persia, between attraction and scepticism. The zoroastrianism
in Hellenism: Commagene and Asia Minor, the Magusei, Ostanes and
the searching for the Saviour, the evangelic Magi; eschatology,
oracles, mantic, esoteric mysteries and apocalyptical
conceptions (judaism, christianity, gnosticism). The Pahlavi texts:
cosmology, eschatology, apocalyptic, wisdom-didactical texts, epic.
Continuity and changes in imperial institutions of Achaemenid,
Parthians and Sasanians; royal ideology, symbol, insignia, rituals
and charismas, functions and epithets. The imagery of kingship in
manichaeism, in its church organization and metaphorical language
(kingly apotheosis of the soul, epithets of nobility and victory
for the believer fighting against the passions and ignorance). The
Sasanid Persia and its relationship with Byzantium; the mediation
of Syria and the role of christian church hierarchies in diplomacy;
christians in Sasanid Persia: model of sanctity and martyrdom.
