Pahlavi Begins!

Classes started today at IUB and Pahlavi (Middle Persian) with Dr. Choksy already looks terrific. Pahlavi is an older form of modern Persian (or Farsi) and was officially used from 224-651 AD. It's largely associated with the Sasanian Dynasty and Zoroastrian texts. The Pahlavi writing system uses a modified Aramaic script with a few variants such as "Book Pahlavi" vs. "Inscriptional Pahlavi" which was used on coins and seals. It's written from right to left:

There's not really a 'textbook' for Middle Persian--just a handful of dictionaries from what I can tell.  Here's what we have lined up for the semester:
1) The Kārnāmag-ī Ardaxšīr-ī Pābagān or Book of the Deeds of Ardashir: The book narrates the epic adventures of King Ardashir, the founder of the forth Iranian dynasty, and the second Persian Empire. The story relates how Ardashir's father Papag, dreamed that his father Sasan would be reborn as Ardashir.
(In other words, a mythical genealogy story).

Ardashir's Coin

2)The Shahpur I Inscription: Shahpur I was the son of Ardashir and this is text describes the religious and political condition of the Sansanian Dynasty-- reminiscent of Behistun inscription of Darius I.

Shahpur's Coin

3) A selection of Zoroastrian texts--perhaps something like this: a page from the Pahlavi Denkard (a ninth century encyclopedia of the Zoroastrian religion)

4) The Bundahishn-- the Zoroastrian "creation story" and a source of Zoroastrian cosmogony/cosmology. 

Here's the intro page: