Sasanian Society

Professor Ahmad Tafazzoli was born in Isfahan on December 16, 1937. He studied at the University of Tehran where he received a B.A. in Persian Language and Literature in 1959. He then went to London in 1961 to pursue his studies with the renowned Iranist W.B. Henning and he received an M.A. in Old and Middle Iranian Languages from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London in 1965. From London he went to Paris, where he continued his research with the late Professor J. de Menasce. In 1966, he obtained his Ph.D. in the Pre-Islamic Iranian Languages from the University of Tehran with a dissertation entitled "A Critical Edition of the Ninth Book of Dēnkard."

Upon his return from London he was employed by Bonyād-e Farhang-e Iran (Iranian Cultural Foundation) which was headed by Professor Parviz Natel Khanlari and had planned a series of glossaries of the Middle Persian texts as a preliminary step toward compilation of a documented lexicon of Persian.

In 1968 he was appointed Assistant Professor and in 1973 as Associate Professor of Middle Persian and Avestan in the Department of Old Iranian Languages in the Faculty of Letters of the University of Tehran. In 1978 he was promoted to the rank of full professor.

While he continued his cooperation with the Bonyād-e Farhang-e Iran, he was also appointed by the Iranian Ministry of Art and Culture a member of editorial committee for a critical edition of the Shānāme under the chief editorship of the late Mojtaba Minovi.

After the revolution of 1979, when the new Academy of Persian Language and Literature was instituted, he was elected a member and later he assumed the vice-presidency of the Academy for scientific research; he continued to hold that position until his death on January 13, 1997. In 1996 he was made Consulting Editor for Middle Iranian Languages to the Encyclopcedia Iranica, to which he frequently contributed.

Professor Tafazzoli was a prolific scholar and made remarkable contributions to the advancement of our knowledge of Middle Iranian languages, particularly Middle Persian. He published a considerable number of articles in Persian, French and English. He was the editor, with Philippe Gignoux, of Memorial Jean de Menasce (1974). Among his books one may mention Vāženāme-ye Minu-ye Xrad (Glossary of the Dādestān ī Mēnōg ī Xrad, 1969) and a Persian translation of its text, Tarjome-ye Minu-ye Xrad (1975); Osture-ye Zandegi-ye Zardusht (The Legend of Zoroaster, 1992, with Jaleh Amuzgar); Anthologie of Zādspram (1993, with Philippe Gignoux), Zabān-e Pahlavi va dastur-e ān (A Grammar of Middle Persian, 1995, with Jaleh Amuzgar); and of Tārikh-e Adabiyyāt-e Iran piš az Islam (History of Iranian Literature Prior to Islam, 1998), which contains a detailed and most useful treatment of the Middle Persian works and documents.

He was awarded the Prix Ghirshman in 1994 by the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres of Paris for his work in the field of Iranian Studies and especially for Anthologie de Zādspram. In Iran in 1995 the same book was named the best book of the year in the international category. In 1996, he was awarded a honorary doctorate by the University of Saint Petersburg in recognition of his scholarship.

He was a member of Societe Asiatique (France) since 1971; of Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum Council (England) since 1972; of The International Committee of Acta Iranica (Belgium) 1981; a founding member of Anjoman-e Athar-e Melli (Society for Preservation of National Monuments (1980-1981); and a member of the Scientific Consultative Body of The Great Islamic Encyclopaedia (1987).

He was a mainstay of the Nāme-ye Farhangestān, the organ of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, where his latest articles were published. Professor Ahmad Tafazzoli was a dedicated scholar who devoted his entire career to research and instruction. His modesty and lack of pretensions was in sharp contrast with his extensive knowledgeż