Indo-Iranians from Herodotus

Around 2000 BCE, Indo-Iranian speakers emerged in the central Eurasian steppes, invented the chariot, lived the lifestyle of warrior-aristocrats and called themselves Aryans. In time they spread south and west of the Ural Mountains. Some became the predecessors of Indian languages by moving into India, where their descendants composed the Rigveda and other works read in Asian Classical Traditions. The rest became the predecessors of the Iranian languages, by moving into Iran and the western half of the central Eurasian steppes. Several groups of these Iranians are known to us from Herodotus, especially the Persians, but also the Scythians, Thracians, and Cimmerians. Another ancient source for the Persians are the Gathas, hymns composed by Zoroaster, who founded the main pre-Islamic religion of Persia, and whom some ancient Greeks credited with inventing philosophy. In the Gathas, readers will glimpse a society hardly different from the Indian Rigveda. Reading across all these cultures will reveal similar themes persisting among Indic- and Iranian-speakers centuries after their ancestral languages diverged. These themes include horse sacrifice, cattle raiding, kingship, patriarchy, feasting, ritual drug use, and speculation about the soul and karma. This course is intended as a prologue to the alumni sequence, Asian Classical Traditions, especially the autumn and winter quarters, when readings will be drawn from the Indian and Persian or Iranian traditions.

Course Outline

Course Syllabus

Notes

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