Creation and Procreation: The Zoroastrian Doctrine of Ontogenesis and the Late Antique Sciences
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PERSIAN AND PERSIANATE STUDIES
SPEAKER: Samra Azarnouche, École Pratique des Hautes Études – PSL, Paris
The Zoroastrian cosmological discourse is characterized by a systematic reference to the natural and life sciences. The Bundahišn, a Middle Persian encylopaedic compendium on the creation of the world, devotes an entire chapter (chapter 15) to human procreation, in which the different phases of ontogeny are described. Read alongside other Middle Persian texts on procreation and the physiology of generation (Bundahišn 1.57; Anthology of Zādspram 29.1-3, 30.17-23, 30.35; Dēnkard III.157.19; Dēnkard VIII.34), it brings to light the framework of a full-fledged Zoroastrian doctrine of embryology. This paper explores the status of procreation within the doctrine of creation by highlighting five major themes in classical ontogeny: pangenesis, embryonic development, gender determination, foetal animation, and the thesis known as the “wind theory.” The comparative approach allows us better to understand the influence of the Greek and Indian medical traditions, the adaptations brought about by Late Antique Iranian authors, and the innovations specific to Zoroastrian thought.
About the Speaker
Samra E. Azarnouche (Ph.D. EPHE, Paris, 2012) is Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études – PSL in Paris, where she teaches the history of pre-Islamic religions in Iran and ancient Iranians languages. She is also a member of the CNRS team Centre de Recherche sur le Monde Iranien. Her research focuses on several aspects of Zoroastrianism, including textual sources and the scriptural tradition, religious mythology, and the political and social history of late antiquity. Her publications include a broad range of articles and book chapters, and a book: the annotated edition and translation of the Middle Persian text Husraw ī Kawādān ud Rēdag-ē “Khosrow, fils de Kawād, et un page” (AAEI – Peeters, 2013). She has also edited several collected volumes, including À la recherche de la continuité iranienne: de la tradition zoroastrienne à la mystique islamique. Recueil de textes autour de l’œuvre de Marijan Molé (1924-1963) (forthcoming with Brepols). She is currently finalizing the first complete edition and translation of a Zoroastrian Middle Persian book, Dēnkard IV, which sheds light on issues of intellectual transfer, patronage in the sciences and ties between rulers and the clergy in the late Sasanian period..
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