Anahit Georgievna Perikhanian (24 April 1928 – 27 May 2012) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

-born

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

academic. An

Iranologist Iranian studies ( fa, ايران‌شناسی '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It ...

, Perikhanian specialized in

Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

jurisprudence, history and society. In addition to her work on many aspects of ancient and medieval Iran, Perikhanian was also interested in ancient inscriptions of

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, as well as

Middle Iranian languages The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian languages are grouped ...

and

Armenian language Armenian ( classical: , reformed: , , ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is the official language of Armenia. Historically spoken in the Armenian Highlands, today Armenian is widely spoken th ...

. She also spent much time researching Armenian philology and etymology, especially in relation to

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

loanwords in the Armenian language, and contributed to the understanding of

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

inscriptions found in Armenia.

Biography

Perikhanian was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

on 24 April 1928 to Georg and Arusyak Perikhanian. She attended school in Moscow and pursued further education in the Armenian SSR. From 1945 to 1948, Perikhanian studied

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle ...

(Pahlavi) at Yerevan State University with Rouben Abrahamian. She subsequently moved to Leningrad (

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

), and finished her postgraduate at Leningrad State University ( Saint Petersburg State University) in 1951. In 1952, Perikhanian published her first article. From 1953 to 1955, she pursued postgraduate studies under

Kamilla Trever Kamilla Vasilyevna Trever (russian: Камилла Васильевна Тревер; 25 January 1892, Saint Petersburg – 11 November 1974, Leningrad) was a Russian historian, numismatist and orientalist, and a corresponding member of the Russ ...

. From 1956 to 1959, she worked at the

Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (russian: Институт востоковедения Российской Академии Наук), formerly Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, ...

in Moscow and at its branch in Leningrad. Initially a research fellow, Perikhanian became a senior research associate in 1974, and a leading research associate in 1986 at the Department of Ancient Near Eastern studies. She also assisted in deciphering numerous Pahlavi papyri from the Pushkin Museum. Perikhanian also studied under Igor M. Diakonoff. She performed research on the '' Mādagān ī hazār dādestān'' and published her research in Leningrad as part of her doctoral thesis. It received critical acclaim and made her famous in the scholarly community. Some twenty-four years later,

Nina Garsoïan Nina G. Garsoïan (April 11, 1923 – August 14, 2022) was a French-born American historian specializing in Armenian and Byzantine history. In 1969 she became the first female historian to get tenure at Columbia University and, subsequently, ...

edited the original and translated it into English. According to fellow Iranologist Alireza Shapour Shahbazi, Perikhanian's work was "indispensable for all students of Iranian studies". In 1995, Perikhanian delivered several lectures on Sassanian law and property at the Center for Iranian Studies at Columbia University. She retired in 1998. In addition to her work on many aspects of ancient and medieval Iran, Perikhanian was also interested in ancient inscriptions of

and the

, as well as

and

. She also spent much time researching Armenian philology and etymology, especially in relation to

loanwords in the Armenian language, and contributed to the understanding of

inscriptions found in Armenia. In her last publication (an article), Perikhanian researched the

Paulicians Paulicianism (Classical Armenian: Պաւղիկեաններ, ; grc, Παυλικιανοί, "The followers of Paul"; Arab sources: ''Baylakānī'', ''al Bayāliqa'' )Nersessian, Vrej (1998). The Tondrakian Movement: Religious Movements in the ...

, a Christian sect. Perikhanian noted that the Paulicians originated among Iranian Christians, and flourished in Armenia and the eastern provinces ('' themes'') of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. Perikhanian added that the word "Paulician" was derived from Middle Persian and

Parthian Parthian may be: Historical * A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran * Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD) * Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language * Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...

''pāvlīk'' which translates as "a follower of the apostle Paul". From 2001 to 2002, Perikhanian held several orations on Classical Armenian at the Saint Petersburg State University. Perikhanian died in

on 27 May 2012.

Biography

References

Sources

Further reading