Nora Elisabeth Mary Boyce (2 August 1920 – 4 April 2006) was a British scholar of
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 an authority on
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion and one of the world's History of religion, oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian peoples, Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a Dualism in cosmology, du ...
. She was Professor of
Iranian Studies
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 ...
at the
School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...
(SOAS) of the University of London.
The
Royal Asiatic Society
The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...
's annual Boyce Prize for outstanding contributions to the study of religion is named after her.
Early years
She was born in Darjeeling where her parents were vacationing to escape the heat of the plains during the summer. Her father, William H. Boyce, was a Judge at the
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
high-court, then an institution of the British imperial government. Her mother Nora (née Gardiner) was a granddaughter of the historian
Samuel Rawson Gardiner.
[John R. Hinnells, ‘Boyce, (Nora Elisabeth) Mary (1920–2006)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2010; online edn, Sept 201]
accessed 8 Jan 2017
/ref>
Boyce was educated at Wimbledon High School
Wimbledon High School is an independent girls' day school in Wimbledon, South West London. It is a Girls' Day School Trust school and is a member of the Girls' Schools Association.
History
Wimbledon High School was founded by the Girls' Publ ...
and then Cheltenham Ladies' College
Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls' schools nationally, the school was established in 1853 to pr ...
. At Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...
she studied English, archaeology and anthropology, graduating with a double first
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...
.[
]
Academic career
In 1944, Boyce joined the faculty of the Royal Holloway College
Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...
, University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
, where she taught Anglo-Saxon literature and archaeology until 1946. Simultaneously she continued her studies, this time in Persian languages,[John Hinnells, Mary Boyce, ''The Guardian'', 11 April 200]
Obituary
Retrieved 8 January 2017 under the guidance of Vladimir Minorsky
Vladimir Fyodorovich Minorsky (russian: Владимир Фёдорович Минорский; – March 25, 1966) was a Russian Orientalist best known for his contributions to the study of Persian, Lurish and Kurdish history, geography, ...
at the School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...
from 1945 to 1947. There she met her future mentor, Walter Bruno Henning
Walter Bruno Henning (August 26, 1908 – January 8, 1967) was a German scholar of Middle Iranian languages and literature, especially of the corpus discovered by the Turpan expeditions of the early 20th century.
__TOC__
Biography
Walter Henning ...
, under whose tutelage she began to study Middle Iranian languages.
In 1948, Boyce was appointed lecturer of Iranian Studies at SOAS, specialising in Manichaean
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...
, Zoroastrian 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 Per ...
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 ...
texts. In 1952, she was awarded a doctorate in Oriental Studies from the University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
. At SOAS, she was promoted to Reader (1958–1961) and subsequently awarded the University of London's professorship in Iranian Studies
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 ...
following Henning's transfer to the University of California at Berkeley.
Boyce remained professor at SOAS until her retirement in 1982, continuing as Professor ''Emerita'' and a professorial research associate until her death in 2006. Her speciality remained the religions of speakers of Eastern Iranian languages
The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times (from c. the 4th century BC). The Avestan language is often classified as early Eastern Iranian. As opposed to the Middle Western Iranian diale ...
, in particular Manichaeanism and Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion and one of the world's History of religion, oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian peoples, Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a Dualism in cosmology, du ...
.
Awards and recognition
Boyce was a recipient of the Royal Asiatic Society
The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...
's Burton Medal, and of the Sykes Medal of the Royal Society of Asian Affairs. She was a member of the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society, honorary member of the American Oriental Society
The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in America, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship.
The Society encourages basic ...
, member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
{{Infobox organization
, name = The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
, full_name =
, native_name = Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab
, native_name_lang =
, logo = Royal ...
, and was the first secretary and treasurer of the ''Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum''. She served on the editorial board of numerous academic publications, including ''Asia Major'', the ''Encyclopaedia Iranica
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
'', the ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', and the '' Journal of the American Oriental Society''.
Publications
In 1963–64, Boyce spent a research year among orthodox Zoroastrians of the 24 villages of Yazd, Iran. The results of her research there were formative to her understanding of Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion and one of the world's History of religion, oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian peoples, Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a Dualism in cosmology, du ...
and she discovered that much of the previously established scholarship on the ancient faith was terribly misguided. In 1975, Boyce presented the results of her research at her Ratanbai Katrak lecture series at Oxford University. In the same year she published the first volume of her magnum opus, ''The History of Zoroastrianism'', which appeared in the monograph series ''Handbuch der Orientalistik'' (Leiden:Brill). Her Ratanbai Katrak lecture series were published in 1977 as ''A Persian Stronghold of Zoroastrianism''.
In 1979, Boyce published ''Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices'', which not only summarised her previous publications (in particular volume 1 of ''History''), but anthologised the role of Zoroastrianism during subsequent eras as well. This was followed by volume 2 of ''History of Zoroastrianism'' in 1982 (also as a part of the ''Orientalistik'' monograph series), and volume 3 in 1991 which she co-authored with Frantz Grenet Frantz may refer to:
* Frantz (given name), a masculine given name (and list of people with the given name)
* Frantz (surname), a surname (and list of people with the surname)
* Frantz (''Coppélia''), a character in ''Coppélia''
* ''Frantz'' (fi ...
. In 1992, she published ''Zoroastrianism: Its Antiquity and Constant Vigour'' as part of the Columbia Lectures on Iranian Studies which she had delivered there in 1985.
Selected works
* 1954, ''The Manichaean hymn-cycles in Parthian'' (London Oriental Series, Vol. 3). London: Oxford University Press.
* 1975, ''A History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. 1'' (Handbuch der Orientalistik Series). Leiden: Brill; Repr. 1996 as
A History of Zoroastrianism: Vol 1, The Early Period
'.
* 1977, ''Zoroastrianism: The rediscovery of missing chapters in man's religious history'' (Teaching aids for the study of Inner Asia). Asian Studies Research Institute: Indiana University Press.
* 1977, ''A Persian Stronghold of Zoroastrianism''. London: Oxford University Press; Repr. 2001
* 1978, ''A Reader in Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian'' (Acta Iranica Monograph Series). Leiden: Brill.
* 1979,
Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices
' (Library of religious beliefs and practices). London:Routledge/Kegan Paul; Corrected repr. 1984; repr. with new foreword 2001.
* 1982, ''A History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. 2'' (Handbuch der Orientalistik Series). Leiden: Brill. Repr. 1996 as "A History of Zoroastrianism: Vol 2, Under the Achaemenians".
* 1984,
Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism
' (Textual Sources for the Study of Religion). London:Rowman & Littlefield. Repr. 1990
* 1987, ''Zoroastrianism: A Shadowy but Powerful Presence in the Judaeo-Christian World''. Friends of Dr. Williams: London.
* 1988, "The religion of Cyrus the Great", in A. Kuhrt and H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg ''Achaemenid History III: Method and Theory'', Leiden: Brill.
* 1991,
A History of Zoroastrianism: Vol. 3, Zoroastrianism Under Macedonian and Roman Rule
' (Handbuch der Orientalistik Series). With Frantz Grenet, Leiden: Brill.
* 1992, ''Zoroastrianism: Its Antiquity and Constant Vigour'' (Columbia Lectures on Iranian Studies, No 7). Costa Mesa: Mazda.
* Forthcoming: ''A History of Zoroastrianism: Vols 4–7'', under the editorship of Albert de Jong.
References
Notes
*A. D. H. Bivar, Professor Mary Boyce, ''The Times'', 13 April 200
*Albert de Jong, Professor Mary Boyce, ''The Independent'', 28 April 200
*Almut Hintze, Professor Mary Boyce, ''Daily Telegraph'', 28 April 200
*
International Committee: Mary Boyce
Encyclopædia Iranica
''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times.
Scope
The ''Encycl ...
.
*
External links
Mary Boyce article
at ''Encyclopædia Iranica
''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times.
Scope
The ''Encycl ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyce, Mary
1920 births
2006 deaths
Iranologists
British historians of religion
British women academics
Linguists from the United Kingdom
Women linguists
People from Darjeeling
Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge
Alumni of SOAS University of London
Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London
Academics of SOAS University of London
Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society
People educated at Wimbledon High School
British women historians
20th-century British historians
Zoroastrian studies scholars
20th-century British women writers
20th-century translators
20th-century linguists
British people in colonial India