Roman Ghirshman (, ''Roman Mikhailovich Girshman''; October 3, 1895 – 5 September 1979) was a Russian-born French

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts ...

who specialized in

ancient Persia The history of Iran is intertwined with the history of a larger region known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia in the west to the borders of Ancient India and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian S ...

. Ghirshman spent nearly thirty years excavating ancient Persian archeological sites throughout

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Biography

Roman Ghirshman was born to a wealthy

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Sloboda Ukraine Sloboda Ukraine (literally: Borderland of free frontier guards; uk, Слобідська Україна, Slobidska Ukraina), or Slobozhanshchyna ( uk, Слобожанщина, Slobozhanshchyna, ), is a historical region, now located in Northeas ...

(present-day

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

) in 1895. Ghirshman moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1917 to study Archeology and Ancient

Language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

s. He was mainly interested in the archeological ruins of

, specifically Teppe Gian, Teppe Sialk,

Bagram Bagram (; Pashto/ fa, بگرام) is a town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir Va ...

Bishapur Bishapur (Middle Persian: ''Bay-Šāpūr''; fa, بیشاپور}, ''Bishâpûr'') was an ancient city in Sasanid Persia (Iran) on the ancient road between Persis and Elam. The road linked the Sassanid capitals Estakhr (very close to Persepolis) ...

in Fars, and

Susa Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo-Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...

. Explore the hills Giyan book, written Roman Ghirshman, in Iran, Tehran, by Mortza Kayani and SohrabiPileroodi translated into Farsi and in publications Safyrardhal, 2021AD has been published. In the 1930s, Girshman, together with his wife

Tania Ghirshman Tania Ghirshman (1900–1984), born Antoinette Levienne, was a French archaeologist and Conservation-restoration of cultural heritage, restorationist of Ukrainian origin. Originally a dentist, Ghirshman became involved in archaeology after her mar ...

, was the first to excavate Teppe Sialk. His studies on

Chogha Zanbil Chogha Zanbil ( fa, چغازنبيل; Elamite: Dur Untash) is an ancient Elamite complex in the Khuzestan province of Iran. It is one of the few existing ziggurats outside Mesopotamia. It lies approximately southeast of Susa and north of Ahv ...

have been printed in 4 volumes, and he also led excavation teams at

Kharg Island Kharg or Khark Island ( fa, جزیره خارک) is a continental island in the Persian Gulf belonging to Iran. The island is located off the coast of Iran and northwest of the Strait of Hormuz. Its total area is . Administered by the adjacen ...

, Iwan-i Karkheh, and the

Parthia Parthia ( peo, 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 ''Parθava''; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ''Parθaw''; pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥 ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Med ...

n platforms in

Masjed Soleiman Masjed Soleyman ( fa, مسجدسلیمان, also Romanized as Masjedsoleimān, Masjed-e Soleymān, Masjed Soleiman, and Masjid-i-Sulaiman) is a city and capital of Masjed Soleyman County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its populat ...

, near

Izeh Izeh ( fa, ايذه, also Romanized as Īz̄eh; also known as Malāmir, Izaj, and Malemir) is a city and capital of Izeh County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 103,695, in 20,127 families. Izeh also has mines o ...

Khuzestan Khuzestan Province (also spelled Xuzestan; fa, استان خوزستان ''Ostān-e Xūzestān'') is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and it covers ...

. From 1941-1942 he was Director of the

French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan The French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (french: La Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan (DAFA)) was created in France in 1922 at the request of the Afghan government and King Amanullah Khan to commence archaeologic ...

. With 300 papers and 20 books published, Ghirshman was one of the most prolific and respected experts on ancient Iran. Some of his works on

have not even been published yet, but have served other archeologists such as

Jean Perrot Jean Perrot (1920 – 24 December 2012) was a French archaeologist who specialised in the late prehistory of the Middle East and Near East. Biography Perrot was a graduate of the Ecole du Louvre where he studied under two experts in Syrian ...

and Hermann Gasche in subsequent follow-up studies in the 1960s and 1970s in Iran.

Honors

Charles Lang Freer Medal The Charles Lang Freer medal was established in 1956 by the Smithsonian Institution in honor of Charles Lang Freer, the founder of the Freer collection. The medal is conferred intermittently, honoring distinguished career contributions made by ...

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Roman Ghirshman,

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

encompasses roughly 300+ works in 600+ publications in 12 languages and 6,000+ library holdings. WorldCat Identities Ghirshman, Roman
/ref> * 1935''Fouilles du Tepe Giyan,Paris, Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner 12.Rue Vavin(VI) * 1938, ''Fouilles de Sialk, prés de Kashan, 1933, 1934, 1937''. Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Paris (in two volumes). * 1954, ''Iran: from the earliest times to the Islamic conquest''. Penguin books.(A French version was published in 1951 by Payot, Paris). *1962, Persian art : Parthian and Sassanian dynasties, 249 B.C.- A.D. 651. * 1963, ''Perse. Proto-iraniens, Mèdes, Achéménides''. Gallimard, Paris. * 1970, ''Le Pazuzu et les fibules du Luristan''. Impr. Catholique, Beirut. * 1971, ''Persia, the immortal kingdom''. (Coauthors: Minorsky, V.F., and Sanghvi, R., Greenwich, Conn., New York Graphic Society. * 1976, ''L'Iran des origines à l'islam''. Nouv. éd. rev. et mise à jour. Paris. * 1977, ''L'Iran et la migration des Indo-Aryens et des Iraniens''. Leiden. * 1979, ''Tombe princière de Ziwiyé et le début de l'art animalier scythe''. Soc. Iranienne pour la Conservation du Patrimoine, Paris.

References

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghirshman, Roman 1895 births 1979 deaths People from Kharkiv People from Kharkov Governorate Ukrainian Jews Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France French archaeologists French Iranologists Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 20th-century archaeologists Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy