The foundations of Soviet Iranian studies were laid by the researches of Marxist scholars concerned mainly with contemporary Iran (M. P. Pavlovich, A. S. Sultanzade, S. Pastukhov, V. Osetrov, V. Tardov) and by Iranian scholars of the older generation. Iranian scholars have been trained in Moscow, Leningrad, and the Union republics of the Soviet East. Soviet Iranian studies has attained its greatest successes from the 1950’s through the 1970’s. V. V. Struve, M. M. D’iakonov, I. M. D’iakonov, I. G. Aliev, M. A. Dandamaev, and V. G. Lukonin have written on the ancient history of Iran; B. G. Gafurov, N. V. Pigulevskaia, A. Iu. Iakubovskii, B. N. Zakhoder, I. P. Petrushevskii, A. A. Semionov, A. A. Ali-zade, M. A. Belenitskii, S. A. Azimdzhanova, A. D. Papazian, V. N. Gabashvili, and S. Puturidze have written on the Iranian Middle Ages. R. A. Ioannisian and Z. Z. Abdullaev have written on modern history and the policies of the European powers in Iran. Particular attention is paid to the history and socioeconomic problems of Iran in the 20th century, to Soviet-Iranian relations, to the history of the national liberation movement, and to the exposure of the policies of the imperialist powers (M. S. Ivanov, Kh. A. Ataev, S. L. Agaev). Essays and college-level textbooks on Iranian history have been published. Iranian philology has become a discipline in its own right, attaining great successes in linguistics and dictionary compilation (A. A. Freiman, M. S. Andreev, I. I. Zarubin, B. V. Miller, G. S. Akhvlediani, V. I. Abaev, M. N. Bogoliubov, K. K. Kurdoev, V. S. Rastorgueva, V. S. Sokolova, V. A. Livshits, I. M. Oranskii, and L. S. Peisikov) and in literary analysis and textology (S. Aini, E. E. Bertel’s, I. S. Braginskii, A. N. Boldyrev, A. K. Arends, A. M. Mirzoev, and D. S. Komissarov). Since 1961 periodic scientific conferences on Iranian philology have been held in the Soviet Union.
Iranology or Iranian Studies: What Does it Mean?
