Persian Historical Texts & Codicology

Through a broad range of historical texts in Persian, students will prepare to read and interpret Persian at a level sufficient for carrying out academic research (with the help of a dictionary). In this course, students will engage with historical chronicles, literary texts, philosophical treatises and other documents of historical interest from the Persian-speaking world. Where possible, students will also grapple with the original manuscript tradition for the texts in question, learning to decipher handwriting and the general standards for creating a critical edition of a premodern text. As the course is focused on preparing students for graduate language exams and research, it will not be actively working on students’ speaking or listening skills in Persian. It is designed for students who have completed the Intermediate Persian language sequence at Brown, or who have attained a similar proficiency level elsewhere.