Dan Shapira
Biographic Data
| ID | 4626128 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Dan Shapira |
| GIVEN NAMES | Dan |
| FAMILY NAME | Shapira |
| SIGNATURE | SHAPIRA D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Bar-Ilan University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7296-9385 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Three Judeo-Persian Contributions
Three Judeo-Persian texts are presented in this article. The first and the longest is the Scroll of Antiochus, one of the para-Biblical Apocrypha, in a Judeo-Persian translation made around 1600 in Lār from a vorlage in Medieval “Biblical Hebrew,” which was, more likely, a European print or a handwritten copy of such a print (a handwritten copy from Constantinople 1504/5?). The second text is a short fragment from a pseudo-historical composition …
Fragment of an Anti-Christian Polemic with a Syriac Gospel Quotation
In the “Afghan Genizah,” a recently acquired collection of texts in Judeo-Persian, Early New-Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic from the tenth to thirteenth centuries, I recognized a Judeo-Persian fragment of a Jewish, anti-Christian polemic work. This fragment may be – or may not be – part of the Toledoth Yeshu literature. It contains a Gospel quotation in Syriac in Hebrew letters
A Macaronic Hebrew-Greek-Turkish Poem from the First Printed Karaite Prayerbook, Venice 1528
In this short article we publish, with translations, a macaronic Hebrew cum Middle Greek religious poem, accompanied by a refrain in Ottoman Turkish, all written in Hebrew characters and fully vocalized. The text comes from a Karaite prayerbook printed in Venice in 1528 on behalf of the Constantinople Karaite community. This poem and its origins played a role in different manipulations of Karaite identities and history during the 19th and 20th ce…
The Trilingual Prayer Copied by Avraham Firkowicz
This article presents a unique trilingual (Hebrew, Turkic, and Slavic) religious literary work from the personal archive of Avraham Firkowicz (National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg). The text, containing 129 lines (verses) in Hebrew characters, is written in Firkowicz’s own hand. Its author has not been reliably identified, but it is assumed that he could be a Karaite Jew from Łuck / Lutsk (Wolhynia, present-day Ukraine) with a good speaking…
Et tout le reste est littérature, or
Abraham Firkowicz (1787-1874) was a Karaite educator, communal leader, autobiographer, traveller, translator and political lobbyist, a man remembered best as the person who assembled the three greatest collections of Jewish books and manuscripts in the world. All of them are named after him: the First Firkowicz Collection, the Samaritan Firkowicz Collection (these two were bought by the Russian Imperial Library while the collector was still alive…
The First Jews of Ukraine
Banners, Spears, Black Raiders and Byzantines
This article is a philological study of literary motifs in the Middle Persian apocalyptic work of uncertain date, Zand ī Wahman Yašt . The author claims that the motifs under his consideration in the text of ZWY (= Zand ī Wahman ī Yašt ) go back to Middle Persian version of several Avestan Yašt s, especially, to the Middle Persian translation of the second part of Yašt 1 (known as Wahman Yašt ), Yašt 11, and Yašt 8
Īrān-o Tūran
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, political élites of some of the former Soviet republics, especially the Turkic-speaking ones, found themselves in ideological limbo. The first President of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov (Saparmyrat Nyýazow), has trodden his way out from the vacuum of legitimacy in the most original and interesting manner. In 2001, Niyazov, known also as Turkmenbashi (Türkmenbaşy), made public his book, Ruhnama, whi…
Irano-Talmudica I
In this paper we shall study an aggadic tradition from the Babylonian Talmud while trying to find traces of early Iranian mythological conceptions that were absorbed by the talmudic sages as a part of their own biblically enrooted knowledge. We shall also attempt to gain a better understanding of the talmudic text by presuming that it reflects ideas absorbed from the Iranian—or, rather, “Iraqian”—environment. Occasionally, however, early Iranian …
Gleanings on Jews of Greater Iran under the Sasanians
This paper is an unbiased investigation of two Jewish tomb inscriptions from Mc'xeta, Georgia, claimed to support the legends about the mission of St. Nino, into the broader context of the oldest Armenian and Georgian texts that mention Jews, with the emphasis on Armenian-Georgian ecclesiastical relations. The conclusion of the author is that it is impossible to use the two mentioned inscriptions as an evidence for a Georgian Jewish community in …
Armenian and georgian sources on the khazars
The importance of Armenian and Georgian sources dealing with different aspects of the Khazar question is well acknowledged. Georgia and Armenia were for decades, if not centuries, battlegrounds for the Khazars, who repeatedly invaded these countries in order to pillage, or to confront their Arab enemies. However, much of this information, especially that found in the Georgian sources is legendary in character, and therefore must be treated with c…
Hārūt Wa-Mārūt, Again
The purpose of this paper is to elucidate some aspects concerning the migration of literary, exegetical and mythological motifs in Sasanian Mesopotamia and the neighboring regions, and I will consider here the possible Zoroastrian-Manichaean and Manichaean-Qur<anic interactions.The Dçnkard (Acta Fidei) is an immense collection of traditional Zoroastrian lore written in Middle Persian, or Pahlavi.This work was composed in the last Sasanian century…
Zoroastrian Sources on Black People
The purpose of this short note is to draw attention to Zoroastrian attitudes to the Black Africans.' These attitudes can be seen in the traditional Zoroastrian literature in Middle Persian, which flourished more than a millenium ago. As is well known, Zoroastrianism2 was the state-religion of the Iranian empire, ruled by the Sasanian dynasty (226-636 CE).3 The sacred texts of this religion exist in Avestan, an ancient Iranian language closely rel…
A Karaite From Wolhynia Meets a Zoroastrian From Baku
In 1840, Avraham Firkowicz, a Karaite collector of manuscripts born in Lutzk in Wohlynia (then in the Russian Empire, but today in the independent Ukraine),' was travelling through the Northern Caucasus, searching for Jewish antiquities. In the fall of 1840, while in Darband, the most important city of Dagestan at that time, he arranged meetings with the members of different religious denominations, among them Armenians and Persian Shi'ites. He d…
Was there geographical science in Sasanian Iran
The study examines the extant Sasanian material relating to geographical knowledge, trying to answer the question whether Iranians of the Late Sasanian period possessed the notion of “geographical science” comparable to that of their Byzantine neighbours or their Islamic heirs. Geographical traditions found in several texts, both in Avestan and Pahlavi, are studied and compared, in order to reach the conclusions, whether the actual geographical k…
Pahlavi References To Armenia
PAHLAVI REFERENCES TO ARMENIA DAN SHAPIRA Jerusalem Armenia and Armenians are mentioned several times in Old Persian inscriptions; e.g., in the famous Behistun inscription of Darius, Armenia appears on the list of the Achaemenid provinces between Media and Cappadocia, before Parthia, Drangiana, Haraiva, Xvarazm, Bactria, Sogdiana, etc.' Armenia, Armenians and "the King of Armenia[ns]" are mentioned in the Middle Persian, Parthian' and Greek inscr…
A Note On the Garni Inscription
This short Aramaic inscription, with its title of son of Wologesus is of certain historical importance, as title MLK RB ZY 'RM[NYNJ found in its Aramaic form helps to solve an old problem. The Iranian title RB' MLK' 'rmn'n of pre-Christian kings of known long time ago,' caused a controversy regarding its translation. This title in its Iranian fonn is a very ambiguous one, because *wazurg Armenan gah,2 or *wazurg gah Armenan3 could have been inter…
An Aramaic-Irano-Armenian Note
Was there geographical science in Sasanian Iran
The study examines the extant Sasanian material relating to geographical knowledge, trying to answer the question whether Iranians of the Late Sasanian period possessed the notion of “geographical science” comparable to that of their Byzantine neighbours or their Islamic heirs. Geographical traditions found in several texts, both in Avestan and Pahlavi, are studied and compared, in order to reach the conclusions, whether the actual geographical k…
Gleanings on Jews of Greater Iran under the Sasanians
This paper is an unbiased investigation of two Jewish tomb inscriptions from Mc'xeta, Georgia, claimed to support the legends about the mission of St. Nino, into the broader context of the oldest Armenian and Georgian texts that mention Jews, with the emphasis on Armenian-Georgian ecclesiastical relations. The conclusion of the author is that it is impossible to use the two mentioned inscriptions as an evidence for a Georgian Jewish community in …
Irano-Talmudica I
In this paper we shall study an aggadic tradition from the Babylonian Talmud while trying to find traces of early Iranian mythological conceptions that were absorbed by the talmudic sages as a part of their own biblically enrooted knowledge. We shall also attempt to gain a better understanding of the talmudic text by presuming that it reflects ideas absorbed from the Iranian—or, rather, “Iraqian”—environment. Occasionally, however, early Iranian …
Zoroastrian Sources on Black People
The purpose of this short note is to draw attention to Zoroastrian attitudes to the Black Africans.' These attitudes can be seen in the traditional Zoroastrian literature in Middle Persian, which flourished more than a millenium ago. As is well known, Zoroastrianism2 was the state-religion of the Iranian empire, ruled by the Sasanian dynasty (226-636 CE).3 The sacred texts of this religion exist in Avestan, an ancient Iranian language closely rel…
A Karaite From Wolhynia Meets a Zoroastrian From Baku
In 1840, Avraham Firkowicz, a Karaite collector of manuscripts born in Lutzk in Wohlynia (then in the Russian Empire, but today in the independent Ukraine),' was travelling through the Northern Caucasus, searching for Jewish antiquities. In the fall of 1840, while in Darband, the most important city of Dagestan at that time, he arranged meetings with the members of different religious denominations, among them Armenians and Persian Shi'ites. He d…
An Aramaic-Irano-Armenian Note
Pahlavi References To Armenia
PAHLAVI REFERENCES TO ARMENIA DAN SHAPIRA Jerusalem Armenia and Armenians are mentioned several times in Old Persian inscriptions; e.g., in the famous Behistun inscription of Darius, Armenia appears on the list of the Achaemenid provinces between Media and Cappadocia, before Parthia, Drangiana, Haraiva, Xvarazm, Bactria, Sogdiana, etc.' Armenia, Armenians and "the King of Armenia[ns]" are mentioned in the Middle Persian, Parthian' and Greek inscr…
A Note On the Garni Inscription
This short Aramaic inscription, with its title of son of Wologesus is of certain historical importance, as title MLK RB ZY 'RM[NYNJ found in its Aramaic form helps to solve an old problem. The Iranian title RB' MLK' 'rmn'n of pre-Christian kings of known long time ago,' caused a controversy regarding its translation. This title in its Iranian fonn is a very ambiguous one, because *wazurg Armenan gah,2 or *wazurg gah Armenan3 could have been inter…
A Karaite From Wolhynia Meets a Zoroastrian From Baku
In 1840, Avraham Firkowicz, a Karaite collector of manuscripts born in Lutzk in Wohlynia (then in the Russian Empire, but today in the independent Ukraine),' was travelling through the Northern Caucasus, searching for Jewish antiquities. In the fall of 1840, while in Darband, the most important city of Dagestan at that time, he arranged meetings with the members of different religious denominations, among them Armenians and Persian Shi'ites. He d…
Was there geographical science in Sasanian Iran
The study examines the extant Sasanian material relating to geographical knowledge, trying to answer the question whether Iranians of the Late Sasanian period possessed the notion of “geographical science” comparable to that of their Byzantine neighbours or their Islamic heirs. Geographical traditions found in several texts, both in Avestan and Pahlavi, are studied and compared, in order to reach the conclusions, whether the actual geographical k…
Zoroastrian Sources on Black People
The purpose of this short note is to draw attention to Zoroastrian attitudes to the Black Africans.' These attitudes can be seen in the traditional Zoroastrian literature in Middle Persian, which flourished more than a millenium ago. As is well known, Zoroastrianism2 was the state-religion of the Iranian empire, ruled by the Sasanian dynasty (226-636 CE).3 The sacred texts of this religion exist in Avestan, an ancient Iranian language closely rel…
Hārūt Wa-Mārūt, Again
The purpose of this paper is to elucidate some aspects concerning the migration of literary, exegetical and mythological motifs in Sasanian Mesopotamia and the neighboring regions, and I will consider here the possible Zoroastrian-Manichaean and Manichaean-Qur<anic interactions.The Dçnkard (Acta Fidei) is an immense collection of traditional Zoroastrian lore written in Middle Persian, or Pahlavi.This work was composed in the last Sasanian century…
Armenian and georgian sources on the khazars
The importance of Armenian and Georgian sources dealing with different aspects of the Khazar question is well acknowledged. Georgia and Armenia were for decades, if not centuries, battlegrounds for the Khazars, who repeatedly invaded these countries in order to pillage, or to confront their Arab enemies. However, much of this information, especially that found in the Georgian sources is legendary in character, and therefore must be treated with c…
Irano-Talmudica I
In this paper we shall study an aggadic tradition from the Babylonian Talmud while trying to find traces of early Iranian mythological conceptions that were absorbed by the talmudic sages as a part of their own biblically enrooted knowledge. We shall also attempt to gain a better understanding of the talmudic text by presuming that it reflects ideas absorbed from the Iranian—or, rather, “Iraqian”—environment. Occasionally, however, early Iranian …
Gleanings on Jews of Greater Iran under the Sasanians
This paper is an unbiased investigation of two Jewish tomb inscriptions from Mc'xeta, Georgia, claimed to support the legends about the mission of St. Nino, into the broader context of the oldest Armenian and Georgian texts that mention Jews, with the emphasis on Armenian-Georgian ecclesiastical relations. The conclusion of the author is that it is impossible to use the two mentioned inscriptions as an evidence for a Georgian Jewish community in …
Īrān-o Tūran
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, political élites of some of the former Soviet republics, especially the Turkic-speaking ones, found themselves in ideological limbo. The first President of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov (Saparmyrat Nyýazow), has trodden his way out from the vacuum of legitimacy in the most original and interesting manner. In 2001, Niyazov, known also as Turkmenbashi (Türkmenbaşy), made public his book, Ruhnama, whi…
Banners, Spears, Black Raiders and Byzantines
This article is a philological study of literary motifs in the Middle Persian apocalyptic work of uncertain date, Zand ī Wahman Yašt . The author claims that the motifs under his consideration in the text of ZWY (= Zand ī Wahman ī Yašt ) go back to Middle Persian version of several Avestan Yašt s, especially, to the Middle Persian translation of the second part of Yašt 1 (known as Wahman Yašt ), Yašt 11, and Yašt 8
The First Jews of Ukraine
Et tout le reste est littérature, or
Abraham Firkowicz (1787-1874) was a Karaite educator, communal leader, autobiographer, traveller, translator and political lobbyist, a man remembered best as the person who assembled the three greatest collections of Jewish books and manuscripts in the world. All of them are named after him: the First Firkowicz Collection, the Samaritan Firkowicz Collection (these two were bought by the Russian Imperial Library while the collector was still alive…
The Trilingual Prayer Copied by Avraham Firkowicz
This article presents a unique trilingual (Hebrew, Turkic, and Slavic) religious literary work from the personal archive of Avraham Firkowicz (National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg). The text, containing 129 lines (verses) in Hebrew characters, is written in Firkowicz’s own hand. Its author has not been reliably identified, but it is assumed that he could be a Karaite Jew from Łuck / Lutsk (Wolhynia, present-day Ukraine) with a good speaking…
Fragment of an Anti-Christian Polemic with a Syriac Gospel Quotation
In the “Afghan Genizah,” a recently acquired collection of texts in Judeo-Persian, Early New-Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic from the tenth to thirteenth centuries, I recognized a Judeo-Persian fragment of a Jewish, anti-Christian polemic work. This fragment may be – or may not be – part of the Toledoth Yeshu literature. It contains a Gospel quotation in Syriac in Hebrew letters
A Macaronic Hebrew-Greek-Turkish Poem from the First Printed Karaite Prayerbook, Venice 1528
In this short article we publish, with translations, a macaronic Hebrew cum Middle Greek religious poem, accompanied by a refrain in Ottoman Turkish, all written in Hebrew characters and fully vocalized. The text comes from a Karaite prayerbook printed in Venice in 1528 on behalf of the Constantinople Karaite community. This poem and its origins played a role in different manipulations of Karaite identities and history during the 19th and 20th ce…
Three Judeo-Persian Contributions
Three Judeo-Persian texts are presented in this article. The first and the longest is the Scroll of Antiochus, one of the para-Biblical Apocrypha, in a Judeo-Persian translation made around 1600 in Lār from a vorlage in Medieval “Biblical Hebrew,” which was, more likely, a European print or a handwritten copy of such a print (a handwritten copy from Constantinople 1504/5?). The second text is a short fragment from a pseudo-historical composition …
History (18 works) · Philosophy (14 works) · Ancient history (13 works) · Classics (13 works) · Archaeology (11 works) · Art (11 works) · Eurasian Exchange Networks (11 works) · History (10 works) · Literature (10 works) · Linguistics (9 works)