Albert de Jong, born in Krimpen aan de Lek, the Netherlands, in 1966. Ph.D. from Utrecht University. Lecturer in Religious Studies at Leiden University.
Fellow (1 September 2007 – 30 June 2008)
PARTHIAN AND ARMENIAN ZOROASTRIANISM
The Parthians were an Iranian people from north-eastern Iran (roughly modern Khorasan and the southern part of Turkmenistan), who ruled the Iranian world (including Mesopotamia) for more than four centuries, from 247 BCE to 224 CE. This period is, however, very sparsely documented. The goal of the project was to gather all available evidence and put it into perspective, thus filling a blank space in the history of Zoroastrianism. This project was not devised by its researcher, however, but by Professor Mary Boyce, who had worked on it until her death in April 2006. Partly on the basis of her scholarly Nachlass, but also by adding a significant number of chapters, the project has been brought near to completion, with a few (extremely difficult) chapters that still need some work. It is expected to be published in 2009.