Pardah-nishīnān-i Pārsā-yi Pārsī: naqsh-i zanān dar Īrān-i qabl az Islām

This study examines the place and role of women in ancient Īrān, from the dawn of civilisation to the coming of Islam. Opening with woman's part in the very founding of settled life, the authors trace her standing across the Median, Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian and Sāsānian eras, drawing on inscriptions, classical sources and newly discovered administrative records that reveal women managing workshops and even out-earning men. Separate chapters consider woman's position within the religions of pre-Islamic Īrān, including Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, Zurvanism, Manichaeism and Mazdakism, and her share in political, economic, religious and family life. A closing section portrays celebrated figures such as Ātūsā, Parīsātīs, Artemisia, Āẕarmīdukht and Pūrāndukht, several of whom ruled in their own right. Combining narrative warmth with documentary evidence, the work recovers a dignified and influential heritage too often hidden behind the veil of later assumptions.