Indo-Iranica. January 1948

Stijl the Iranian tradition has preserved its original meaning as the legendary history of the Pahlavims as found in the &ihniimah of Firdausi is faintly reminiscent of the exploits of some Parthian sovereigns and noblemen as has been already remarked by WARNERS in the introduction to their translation of the gahnamah and as the Greek inscription of Gotarzes the Parthian king who ruled from [...] As said above Pahlavi means in the restricted sense of the word the language of the Pahlays or Parthians but the word is also used for the language of the rock-inscriptions of the Sassanian sovereigns as also of their coins seals and gold and silver wares as well. [...] These manuscripts are preserved in the University Library of Berlin in the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris in the British Museum of London and in the Library of the University of Leningrad. [...] The eighth and ninth books of the Pahlavi Irenkart compiled by Atropat i Farroxyzat and Atropilt i Hemit in the ninth century give in the form of a synopsis the contents of the nineteen out of the twenty-one Avesta Nasks on the basis of their Pahlavi translations. [...] The traditional school has of course the support of the Pahlavi translations and commentaries of the Sassanian Dastars and to a certain extent also of the Sanskrit and Modern Persian versions of the Dastars of India.