Ive been interested in Islam and Iran and have consumed many lectures and books on the topic but after completing Parvaneh Purshariati's new book the decline and fall of the sassanian empire i find myself for the first time really lacking in knowledge of the primary sources.
i am self taught and generally find "novelization" or strict biography fairly boring, im also aware that much of it falls somewhat in the category of poetry and so i am much more concerned with literal translation than better "poetic adaptions".
so with those things in mind can anyone recommended a good place to get started on pursuing primary sources for the sassanids and the early post conquest period.
oh yah and English only.
Since it's included in the title, can I ask if there's anyone who traces the history--whether intellectual history or otherwise--of Zoroastrianism? Do we have any of their own accounts of their reactions to Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam?
I've wondered about this too, it seems that there is a paucity of published primary material from Persia, at least in English. Most of what I come across in readers are sources from non-Persians like Herodotus.