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Translation and Irano-Orientalism’s Gaze on the History of Ancient Iran |
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| รหัสดีโอไอ | |
| Creator | Zeinab Amiri |
| Title | Translation and Irano-Orientalism’s Gaze on the History of Ancient Iran |
| Publisher | IATIS and Chalermprakiat Center of Translation and Interpretation at Chulalongkorn University |
| Publication Year | 2569 |
| Journal Title | New Voices in Translation Studies |
| Journal Vol. | 31 |
| Journal No. | 2 |
| Page no. | 1-18 |
| Keyword | Achaemenids, Ancient Iran, archeology, Irano-Orientalism, Mythhistory, Translation |
| URL Website | https://newvoices.arts.chula.ac.th/ |
| Website title | New Voices in Translation Studies |
| ISSN | 1819-5644 |
| Abstract | This article examines the nucleus of Irano-Orientalism, translation, and historiography in reshaping historical consciousness of ancient Iran, particularly the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC) during the 19th century. It argues that like other strands of Orientalism, Irano-Orientalism engendered and propagated a romanticized perception of the “former glory” of ancient Iran, an ethos which was then translated into the Persian nationalist and political discourse. However, what is unique to Irano-Orientalism is that it translated a dead past buried underground for over two millennia, hence giving birth to a modern historical narrative, alongside with the existing indigenous mythhistories. After reviewing the nucleus of translation and Irano-Orientalism of the 18th century, it focuses on two path-breaking British Irano-Orientalists, Sir John Malcolm and Sir Henry Rawlinson, whose translational profile has received far less attention than their historical and archaeological works. As a driving force in this Orientalist historiographical process, translation transformed Takht-e Jamshid from a mysterious place into a ‘realm of memory’ (Nora, 1997) of Iranians’ historical self. |
