De la conquête de Cyrus II en 547 av. J.-C. à celle d'Alexandre le Grand en 334 av. J.-C., l'Asie Mineure occidentale a fait partie de l'empire achéménide. Les Grecs d'Asie ont donc vécu pendant plus de deux siècles en contact avec des populations perses, qu'il s'agisse des satrapes ou des membres de la diaspora impériale venus s'installer dans les régions conquises. Cette proximité géographique a donné lieu à de très nombreux échanges institutionnels, culturels et personnels. Cette thèse s’intéresse à la diversité des relations ayant existé entre les membres des deux communautés. Elle s'efforce de montrer de quelle manière deux peuples souvent présentés comme des ennemis héréditaires ont vécu dans un même espace géographique. / Western Asia Minor was part of the Achaemenid Empire from the conquest of Cyrus II (547 B.C.) to that of Alexander the Great (334 B.C.). Thus, during more than two centuries, Asian Greeks have lived in touch with Persians, either satraps or members of the imperial diaspora who settled in the conquered regions. This geographical closeness gave rise to a number of institutional, cultural and personal exchanges. This thesis explores the variety of relationships having existed between members of the two communities. It seeks to show how two peoples traditionally presented as enemies actually cohabited in the same geographical space.

Le moins qu’on puisse dire est que l’Iran depuis la prise de pouvoir par les Ayatollahs en 1979 est un pays qui intéresse les hebdomadaires français et plus généralement les journalistes de notre pays. Une approche quantitative des articles consacrés à ce pays le prouve aisément. Mais il est particulièrement intéressant de constater que chacun des hebdomadaires français étudiés apporte une vision assez spécifique de ce qui caractérise l’Iran d’aujourd’hui. Toutefois, si la plupart des hebdomadaires sont d’accord pour reconnaître la complexité du problème iranien et de la société perse, "Valeurs Actuelles" par exemple va stigmatiser la barbarie du régime en place alors que"Courrier International", à l’inverse, va s’efforcer d’offrir un kaléidoscope d’opinions souvent contradictoires sur cette république islamique. De même, "Le Point" insiste sur la dangerosité de l’Iran d’aujourd’hui alors que "L’Express" met surtout l’accent sur les problèmes de nucléaire. "Marianne" pour sa part offre une étude équilibrée des problèmes tant internes qu’externes de l’Iran des Ayatollahs. En réalité, on peut constater un consensus des journalistes français spécialistes du monde persan sur le fait qu’en matière de politique intérieure, l’Iran ne cesse d’osciller entre démocratie et totalitarisme alors même que le pays semble avoir fait de la possession de l’arme nucléaire le futur point d’ancrage de sa politique extérieure à l’échelle internationale et de la sous-région. / The least we can say is that Iran since the seizure of power by the Ayatollahs in 1979 is a country that interests French weekly magazines and journalists. A quantitative approach of the articles concerning this country proves this assertion easily. But it is particularly interesting to note that each of the French weekly magazines provides a fairly specific approach that characterizes today's Iran. Nevertheless most French magazines recognize the complexity of the problems of Iran and Persian society. However, Valeurs Actuelles stigmatizes the barbaric regime while Courrier International, conversely provides a kaleidoscope of rather conflicting opinions on this Islamic republic. Similarly, Le Point emphasizes the danger of Iran today while L'Express focuses primarily on nuclear issues. Marianne on the other hand offers a balanced study of both internal and external problems of this country ruled by Ayatollahs. In reality, there may be a consensus among French journalists who are specialists of the Persian world due to the fact that concerning its domestic policy Iran continues to oscillate between democracy and totalitarianism even though the country seems to consider the possession of nuclear weapons as the future anchor of its foreign policy and sub-regional diplomatic role.

This dissertation demonstrates that a group of western women connected to May Maxwell through ties of faith and friendship exemplified a distinct form of early twentieth-century feminism in their adoption and promotion of the transplanted Bahá’í Faith. In actualizing their doctrinal principles, they worked to inaugurate a millennial new World Order predicated on the spiritual and social equality of women. This group championed a unique organizational structure and transnational perspective that propelled them to female leadership, both as inspirational models and agents of practical change. By examining how Bahá’í doctrines shaped the beliefs, mythologies, relationships and reform goals of women, this dissertation broadens understandings of the ways in which religion can act as a vehicle for female empowerment and transformative identity. Together, western early Bahá’í women built individual and collective capacity, challenging gender prescriptions and social norms. Their millennial worldview advocated a key role for women in shaping nascent Bahá’í culture, and initiating personal, institutional, and societal change. Their inclusive collaborative organizational style, non-western origins and leadership, diverse membership, and global locus of activity, made them one of the first groups to establish and sustain a transnational feminist reform network. Although in some respects this group resembled other religious, feminist, and reform-oriented women, identifiably “Bahá’í” features of their ideology, methodologies, and reform activities made them distinctive. This research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the role of women in the creation of modern religious and social mythologies and paradigms. A study of Bahá’í millennial religious feminism also expands current conceptions of the boundaries, diversities, and intersections of early twentieth-century western millennial, feminist, religious, and transnational reform movements.

The chief aims of this study are to determine what, if any, accounting processes were employed during the first millennium BC (1000-332 BC) in Palestine, to determine whether these were the result of the socio-economic requirements of the various centralised polities operative in Palestine during this period, how these processes developed over the course of the first millennium and whether they conform to the definition of accounting provided in Chapter One. I have adopted an archaeological, epigraphic and qualitative approach taking into consideration the historical and socio-economic backgrounds of the different political administrations in control during the period under discussion. The evidence demonstrates that the adopted processes can be regarded as accounting processes since they conform to at least three of the four components of the definition of accounting and that these processes developed over the course of time depending on the particular requirements of the ruling authority. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / M.A. (Biblical Archaeology)

Russia and Iran have been subject to mutual influence since the reign of Shah Abbas I (1588-1629). For most of the time this relationship was not one of equals: since the early nineteenth century and lasting at least until 1946, Russia and then the USSR, in strong competition with Britain, had been gradually, and for the most part steadily, increasing its political, cultural and economic influence within Iran up to very high levels. Nevertheless, the history of Russian/Soviet-Iranian relations still remains understudied, particularly in English-language scholarship. One of the main reasons for this gap must be sought in the hampered access of Western researchers to Russian archives during the Soviet time, which made them draw on Russian-language literature, traditionally pre-occupied with the history of social movements, and with the mechanical retelling of political and economic processes. Thus the cultural and political ties of the two countries on institutional and individual levels (especially during the period surrounding 1917), the influence of Russia, and then of the USSR, on Iran and vice versa, in political, economic and cultural spheres through the activities of individuals, as well as the methods and tools used by the “Big Northern neighbour” during the execution of its foreign policy towards Iran did not receive proper attention, and thus lack detailed analysis. This research addresses the lack of detailed analysis of the power/knowledge nexus in relation to Russia’s Persian/Iranian Studies – the largest and most influential sub-domain within Russia’s Oriental Studies during the late Imperial and the early Soviet periods. The specific focus of this study is the involvement of Russian ‘civilian’ (academic) and ‘practical’ (military officers, diplomats, and missionaries) Persian Studies scholarship in Russian foreign policy towards Persia/Iran from the end of the nineteenth century up to 1941 – a period witnessing some of the most crucial events in the history of both countries. It is during this period that Persia/Iran was the pivot of Russia’s Eastern foreign policy but at the same time almost every significant development inside Russia as well as in her Western policies also had an immediate impact on this country – the state of affairs that ultimately culminated in the second Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941. My thesis is based on extensive research in eleven important political, military and academic archives of Russia and Georgia, which allowed me to consult a significant amount of hitherto unpublished, often still unprocessed and only recently declassified, primary sources. While engaging with notions such as Orientalism, my analysis aims at transcending Edward Said’s concept of a mere complicity of knowledge with imperial power. My theoretical approach builds on Michel Foucault’s conceptualisation of the interplay of power/knowledge relations, his notion of discourse, and his writings on the role of the intellectual. While demonstrating the full applicability of the Foucauldian model to the Russian case through the study of the power/knowledge nexus in late Imperial and early Soviet Russia’s Persian Studies, or Iranology, I focus on the activities of scholars and experts within their own professional domains and analyse what motivated them and how their own views, beliefs and intentions correlated with their work, how their activities were influenced by the hegemonic discourses within Russian society. I analyse the interaction of these intellectuals with state structures and their participation in the process of shaping and conducting foreign policy towards Iran, both as part of the Russian scholarly community as a whole and as individuals on the personal level. For the first time my work explores at such level of detail the specific institutional practices of Russia’s Oriental Studies, including the organisation of scholarly intelligence networks, the taking advantage of state power for the promotion of institutional interests, the profound engagement with Russia’s domestic and foreign policy discourses of the time, etc. In addition, the thesis presents a detailed assessment of the organisation of Iranology as a leading sub-domain within the broader scholarly field of Oriental Studies in the period from the end of the nineteenth century to 1941 and analyses the principles and mechanisms of its involvement in Russia’s foreign policy towards Persia/Iran.

This thesis outlines some basic approaches in the field of comparative civilizational analysis in the works of Jóhann P. Árnason and Jaroslav Krejčí in the confrontation with Jan Patočka's philosophy of history. Those theoretical bases are put into a wider historical context and historical relations in casuistic studies, narrowed to the civilizational area of the Middle East, especially Mesopotamia and Syria-Palestine and also the Aegean-Greek area. This work emphasizes the inevitable interconnection of generally conceived civilizational analysis, or historical sociology, with specific historiography. Individual detaching of theoretical concepts is understood as a relic of blind reductionism and determinism which is strongly rejected by philosophy of history which tries to focus on the phenomenon of historicity instead of historical chronologies. Nevertheless, without the support of empirical reality even philosophy of history would become a mere philosophical rumination. The connected interdisciplinary approach is the only way how to figure out the historical / civilizational sense, "between the past and the future" and to create continual cultural memory from the awareness of relations to the relation of awareness.

This dissertation considered trade and trade finance in Mesopotamia over a period of 2000 years commencing with Sumeria and ending with Achaemenid Persia, taking in Ur III and Assyria. A range of financial instruments was selected together with important business transactions, for instance, agricultural finance, specifically the brewing industry and the working capital requirements of merchants and money lenders. The role of women in private enterprise was examined, including their role in retail finance. The great estates of temple and palace had a substantial impact on finance and trade throughout the periods. Their interaction with merchants and money lenders was important to the study. I used reductionism to facilitate analysis of complex products highlighting the essentials of finance namely, borrowing, lending and return. The study concludes that, during the era under consideration, the evolution and enhancement of the financial instruments and products developed in self-generated, incremental and progressive steps. / Biblical & Ancient Studies / M.A. (Ancient Near East Studies)

This thesis aims to consider the competing visions of Sasanian Iran advanced by Arthur Christensen in ‘L'Iran sous les Sassanides' (1944) and Parvaneh Pourshariati in ‘Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire' (2008), discuss the relevant evidence in relation to their arguments, and to suggest our own theory of how the Sasanian Empire operated. Christensen argued for the strength of the Sasanian monarchy and the subservience of the aristocracy to the kings, whilst Pourshariati's thesis stressed Sasanian royal weakness and the relative power of the aristocracy. These theses are incompatible, offering fundamentally different conceptions of the natures of the Sasanian monarchy and aristocracy, and how they interacted with each other. Firstly, this thesis critiques the models established by Christensen and Pourshariati, especially their failure to acknowledge evidence at variance with their thesis, and their lack of discussion concerning how the aristocracy perceived their relationship with the monarchy. We then turn to our own discussion of the evidence relating to the Sasanian monarchy and royal power, and the cultural outlook of the aristocracy, with reference to the above theories, so as to understand how strong the Sasanian monarchy was, the nature of royal power, and how the aristocracy perceived their relationship with the crown. We argue for a conception of Sasanian Iran somewhere between the theories of Christensen and Pourshariati. There is very little evidence that the Sasanian kings ruled through a state enjoying significant institutional power; indeed Sasanian power seems very limited in the periphery of the Empire. However, the inherent respect for the monarchy held by the aristocracy, and the ties of mutual dependence which existed between kings and aristocrats, allowed for Sasanian rule to in general be highly effective.

L’objet de cette étude est de réexaminer l’histoire de la famille de gouverneurs perses qui ont détenu l’office de satrapes de Phrygie Hellespontique sous l’Empire achéménide aux Ve et IVe siècles avant J.-C., et d’évaluer leur influence sur la sphère politique égéenne et anatolienne. Étant donné que l’étude des Pharnacides n’est pas seulement une étude généalogique, mais qu’elle comporte des questions d’ordre politique, il nous faut distinguer leur rôle de satrapes de l’histoire de leur famille. Nous traitons donc dans un premier temps les origines des Pharnacides. Ensuite, nous présentons une chronologie des satrapes de Daskyleion, traités sous l’angle politique. En troisième partie, il est question de mettre en avant les caractéristiques des détenteurs de l’office satrapique de Daskyleion. Enfin, la dernière partie a pour but de présenter ce que nous avons pu déduire sur la notion de famille chez ces notables perses et de mettre en avant la place des femmes, tout en présentant un épilogue de leur destin après la chute de l’Empire achéménide. / The purpose of this study is to reexamine the existence of the family of Persian governors, who were in charge as satraps of Hellespontic Phrygia in the age of the Achaemenid Empire in the Vth-IVth C. BC. and to assess their influence on Egean and Anatolian politics. As the examination of the Pharnacids is not only a genealogical study, but includes also political topics, it is necessary to distinguish their role as satraps from their family history. Accordingly, the first part addresses the origins of the Pharnacids, followed by a chronology of the satraps of Dasykleion from a political point of view. The third part exposes the permanent and recurrent features among the titleholders of the satrapy of Daskyleion. Finally, the last part presents our conclusions on the notion of family among the prominent Persians and focuses on the role of women, and it ends with an epilogue on the family’s fate after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire.

Le waqf est l'un des phénomènes socioculturels religieux majeurs du monde musulman, en vigueur dans les sociétés islamiques depuis les débuts de l'islam jusqu'à nos jours. Dans cette recherche, on s'est attaché à l'étude du waqf selon l'école chiite imâmite duodécimaine en Iran du 16ème au 18ème siècle. Pour que cette analyse soit la plus complète possible, on a abordé la question sous trois aspects complémentaires. Ainsi, la première partie examine le waqf dans les ḥadîths de la tradition chiite duodécimaine, les présentant, les traduisant et les analysant alors que la seconde partie se concentre sur des positions des jurisconsultes les plus influents de la période concernée par rapport à la praxis et à la théorie de waqf. La recherche sur les pratiques de waqf dans la société safavide compose la troisième partie de cette thèse. Cette approche tripartite a produit une étude qui analyse les fondements théoriques de waqf dans le chiisme duodécimain ainsi que des pratiques mêmes de waqf en islam chiite. Cette recherche constitue une première étape pour comprendre la spécificité du waqf chiite dans un cadre géographique et historique précis qui façonna les bases de la jurisprudence chiite contemporaine sur le waqf qui reste toujours d'actualité. / Waqf is one of the major sociocultural phenomena in Islam since the early generations up until today.This dissertation focuses on waqf according to the Twelver Imamite Shiite doctrine in Iran from the 16th to the 18th century. To study this in different ways, we have used three complemetary aspects. The first part closely examines waqf in Twelver Shiite ḥadîths, presenting, translating and analyzing them while the second section concentrates on the positions of the most influential Shiite ulama of the period with respect to waqf theory and praxis. Research on waqf practices in Safavid society make up the third section of this thesis. This tripartite approach has produced a study which analyzes the theoretical foundations of waqf in Twelver Shiism as well as the practices of waqf in Shiite Islam. This research is a step on the way to understanding the specificity of Shiite waqf within a geographical and historical context which has established the basis for contemporary Shiite jurisprudence on waqf up until today.