Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique - Frantz Grenet

Collège de France
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La chaire Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique n'est pas la première chaire du Collège de France qui ait comporté l'Asie centrale dans son intitulé : il y avait eu auparavant celles de Paul Pelliot et de Louis Hambis, mais à la différence de celles-ci l'Asie centrale n'est plus présentée principalement du point de vue de l'expansion chinoise ; le fait qu'elle « parle » désormais par elle-même (par son archéologie, par son art, par ses langues et littératures anciennes dont la redécouverte tout au long du XXe siècle a été spectaculaire) est pleinement pris en compte. L'horizon géographique envisagé dans l'enseignement est principalement l'Asie centrale (ou « Asie moyenne ») dans sa définition ex-soviétique : les cinq républiques maintenant indépendantes, auxquelles d'ajoute l'Afghanistan. La période traitée va de la conquête achéménide (VIe s. av. n.è.) aux premiers siècles de l'islamisation. Même ayant souvent affirmé une puissante originalité culturelle, un carrefour tel que l'Asie centrale ne peut évidemment être traité sans prise en compte des grands empires qui ont interagi avec lui : l'Iran, le premier empire turc, la Chine, et aussi l'Inde à laquelle ma fonction actuelle de directeur de l'Institut d'études indiennes et de la collection de l'Institut de civilisation indienne et centrasiatique m'amène à prêter une attention particulière.

  1. May 28

    Conférence - Touraj Daryaee : The Vision of the World in Late Antique Erānšahr

    Frantz Grenet Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique Collège de France Année 2025-2026 Conférence - Touraj Daryaee : The Vision of the World in Late Antique Erānšahr Touraj Daryaee Maseeh Chair in Persian Studies & Culture, University of California - Irvine Résumé The Zoroastrian texts supply kind of division of the world and the reason for it which is important for understanding the Persian view of the world in Late Antiquity. In the Middle Persian texts, we come across a story which is not present in the surviving portion of the Avesta, and that is the division of the world by king Frēdōn. Frēdōn in the Avesta is one who after the fall of Yima receives the kauuaēm xvarənah- or the Kayānīd Glory, rules over the world. However, he divides his possession into three portions, between his sons (Persian) Iraj (Avestan *Airiiaēča-/ Middle Pesian Ērēz), Tūrč (Avestan Tūra- / Middle Persian Tūč) and Salm (Avestan Sairima- / Middle Persian Sarm). This act of Frēdōn is seen as not specifically a "sin" in the epic Persian literature, but its consequence has a negative effect, and it plunges the world into war. It is this division that creates, not a "bi-polar," but a "tri-partite," vision of the world, where "malice" (kēn), drives Ērānšahr in its battle with an-Ērān, toward total war and the last great "War of Antiquity."

    52 min

  2. May 26

    Séminaire - Mithra en dialogue : David Bivar and the Foundations of the Historiographic Myth of Iranan Mithraism

    Frantz Grenet Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique Collège de France Année 2025-2026 Frantz Grenet Professeur du Collège de France Séminaire - Mithra en dialogue : David Bivar and the Foundations of the Historiographic Myth of Iranan Mithraism Table ronde sur le thème : Mithra en dialogue en Asie centrale, Iran et Rome : 1. Le point de vue iranologique

    42 min

  3. May 21

    Conférence - Touraj Daryaee : Mapping Men and Empire: The Sacred Topography of Erānšahr

    Frantz Grenet Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique Collège de France Année 2025-2026 Conférence - Touraj Daryaee : Mapping Men and Empire: The Sacred Topography of Erānšahr Touraj Daryaee Maseeh Chair in Persian Studies & Culture, University of California - Irvine Résumé The Sasanians in late antique began to observe the physical world in several distinct but interrelated ways, largely dependent on their religious and political outlook. These views may have seemed similar, but at other times contradictory Roman and later the Byzantine views of geography. In the post-Sasanians / Islamic period, these two visions come together with geographers of the Abbasid period. The views between the real (political) and the religious (mythological) geography, inspired by the Zoroastrian sacred view of the world, and influenced by the epic, inspired an imperial political reformulation bringing a new vision of the world. The Sasanian had developed a certain geographical outlook which was rooted in the Avestan tradition, but the material had been reworked to fit the imperial ideology of their in late antiquity.

    58 min

  4. May 12

    Conférence - Touraj Daryaee : History and Memory: In Search of Lost Time

    Frantz Grenet Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique Collège de France Année 2025-2026 Conférence - Touraj Daryaee : History and Memory: In Search of Lost Time Touraj Daryaee Maseeh Chair in Persian Studies & Culture, University of California - Irvine Résumé Memory of past does not reveal itself to all people in the same manner. For the Sasanians in Late Antiquity (200-651 CE), what they came to profess was their ancient past and for the people they were ruling over, was drastically different from what the Romans understood as history of the Bygones. For Iranians a historical tradition had developed, which was far removed from Greek and Roman historiographical tradition. History revealed itself in a different manner for the late ancient Iranians, from those living in the Mediterranean, with a different narrative. In a sense, history of the past, as a set of real events, was "Balkanized" in the memory of people in late antiquity. This Balkanization of the past led to the creation of multiple views, where conflicts and brotherhoods were defined in nativist terms, which the Sasanians used for dealing with their neighbors. The most important element in this divergent development of history and memory was the impact of Zoroastrianism in late antiquity, where the sacred traditions, constructed a "history" which attempted to explain who the Iranian were, and where they came from. But did the Sasanians remember the Achaemenids? If they did not, we must ask how did this "historical amnesia" came to prominence and what was put in their place as the historical memory of the Persianate past? Were the Achaemenids accidentally forgotten, or was there a planned program to provide an alternative past? If they are remembered, how are they placed within the Iranian tradition? Rather than denying or confirming Sasanian memory of the Achaemenids, I would like to suggest that the process was more complicated and that there were several streams of history and memory working together to bring about a new view of the past.

    58 min

  5. May 7

    Conférence - Touraj Daryaee : The Idea of Iran in Late Antiquity

    Frantz Grenet Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique Collège de France Année 2025-2026 Conférence - Touraj Daryaee : The Idea of Iran in Late Antiquity Touraj Daryaee Maseeh Chair in Persian Studies & Culture, University of California - Irvine Résumé Ardashīr I, in the third century claimed to be the king of the Iranians, and by the time of Shapur I the realm was known as Ērānšahr, i.e., the "Empire of the Iranians." During the Sasanian period, not only the idea of Iran took form, but its boundaries and what it meant to be an Iranian took shape. While the major motive behind such an idea was based on ethnic and religion (Zoroastrian) religion, by the fifth sixth century CE there had been a major shift in what is meant to be an Iranian. Ērīh (Iranianess), by then meant acquiring a set of values, worldviews and cultural tradition which went beyond the early notions of ethnos as an Arya. In effect those who were of any ethnic and religious background, as long as they partook in the values and beliefs of the world of Iran and abided by the Law of the King (Dād), were considered as Iranian. Ērīh meant one who understood the historical view, partook in "national" celebrations, wore similar clothing, ate in a specific manner, and played such games and chess and backgammon. This "cultural turn," is similar to China with the Jin Dynasty, and earlier with the Roman Empire. Some of these developments was part of the encounter with civilizations and religions around the Sasanian Empire, such as the Roman Empire. However, the nomadic forces and empires in Central Asia / East Iran, brought more concrete ideas of Iranianess and non-Iranianess (Ērīh ud an-Ērīh).

    1h 4m

  6. May 5

    Séminaire - Frantz Grenet & Samra Azarnouche : The Lord of the Covenant: Mihr the judge and the celebration of Mihragān

    Frantz Grenet Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique Collège de France Année 2025-2026 Frantz Grenet & Samra Azarnouche Professeur du Collège de France Séminaire - Frantz Grenet & Samra Azarnouche : The Lord of the Covenant: Mihr the judge and the celebration of Mihragān

    47 min

  7. Apr 16

    08 - Aux origines du Khurâsân médiéval : les interactions entre l'Iran sassanide et l'Asie centrale (IIIe-VIIe s. de n.è.) : Aux origines du Khurâsân médiéval : les interactions entre l'Iran sassanide et l'Asie centrale (IIIe - VIIe s. de n.è.

    Frantz Grenet Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique Collège de France Année 2024-2025 08 - Aux origines du Khurâsân médiéval : les interactions entre l'Iran sassanide et l'Asie centrale (IIIe-VIIe s. de n.è.) : Aux origines du Khurâsân médiéval : les interactions entre l'Iran sassanide et l'Asie centrale (IIIe - VIIe s. de n.è.) (8)

    1h 3m

  8. Apr 9

    07 - Aux origines du Khurâsân médiéval : les interactions entre l'Iran sassanide et l'Asie centrale (IIIe-VIIe s. de n.è.) : Aux origines du Khurâsân médiéval : les interactions entre l'Iran sassanide et l'Asie centrale (IIIe - VIIe s. de n.è.

    Frantz Grenet Chaire Chaire Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique Collège de France Année 2024-2025 07 - Aux origines du Khurâsân médiéval : les interactions entre l'Iran sassanide et l'Asie centrale (IIIe-VIIe s. de n.è.) : Aux origines du Khurâsân médiéval : les interactions entre l'Iran sassanide et l'Asie centrale (IIIe - VIIe s. de n.è.) (7)

    1h 7m
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La chaire Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique n'est pas la première chaire du Collège de France qui ait comporté l'Asie centrale dans son intitulé : il y avait eu auparavant celles de Paul Pelliot et de Louis Hambis, mais à la différence de celles-ci l'Asie centrale n'est plus présentée principalement du point de vue de l'expansion chinoise ; le fait qu'elle « parle » désormais par elle-même (par son archéologie, par son art, par ses langues et littératures anciennes dont la redécouverte tout au long du XXe siècle a été spectaculaire) est pleinement pris en compte. L'horizon géographique envisagé dans l'enseignement est principalement l'Asie centrale (ou « Asie moyenne ») dans sa définition ex-soviétique : les cinq républiques maintenant indépendantes, auxquelles d'ajoute l'Afghanistan. La période traitée va de la conquête achéménide (VIe s. av. n.è.) aux premiers siècles de l'islamisation. Même ayant souvent affirmé une puissante originalité culturelle, un carrefour tel que l'Asie centrale ne peut évidemment être traité sans prise en compte des grands empires qui ont interagi avec lui : l'Iran, le premier empire turc, la Chine, et aussi l'Inde à laquelle ma fonction actuelle de directeur de l'Institut d'études indiennes et de la collection de l'Institut de civilisation indienne et centrasiatique m'amène à prêter une attention particulière.

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