The Biennial Conference on Ancient Iranian Languages and Culture has previously been held in three rounds, successively at Shahid Beheshti University, the University of Tehran, and the Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the fourth round. Despite this delay, the Department of Ancient Iranian Languages and Cultures and Iranology, Faculty of Literature and Human Science, University of Tehran, decided to host the fourth conference as well, this time on an international scale. As in previous rounds, the general theme of the conference covers the history of Iranian languages and dialects and the religions, myths, and legends of pre-Islamic Iran and their continuities in later periods.

Main Topics of the Conference:

Historical and comparative linguistics

Old Iranian languages (phonology, grammar, lexicon)

Middle Iranian languages (phonology, grammar, lexicon)

Modern Iranian dialects (phonology, grammar, lexicon)

Iranian documents in Semitic and Elamite languages

Historical grammar in Persian

Historical phonology and phonemics of Persian

Iranian religions and sects before Islam, their continuities and influences in post-Islamic periods, and other cultures

Myths and legends of pre-Islamic Iran, their continuities and influences in post-Islamic periods, and other cultures

Pre-Islamic Iranian literature (epic, poetry, prosody, etc.)

Inscriptions, papyri, and similar documents in Old and Middle Iranian languages

Date of the Conference: 15–16 February 2026

Deadline for Abstract Submission (in Persian/English, Word and PDF format): 20 November 2025

Deadline for Full Paper Submission (Word and PDF format): 10 January 2026

Note: Abstracts should be between 150 and 200 words, and full papers between 2,500 and 4,500 words.

Email for Submissions: irlancul@ut.ac.ir

Venue: University of Tehran, Faculty of Letters and Humanities

Conference Chair: Prof. Zhaleh Amuzegar

Scientific Secretary: Dr. Seyed Ahmad Reza Qāem-Maqāmi

Executive Secretary: Dr. Leila Varhrām

Scientific Committee Members (in alphabetical order):

Prof. Samra Azarnouche (Sorbonne University); Prof. Zhaleh Amuzegar (University of Tehran); Prof. Abolghasem Esmailpour (Shahid Beheshti University); Prof. Kianoush Rezania (University of Bochum); Prof. Hassan Rezai Baghbidi (Osaka University); Prof. Zohreh Zarrinkass (Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies); Dr. Mohammad Shokri Foomeshi (University of Religions and Denominations); Dr. Majid Tāmeh (Academy of Persian Language and Literature); Prof. Shervin Farridnedjad (University of Hamburg); Dr. Seyed Ahmad Reza Qāem-Maqāmi (University of Tehran); Prof. Pavel Lurje (St. Petersburg University); Dr. Seyed Saeed Reza Montazeri (University of Tehran, Qom Campus); Dr. Mojtaba Monshizadeh (Allameh Tabataba’i University); Dr. Changiz Molaei (University of Tabriz); Prof.. Cyrus Nasrollahzadeh (Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies); Dr. Leila Varhrām (University of Tehran); Prof. Vardan Voskanian (Yerevan University); Prof. Almut Hintze (SOAS, University of London).

Conference Languages: Persian and English