On February 14-15, 2006, the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH) hosted an international conference "Iran: Cultural and Historical Tradition and Dynamics of Development", organized by the RSUH (Office of Iranian Studies, Faculty of History, Political Science and Law, Center for Global Studies and Comparative Studies) in cooperation with the Cultural Representation at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Moscow. The organizing committee of the conference included representatives of RSUH, IB RAS, and the Cultural Representation of the IRI. It was attended by about 200 specialists from Russia, Iran, the USA, France, Germany, Austria, Latvia, Bulgaria, Argentina, Israel, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan.

An important task was to develop a scientific dialogue between researchers in related fields of Iranian studies and establish relations between foreign and Russian Iranian scientists. In this regard, it was initially decided to make the disciplinary range of the conference as wide as possible by attracting specialists in various fields of Iranian studies: historians, ethnologists, archaeologists, folklorists, linguists, philologists, philosophers, religious scholars, political scientists, sociologists, and specialists in related fields.

The following sections were presented at the conference: Linguistics (head of E. K. Molchanova-Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Literary Studies (head of N. Y. Chalisova-RSUH, Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Philosophy and Religious Studies (head of Yu. A. Averyanov-Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences), History, Archeology and Art History (head of S. A. Yatsenko-RSUH), Political Science Regional studies (headed by A. P. Logunov - RSUH, N. I. Mammadova - Institute of Internal Affairs of the Russian Academy of Sciences).

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Within the framework of the conference, several "round tables" were organized on the political problems of modern Iran: "The Islamic Revolution in Iran. A View from the XXI Century " (head - Director of the Institute of Russian History of RSUH A. N. Fursov)," Challenges of globalization "(head - Dean of the Faculty of History, Political Science and Law of RSUH A. P. Logunov)," Democratic values in the XXI century: general and special " (head - S. V. Klyagin-RSUH).

Unfortunately, the scope of the review does not allow us to even briefly touch on all the reports made at the conference. We will focus only on some of them.

One of the biggest was the section "History, Archeology and Art History". Due to the fact that Iran is conducting independent archaeological excavations relatively recently, the reports of Iranian archaeologists aroused the greatest interest.

A. Atabaki (Kazerun branch of the Free Islamic University - SIU) presented the report "Archaeological study of the Jarre and Baladeh areas on the way to Takht-Jamshid and Anshan". It presented a number of results of the expedition to the area. The purpose of the expedition was not only to discover archaeological artifacts, but also to test the hypothesis that important communication routes passed through these places in ancient times. Based on the study of ceramics and other archaeological finds, the report hypothesized that the Jarre and Baladeh area, located between the main Iranian cities of the Sasanian era, could have been one of the routes of movement from the northern part of Fars province, in particular Takht-e Jamshid and Anshan, towards Souz and the commercial cities and ports of the Persian Gulf coast. the bay area. Both under the Sassanids and in the Islamic era, it was an important route from a political and commercial point of view.

S. Darvishi's report "Report on the archaeological excavations of Toll-e Bondu in Fars and the discovery of a sanctuary of the Middle Elamite period (2nd millennium BC)" was also devoted to the latest archaeological research. Since the spring of 2003, the archaeological team of the Kazerun branch has been excavating for three seasons in the Momasseni area, located between the two historical provinces of Fars and Khuzestan, on Toll-e Bondu, one of dozens of hills that preserve monuments from various eras - from prehistoric to Islamic. The hill is literally strewn with various samples of Elamite ceramics. The most interesting discovery of the archaeological expedition was a small mud-brick temple, which bears the stamp of similarity with the temple of Eridu in Mesopotamia.

A. A. Burkhanov's report was devoted to the archeology of Lebap, the middle Amu Darya valley regions (Tatar State Humanitarian Institute). - pedagogich. University of Kazan) "Ancient and medieval Lebap in the system of the Iranian historical and cultural area". During the historical and cultural development in ancient times and the Middle Ages, Lebap was a contact zone and played an important role in the historical and cultural relations between Iran and the nomadic world in the northeast, between the Iranian and Turkic ethnic groups and civilizations. On the basis of archaeological data, the speaker made an analysis of contacts with Iran traced in this area.

The colossal heritage of Syro-lingual Christian writers of the Sassanid period is of indisputable value to historians of Iran. Report of E. V. Barsky (Orthodox St. Tikhon's Humanit. un-t, Moscow) "Relations between Iran and the Roman Empire under Constantine the Great and their reflection in the work of Afraat "On Wars" "was devoted to the analysis of the work of one of the most prominent Russian - language writers-Afraat, nicknamed "The Persian Sage", who lived on the territory of Iran in the first half of the IV century. Against the background of the extreme scarcity of sources concerning relations between Iran and Byzantium, his information is of particular value to historians. The speaker analyzed how the figurative language of Afraat reflects real historical events and what consequences the failed campaign of Constantine led to for Iranian Christians.

Along with the study of written and archaeological sources, the history of costume plays a huge role in the study of history. S. A. Yatsenko (RSUH) presented the report "The costume of Luristan and Gilan of the beginning of the 1st millennium BC and the most ancient Iranians". When deciding whether the first Iranian-speaking groups entered the western regions of modern Iran, costume material, which is richly represented in cult plots and images of the nobility of that time, can play an important role. Luristan's images show elements of clothing that can be associated with Iranian tribes. These are various types of kaftans, dressing gowns, trousers, some types of hats and half-boots that are tied with belts. Isolated elements of Iranian origin that appear in images of native deities and epic heroes

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Some of the most famous figures from the Luristan region of the X-VII centuries BC indicate the borrowing of some convenient or spectacular elements of the costume of these tribes for images of aboriginal deities, i.e., the influence of the costume of the Iranian tribes who settled nearby.

The section "Linguistics" presented reports on all branches of Iranian linguistics: reports on individual Iranian languages, both ancient and modern, on the problems of reconstruction of the proto-Iranian state. The modern Persian language was covered from all sides (history, interlanguage contacts, problems related to changes in the modern literary norm, applied linguistics).

Yu. A. Rubinchik (IB RAS) in his report "On the word Farsi and its meanings in the modern Persian language" made a detailed analysis of the genesis and development of this term. He touched upon the main periods of existence of the term in the Iranian languages - Old Persian, Middle Persian, New Persian (classical and modern). The issue of the Persian language in non-Iranian-speaking regions, where it has acquired the status of a literary language (the Hindustan subcontinent of the Mughal era), was also raised. The speaker paid special attention to the analysis of the term Farsi by the most prominent Iranian writers, publicists and linguists of the 20th century and the modern definition of the term after a long, painstaking work of several Iranian academies to reform the language.

In the report of D. B. Buyanera (Institute of Asian and African Studies, Jerusalem) "On the etymology of some Early Khazar toponyms (on the question of the origin of Dagestan Khons", the hypothesis of the presence of an Iranian-language substrate in the Early Khazar ethnic history was considered. According to the speaker, this role is underestimated due to a biased opinion about the native Turkic-speaking Khazars. This does not take into account the fact that in a conglomerate of tribes of different language and origin, such as the Khazar Khaganate, the dominant role can pass from one tribe to another while maintaining political continuity. The Turkic language of the Khazar Khaganate of the 9th - 10th centuries probably had little in common with the language of the early Khazars. This is supported by the fact that a number of the Caspian and North Caucasian regions were Turkified during the migration of the Pechenegs, Torks, and Polovtsians. In this vein, the speaker proposed several new etymologies: the name of the city of Varachan, one of the centers of Khazaria (); the name of the early Khazar capital Semender (from the north. - zap. of the Iranian "guardian of the border").

V. B. Ivanov (ISAA at Moscow State University) made a report "On the three branches of Avestan phonetics". Some Avestan sounds are identified as problematic by the speaker, since they are not found in other ancient Iranian languages. Based on this, it is concluded that at the time of codification of the Avesta, they were not yet in the Avestan language. They were probably introduced into the language by scribes during the Indian Avesta period (X-XIV centuries). All these sounds can be found in Gujarati. According to the Gujarati calendar, Zoroastrian worship has been conducted in India since the 19th century. In the modern Iranian branch of Avestan phonetics, which genetically dates back to the post-Sasanian state, you can find all the phonemes of the Persian language and Yazdo-Kerman Dari, but it also does not contain any of these problematic phonemes. Much in Avestan phonetics can be obtained by taking into account the style of singing (the styles "frashusha mantra" - the most complete and open manner of singing and "mantra spenta" - a somewhat reduced form). Here, according to the speaker, we are dealing not with two languages (old and young), but with two different vocal and phonetic styles that exist synchronously. Additional long vowels in the Avestan language, according to the speaker, are explained not by etymological length, but by the nuances of singing and worship.

E. K. Molchanova (Institute of Linguistics) presented the report "The Female Face of Iranian Linguistics", dedicated to the role of women linguists in modern Iran. Among them is Badr al-Zaman Gharib, author of the Sogdian-Persian-English Dictionary. Zhale Amuzgar is the author of such monographs as " Middle Persian (Pahlavi)". language", "Mythological history of Iran". Iran Kalbasi is the author of numerous books and articles on verb typology in modern Persian and other Iranian languages and dialects; on Kurdish, Caspian, Lari, Isfahan dialects, etc. Ketayun Mazdapur compiled a large dictionary of the Iranian Zoroastrian language, and her student F. Firuzbakhsh published a short grammar of the Zoroastrian dialect of Yazd. Giti Shokri explores the Caspian languages and especially the Mazanderan dialect of Sari. The research topics of Iranian women linguists are related to comparative grammar, comparative historical linguistics, typology, dialectology, experimental phonetics, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics.

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The modern Persian language is increasingly becoming the subject of study by specialists in applied linguistics. This is proved by the report of Yu. N. Panova (RSUH) "Discursive markers in the modern Persian language". Recently, one of the most promising and actively developing branches of the science of language is discursive analysis, whose tasks include studying the principles of discourse construction. One of the most relevant areas of discursive analysis is the study of so - called discursive markers-special words and expressions that ensure the coherence of the text, expressing the relationship of the fragment of discourse they enter to its direct discursive context. In the grammar of the Persian language, where lexical units are traditionally studied from the point of view of their functioning at the sentence level, most of the discursive markers are outside the scope of research. The report analyzes the main properties of a number of discursive markers of the modern Persian language, describes the functions performed by them, and also suggests parameters for systematization of discursive markers in the Persian language.

The section "Philosophy and Religious Studies" combined reports related to the reconstruction of the Indo-Iranian religion, Zoroastrianism, Yezidism, Sufism, Shiism.

In the report of F. Darvishi (Kazerun branch of SIU) "On the question of Ahura Mazda and its emanations in the Avesta Ghats" was the result of an analysis of the theological component of the oldest Avestan hymns (Gat). The speaker made the following conclusions: the Gat is characterized by the presence of strict monotheism. The six ameshaspentas of the late Avesta are represented as emanations of the one God. Gatic Ahura Mazda is a symbol of the mind. There is no clear division between the created world and him, since he created heaven and earth out of his being. Creation is its substantial attribute. The absolute and unlimited Ahura Mazda is contrasted with the nonabsolute and limited world. The concept of sepandminu (increasing sky) plays an important role in the religious beliefs of the Ghats. It symbolizes the essence of being, i.e. the essence of Truth (asha), the secret meaning of being. The speaker concludes that the era of the formation of the Gat is characterized by the emergence of the abstract concept of the divine in the human mind. The presence of emanations of a single deity serves as a compromise between the recognition of a single indivisible God and the multitude of His functions.

The report of P. V. Basharin (RSUH) "Reflection of the concept of" ana-l-Haqq "of al-Hallaj in the subsequent Sufi tradition" was devoted to the interpretation of one of the most obscure and well - known Sufi sayings-the saying "I am God (ana-l-Haqq)", belonging to al-Hallaj. According to the speaker, in this statement, I do not mean the human self, but the Divine Self. However, many thinkers regarded this confusion as substantial (a mixture of Divine and human nature). In this regard, the most interesting interpretations of "ana-l-Haqq" (Ahmad al-Ghazali, Ibn Arabi, Sultan Veled) were considered in the presentation. It has been demonstrated that the post-Hallaj tradition of ecstatic Sufism has reinforced the doctrine of the Divine Self as part of the human being. This often led to tabooing the use of the first-person pronoun itself in relation to oneself, as can be demonstrated by the example of Abu Said Mayhani, who was the first to use the neutral "one" (ishan) in relation to himself.

J. Eshots (Riga University of Latin Studies) presented a paper on the topic "Mir Damad's Teaching on Meta-temporal Origination (khudus dahri)". According to Mir Damad, khudus dahri arises both outside of the world (time and place) and outside of God. It is His command, a single act of creation that exists as a particle of light. A difficult problem is to analyze the relationship between God and His command. The world of orders is not just an extension of the Divine Essence and attributes. The difference lies in the ontological status. Origination is limited to the innovation of the entity (ibda al-mahiyyah), in other words, the creation of archetypes of things. Arising in time is the cause of the " temporalities "(zamaniyat) that bring imperfect entities into existence. The latter make it impossible for "temporalities" to exist as individual entities, but allow them to exist as species.

The report of K. S. Vasiltsov (Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences) was also devoted to the Iranian philosophical heritage. Peter the Great Russian Academy of Sciences (Kunstkamera), St. Petersburg) "To characterize the ontology of Afzal al-din Muhammad Kashani: the terms wujud, budan and yaftan". In the Muslim philosophical literature, the word Wujud was the most general term for the ontological category "existence". Wujud refers to the world, i.e. to everything-

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mu, except for God. The meaning of the term wujud is not limited to the actual concept of "existence", but also has another meaning - "finding". "Existence" has two categories-being and comprehension, each of which is divided into potential and actual. Potential comprehension belongs to the soul, which is able to know other things and itself, and actual comprehension belongs to the mind, in which the soul's ability to know and self-knowledge is realized. As a result, Kashani comes to the conclusion that knowledge and existence are inseparable.

Yu. A. Averyanov (IB RAS) made a report on "Wandering Qalandar dervishes in the Balkans according to the biography of Otman Baba" Vilayet-nameh-i Otman Baba " (XV century)". The penetration of wandering dervishes into the Christian countries of the Balkan Peninsula, primarily Bulgaria, occurred during the Ottoman conquests of these territories, since the army was accompanied by crowds of representatives of marginal Sufi groups. These dervishes often incurred the wrath of Muslim theologians, but were popularly revered as"God's people." Among them stands out the personality of the dervish Othman Baba, who spent his entire life in wandering, accompanied by a crowd of followers. One of them, Kyuchuk Abdal, compiled his biography. This first sacred text of the Bulgarian Kalandars reflects their peculiar mythology and ritual. His research makes it possible to trace the Qalandars ' perception of Ottoman reality and to study the first impressions of wandering dervishes from contacts with the Christian population of Bulgaria and Greece.

The section "Political Science and Regionalism" was the largest. The collection of theses and reports of this section is a separate volume. The issues raised in the reports were related to both individual aspects of the domestic and foreign policy of modern Iran, as well as general theoretical problems (for example, the challenges of globalization).

A number of reports were devoted to the phenomenon of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has existed for 25 years. According to the ideological Iranian doctrine, the modern system of Iran is usually characterized as "religious democracy". A report by M. B. Khorramshad (Tabatabaei University, Tehran) was devoted to the theoretical view of democracy in Iran. According to the speaker, all existing democratic systems in the world can be divided into minimalist (democracy as a way of government) and maximalist (promotion of liberal values as the main ones). The concept of "religion" has exactly the same interpretations: as a sphere of exclusively private life and as a public ideology. The phenomenon of" religious democracy " combines a minimalist interpretation of democracy and a broad definition of religion. Proponents of the theory of "religious democracy" are divided into two groups. I see this phenomenon as a logical extension of traditional Muslim ideology. The latter believe that even if the theory did not originate on the basis of Islam, it should be legitimized as an Islamic doctrine.

O. M. Zhigalina's report "The Kurdish question as a fact of Iran's domestic and foreign policy" was devoted to one of the most pressing problems of modern Iran - the problem of Kurds. The speaker analyzed the key projects of the Iranian leadership on the Kurdish problem at different times-from the period of the Shah's rule to the present day. The second part of the report examined the problems of the Kurds after M. Ahmadinejad came to power, in particular the relationship of the Iranian regime with the main Kurdish parties and groups. It was noted that the United States and its allies rely on the destabilizing role of the Kurdish component, but at the same time Iran is trying to control the situation with strict measures. All this once again makes the Kurds hostages of a big political game.

Due to the fact that the Shiite clergy plays a key, defining role in the domestic and foreign policy of modern Iran, questions related to this topic were repeatedly raised at the section. For example, we can mention the report of G. P. Avdeev (Moscow) "Shiite clergy and Iranian-American contradictions". It is a well-known fact for the whole world that relations between the United States and Iran have not only not stabilized in the 25 years since the proclamation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, but are also getting worse from year to year. The main enemy of the United States in Iran is the Shiite leadership. The speaker analyzed the events that led to a fierce confrontation between the two states, as well as the reasons for the irreconcilable confrontation between the two systems - theocratic and liberal-democratic.

I. V. Dobrovitsky's report "Characteristic features of Iran-US foreign policy cooperation at the present stage"was also devoted to the issue of Iranian-American relations. Conceptually, the current foreign policy of the United States

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The United States is subject to the "axis of evil" doctrine, which applies to a number of countries (including Iran) that allegedly support terrorism and possess or seek to possess nuclear weapons. At the same time, Iran's role as a fuel geo-economic center against the background of a shortage of hydrocarbons in the world guarantees it to maintain the status quo in the system of international relations, despite numerous US sanctions. The most important issue that requires Iranian-American cooperation is overcoming the prolonged Iraqi crisis. Thus, the current international situation makes it possible to fix Iranian-American relations at the level of a curtailed conflict, which does not imply an open armed confrontation.

The situation of women in modern Iran is of great interest. Several reports were devoted to this topic. One of them is the report of M. Golkar (Iran)"The process of women's participation in socio-political activities after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran". According to the guidelines of modern Iranian political propaganda, the works of local researchers clearly contrast the situation of women under the Shah's regime (external westernization and formal emancipation combined with such facts as the lack of suffrage for the female population) and after the Islamic Revolution (real emancipation). Real changes in the status of women have resulted in an increase in their participation in the socio-political, economic and cultural life of the country. The speaker presented statistical data on the percentage increase in the number of women in the above-mentioned areas.

Based on the results of the conference, a collection of reports was published in two parts. In the near future, it is planned to publish a collection of articles based on the conference materials. It is hoped that the organization of such events will serve as a solid basis for establishing close ties between Iranian scientists from different countries.

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