Article Information

Document Type : Research

Author

Omid Ghiasi

* PhD Graduate in Ancient History of Iran, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.30465/crtls.2026.52820.2957

Abstract

In her research, Saghi Gazerani has addressed the issues of Historiography in ancient Iran and questioned the dominant positivist approach. Focusing on the boundary between History and Literature, Gazerani has attempted to highlight the importance of texts such as the Shahnameh in understanding the History of ancient Iran, in contrast to material historical evidence such as archaeological and numismatic findings. By criticizing the relegation of the Shahnameh to the realm of Literature, she has attempted to show the existence of historical layers in narratives that are categorized as myths and legends. In addition to showing these layers, she emphasizes that her goal is to demonstrate the importance of texts in the "national history" genre in reading discourses of power and political legitimacy. However, her methodological contradictions prevent her from expanding her approach to the positivist reading, and by focusing on showing historical layers as fact in narratives of the national history genre, she herself enters the field that she has attempted to criticize. This article aims to focus on Gazerani 's methodology and show how this methodology opens up a possibility in the critique of the positivist reading of the understanding of ancient Iranian history, but ultimately leaves it unfinished.

Keywords

Ancient Iran

History

Methodology

Saghi Gazerani

Positivism

Subjects

History

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