Pahlavi Texts V1: The Sacred Books of the East

Pahlavi Texts, Volume 1, was published in 1880 as part of the monumental 'Sacred Books of the East' series, edited by the renowned philologist F. Max Müller. Commissioned by the Clarendon Press at Oxford, the series aimed to provide English-speaking readers with authoritative translations of essential religious texts from across Asia. This specific volume features the translations of E.W. West, who meticulously rendered Middle Persian Pahlavi scriptures into English, marking a significant advancement in Western scholarship regarding Zoroastrian theology and history.

The design of the series reflected the late Victorian commitment to encyclopedic preservation and academic rigor. Müller oversaw the selection of texts and maintained high standards for the scholarly apparatus, including extensive introductions and notes that contextualized these ancient writings for a nineteenth-century audience. Upon its release, the volume was hailed by the international academic community as an indispensable resource for orientalists and historians, successfully bridging a critical gap in the study of non-Western religious literature.