The Sacred Books of the East: Pahlavi texts, pt. I

The Sacred Books of the East series, edited by the renowned scholar Friedrich Max Müller and published by Oxford University Press between 1879 and 1910, was a monumental undertaking designed to translate the foundational religious texts of Asia into English. This specific volume, Pahlavi Texts, Part I, published in 1880, was translated by E.W. West. It was conceived during the height of Victorian-era Orientalism, a period when European academic institutions were striving to systematize and preserve Eastern philosophy and theology through rigorous, critical philological analysis.

The design of the volume reflects the scholarly gravity of the Clarendon Press at Oxford, emphasizing accessibility for a Western academic audience while maintaining the high typographic standards of late nineteenth-century British book production. West’s work was highly regarded upon its release for its meticulous transliterations and exhaustive introductions, which provided scholars of the time with unprecedented access to Zoroastrian liturgical texts. It remains a cornerstone of comparative religious studies and has served as a primary reference for generations of researchers interested in the historical development of the Pahlavi language.