On May 27, 2012, Dr Anait G. Perikhanyan, a well-known scholar who worked at the St Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies (now the IOM RAS) for many years, died. She was born on April 24, 1928, in Moscow. In 1951, she graduated from Leningrad State University, the Faculty of History, Classical Studies Major. In 1956, she defended her PhD dissertation, Social-Economic Meaning of Temple Unions of Minor Asia and Armenia during the 4th Century BCE [Социально-экономическое значение храмовых объединений Малой Азии и Армении в IV в. до н.э. — III в. н.э.], supervised by corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Dr K.V. Trever, at the State Hermitage. In October 1956, she was admitted to the Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow, and in February 1959, moved to its Leningrad/St Petersburg Branch where she worked up to 1998, at the Department of Ancient Eastern Studies. Dr A. Perikhanyan is the author of five monographs and about 50 papers published in leadings magazines such as The Bulletin of Ancient History, Moscow, Historical-Philological Journal, Yerevan, Revue des études arméniennes, Paris, Orientalia Suecana, Uppsala, Acta Orientalia, Copenhagen. In 1973, she edited the Sasanian Law-Book in Yerevan for which, a year later, she was given the Habilitation degree. This work was also published in English - Farraxvmart ī Vahrāmān. The Book of a Thousand Judgements: a Sasanian Law-Book. Costa-Mesa, 1997 / Bibliotheca persica. Persian Heritage Series, 39. Columbia lectures on Iranian Studies, 9. In early 1990s, she gave lectures on Iranian Law at the Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University, New York. During 2001 to 2002, she taught Ancient Armenian, or Grabar, at St Petersburg State University, the Faculty of Oriental Studies. Dr A. Perikhanyan was elected a member of the international association Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum, London. For the publication of the materials for the Armenian etymological dictionary, she was elected a foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences. Dr A. Perikhanyan had wide academic interests such as history, social-economic relations, law systems of Ancient and Mediaeval Iran and Armenia, epigraphics Minor Asia and Middle East, the Armenian language, Middle Iranian languages, issues of comparative Indo-European linguistics. During the last years of her life, she had severe health problems but tried to carry on her studies. Her last paper, On the Origin of the Pavlikianian Sect [К вопросу о происхождении павликианства] was published in the IOM's journal Written Monuments of the Orient, in 2011, No. 2/15. All those who knew her, were influenced by her, who respected and appreciated her, will never forget Dr Anait Perikhanyan. Prof Dr Olga M. Chunakova for the full text check the Russian version of the web page |