What's On
What's On at the AIIT
We hold regular public lectures at 5:30pm on Friday evenings during University term in addition to special events, conferences, workshops and occasional exhibitions. We also have an active Friends group. As part of the 'family', Friends are invited to special events, our traditional Summer Garden Party and other social functions, and are always welcome to visit the Trust.
To be informed of future events, please sign up to our mailing list via our Contact page.
You can also watch some of our past talks on our YouTube Channel
Easter Term 2025
All welcome. Talks begin at 5:30pm. Refreshments are served from 5pm.
For further information about this term's lectures and speakers, click here.
Friday 2 May
Pavel Lurje, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Revisiting the Ex-'Unknown Script' of Hellenistic Bactria
Inscription at Almosi gorge, Tajikistan. © Muhsin Bobomulloev
Friday 9 May
Daniel J. Sheffield, Princeton University
The Students of the School of Doctrines: The Many Lives of a 17th-Century Encyclopedia of Religions
An encounter between Sarmad Kashani (d. 1661 CE), a Sufi of Iranian Jewish origin, with the Mughal Prince Dara Shukoh (d. 1659). The accompanying Persian quatrain reads, 'Sarmad, who attained union with the Eternal, / reached the station of Muhammad himself. Even the executioner's sword could not sober him, / since he was drunk with the wine of divine union.' From the Tajalli ʿAli Album, Princeton University Library MS 102G, f. 3v.
Friday 23 May
M.B. Rajani, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru; University of Cambridge
Reimagining Mahābodhi: Tracing the Sacred Landscape Beyond the Temple
The Bodhi tree at the Mahābodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, Bihar, India.
Friday 13 June
Yousef Moradi, SOAS University of London
The Sasanian Royal Garden at Qasr-e Shirin: An Expression of Political Authority and Imperial Ideology
The Royal Garden and the Palace of Emarat-e Khosrow at Qasr-e Shirin. © Yousef Moradi
Available to watch on our YouTube channel
Cameron Petrie, University of Cambridge; Ancient India & Iran Trust
How Do You Map the Archaeological Heritage of South Asia? The Whys and Wherefores of Large-Scale Mapping and Surveying of Archaeological Sites in the Indus River Basin
Past Events
- 21.3.25: New epigraphic discoveries from ancient Bactria |More
- 7.3.25: The commemorative vase designed for Sir M.M. Bhonagree |More
- 21.2.25: The Romantic appropriation of India |More
- 24.1.25: Barrington's Afghan octet |More
- 6.12.24: Curating A Silk Road Oasis at the British Library: Bringing Ancient Dunhuang to life |More
- 29.11.24: 1970s Afghanistan – an archaeological travelogue |More
- 8.11.24:
- 18.10.24: The Vanishing Zoroastrian Presence in Ahvaz: historical evolution, migration and the threat to cultural heritage |More
- 7.6.24: Editing early modern Persian poetry from Iran and India: global perspectives and local identities |More
- 3.5.24: A scene of fire worship from the late Umayyad palace at Sanjar-Shah and the Sogdian cult in the 8th century |More
- 26.4.24: Of worldly deeds and sacred souls: the trust and Parsi muktad ceremonies |More
- 21.3.24: How do you map the archaeological heritage of South Asia? The whys and wherefores of large-scale mapping and surveying of archaeological sites in the Indus River Basin |Watch
- 15.3.24: New observations on the Achaemenid presence in the Persian Gulf |More
- 1.3.24: Music for a Royal Ceremony, Kathmandu 1664 CE |More
- 9.2.24: East of the wardrobe: Islam and Iran in C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia |More
- 26.1.24: Music and musicians in late Mughal India: histories of the ephemeral, 1748–1858 |More
- 15.12.23: The Oxus Treasure: fact or fiction? |More
- 01.12.23: The Mongol conquest and urban abandonments at the city of Otrar, Kazakhstan |More
- 10.11.23: Tarikh-i Alfi: The Mughals’ world history |More
- 20.10.23: Extraordinary Endeavours: The Royal Asiatic Society, 1823–2023 |More
- 9.6.23: Snake men: Azhdahа̄ in the Persian epic tradition |More
- 26.5.23: Intermedial effects around 1400: scribal knowledge and ornament between the Deccan and the Indian Ocean world |More
- 5.5.23: The Pahlavi inscription on the ‘Persian Cross’ of Mylapore in South India, and its implications for the religious identity of the Syrian Christians of Kerala |More
- 28.4.23: Lived Zoroastrianism: women's religious practices in the American diaspora |More
- 17.3.23: Money is power: a metaphorical and numismatic approach |More
- 24.2.23: The Protestant Mission to the Buryats, 1818-1840 |More
- 17.2.23: Mapping Archaeological Heritage in the Cholistan Desert, Pakistan: from screen to field and back again |More
- 27.1.23: Magnifying the monumental value of South Punjab, Pakistan: a case study of Bahawalpur state |Watch
Allchin Symposium on South Asian Archaeology
Recent Posts
Sir Harold Bailey on film at the Trust
28 March, 2025Simon Pulleyn, a longstanding Friend of the Trust, recently drew our attention to a 1985 documentary, Queens’: A Cambridge College, in which the Trust and its first Chair, Sir.
Duplicate Books for Sale – March 2025
1 October, 2024From time to time the Ancient India & Iran Trust advertises duplicate books and periodicals for sale. Many of these are rare and out of print. We view this.
Recent additions to the Library
11 June, 2024Several of our most recent additions to the AIIT Library were generously donated. All of these books are now catalogued and available to view in the Library: The founder.
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