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 2026
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 8 May
Sunil Sharma, Boston University
The Divan of Makhfi: A Mughal Princess's Book of Poems or a Forgery?Soul
Mughal drawing showing a bearded and turbaned teacher with a class of female students and attendants, Gulistan of Sa‘di, Copied in 990 Hijra (26 January 1582–24 January 1583). Royal Asiatic Society (RAS Persian 258).
Friday 22 May
Sonia Wigh, University of Cambridge
Translating Sex: Creating an Indo-Persian Language of Expressing Desire (1650–1750)
A Gathering', Mughal period, Deccan, India, foreground: about 1625–30, background added later. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Friday 29 May
Sandra Mason, independent researcher
How Eastern Thinking Influenced Western Culture: The Story of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
llustration by Doris M. Palmer (Quatrain 27). The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, London: Leopold B. Hill, 1921 (1st edition).
Friday 19 June
Samuel N.C. Lieu, Robinson College, Cambridge; Ancient India & Iran Trust
Manichaeism in the Roman Near East – a Century of New Discoveries.
Double page from the Greek Cologne Mani Codex
Past Events
- 13.3.26: The Assyrian world and western Iran |More
- 20.2.26: The documentation of Hewramî |More
- 30.1.26: 'In heaven there is only happiness': Zoroastrian priests and prayers for the good of the souls |More
- 12.12.25: The magic of the chariot race: a Zoroastrian metaphor for perfecting the world |More
- 28.11.25: Navigating Zoroastrian communal identity in the early Islamic era |More
- 31.10.25: Changing labels, changing times: the role of social narratives in reshaping the perception of the 'dancing girl' |Watch
- 10.10.25: The love of God and the god of love: the language of longing in Hindu and Indo-Islamic poetry |More
- 13.6.25: The Sasanian Royal Garden at Qasr-e Shirin: an expression of political authority and imperial ideology |More
- 23.5.25: Reimagining Mahābodhi: tracing the sacred landscape beyond the temple |Watch
- 9.5.25: The students of the School of Doctrines: the many lives of a 17th-century encyclopedia of religions |More
- 2.5.25: Revisiting the ex-'Unknown Script' of Hellenistic Bactria |More
- 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
Allchin Symposium on South Asian Archaeology
Recent Posts
Duplicate Books for Sale – February 2026
11 February, 2026From 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.
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.
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