Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1941, Page 146

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recent theories, he upholds the view that Zarathustra was a
native of Eastern Iran, and must have flourished before the time
of the Achaemenian Kings. Of the much-debated problem whether
Darius and others of that dynasty were adherents of Zarathustra
he has given a convincing solution, and he has shown that there
must have existed several non-Zarathustran religious communities
in Western Iran at that time.
Christensen has especially devoted himself to the work of
interpreting and combining the remnants of old tribal and other
legends found in the Avesta, and to trace the connection between
these and later Iranian epic poetry, the finest flower of which
is Firdausi’s Shahnama, a study to which be brings unusual acumen
and a great knowledge of folklore. He has also produced studies
of the anecdotal motifs found in various Persian authors, and
has himself taken down modern popular stories.
One of Christensen’s most important works is his “L’Iran
sous les Sassanides,” a revision of a book written 30 years ago.
It gives a very full picture of the political development and of
the clashes of religions and civilizations in this era. This is the
standard work on a central epoch in the history of Iran which
is of special importance in that so many elements of its civilization
have passed over into Islamic political and judicial organization.
Modern Persian poetry and thought have also interested
Christensen. Mention may be made of his critical studies on the
Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, in which an ingenious method
enables him, with greater accuracy than earlier investigators, to
separate later additions from the original body of the work, and
thus to give a more integral and psychologically credible picture
of the great sceptical poet, whose influence also extends to Europe.
For the reading public of his own country, Christensen has
written popular accounts of Persia and her people and of Persian
literature and thought. He has also written analyses of the recent
revolutionary developments in Persian politics and culture, ana-
lyses in which his intimate knowledge of the historical origins of
the processes in question stand him in good stead. He has in-
troduced the principal work of Persian poetry, the Shahnama,
and Persian comedies of recent times to his countrymen in fine
translations.
Christensen has also done excellent work in the field of
Modern Iranian dialectology with his recording of Western
Iranian dialects and his study of Ossetic, an Iranian language