Afshar’s Grand Award Goes to Belgian Professor Lecoq

Date: 24 September 2021 - 21:51

News ID: ۹۴۷۴۷

TEHRAN (IBNA) -- The 28th Mahmoud Afshar’s Historical and Literary Award was granted to ‎Belgian professor Pierre Lecoq for his contribution to study and research on Persian ‎lexicology and ancient Iran’s culture and religions. ‎
The award is presented by the non-governmental Mahmoud Afshar Endowment Foundation to those who play a key role in promoting Persian language and culture. It includes a silk carpet woven by Iranian craftsmen in the city of Naein bearing the name of Pierre Lecoq as well as a plaque of honor and a badge.
The 28th Mahmoud Afshar’s Historical and Literary Award was to be presented to him at Iran’s Cultural Center in Paris, however, due to the physical condition of professor Lecoq was presented to him in his home by Iranian scholars Jaleh Amouzgar, Rahim Shayegan and Ahmad Pakatchi.
Born in 1939 in Belgium, Pierre Lecoq is one of the prolific and renowned scholars of Ancient Iranian and Oriental Studies. He received his doctorate in Oriental history and literature from the University of Liège and in 1983 from Sorbonne University.
He was the Director of Studies of the Chair of Iranian Linguistics and philology from 1989 to 2007 and also a Lecturer of oriental languages at the University of New Sorbonne and at the Ecole de Louvre, where he taught Old Persian, Middle Persian, and Parthian epigraphs.
Studying under the renowned Belgian Iranologist Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin at the University of Liège, Lecoq first devoted his work to ancient Iranian languages, mainly to Avestan philology and to Old Persian epigraphy.
His diachronic approach to Iranian-enriched by his in-depth knowledge of Indo-Iranian and Middle Iranian languages- as well as his advances on the phonetics and paleography of Old-Persian cuneiform have resulted in the presentation of a full translation of Achaemenid inscriptions, strictly taking into account the parallel versions in Elamite and Babylonian.
Filling one of the gaps in Iranian studies regarding access to primary sources, his translation of the ‘Avesta’ (Paris, 2016) has established itself as a unique and essential tool.
Convinced that the study of the languages, religions, and cultures of ancient Iran could not be dissociated from that of the first works of Persian literature, Pierre Lecoq has never ceased to draw attention to the central role of the ‘Shahnameh’ and published a full translation of it in French, based on Jules Mohl version.