Biography
Dr. Viola Allegranzi holds a BA and a MA in Islamic and Iranian studies from the University of Naples “L’Orientale”. In 2017, she received a joint Ph.D. from the Universities Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 and “L’Orientale”, with a dissertation focusing on the Persian inscriptions from Ghazni (Afghanistan) and the cultural history of the Ghaznavid period (11th-12th c.). From 2017 to 2019, she was a teaching and research fellow at the University Sorbonne Nouvelle and at the research unit Mondes iranien et indien (CNRS, Paris). She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Iranian Studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and a member of the Islamic Ghazni archaeological project (“L’Orientale”, Gerda Henkel Stiftung).
Main Areas of Research
Main Areas of Research
- Cultural and social history of premodern Iran
- Material culture of Iran and Central Asia (architectural decoration, epigraphy)
- Arabic and Persian inscriptions on monuments and objects
Current Projects
Current Projects
- A carved history. Reappraising material culture from early Islamic Iran
- Islamic Ghazni: https://ghazni.bradypus.net/
- CallFront - Research on Calligraphic Scripts from the Frontier Regions of the Islamic World https://callfront.hypotheses.org/
Selected Publications
Selected Publications
- [with A. Fusaro] “A Treasure of Lustrewares from Ghazni (Afghanistan, mid-12th – early 13th century)”, Annali dell’Università degli Studi di Napoli "L’Orientale". Sezione orientale 80, 2014, p. 61-98.
- “New Epigraphic Data from a Ghurid Monument in Chisht-i Sharif: Expressing Power and Piety in 12th century Afghanistan”. In: B. O’Kane A. C. S. Peacock and M. Muehlhaeusler (eds.), Inscriptions of the Medieval Islamic World. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2023, p. 81-111.
- “The Medieval Urbanism of Ghazni (Afghanistan, 10th-12th Centuries). A Cross-reading of Textual and Material Evidence”, Afghanistan 4/1, 2021, p. 1-18. https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/afg.2021.0061
- V. Allegranzi, V. Laviola (eds.), Texts and contexts. Ongoing Researches on the Eastern Iranian World (Tenth-Fifteen C.). Roma: Istituto per l’Oriente C.A. Nallino (Pubblicazioni dell’IPOCAN, Nr. 120), 2020.
- [with R. Giunta] "Ghaznavid, Qarakhanid and Seljuq Monumental Inscriptions and the Development of Royal Propaganda". In: S. Canby, D. Beyazit, M. Rugiadi (eds.), The Seljuqs and Their Successors: Art, Culture and History. Edinburgh, New York: Edinburgh University Press, 2020, 113-128.
- Aux sources de la poésie ghaznavide. Les inscriptions persanes de Ghazni (Afghanistan, XIe‑XIIe s.). Paris: Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2019.
- "Les inscriptions persanes du tombeau dʼAbū Jaʿfar Moḥammad, Ghazni (Afghanistan), début du VIe/XIIe siècle. La poésie comme lieu de mémoire et d’histoire". Studia Iranica 47, 2018, p. 89‑118.
- "The Use of Persian in Monumental Epigraphy from Ghazni (Eleventh-Twelfth Centuries)". Eurasian Studies 13, 2015, p. 23-41.
- "Royal Architecture Portrayed in Bayhaqī’s Tārīḫ-i Masʻūdī and Archaeological Evidence from Ghazni (Afghanistan, 10th-12th c.)". Annali dell’Università degli Studi di Napoli "L’Orientale". Sezione orientale 74, 2014, p. 95-120.