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While Lendering’s knowledge
of cuneiform script is adequate, the statements examined in items 1-15
raise serious questions with respect to his scholarship and especially
his claim of being an “expert” in Persian sources. The case with the
egregious error with respect to the site of Gotarzes II is a case in
point. In fact this analysis has only focused on a
few examples of Lendering’s misconceptions; there are many others not
yet included in this analysis (i.e. Lendering’s views with respect to
the Seleucids in Iran, etc.). The examples discussed in our analysis
involved domains such as: Archaeological sites: As evident by his incorrect
observation of the Bisoton sites and Gotarzes II (Item
1), Lendering is not knowledgeable of Iranian archaeological
sites. He also believes that dangers to these sites are simply “hoaxes” and “innuendo”.
Lendering’s statements regarding Median architecture and Persepolis
are strongly indicative that he has never thoroughly visited these sites
and has not accessed the vast research in these domains. Iranic terminology:
Lendering confuses the transcription of Iranic phonology unto (Latin-based)
orthography (or script) as “errors”. This is indicative that Lendering
is not aware of Old Iranian or Middle Iranian languages. Ancient Iranian militaria:
the statements regarding Achaemenid archery and the Seleucids reveal profound misconceptions with not only
Iranian militaria but military history in general. Another major concern
is the lack of appreciation of the impact of Iranian military history
on the non-military domains (Item 10). Ancient Iranian mythology:
the statements with respect to AhuraMazda (Item 4)
and Mithraism (Item 12) are indicative
that Lendering is not aware of the multitude of sources on the subject.
He is also unaware of the existence of ancient Mithraic rites in Iranian
Kurdistan. Unfortunately, Lendering’s misconceptions
are not confined to Iranica. His expertise regarding ancient Greece
has also been called into question. Here is a recent posting regarding
Jona Lendering on a Greek website:
“…the scholarship is appalling, false and completely misleading…he
says he has degrees and that he is a teacher, yet his text on the
Greeks and Macedonian Greeks is literally garbage. Because of that
you should check every item he posts on his site for correctness…ignores
the facts and continues with his misstatements and misleading ignorant
comments…” Link: http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Soc/soc.history.ancient/2006-09/msg00022.html |
