Richard N. Frye

Frye was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He first attended the University of Illinois, where he received a BA in history and philosophy in 1939. He received his MA from Harvard University in 1940 and his PhD from Harvard in 1946, in Asiatic history.

Frye served with the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. He was stationed in Afghanistan and traveled extensively in the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia. In 1948, he visited Sar Masshad, and was the first European to find and report the existence of the Gur-e Dokhtar tomb (meaning "Tomb of the Maiden" in Persian).

He returned to Harvard to teach. He was a member of the Harvard faculty from 1948 to 1990. He then became a professor emeritus at Harvard. He also served as faculty, guest lecturer, or visiting scholar at the following:

• Habibiya College in Kabul (1942–1944)
• Frankfurt University (1959–1960)
• Hamburg University (1968–1969)
• Pahlavi University of Shiraz (1970–1976)
• University of Tajikistan (1990–1992).

Professor Frye helped found the Center for Middle Eastern Studies[5] at Harvard, the first Iranian studies program in America. He also served as Director of the Asia Institute in Shiraz (1970–1975), was on the Board of Trustees of the Pahlavi University at Shiraz (1974–1978), and Chairman, Committee on Inner Asian Studies, at Harvard (1983–1989), and as Editor of the Bulletin of the Asia Institute (1970–1975 and 1987–1999).

Among Frye's students were Annemarie Schimmel,[6] Oleg Grabar,[7] Frank Huddle (former US Ambassador to Tajikistan), John Limbert, and Michael Crichton, whose Hollywood film The 13th Warrior is loosely based on Frye's translation of Ibn Fadlan's account of his travels up the Volga River.[8]

Frye was also directly responsible for inviting Iranian scholars as distinguished visiting fellows to Harvard University, under a fellowship program initiated by Henry Kissinger. Examples of such guests include Mehdi Haeri Yazdi (1923–1999), Sadegh Choubak, Jalal al Ahmad, and others.[9]

The Qavam House, where the famous Shiraz University Asia Institute was founded. Frye headed the institute from 1969 to 1974.

Frye felt that Persian civilization was under-appreciated by other Muslims, particularly Arabs. Frye wrote:

Arabs no longer understand the role of Iran and the Persian language in the formation of Islamic culture. Perhaps they wish to forget the past, but in so doing they remove the bases of their own spiritual, moral and cultural being... without the heritage of the past and a healthy respect for it... there is little chance for stability and proper growth.

— R. N. Frye, The Golden Age of Persia, London: Butler & Tanner Ltd., 1989, page 236

In August 1953, shortly before the fall of Mosaddegh, the prominent Iranian linguist Ali Akbar Dehkhoda gave Frye the title "Irandoost" (meaning "a friend of Iran").[10]

In addition, Frye was a long-standing supporter of Assyrian continuity, and valued the historical and ancestral connection between modern Assyrians and the Ancient Mesopotamians.[11]

A ceremony was held in Iran on June 27, 2004 to pay tribute to the six-decade endeavors of Frye on his lifetime contribution to Iranian Studies, research work on the Persian language, and the history and culture of Iran.

In his will, Frye expressed his wish to be buried next to the Zayandeh River in Isfahan. The request was approved by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September 2007.[12] Two other American scholars of Iranian Studies, Arthur Pope and Phyllis Ackerman, are already buried there. In 2010 the Iranian government gave a house in Isfahan to Professor Frye in recognition of his services to Iranian studies.[13]

On June 8, 2014, the family of Frye decided to cremate his remains after waiting more than two months for official Iranian permission to bury him in Isfahan. His death coincided with growing resentment by Iranian hardliners over signs of reconciliation with the United States after decades of estrangement. It is not clear what the family intended to do with his ashes.[14]

Richard Foltz dedicated his book A History of the Tajiks: Iranians of the East to Frye's memory.[15]

Frye was a popular public speaker at numerous Iran-related gatherings. In 2005, he spoke at UCLA and encouraged the Iranians present to cherish their culture and identity.[16][17] In 2004, he spoke at an architectural conference in Tehran and expressed his dismay at hasty modernization that ignores the beauties of traditional Iranian architectural styles (see Architecture of Tehran).

• Notes on the Early Coinage of Transoxania; Numismatic Notes, 113, American Numismatic Association, New York 1949
• The Near East and the Great Powers, Harvard University Press, 1951
• Iran, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1960
• The Heritage of Persia: The pre-Islamic History of One of the World's Great Civilizations, World Publishing Company, New York, 1963. Reprinted by Mazda Publishers, 2004. www.mazdapublishers.com
• Bukhara: The Medieval Achievement, University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. Reprinted by Mazda Publishers, 1997. www.mazdapublishers.com
• The Histories of Nishapur, Harvard University Press, (Harvard Oriental Series, 45) 1965
• Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum, vol. III, Dura-Europos, London, 1968
• Persia (3rd edition) Allen and Unwin, London, 1969
• The United States and Turkey and Iran, Archon Books, 1971
• Sasanian Remains from Qasr-i Abu Nasr. Seals, Sealings, and Coins, Harvard University Press, 1973
• Neue Methodologie in der Iranistik, Wiesbaden, 1974
• The Golden Age Of Persia: The Arabs in the East, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1988
• Frye, Richard N. (1992). "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 51 (4): 281–285. doi:10.1086/373570. JSTOR 545826. S2CID 161323237.
• The heritage of Central Asia from antiquity to the Turkish expansion Markus Wiener, Princeton, 1996
• Frye, Richard N. (1997). "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms" (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. 11 (2): 30–36. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-07-13.
• Frye, Richard N. (1999). "Reply to John Joseph" (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. 13 (1): 69–70. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-07-11.
• Greater Iran, Mazda Publishers, 2005, ISBN 1-56859-177-2
• Ibn Fadlan's Journey To Russia, 2005, Markus Wiener Publisher, ISBN 1-55876-366-X

• Famous Americans in Iran
• Iranistics

Other notable scholars of Iranian studies

Mehrdad Bahar

Mary Boyce

Roman Ghirshman

Michael Roaf

James R. Russell

Erich Schmidt

Alireza Shapour Shahbazi

David Stronach

Ahmad Tafazzoli

Ehsan Yarshater

Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub

• Iranians pay tribute to Richard Nelson Frye, Mehr News Agency, July 5, 2004.
• Waghmar, Burzine. Obituary: Richard Nelson Frye (1920–2014). Societas Iranologica Europaea .
• Professor Frye, a great American Iranologist wills to be buried in Iran another
• Dr. Frye's statements at UCLA in March 2005
• Photos of Dr. Frye's lecture at UCLA, March 13, 2005
• Dr. Frye criticized the architectural development of modern Tehran.
• Excerpts from The Greater Iran: A 20th-Century Odyssey, the memoirs of R. N. Frye
• Dr. Frye's page at the Iran Heritage website
• Dr. Frye's page at the Vohuman.org
• Former President of Iran Mr. Khatami praised Dr. Frye
• Frye, R. N. Reforms of Khosrow Anoushirvan, the Sasanian Shahanshah of Iran, The History of Ancient Iran, 1983.
• Video on YouTube Syria and Assyria
• Cover story on Dr. Frye in OCPC magazine
• Frye, R. N. "Ethnic Identity in Iran." 2002.
• Prof. Richard Frye’s Memoirs in Persian