Frantz Grenet

Frantz Grenet is a Professor at the Collège de France, where he holds the History and Cultures of Pre-Islamic Central Asia chair since 2013. Previously, he was a CNRS researcher (1981-2013) and Director of Studies at the École pratique des hautes études (Religious Sciences section, 1999-2014).

His research focuses on pre-Islamic Central Asia, spanning from the Achaemenid period (6th century BC) to early Islamization. Key areas include archaeology, cultural interactions between Iran and Central Asia, funerary practices, and urban development. He leads the Franco-Uzbek Archaeological Mission of Sogdiana since 1989.

Honors include membership in the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, foreign correspondent status at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and honorary citizenship of Samarkand. His upcoming lecture series in 2026 explores Sassanid-Iran and Central Asian interactions during the 3rd-7th centuries AD.