Thomas Benfey

Dr. Thomas Benfey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, at the University of Tübingen. He previously held a Postdoctoral Researcher position at the University of Oxford, working on the ERC project 'Going Local in the Perso-Islamic Lands' within the 'Invisible East' Research Program at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.

He earned his PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University in 2020. His earlier education includes an MA in Religion (with distinction) from SOAS, University of London, a BA in Classics (Greek & Latin) from Yale University, and exchange studies at Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Chicago.

His primary research interests focus on the intellectual, social, and administrative history of late antique and early medieval Iran, particularly the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE). He investigates the Sasanian engagement with Greco-Roman and Indian scholarly traditions, the Islamic reception of Sasanian science and philosophy, and the use of Middle Persian documents for understanding pre-Islamic and early Islamic economic and religious history. He also has strong interests in Iranian philology, Zoroastrianism, and the historiographic traditions of the period.

His recent publications and talks reveal a consistent trend in the study of knowledge transmission, fiscal systems, and religious thought in the late antique East. His work heavily utilizes primary sources in Syriac, Middle Persian, Arabic, and Greek, often focusing on newly discovered or under-studied documents. The sub-fields of his research include Sasanian science, astral and medical traditions, land and tax administration, philology, and the intellectual history of Zoroastrian priests.

• Nominated for Award for Excellence, Oxford University Reward and Recognition Scheme (2022)
• Near Eastern Studies Department Prize for an Outstanding PhD Dissertation, Princeton University (2021)
• Honorable Mention, Award for Best Dissertation on a Topic of Iranian Studies, Foundation for Iranian Studies (2021)
• Shortlisted, Martin Buber Society of Fellows, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2020)
• DAAD Research Fellowship, German Academic Exchange Service (2017–2018)
• Johnson Garrett ’35 Memorial Merit Fellowship, Princeton University (2017)

Dr. Benfey has been actively involved in advising and academic service, serving as a tutor and instructor at both Princeton and Oxford. He has organized significant international conferences, such as 'A Hard Row to Hoe: Landowning and Land Management in the Medieval Islamic World' at Oxford in 2022. His research is supported by grants from DAAD and internal university awards. He is a member of the American Oriental Society, Middle East Studies Association, and Association for Iranian Studies. His current major projects include a book on 'The Scholars of Sasanian Iran and Their Islamic Heirs' and an edited volume on 'Land Management and Landownership in the Medieval Islamic World.'