Mary Boyce was a diligent scholar in understanding the traditions and history of the Zoroastrian religion. She who had great talent for learning the old and ancient languages of Iran, traveled to Iran (in addition to her valuable library research) research to closely understand the life of Zoroastrian Iranians, their customs, and traditions and increase her scientific knowledge. Besides her fruitful scientific life, Boyce also trained expert scientists. Mehrdad Bahar was one of her students.
Mary Boyce was born in Darjeeling, India. She was born there on August 2, 1920. Her parents were British and lived in India (a British colony). Her father was a judge, and her mother was a descendant of an English historian named Samuel Gardner. Thus, she was born and raised in a well-educated family.
However, Boyce completed her high school education in England and studied at Cambridge College. Her brilliant talent was such that she simultaneously completed the two academic fields of English and archeology and anthropology with excellent grades. She also learned the Persian language while she was a student. After meeting the famous Russian orientalist, Vladimir Minorsky (who died in 1966) she studied hard until she could speak Persian fluently.
Boyce’s extensive research (until the end of her life) in Iranian studies began when she was engaged in research and investigation in this field with Professor Walter Bruno Henning (deceased in 1967) and studied the ancient Persian language and other ancient and middle Iranian languages, and in 1945 obtained her master’s degree. She also received her doctorate by studying with Professor Walter Bailey and became assistant professor in Iranian studies at the University of London.
From 1952 to 1963, when Boyce succeeded Henning, after his death, she focused on her studies and research and was able to publish several important Manichaean texts. In those years Mary Boyce was a well-known professor among the world’s orientalists and was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, the American Orientalist Association, and the Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.
Mary Boyce’s continued devotion to Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrian traditions began in 1963 when she was awarded a chair in Zoroastrian studies at the University of London. She traveled to Yazd and Kerman and became closely acquainted with Iranian Zoroastrians, their way of life, and customs, and concluded that the beliefs of Iranian Zoroastrians are more original and rooted than the customs of Persians in India. She suffered from physical illness during her trip to Iran, but despite all this, she did not stop studying the Zoroastrians’ lives.
After returning to England, Mary Boyce published the results of her research in several precious books and gave numerous lectures on Zoroastrian religion and customs. In 1977, she completed the first volume of her precious book “The history of Zoroastrianism” (translated by Hossein Ebrahimian), “The Zoroastrian religion; ancient times and its lasting power”. In the following years, she published two more volumes of the continuation of this book. In addition to this vital research, she conducted follow-up studies on other parts of Zoroastrian life. Some of her works about Zoroastrian religion that have been translated into Persian are: “Zoroastrians, their religious beliefs and customs” (translated by Askar Bahrami), “Zoroastrian religion center” (translated by Hossein Ebrahimian), “Zoroastrian rite, ancient times and its lasting power” (translated by Abolhasan Tahami); “Chronicle of Zoroastrian Celebrations” (translated by Mohsen Mirzaei); “History of Zoroastrianism” (translated by Homayoun Sanatizadeh) and several other collections of articles.
Mary Boyce passed away in the early hours of April 4, 2006, in the general ward of a London hospital after a life full of research.
