Jackson has been considered the first American Iranologist and Ostapologist. He was a professor at Columbia University and is known as a prominent scientist in advancing Avesta studies.
Abraham Williams Jackson was born in New York, USA, on February 9, 1862. After completing high school, he joined Columbia College, where he began his research in the literature of ancient Greece and Rome, and then ended his university studies in this same field. Later, for four decades, he held a professorship at Columbia University and taught the Indo-European languages to the orientalist students, which he later on became interesting in studying more extensively. In that period of his career, his major tendency was towards ancient Iranian literature and religion.
To learn more about the Indo-European languages, Jackson felt the need to travel to Germany and learn from German orientalist professors, who had a long history of the knowledge of ancient Iranian languages. Though he had received his Ph.D in USA, his endless desire to learn and know more took him to Germany.
For more than a year, Jackson studied with Friedrich Goldner, a famous German Avesta scholar (died 1929 AD), and studied Avesta language and literature, while also studying Sanskrit. Those continuous efforts finally let to the publication of his book named “A Hymn by Zarathushtra, Yasna 31”. This book was published in Europe.
Jackson then returned to his homeland, in 1889, and began teaching at Columbia University. His scientific efforts continued in the field of Avesta studies, and he was able to show his scientific competence by publishing two more books; first, the book “Avesta Alphabet and its Transliteration” which was published in 1890, and another book called “Avesta Grammar” which is considered Jackson’s masterpiece. This valuable book was published in 1892, which made him more famous in the scientific research of Avestan language. In this book Jackson has compared Avestan with Sanskrit.
Jackson, who was interested in Avesta scientific research, published an excerpt from Avesta in 1893, and two years later, he founded the chair of Indo-European languages at Columbia University.
Many researchers consider Jackson’s book “Zoroaster, the Prophet of Ancient Iran” as essential research in understanding the life and teachings of Zoroaster. He, who published this book in 1899, was able to create a real work in knowing the life and teachings of Zarathushtra. By publishing this book, in 1899, he was able to create a fundamental work in the knowledge of zoroastrian religion and a scientific guide for researchers.
Jackson was not content with library research. He traveled to India in the beginning of the 20th century, to get familiar with the life of the Parsee Zoroastrians. In 1903, he traveled to Iran and Central Asia, and upon returning to USA, he wrote an important travelogue. This book was published in Iran many years later, after being translated into Farsi by Manuchehr Amiri, and was reprinted several times.
Examining the petroglyphs of ancient Iran was another part of Jackson’s work. The basis of this scientific effort was obtained with his double trip (in 1907 and 1910 AD) to Iran. During these trips, he became fond of the Persian language and published a book called “Old Persian Poetry” in 1910. Research in the religion of Mani was another of Jackson’s scientific works. He engaged in Manichean research for several consecutive years.
After a 4-years-long illness William Jackson died in 1935. Before that, Tehran University had given him an honorary doctorate.
