BOYCE, Nora Elizabeth Mary. Darjeeling, India 2.8.1920 — London 4.4.2006. British (with Irish background) Iranian Scholar. Professor in London. Daughter of William H. Boyce, judge at Calcutta High Court, and Nora Gardiner. Family returned soon to the U.K. Educated at Wimbledon High School and Cheltenham Ladies College, then studies from 1940 at Newnham College in Cambridge, where she concentrated on English, soon also on archaeology and anthropology. B.A. 1943. Chadwick prompted her to take also Iranian studies. War work in villages near Cambridge, now also studied Persian under Minorsky at S.O.A.S. (then evacuated in Cambridge). From 1944 Assistant Lecturer in Anglo-Saxon at Royal Holloway College in London, now also studied Old and Middle Persian under Henning. In 1946 returned to Cambridge and studied further under Bailey. Ph.D. 1952 S.O.A.S. (Henning). From 1947 Lecturer in Iranian studies at S.O.A.S., from 1958 Reader of the same. From 1963 Professor of Iranian Studies, University of London (S.O.A.S.), until retirement in 1982, but continued teaching. In 1966 one year fieldwork among Zoroastrians in a remote villages around Kerman and Yazd (publ. 1978). Unmarried.
Boyce began her career with Manichaean texts, but after 1966 she mainly concentrated on Zoroastrianism. She did important pioneer work with the until then almost unknown Iranian Zoroastrians and their religious traditions, emphasizing how well it was preserved in Iran (unlike in India). For Zoroaster he suggested early date, perhaps c. 1500–1200, but still helding him as a historical person. She was a conscientious and popular teacher and highly appreciated as a scholar. Honotaty Fellow of Ancient India and Iran Trust 2004.
Publications: Diss. publ. as The Manichaean hymn-cycles in Parthian. 8+199 p. London Or. S. 3. L. 1954.
– A Catalogue of the Iranian Manuscripts in Manichaean script in the German Turfan collection. 151 p. D.A.W., Veröff. des Inst. für Orientforschung 45. B. 1960.
– “The Manichaean Literature in Middle Iranian“, B. Spuler (ed.), HdO 1:4:2. Leiden & Köln 1968, 67-76.
– The Letter of Tansar. Introduction and translation. 10+79 p. S.O.R. 38. R. 1968.
– A Reader in Manichaean Middle-Persian and Parthian. 196 p. Acta Iran. 9. Téhéran & Liège 1975; A word-list of Manichaean Middle-Persian and Parthian. 172 p. Acta Iran. 9a. Téhéran & Louvain & Liège 1977.
– A Persian Stronghold of Zoroastrianism. 284 p. Oxford 1977.
– A History of Zoroastrianism. 1. The Early Period. 347 p. 2. Under the Achaemenians. 322 p. 3. Under Macedonian & Roman Rule. 616 p. HdOr I:8:1:2, Heft 2A. Leiden & Köln 1975-82-91.
– Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. 252 p. L. 1979.
– Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism. 6+166 p. Textual Sources for the Study of Religion. L. 1984.
– Zoroastrianism: A Shadowy but Powerful Presence in the Judaeo-Christian World. 20 p. L. 1987.
– Zoroastrianism: Its Antiquity and Constant Vigour. 204 p. Columbia Lectures on Iranian Studies 7. Costa Mesa, Calif. 1992.
– A number of articles on Zoroastrianism and Mithraism in Acta Ir., BSOAS, etc.
Sources: M. Boyce Volume, Acta Iranica 2:24. Leiden 1985 (life, bibliography, photo); *D. Bivar, Iran 44, 2006, viiif.; *F. de Blois, Bull. Asia Inst. 22, 2008, 9-16; *Fr. Grenet, St. Ir. 35, 2006, 279-284; J. R. Hinnels, The Guardian 11.4.2006 & Encyclop. Iranica 2010 (online 2012) & *Oxford D.N.B. 2010; A. Hintze, BSOAS 70, 2006, 443-449; Wikipedia; two photos in TITUS-galeria.