Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin (né Jacques Duchesne, born 21 April 1910 in Jupille and died 8 February 2012 in Liège) was a Belgian linguist, philologist, and orientalist who was professor at the University of Liège and specialized in ancient Iran. Duchesne-Guillemin began his teaching career with the untimely death of his collaborator and mentor at the University of Liège, Auguste Bricteux, in 1937, becoming a professor in 1943 and a full professor in 1964.^[1]

With the publication of his Zoroaster (a translation of the Gāthās of the Avesta, consisting of seventeen hymns attributed to Zoroaster) in 1948, Duchesne-Guillemin became one of the major figures in the study of the Avestan language of ancient Iran.^[1] At different times in his career, he lectured at Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and the University of California at Los Angeles.^[2] His 1962 La Religion de l’Iran Ancien is still considered a masterpiece and the best scholarly introduction to Zoroastrianism despite the decades of subsequent developments in the scholarship of the religion.^[2] His international reputation culminated in his appointment, in 1973, as editor of the series Acta Iranica.^[1]

In 1974, Duchesne-Guillemin was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Tehran.^[1]

Publications

• Ormazd et Ahriman, l'aventure dualiste dans l'antiquité, PUF, 1953, 156 pp.
• La Religion de l'Iran ancien, Paris, PUF, 1962, 411 pp.
• Le Croissant fertile : la découverte de l'Asie antérieure, Paris, 1963.
• "Islam et mazdéisme", in Mélanges Mass, 1963, pp. 105-109.
• Zoroastre : étude critique, avec une traduction commentée des Gâthâ, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1976, 265 pp.
• "Pour l'étude de Hafiz", in Acta Iranica, vol. XXI (1981), pp. 141-163.
• Dictionnaire des religions, Paris, PUF (1984).
• Les Instruments de Musique dans L'Art Sassanide. Leuven: Imprimerie Orientaliste, 1993, 130 pp.