Mehraban Avestan is a typeface designed for the Avestan script used in Zoroastrian works and in historical Middle-Persian texts from the Sassanian period of the 3rd to 7th century CE. It is a companion to Mehraban Book Pahlavi, developed to integrate well in typesetting projects that employ both scripts or to serve on its own.
Avestan and Book Pahlavi share a history, and are frequently found together in manuscripts of the time, but each evolved in its own, distinctive direction. Avestan’s letterforms are unconnected, feature full vowel characters, and do not take on the ligatures common in Book Pahlavi. Although many of the characters in the two scripts share related anatomical constructions, Avestan letters exhibit their own proportions and treatment.
Designer Amir Mahdi Moslehi studied manuscripts that incorporate the two scripts together. He developed Mehraban Avestan to reflect the same calligraphic lineage featured in Mehraban Book Pahlavi, but adapted its forms and dimensions to serve Avestan typesetting’s contemporary needs.
* For more information regarding typing Avestan on your keyboard, see our Help page.
