Mabānī-yi Tārīkh-i Pārtiyān Persiska (Farsi) 1398

Klaus Schippmann initially studied law and economics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the University of Hamburg, passing his first state examination in 1951. His legal apprenticeship continued until 1953, after which he spent time abroad in France and England until 1955. Thanks to a scholarship, he then continued his studies in the United States. In 1956, he completed his qualification examination in Hamburg and, in 1957, earned his doctoral degree with a dissertation titled Legal Protection in Institutional Relations. Following this, he worked for two years as a human resources manager in the paper industry.

In 1959–1960, Schippmann traveled for nine months through Turkey and Iran to document Armenian rock-cut churches and shrines. The following year, he began a second degree in Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Hamburg. In 1969, he joined the University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität), where his work Iranian Fire Temples earned him academic recognition; by 1972, he had delivered his Habilitation lecture and was appointed the first professor of the newly established Chair of Near Eastern Archaeology, with a particular focus on Iran. He retired in 1990.

Klaus Schippmann became internationally recognized as a distinguished expert in the archaeology and history of ancient Iran and South Arabia. His book The Foundations of the Parthians—the work under discussion—represents a concise synthesis of extensive research on Parthian (Arsacid) history, especially its political development, up to the time of its publication in 1980, presented with scholarly precision and documentation.