An early history of Persian religion relied on anachronistic Islamic-era sources

Evidence

Hyde regarded the Historia religionis veterum Persarum (1700) as his major work, but his account of the pre-Islamic religions of Persia, especially Zoroastrianism, relied so heavily on much later Persian sources from the Islamic era that this study was of limited value. Certainly it brought him little reward and John Cleland (who did achieve success with his pornographic novel, Fanny Hill) remembers Hyde using unsold copies of his study of the religions of Persia to boil his kettle. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 174

Categorization

• CANDY: The unsold scholarly book boiled a kettle — a memorably absurd end for a magnum opus.