Since long times ago, the artists of Lorestan, have been earning their livelihood through making various types of handicraft a valuable art piece deeply rooted in the province’s history called nickel silver crafts. In Farsi, varsho is actually the word ‘War-saw’. What is the reason for such labeling of these works of art in the Qajar and Pahlavi periods in Iran? Lorestan artists in Borujerd town created such magnificent art at that time. We still don’t know the reason for this naming, but one thing is clear, such metalwork is part of the history of art in both Poland and Iran.
Author(s): Antonio Panaino / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 10/2021
Keywords: Iranian mythology; Tištar Yašt; Avestan cycle; Ǝrəxša; Āraš; the archer; the self-sacrifice
The reconstruction the heroic cycle of Ǝrəxša is one of the main targets of our investigations. The present cycle cannot be studied just as an isolated fragment of an archaic epos, but that it must be framed into a larger theme, that of the bow and the arrow, which among the Indo-European tribes of the East, mostly Indo-Iranians and Hittites, assumed a remarkable importance.
This article investigates the relationship between historical/religious memory and the perception of power in the early Sasanian period, and analyses how dynastic reflexes are formulated by religion/tradition in the new system within the context of Ardashir, Kerdir and Mani. It asserts that we can discover the relationship between the Sasanian elites and religion if we understand the factors that mobilised and remodelled their historical memories. Based on these factors, it proposes that the natural relationship established by the Sasanian dynasty during the state-building phase was fuelled by historical/traditional factors rather than by conscious political factors. Thus, the inherent links between the representatives of power and the religious tradition in the reign of Ardashir, founder of the Sasanian state, have been consciously politicised since the reign of Shapur I.
In Procopius’s account of the Hephthalite-Sasanian War of 484, the Sasanian defeat is attributed to an overextended and camouflaged ditch. Over the time, some other ancient historians have retold these events with alternative and occasionally controversial details. The authors have found these narratives problematic, and based on ancient military and historical facts have questioned the historicity of the ditch story. The authors propose that the Sasanian army was either ambushed or was soundly defeated in a pitched battle. As a result, the battle survivors and the Sasanian state may have spread disinformation about the deadly ditch for lifting the lost prestige of their military machine and to keep the empire intact as its very foundation was already shaken.
Author(s): Ilkka Syvänne / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 10/2021
Keywords: Sasanian Warfare; Military History; Sasanian Army; Late Antiquity; Archery; Iran; Peroz; Hephthalites
The first aim of this study is to reconstruct the main features of Peroz’s Hephthalite wars and their military significance for Persia. Secondly, it seeks to analyze the combat doctrine and tactics used by Peroz. Thirdly, the study aims to show what lessons the Persians drew from his defeat and how this affected the Persian combat doctrine. This article demonstrates how the reckless behaviour of Peroz resulted in military, political and economic disasters which undid the achievements of the previous generations. This analysis shows how his disastrous policies led to the abandonment of the reforms of the Bahram V Gur and caused the adoption of one-sided combat doctrine.
Keywords: Iran; Sasanian Empire; army; system for defense; military architecture; Spāhbed
This article examines Sasanian military architecture with respect to its integration with the four-region Spāhbed system (Ādurbādagān-Spāhbed, Xwarāsān-Spāhbed, Xwarbārān-Spāhbed and Nēmrōz-Spāhbed) for defending the empire. Following an overview of Sasanian military architecture within Iran, the article examines the Darband wall of the Caucasus in the context of the office of the Ādurbādagān-Spāhbed facing the empire’s north and northwest (Ādurbādagān, Media Atropatene corresponding with the historical Azerbaijan in Iran’s northwest), the Tammisha and Gorgan wall systems of the Xwarāsān-Spāhbed facing the nomadic warrior peoples of the Central Asia, the military architecture of the Xwarbārān-Spāhbed facing the western (Romano-Byzantine) frontiers, and the Khandaq-e Shapur of the Nēmrōz-Spāhbed facing the southwest, notably raiders from the Arabian Peninsula threatening the empire’s southwest marches.
The bow as an insignia of power in the art of ancient Iran
Author(s): Patryk SKUPNIEWICZ / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 10/2021
Keywords: Ancient Iranian art; Iranian royal insignia; Bows; Mesopotamian iconography; Iranian kingship
This article presents the iconographic concept of the bow as an insignia in ancient Iran of the imperial era. The primary source of the bow’s association with the depiction of royal power is Mesopotamian iconography, where the bow is shown in the hands of kings without any connection to the act of shooting itself. The model of depicting a ruler with a bow resting on his foot, developed in the Neo-Assyrian period, was entirely adopted by imperial Achaemenid iconography. Another aspect expressing the association of the bow with royal power is the habit of depicting, in the Mesopotamian tradition, shooting kings without quivers. Iranian art of the Parthian and Sasanid periods, on the other hand, adopted the quiver as a sign of status from the nomadic steppe tradition, but one can nevertheless see in Sasanid iconography relics of the functioning of the bow as an insignia in the Mesopotamian sense.
Many large and small museums in the provinces of Iran exhibit objects, containers, and display items that are not well known and are often on loan from other museums. These objects of cultural value have been introduced to these collections at different times and no serious, even elementary research and study has been carried out on them. By introducing this type of objects some of the ideas presented so far may be reviewed and corrected. In this article I have tried to point out how to obtain this design and to describe it accurately and to describe the carved inscriptions on it, then how to make it and its motifs and how these decorations relate to its possible function as well as their possible origin. The author also draws attention to the catastrophic lack of evidence and events that have taken place in recent years in the Middle East and Iran's western neighbors. In the end, I have briefly summarized various points mentioned above.
Importance of Diakonoff’s Research in Recognition of the Median Period in Iran
Author(s): Maryam MORADI,Sara ALILOO / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 10/2021
Keywords: historical studies; Iranology; Ancient period; Igor Diakonoff; Median
The history of the Median period written by Igor Mikhailovich Diakonoff (published in 1956) was translated to Persian by Karim Keshavarz in 1345 Solar year. This book was the product of profound and insightful research of this author that had been done by the request of Azerbaijan Science Academy in that time and its importance at the time of its publication and translation was immense as there had been no single book or other research publication directly covering this period in the Persian literature before. The available historical or archeological information on this period was only limited to the notes of Greek historians and some new western resources. Although those sources were valuable, they could not fill the vacant place of rigidly and accurately written resources for other researchers of this period because they were not based on direct data i.e. scripts, tablets and other archaeological data found during relevant excavations. The difference between Diakonoff’s research and other resources is that he first gives comprehensive information concerning resources from this period, then fully assesses them, and additionally describes the geographical and historical aspects. This makes Diakonoff’s Median book an exceptionally accurate resource in this regard and therefore even after several decades it still remains so important in Iranology and cognition of Iranians. In fact, one can see the immense impact of Diakonoff’s research on the field of the Median history since the translation time until the present time. It has always been one of the main sources cited in historical, linguistic, ethnological, archaeological and interdisciplinary studies by Iranian researchers.
Collaborators with the NKVD in the Prisoner-of-War Camp at Kozelsk
Author(s): Stanisław JACZYŃSKI / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 10/2021
Keywords: sources; Second World War; interned in camps in Lithuania; Kozelsk prisoner-of-war camp; Bolshevik authorities; Gryazovets camp
The document refers to Polish officers seized by the NKVD authorities in the summer of 1940 from internment camps in Lithuania and Latvia and imprisoned in the Kozelsk camp. The prisoners were subjected to massive indoctrination aimed at changing their ideological and political attitudes and recruiting from amongst them secret collaborators (confidants). Several dozens of Polish officers of lower ranks with leftist views started to cooperate, to varying degrees, with the Soviet authorities. They advocated close military and political cooperation with the USSR. They were ostracised by a vast majority of prisoners of war who remained faithful to their military oath.
Economic espionage especially with regard to luxury goods has been known since Antiquity. A key event in economic history of late Antiquity is smuggling of the silk worms, described by the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea in his eighth book of the Wars.
Archives at the Time of Lockdown. Activity in Social Media Based on the Example of the State Archives in Siedlce between March 2020 and March 2021 (A Research Report)
Author(s): Dariusz MAGIER / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 10/2021
Keywords: COVID-19; lockdown; archives; social media; Facebook; Siedlce
‘Archives at the Time of Lockdown’ is the text of the inaugural lecture delivered during the 22nd National Congress of Students of Archival Science in Siedlce on 16 April 2021
An Archaeological landscape of Sharif Abad (Solgi) settlement area in the Gamasi-Ab River Basin in Central Zagros
Author(s): Ali NOURALLAHI / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 11/2022
Keywords: Central Zagros; Bronze Age; Iron Age; Nihavand Plain; Solgi (Sharif Abad) tepe
Solgi or Sharif Abad tepe (A&B) is one of the larger settlement sites of the Gamasi-Ab river basin in Nahavand plain. This site lies at the intersection of old ancient roads that go from Sahne, Harsin and Kangavar to Nihavand and the other eastern regions. In the study of this area, pottery from the Early Bronze Age (Godin IV-Yanik, Kura-Araxes), pottery related to Godin III, II and pottery of the historical period were obtained. The examination of these pottery artefacts reveals extensive cultural exchanges of the inhabitants of the region with the northwestern and neighboring areas in the Bronze and Iron Ages. In addition, a closer examination of the lifestyle in this settlement area gives us a complete view of these people’s use of biological resources and their interaction with the environment. Among the reasons for the location and development of this settlement in the Bronze and Iron Age the main one was easy access to water resources and fertile agricultural lands. This article provides a brief overview of the geographical situation of the region and the history of archaeological research conducted in Nihavand and then focuses on the natural landscape of Sharif Abad. The next part of it describes the archaeological data from this location and analyzes its chronology. The article is concluded by a succinct summary.
Keywords: Sasanian; water management; paradise; Iran; Fars; Firuzabad
We present the preliminary results of our recent find, a circular pond, and its surrounding structures, built in stone masonry of Sasanian tradition in the Dehbarm village, west Firuzabad Plain (Fars, Iran). We elaborate on this site and suggest it belongs to the Early Sasanian Ardashir-Xurra (Ardašīr-Xwarrah), the first Sasanian capital and complex urban plan of the Firuzabad plain. Based on comparable finds, we interpret Dehbarm as a garden settlement, a so-called paradise, and consider it a case study for water management and landscape manipulation of the Late Antiquity in the Greater Fars. Additionally, we ponder on the broader aspect of spring-fed ponds in the Sasanian architectural tradition. Further investigation, as well as extensive fieldwork, is planned to address this aspect.
Two Sasanian rock reliefs of the king combatting a lion
Author(s): Parsa GHASEMI / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 11/2022
Keywords: Bas-relief; Sasanian; Lion; King as Hunter; Sar Mašhad; Haft-Tanān
This article analyzes the scene of the Sasanian king combating a lion in two rock reliefs. Most Sasanian Bas-reliefs belong to the first 150 years of the dynasty and most are located in modern Fars province. The reliefs typically depict the king’s investiture by a deity (who is usually Ahurā Mazdā, but, in some reliefs, Mithra or Anāhitā), the king with courtiers, the king with his family, the king at war, the king’s triumph over his enemies, and the king fighting and hunting wild animals. Two of the bas-reliefs of the king killing animals show him killing lions. One is located at Sar Mašhad and the other, less-known, is kept in the Haft-Tanān Museum, Shiraz, and was discovered at the foothills of Pahnu (Pahnā) Mount in Dārāb. In the ancient Near East, the lion symbolized power, courage, and ferociousness: whoever could confront it successfully was regarded as powerful and brave; consequently, many kings have been portrayed fighting lions (and other wild animals) during this period.
The Susa salvage project in 2019, southwestern Iran
Author(s): Siavash SORAGHI,Mohsen ZEYNIVAND / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 11/2022
Keywords: Iran; Susa; Urban Archeology; World Heritage; Artisans’ City
The World Heritage Site of Susa constantly encounters challenges in the development and expansion of Shush city. In 2019, a salvage archaeological project was undertaken to counter the construction of a transportation underpass in the vicinity of world property. The results showed that this section was related to the industrial activities of the Parthian and Sasanid eras and probably a cemetery of the Islamic era.
The Chronology of the Archaeological surface remains of Tepe Pa-Chogha, Central Zagros (Kermanshah, Iran)
Author(s): Mohammad Amin MIRGHADERI,Kamal Aldin Niknami / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 11/2022
Keywords: Iran; Central Zagros; Kermanshah; Tepe Pa-Chogha; Sarfirouzabad plain; Excavations; Archaeological Sequences
The highland plains of western Iran have been investigated with varying intensity. The Sarfirouzabad plain, located in the south of Kermanshah province, although visited perfunctorily, has not previously been studied systematically, despite desirable ecological and environmental conditions. In 2009, a team from the University of Tehran conducted a systematic and intensive field survey in the region to identify archaeological settlements and to assess their location concerning ecological, environmental and cultural factors impacted the distribution of sites on the plain. The surveyed area was walked in transects at 20-metre intervals and resulted in the identification of 332 archaeological sites from different cultural periods, which added much to the limited knowledge about the history of this region. During this survey, Pa-Chogha as the biggest tell site in the area, was identified. Fifty-nine samples of pottery and five stone tools were collected from the surface of Pa-Chogha dated from Late Chalcolithic to Islamic periods. Unfortunately, due to the expansion of Pa-Chogha village, the site is in danger of being destroyed. Our aim to publish this article is to introduce the Pa-Chogha as an important site for the chronology of Central Zagros at first, and preventing the further destruction of this site at the second.
Archers from Rag-i Bibi. Notes on the equipment depicted on Rag-i Bibi relief (Northern Afghanistan)
Author(s): Patryk SKUPNIEWICZ / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 11/2022
Keywords: Sasanian; Kushan; the rock relief; Iran; Rag-i Bibi; Afghanistan; archers
The rock relief discovered in Rag-e Bibi in Northern Afghanistan in 2002 remains an archaeological sensation. The archery equipment depicted there has not yet been studied. The article describes the bow cases combined with quivers and associates them with the same type of kit popular in Eurasia related with spread of the recurved bows with stiff bone or horn extensions of Xiong Nu/Hunnictype. This type of bows replaced shorter 'Scythian' type of bows in 1st-2nd century CE. The integrated bow case and quiver went out of use soon before the rise of the Sasanians therefore Rag-e Bibi cannot be linked with this dynastic art, based also on the depicted elements of material culture, as well as on stylistic grounds.
Keywords: the Assyrian Empire; the Medes; Iran; cavalry; chariot; military system
The article discusses the military confrontation between Neo-Assyrian kingdom and the Median polities in the 7th century BCE. At the beginning the outline of the history of wars between the Medes and Assyria from the 9th century onwards is presented which is followed by the brief description of the Assyrian forces of the era and detailed examination of the events until the fall of the Neo-Assyrian empire. In conclusions an attempt to reconstruct possible principles of the Median warfare was made.
The priority for the Sasanid rulers was to eliminate from the throne of Armenia, the Parthian Arsacid dynasty, linked by blood ties to the formerly abolished Iranian ruling dynasty. In 298, the Battle of Satala took place in Armenia, in which the Roman army commanded by Caesar Galerius won a crushing victory over the Sassanian troops headed by King Narseh. The Romans captured huge amounts of booty and captured the Persian royal family. The campaign ended with a peace treaty very favourable to Rome, in which Narseh renounced Trans-Tigritania, pledged non-intervention in Armenia, and recognised the Roman protectorate in Iberia. The revision of the so-called Treaty of Nisibis was the foundation of the Persian-Roman wars in the 4th century carried out by Shapur II. In this study, it is aimed to give information about the effect of the Battle of Satala on the beginning of the Persian-Roman wars in the 4th century and its results.
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