Publication Date: 2025
Persica Antiqua (27832732)5(8)pp. 19-33
The Territorial conquests of the Medes, as Far East as Hyrcania, could be traced from the first half of the seventh century BC onwards. The first Median kings undertook far-flung campaigns to take control of the region and extend their territory. The existence of the fortified settlement in the Gorgān plain could prove the expansion of centralized Median kingdom as far as Hyrcania. The Assyrian sources of the 9th to 7th century BC are also in overall agreement with the results of the archeological studies in the western steppe of Gorgān plain (Hyrcania). As a result, the Median’s dominance over Hyrcania determined the strategies and political guide-lines of the Median kingdom and set the foundations for its transformation from a confed-eration of tribes to a powerful trans-regional state. Accordingly, in the present paper, beside historical and literary sources, archaeological evidences have also been studied in order to determine the Median’s range of territory in the east of their homeland. © 2025 The Author(s).
Publication Date: 2025
Iran and the Caucasus (16098498)29(4-5)pp. 411-434
So far, more than forty Sasanian bas-reliefs have been discovered in Iran and neighboring countries, in which the horse is the most frequently depicted animal motif. A mysterious decorative object often appears in Sasanian equestrian reliefs, usually positioned between the horse's hind legs. In the pre-Sasanian period, this object is rarely encountered, with no trace of it except for a wall painting at Dura-Europos and a piece of graffiti at Persepolis. By examining the typology and iconography of these tassels, the present study argues that they were used as whips to stimulate the horse to run faster. © ESMAEIL SANGARI ET AL., 2025.
Publication Date: 2024
Journal of Archaeological Studies (22519297)16(1)pp. 253-275
The bear hunting silver plate housed in the Abkhazia Museum stands out as a distinctive example of artwork from the Sasanian period. Its portrayal of bears being hunted, alongside the utilization of a lasso as the primary hunting instrument, renders it a unique specimen among Sasanian hunting vessels. This study employs an iconographic analysis approach to investigate the scene depicted on the plate, which has been previously attributed by Lukunin to Bahram I, the fourth ruler of the Sasanian dynasty, prior to his ascension to the throne. The objective of this research is to offer a comprehensive analysis of the entire scene depicted on the plate, followed by a detailed examination of each motif in isolation. Finally, an evaluation is provided regarding the realism or symbolism inherent within the scene, drawing upon available information. This study constitutes a descriptive-analytical inquiry into ancient Iranian art, drawing upon data collected from both library sources and online visual repositories. © 2024 University of Tehran. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2024
Iran (05786967)62(2)pp. 236-245
Made in the midst of the Sasanid period, Sasanid silver vessels are one of the most important relics of the period that along with abundant archaeological data, convey valuable insights into the cultural past of Sasanid society, the people and their beliefs. The artworks carved on these vessels, besides their aesthetic features, cover a wide range of subjects in the political, social, religious, and cultural spheres. Although the Sasanid silver vessels have been the subject of many pieces of research, what is less noticed, is the iconographical analysis of dancers and their garments. The present study, which is based on the theory of Erwin Panofsky, examine the attires of dancers carved on four Sasanid silver vessels from the perspective of religious tendencies of Sasanid society. The results show that due to the religious nature of the Sasanid rituals, the dancers and the costumes they wore were closely connected to the religious beliefs of the Zoroastrians. © 2022 British Institute of Persian Studies.
Askarpour, V.,
Khalili, M.,
Mottaghi, N.,
Sangari, E.,
Moghaddas, A. Publication Date: 2021
Iranica Antiqua (00210870)56pp. 261-275
Annual sacrifice of bull is a local ritual performed in one of the villages near Tabriz, known as Esfanjān. The ritual contains some features in terms of its date of exercise, its eminent emphasis on the bull, and the narrative which surrounds it, that absolutely take it apart from the current religious context of the village's inhabitants, Islam. The present paper concerns with resolving this dilemma by looking for its possible pre-Islamic roots, through an in-depth examination of sacrifice within Avestan traditions. Through a consideration of sacrifice and its status within pre-Islamic religious traditions of Iran, and comparing their basic features with findings of ethnographical observations, it is shown that there is a tight match between the observed cult and pre-Islamic doctrines on animal sacrifice. As a relevant theoretical framework, syncretism is adapted here to discuss the hybrid nature of the Esfanjān event, which is composed of both Islamic and non-Islamic features. Although the exact origin of the Esfanjān bull sacrifice remains unknown, something is clear: it is not a passive remnant of something lost forever, but an active product of a creative process, through which some new and hybrid creature comes out of a successful interbreeding of two different belief systems. © 2021 Peeters Publishers. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2020
Iran and the Caucasus (16098498)24(2)pp. 139-166
So far, more than forty Sasanian bas-reliefs have been discovered in numerous archaeological sites. Among them, eleven bas-reliefs in seven archaeological sites represent women on them. In this article, the eleven bas-reliefs and the women's images and their characteristics in different scenes have been analyzed and studied. It can be concluded that women on these bas-reliefs have been represented in the social-cultural fields, such as in the royal family or as goddesses, musicians, etc. Most of the female characters on the bas-reliefs belong to the upper classes of the Iranian society. © 2020 Copyright 2020 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Publication Date: 2019
Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine (27834840)12pp. 110-126
Ancient civilizations, proportionately to the extent and impact of their culture, used some methods in the field of personal sanitation to prevent infections and general diseases. Studying the indictors of personal sanitation, methods and the aims, in broad lands of Sasanians, would lead us to sanitary treatments of people in this empire. Considering the issue that personal sanitation in Sasanian period (651-224 A.D) was more influenced by the teachings of Zoroastrianism, the study of the Zoroastrian perspective is of the greatest importance in this regard. Personal sanitation in that period included washing with water, soil and gomiz, using special places for washing called Pādyāw, using napkins, using perfume and combing hair. There were also strict, detailed rules that made personal sanitation difficult and intolerable. Thus, some meges made efforts to change these rules. This paper aims to study indicators of personal sanitation and their applications for more than 400 years during Sasanian period with descriptive analytical method, on the base of literary evidence. © 2019, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2018
Iranian Studies (00210862)51(4)pp. 499-515
Qianling Mausoleum (乾陵) which is located in the northwest of Xi'an, is the tomb of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (唐高宗, r. 649–83 AD) and his Empress Wu Zetian (武則天, r. 690–705 AD). In this mausoleum, there are two statues of Pērōz, son of Yazdegird III (632–51 AD), and another Persian nobleman who have been recognized by western scholars. However, scholars’ attention has been limited to a general and mistaken description of the statues. This paper reassesses both statues in order to give some new insight into the head of one of the statues found at the Qianling Mausoleum. © 2018, © 2018 Association For Iranian Studies, Inc.
