The Achaemenid Ruins at Persepolis (518 BCE- )

Iranian Culture Course Slides Shows

• Iranian Culture: Introduction • Kings from Cyrus the Great (r. 559-529 BCE) to Mohammad Rezā Pahlavi (r. 1941-1979) • The Achaemenid Ruins at Persepolis • Horses in Iranian History from Luristan Bronzes (7th c. BCE) to Paintings by Nassir Ovissi (b. 1934) • Ferdowsi’s Story of Siyāvash as Told by Hamid Hamanian and Ahmad Sadri • Official Iranian Holidays and Holydays • Islam in Iran, 630s-2018 • The Safavids (1501-1722) and Their Heritage • Culture-specific Images on Iranian Postage Stamps • Symbols and Flags of Iran from Antiquity to the 21st Century

Iranian Cultural Orientations/Characteristics

American Culture

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change, progress democracy frankness, candor frontier spirit future orientation 200+ years of history immigration value of the individual informality materialism optimism political nationalism patriotism realism summer youth culture

Iranian Culture

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conservatism monarchy, theocracy circumspectness, ta’āróf travelling in imagination past orientation 2,500+ years of history 900 years without immigrants value of family/community formality, ceremonialness spirituality pessimism cultural nationalism loyalty to Persian Iranianess idealism spring male elders

First Achaemenid Emperor [shāhanshāh] Cyrus (r. 559-530) whose crown evokes an impression of mountains as does his tomb at Pāsārgād

The Achaemenid Ruins at Persepolis begun by Darius (r. 522-486) in 518 BCE

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God (Āhurāmazdā, Zoroastrianism) Kings Shāhanshāhi [imperial organization] Irānshahr/Irānzamin, Iran Persianness Spring and Gardens Ceremonialness

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• Educated Iranians also see their country as home to scores of historical monuments and ruins from the 5 Achaemenid empire (559-330 BCE), e.g., Persepolis (underscored) to the Safavid monarchy (1501-1722).

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Achaemenid Empire, 559-330 BCE Persepolis is underscored above and marked with a dot on the map on the next slide.

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Persepolis from the Air Construction of Persepolis began in 518 BCE.

Persepolis

Imagined reconstruction of Persepolis, which Alexander the Great destroyed in 330 BCE

• The Persian term for “Persepolis” is Takht-e Jamshid [throne of Jamshid].

Jamshid was a pre-historical mythological king who was capable of preternatural acts and great achievements.

King Jamshid teaching trades, a medieval miniature painting from a manuscript of Ferdowsi’s 11th-century CE epic called Shahnameh [Book of Kings].

Persepolis Entryway and Apadana Platform

Entrance Faรงade to Apadana, Persepolis lion-and-bull bas relief and guards

A Mede in a Persepolis bas relief

Pazyryk Carpet Mt. Altai, Siberia, Achaemenid Era, c. 500 BCE • Perhaps woven as a tribute to the Achaemenid king for presentation at Persepolis. • Evidence that garden designs figured prominently in Iranian art from the beginning, with garden compartment carpet designs still woven today.

Pazyryk Carpet Borders and Floral Motif

Stone-tree columns on the Apadana platform at Persepolis.

Persepolis relief depicting respect paid to the king

• Persepolis was a stone-garden shrine dedicated to spring, God, and Achaemenid kingship and kings, communicating grandeur,Achaemenid and divine power, culture-specific ceremonialness, formality, and idealization of the everyday world.

Persepolis Column Protoma and Base

• Iconography on the columns intimate that they were stone trees in an idealized stone garden.

Persepolis Column Parts

Persepolis Horse

Imaginary reconstruction of part of the audience hall on the platform at Persepolis

Faravahar, Persepolis

• The faravahar [Zoroastrian guardian angel] image that appears in upper registers of Persepolis bas reliefs intimates the primacy of divinity and religion over monarchy, just as other images intimate the primacy of monarchy over the world.

Achaemenid Emperor Darius on the Throne Persepolis Bas Relief

Persepolis images in 20thand 21stcentury art and architecture

• Iranian postage stamp presenting a Persepolis image of faravahar [Zoroastrian guardian angel] above the king and the king above the people

Foreign Ministry Building, Tehrân

Persepolis guards, column protoma, ‌

Tehran Police Department

National Bank Tehran

Tehran Post Office

Firouz Bahram High School, Tehran

Cyrus Tomb Pasargad Postage Stamp Commemorating the Millennium of Avicenna

boteh shape

Persepolis column

protoma (top of column)

• Qashqā’i boteh medallion and Persepolis columns design carpet (1970s). The Qashqā’i tribe has lived and migrated near Persepolis.

22. Persepolis Columns

Persepolis columns (with leafy/floral motif bases = stone trees)

21. Persepolis Column Base

Persepolis column base

Late 20th-century QashqÄ â€™i garden carpet with Persepolis columns and protoma

• The people support the throne and the monarch.

• A 1971 Iranian postage stamp commemorating the 2,500th anniversary of the establishment of Iranian monarchy, celebrated with lavish ceremonies at Persepolis.

• A postage stamp suggesting a connection between Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi (r. 1941-1979) and Persepolis [= takht-e jamshid (throne of Jamshid)]

Oh Persepolis by Parviz Tanavoli (b. 1937)

detail of Oh Persepolis by Parviz Tanavoli (b. 1937)

Persepolis horse protoma

Where Have the Riders Gone? (2007) by Nasser Ovissi (b. 1934)