Ancient Persia

Gold Warrior Coin

Gold coin. Achaemenid daric showing a warrior, perhaps based on Elam model....

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Passargad

Passargad (Passargadae): The first capital of the Persian Empire. The construction of the capital city by Cyrus the Great, begun around 546 BCE. Passargad remained the Persian capital until Darius began assembling another in Persepolis. The most important monument in Passargad is undoubtedly the tomb of Cyrus the Great. It has six broad steps leadi...

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Stone relief from the Apadana

Stone relief from the Apadana (audience hall) at Persepolis Achaemenid Persian, 6th-5th century BC. From Persepolis, south-west Iran. This broken relief from the Persian royal capital Persepolis depicts a row of so-called Susian guards. They are very similar to figures formed from moulded glazed bricks from the city of Susa. They may represent the...

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Silver bowl with applied gold figures

Achaemenid Persian, about 5th-4th century BC. This silver bowl is decorated with applied gold sheet cutouts. It dates to a period when vessels of precious metal became widespread. While a variety of styles and forms are found throughout the Achaemenid empire, because of its great size, there is also a recognizably Achaemenid style, perhaps promoted...

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Cast silver statuette of a bearded man

From the Oxus treasure Achaemenid Persian, 5th-4th century BC. From the region of Takht-i Kuwad, Tadjikistan. This statuette is part of the Oxus treasure, the most important collection of gold and silver to have survived from the Achaemenid period. The treasure, probably from a temple on the banks of the river Oxus, dates mainly from the fifth and...

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Achaemenid gold plaque from the Oxus Treasure

A Persian magus carries the barsom - the sacred twigs associated with priesthood....

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Shushtar - Ancient Hydro Engineering Exhibition

Shushtar: the old name of Shushtar, Achaemenian times. The name itself, Shushtar, is connected with the name of another ancient city, Susa, and means "greater (or better) than Shush". During the Sassanian era, it was an island city on the Karun river and selected to become the winter capital. The river was channelled to form a moat around the city....

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Choqa Zanbil

The well-preserved ziggurat, or pyramid, at Choqa Zanbil, is by far the best preserved and most dramatic example of Elamite architecture extant... It was built at Dur Untashi, a city near Susa, by Untash-gal, King of Elam, circa 1250 BC....

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