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Ancient Persia

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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Stone relief showing a charioteer

Achaemenid Persian, 5th century BC. From Persepolis, south-west Iran. This relief of a charioteer driving his horse comes from the great Achaemenid Persian centre of Persepolis. It was excavated in July 1811 by Robert Gordon who was part of a diplomatic mission to Iran led by Sir Gore Ouseley, British Ambassador to Persia from 1811 to 1814. It orig...

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Painted vessel with bridge-spout

Early Iron Age, about 1000-800 BC. Probably from Tepe Sialk, central Iran. This type of painted pottery is a local central Iranian variation of the Grey Ware typical of sites of this period in northern Iran. In the early centuries of the first millennium BC new forms of a type of pottery called Late Western Grey Ware emerged. This bridge-spouted ve...

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Chalcedony pendant

Elamite, 12th century BC. From south-west Iran. A gift from the Elamite king to his daughter. This is a pendant of pale blue chalcedony, pierced for suspension. It is carved with an inscription in Elamite which reads: 'I, Shilhak-Inshushinak, enlarger of the kingdom, this jasper from [the land of] Puralish I took. What I painstakingly made I placed...

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A torque pair with lion-head terminals

Some of the cloisonne inlays survive. Achaemenid grave at Susa, 4th c. B.C. (Paris: Louvre). 20 cm....

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Dezful

Dezful: Dezful (Dezh-pol, Persian: Fortress Bridge) a city in the Khuzestan province. Dezful is 6000 years old, but the most famous ancient structure of the city is a bridge that dates back to 300 BCE.The bridge was built during shapur I and it is the oldest full functioning bridge in the world. When the Roman Empire Valerian was defeated in Battle...

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The Guardian Angel

A famous statue from the palace of Cyrus in Pasargadae. (ca. 530 BCE)...

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Cast silver statuette 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 fourth centuries BC....

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Part of a hoard of silver currency

Median, buried in the 6th century BC. From Tepe Nush-i Jan, western Iran. This group of silver objects is probably the most important find at the Median site of Tepe Nush-i Jan. They were packed inside a bronze bowl and buried in the floor. Although the hoard was probably buried in the late seventh century BC, some of the items are very much older....

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