The Achaemenids Ground floor Office Bronzes, that occupy a prominent place in this period, but the ethnic identity of their (559 to 330 BCE) The Seleucids The Parthians The Sasanids Conference Hall Iran Bastan Museum theremakers are still assemblages remains an from enigma. regions such as Jiroft and Shahdād, as well as Lurestan (313 to 146 BCE) (250 BCE to 224 CE) (224 to 651 CE) Sasanids Parthians Seleucids Of the Iranian-speaking peoples who migrated into Iran, one in particular — Iron Age Iron The Sasanids were from Persia - the homeland - (ICHTO) Ticket desk Achaemenids urbanism.During Urban the Middle centers Bronze on the Age, plateau, the Iranian including Bronze Age / Bronze Entrance The Seleucids him, Seleucus Nicator, chose Iran as his do- The Parthians The Elamite The Achaemenids The Sasanids Yard thea polity Persians—chose comprising Persianto head andsouth, Elamite where elements they apparently that eventually settled in led Fārs to Yard Main Elamite Plateau experienced a short fluorescence of (ancientthe rise of Anshān), the largest mingled empire with the the world native had Elamite seen up population, to that point. and formed Onemain of and Alexander’s established generals the Seleucid who succeeded Empire. Justwere as the the ruling Achaemenids—named clan of the Parthians, after Achaemenes—were another Iranian tribe the inhabiting ruling clan theof the north Per- of the Achaemenids - and therefore had claim were linked through an exchange network that - Seleucus had married a Persian princess sians, the Arsacids—named after Arsaces, the legend- ary founder of the dynasty— thedue toto Achaemenidmultiple defeats Persian at the legacy. hands Once of the Shahr-i Sokhteh, Hissār, Yahyā, Shahdād, and Jiroft, and therefore attained his legitimacy before theRomans, Arsacids the hadSasanids, lost their under divine the ambitionsmandate Followingon consolidating the wars and of conqueststructuring by Cyrusthe Em the- Great and his son and succes Iranians through his wife, but the discov- easterntheir independence. parts of Iran. The As theParthians Seleucid were grip master on this riders distant and part marksmen of their empire who are began still connected the plateau with Central Asia the southern sorpire. Cambyses, It was he Darius who introducedthe Great embarkedstandard- toremembered loosen, the today Arsacids in expressions and Parthians such sought as “the to Parthian grasp the Shot.” opportunity They were to divided, pursue Istakhr, not far from Persepolis, rose in Proto Elamite Elamite this network included copper from central and coast of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, Elam, ized coinage, called darics, that along with an however, into several clans that made their empire far less homogenous and central- Ardashir I, a local dynast from the city of Proto Literature / Bronze Age / Iron Age andsoutheastern Mesopotamia. Iran andHighly Oman, desirable lapis commoditieslazuli from in Library extensive network of roads facilitated con- eryand ofstatuettes a few sanctuaries in Iran (some for Greek of which gods andare tact and interaction between people from and stone from southwestern Iran and Oman. These goddesses and the many Greek inscriptions system made the Parthians vulnerable to their new western neighbor, the mighty rebellionnew dynasty, and defeatedcalled the Artabanus Sasanids, V,named the last after The earliest and more extensively studied (albeit still little-known) civilization that distant corners of the Empire, both cultur- ized than those of their predecessors (Achaemenids) or successors (Sasanids). This Arsacid king-of-kings. They established a emerged in Iran was Elam. Elam—perhaps the longest-lasting civilization in the Badakhshān in Afghanistan and Quetta in Pakistan, Bronze head of seleucid ruler ally and commercially. Egyptian objects on display in the Museum) is a testimony Shami, Izeh, Khuzestan considered to be an Iranian territory. Despite several advances into the Parthian Em- the chief priest of the temple of the goddess Near East (from 3300 to 550 BCE)—encompassed a fairly sizable area from the Su- Sasanian Seleucid pire and the capture and looting of Ctesiphon—the Parthian capital, not far from Gilded silver plate to the spread of Greek culture in Iran. This Roman Empire, which was gradually encroaching upon Western Asia, traditionally Sasan, the grandfather of Ardeshir I, evidently siana Plain in the west to Fars in the east, in which the Elamites established Iran’s materialslazuli workshops reached have their been final discovered destinations at Shahr-i either in examples of this large-scale cultural con- Sari, Mazandaran the form of raw material or as finished goods. Lapis phenomenon influenced both the Seleucids discoveredtact and interaction at Susā and among Persepolis the subjects are fine of and their eventual successors, the Arsacids,- juggernaut and even defeat and repulse them on a number of occasions. The dam- homogenousĀnāhitā in Istakhr. empire that allowed them to embark on a far more history into eight periods: Proto-Elamite period (ca.3300 to 2700 BCE), First Inter- to have been centers for carving various objects - first cities (i.e., Susa and Anshan). Elamitologists1 divide the long span of Elamite Sokhteh and Hissār, while Yahyā and Jiroft seem whoing drove rose themup in fromdefiance Iranian of the soil. Seleucids in modern Baghdad—three times, Parthians managed to stand firm before the Roman aggressiveUnlike approachthe Arsacids, towards the the Sasanids Romans, strived pushing to them create back a acrosscentralized the Euphra and- northeast Iran, and after a century of fight due to their successive defeats and they were soon overthrown and replaced by the tes, sometimes even farther west. The new Sasanid approach also translated into theworking, Achaemenid stone-masonry, Empire. Arts stone- also carving, flour mediate Period (ca. 2700 to 2500 BCE), Old Elamite period (ca. 2500 to 1700 BCE), Golden beakerst mill. BCE age,Sasanids. however, was done and the Arsacids lost their divine mandate before Iranians major construction works within Iran, including several cities that have been from steatite and chlorite. A number of these ishedand glazed in the brick-working Achaemenid period:reached metal- new Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1700 to 1500 BCE), Middle Elamite Period (ca. carved products are on display in the ground floor of Marlik, Gilan The Parthian period lacks a coherent corpus of arts and its art seems rather provin- - Iron Age, 1 1500 to 1000 BCE), Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1000 to 850 BCE), Neo- Elamite thecopper Museum. and tin. A majorThis provided technological asuitable breakthrough medium in for the a whole new range of arti- - - Periodlar importance (ca. 850 tois the646 late BCE), and Terminal Elamite Period (646 to 550 BCE). All of Bronzefacts, especially Age was the arms introduction of different of bronzekind (for alloy clubbing by mixing and stabbing and types of excavatedarts the Sasanian (i.e., Veh period Ardešir witnessed and Bišāpur) a major and manyrenaissance, others from(e.g., Jundišapur,many rock-reliefs Ivan-e theseOld Elamite periods period are represented and, in the Museum with splendid artifacts, but of particu heights, as shown by several fine examples and deco- rative stuccoes to personal ornaments, silver or gilded vessels, textiles, projectiles), harnesses for beasts of burden, vessels of various types, and a whole several stone inscriptions is the Old Persian cial compared to that of the Achaemenids or the Sasanids. Yet a number of splen Karkheh, Dārābgerd, etc.) that await the archaeologist’s trowel. Similarly, in the Blue glazed terracotta bull on display in the Museum hall. Another in th stamp seals with exquisite designs, and last but not least, beautifully execut- ed with Elamite inscription novationscript introduced that can beduring seen thein the time Museum of Darius on did,of a presumablybut isolated findsParthian underline nobleman the aestheticdiscovered and in technological the early 20 accomplishmentscentury in Shami inof period, when Elamite Chogha Zanbil, Khuzestan high level of craftsmanship. Parthian art. Perhaps first and foremost among these is the life-size bronze statue and realistic images on coins. Several examples of different categories if Sasanian civilization reached especially, the Middle Elamite array of personal ornaments. Examples on display in the Museum hall speak of a The Parthians were also master glass-makers, and exam- remarkable heights in Middle Elamite Period second millennium BCE, waves of newly arrived Iranian-speaking peoples migrat- The Sasanids succeeded in creating another golden age in Iran but, towards the ca. 1250 BCE thefailed Great. to withstandDespite its thepower better-equipped, and glory and southwesternples of this art Irancan beand found now inon the display museum in the hall. Museum hall. political power and cultural As the indigenous cultures of Iran experienced a period of decline in the mid- artifactsend of the are dynasty, on display incessant in the Museumwar with hall. the Romans, as well as internal feuds over glory, perhaps best demonstrated policybattle-hardened, of tolerance, and the tactically Achaemenid more Empire com- the imperial throne, and economic problems due to salinization of agricultural Salt man ingthe intocentral Iran plateau from Central and from Asia there began to tothe inject south a (tonew later spirit become into Iranian the Persians), life. The Natural mummy of a man including head, and parts of trunk, a lower