Prehistoric to Islamic site discovered in western Iran

Layers of the prehistoric period, the Copper and Stone Period, the Old, Middle and New Bronze Age (Yaniq and Godin III Culture), Iron III (Probably the Medes), the Parthian and different Islamic period were discovered in the salvation exploration on the Tappeh Anuj (Anuj Hill) in Malayer, Hamedan Province.

The Public Relations Office of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (RICHT)  of Iran quoted Ismail Hemmati Azandaryani, head of the salvation operations on Tappeh Anuj in Malayer, as saying on Sunday that the ancient Anuj Hill (also known as Qala Bolandeh), with a height of 21 meters from the surface, is located in a village of the same name in the city of Malayer.

He pointed to the leveling and excavation of a significant part of the hill in the course of construction of residential houses and said currently, residential houses have surrounded the hill.

Construction of houses on the southern side has been conducted to the surface of the hill, while the site was registered in the list of National Monuments of Iran in 1353 (1974-1975), he added.

Hemmati went on to sayt that with regard to the fact that on the northern side of the hill some parts which had been separated from the main center of the hill had created dangers for the inhabitants of the Anuj Village, therefore, explorations in that area began with the aim of eliminating the probable danger of the remains.

He noted that in order to gain access to the maximum information in the most dangerous and inconvenient part, in the section for stratigraphy scaffolding was applied and then the field research was launched.

He said in the stratigraphy operations valuable results were achieved such as layers dating back to the prehistoric era, Copper and Stone period, the Old, Middle and the New Bronze Age (Yaniq culture and Godin III), iron III (probably Medes), the Parthian and different Islamic periods.

Hemmati stated that with regard to the location of Anuj area in the southern part of Hamedan Province and in the vicinity of the linking corridor towards Boroujerd and Silakhor plain, as well as the connection with the plain leading to the mountain ranges of Green (Nahavand and Kangavar) in view of the archeological studies the site is regarded as being very important.

Prehistoric to Islamic site discovered in western Iran

A $1.2 Million Ancient Persian Sculpture Seized From TEFAF New York Must Be Returned to Iran, Judge Rules

Investigators showed that the work was looted and smuggled from the country in the 1930s.

A $1.2 million ancient Persian limestone sculpture that was seized from TEFAF New York last October must be returned to Iran, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled on Monday.

Police confiscated the eight-inch bas-relief dating to 500 BC from the booth of London antiquities dealer Rupert Wace during the fair.

Depicting a bearded Persian imperial guard holding a spear, the artifact once adorned a building at the ruins of Persepolis during the Achaemenid dynasty (the First Persian Empire). According to the New York Times, the piece was smuggled out of Iran in 1936 and resurfaced when a Canadian collector donated it to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1950. After it was stolen from the Canadian museum in 2011, Wace and business partner Sam Fogg bought it from the museum’s insurance company. (The institution opted to let the insurer keep the object instead of being reimbursed.)

Wace and Fogg will not face charges for possessing the artifact. Shortly after it was seized from the fair last fall, Wace told artnet News via email that he and Fogg bought the work legally and in good faith. “We are at a loss to comprehend the events which occurred. This work of art has been well known to scholars and has a history that spans almost 70 years,” he said. However, investigators presented a very detailed provenance that showed the artwork was taken illegally from Iran, and the two dealers agreed to relinquish the artifact so that it can be returned to the country from which it was stolen nearly 80 years ago.

The case is the latest successful repatriation under New York District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. After taking office, Vance formed a dedicated antiquities trafficking unit to keep up with the rising number of such cases in New York City, a major marketplace for illegal artifacts. According to Vance, his office has returned thousands of illicit antiquities since 2012, valued collectively at over $150 million.

A $1.2 Million Ancient Persian Sculpture Seized From TEFAF New York Must Be Returned to Iran, Judge Rules

Rock tombs of Turkey's Şanlıurfa to open to tourism

Rock tombs nearly 2,000 years old, which have been unearthed in caves in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, are to be opened to tourists after excavations are completed. 

The historical city of Şanlıurfa, home to myriad civilizations in its millennia-old history, is a leading spot for faith and culture tourism in Turkey. 

Ancient caves were unearthed during restoration and environmental arrangement works in the city’s Kale Eteği and Kızılkoyun districts, where shanty houses had been previously built. Inside the uncovered caves a total of 113 rock tombs were found. 

A number of figures and four floor mosaics were discovered in the rock tomb chambers within the scope of the ongoing works, carried out in collaboration with the provincial culture and tourism directorates, museum directorates and the Şanlıurfa Municipality. 

Mayor Nihat Çiftçi said Şanlıurfa was a city of culture and had been home to many civilizations. Each excavation in the city unearthed artifacts from different overlaid periods, he added. 

“Restoration and environmental works have unearthed 72 caves in the Kale Eteği district and 61 in Kızılkoyun district. The caves have rock tombs inside. These rock tombs date back to the 1st century A.D, from the era of Edessa King Abgar. We have also found mosaics on the ground of the ancient tombs, depicting the figures of this era. Families that lived in this era were buried in tombs in these caves,” Çiftçi said.  

He added that they aimed to turn Şanlıurfa into a kind of “open-air museum.” 

“We will open the Kale Eteği area to tourism in three-four months. We always say that Şanlıurfa is a city of caves. These caves were settlements in the past. Therefore ancient civilizations left their traces in these caves. With their arches, gates, and floor mosaics, the caves show us the lifestyle, philosophy, richness, architecture and faith of this era. Our archaeologists want to continue works nonstop because they work manually. The works in Kızılkoyun have been continuing for six months. They need one more year of work there for more detailed examination,” Çiftçi said. 

Temple-like rock tomb

Şanlıurfa Museum archaeologist Bekir Çetin said the region was known as the necropolis (graveyard) of Edessa city, adding that they found rock tombs up to three meters underground. 

“The ones at that depth are better preserved. There is one rock tomb here, the entrance of which has never been opened. It looks like a temple. A similar one can be seen in the southwest Anatolia. The rock tombs here have two or three chambers. Their columns and decorations draw particular attention at the entrance of the rock tombs. In some chambers, one can see Triton, a mythological Greek god. This reveals that those rock tomb caves are important for Şanlıurfa tourism,” Çetin said.

Rock tombs of Turkey's Şanlıurfa to open to tourism

Nasir ol Molk Mosque, Shiraz, Iran.

The Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque (Persian: مسجد نصیر الملک‎‎ Masjed-e Nasir-ol-Molk), also known as the Pink Mosque, is a traditional mosque in Shiraz, Iran. It is located at the district of Gowad-e-Arabān, near Shāh Chérāgh Mosque.

The mosque includes extensive colored glass in its facade, and displays other traditional elements such as the Panj Kāse ("five concaved") design. It is named in popular culture as the Pink Mosque, due to the usage of considerable pink color tiles for its interior design.

 

The mosque was built during the Qajar era, and is still in use under protection by Endowment Foundation of Nasir ol Molk. It was built from 1876 to 1888, by the order of Mirzā Hasan Ali (Nasir ol Molk), a Qajar ruler. The designers were Mohammad Hasan-e-Memār, an Iranian architect, and Mohammad Rezā Kāshi-Sāz-e-Širāzi.

Nasir ol Molk Mosque, Shiraz, Iran.

Inside Battle of Issus, A $1.65-Million Chess Set That Took 10 Years to Make

Attention chess lovers and history buffs, there’s now a chess set at M.S. Rau Antiques in New Orleans on sale for $1.65 million.

Named Battle of Issus after the second battle Alexander the Great fought against the Persian army (and first clash with Darius III) on November 5, 333 BCE , this impressive, late 20th-century chess set (25 1/2″ wide x 25 1/2″ deep x 10″ high) is considered by Bill Rau, Owner and CEO of M.S. Rau Antiques to be “an exceptional work of art you won’t find anywhere else in the world.”

As expected, like many expensive chess sets out there, a large number of precious stones can be found in this masterpiece. In addition to the pink rhodonite and green malachite that comprise the surface of the board and the bases of all the pieces, there are approximately 4 kilograms of 14K gold, 2.3 kilograms of 24K gold, 5 kilograms of pure silver, 320 grams of garnets, plus accents including pearls, turquoise, rose quartz and enamel that make every part of the design sparkle.

Source
http://www.forbes.com
http://www.rauantiques.com

Inside Battle of Issus, A $1.65-Million Chess Set That Took 10 Years to Make

Pasargadae, Tomb of Cyrus the Great

The tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire

The Tomb of Cyrus (Persian: آرامگاه کوروش بزرگ) is the monument of Cyrus the Great approximately 1 km southwest of the palaces of Pasargadae, According to Greek sources, it dates back to 559-29 B.C. The most extensive description based on a lost account by Aristobulus, who had accompanied Alexander the Great on his eastern campaign in the late 4th century B.C., is to be found in the Anabasis of Arrian (6.29). written in the 2nd century A.D

When Alexander looted and destroyed Persepolis, he paid a visit to the tomb of Cyrus. Arrian, writing in the second century of the common era, recorded that Alexander commanded Aristobulus, one of his warriors, to enter the monument. Inside he found a golden bed, a table set with drinking vessels, a gold coffin, some ornaments studded with precious stones and an inscription on the tomb. No trace of any such inscription survives, and there is considerable disagreement to the exact wording of the text. Strabo reports that it read:

Passer-by, I am Cyrus, who founded the Persian Empire, and was king of Asia.

Grudge me not therefore this monument.

Another variation, as documented in Persia: The Immortal Kingdom, is:

O man, whoever thou art, from wheresoever thou cometh, for I know you shall come, I am Cyrus, who founded the Persian Empire.

Grudge me not, therefore, this little earth that covers my body.

The design of Cyrus' tomb is credited to Mesopotamian or Elamite ziggurats, but the cella is usually attributed to Urartu tombs of an earlier period. In particular, the tomb at Pasargadae has almost exactly the same dimensions as the tomb of Alyattes II, father of the Lydian King Croesus; however, some have refused the claim (according to Herodotus, Croesus was spared by Cyrus during the conquest of Lydia, and became a member of Cyrus' court). The main decoration on the tomb is a rosette design over the door within the gable. In general, the art and architecture found at Pasargadae exemplified the Persian synthesis of various traditions, drawing on precedents from Elam, Babylon, Assyria, and ancient Egypt, with the addition of some Anatolian influences.

Tomb of Cyrus the great from Achaemenid Empire located in Pasargadae, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Fars Province, Iran.

According to the records by the ancient Greek historian, Aristobulus: "The tomb - in the lower parts was built of stones cut square and was rectangular in form. Above, there was a stone chamber with a roof and a door leading into it so narrow that it was hard and caused much distress for a single man of low stature to get through. In the chamber lay a golden sarcophagus, in which Cyrus' body had been buried; a couch stood by its side with leel of wrought gold; a Babylonian tapestry served as a cover and purple rugs as a carpet. There was placed on it a sleeved mantle and other garments of Babylonian workmanship . . . Median trousers and robes dyed blue lay there: some dark, some of other varying shades, with necklaces, scimitars, and earrings of stones set in gold, and a table stood there. It was between the table and the couch that the sarcophagus containing Cyrus' body was placed. Within the enclosure and by the ascent to the tomb itself there was a small building put up for the Magians who used to guard Cyrus’ tomb.”

The Mausoleum is said to be the oldest base-isolated structure in the world, meaning it is resilient to seismic hazards.

Pasargadae, Tomb of Cyrus the Great