درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

“Evil animals” (MP. xrafstar, Av. xrafstra-) are harmful animals created by Ahriman to assist in destroying the world. Pahlavi scriptures present fragments of knowledge on various types of xrafstarân, some regulations and recommendations on how to crush them, and examples of divine reward for those believers who eradicate these evil animals. However, Pahlavi scriptures put urging stress on eliminating xrafstarân, sigillographic evidence from the Sassanid era points to the other direction, showing that in many cases, the Zoroastrian principle of destroying evil animals is ignored, to the extent that images of venomous animals could be seen on seals and sigils belonging to Zoroastrian priests and other elites of the Sassanid era. While in some cases, themes depicted on seals are by the religious recommendations of scriptures, owners’ personal preferences seem to remain the main factor in displaying images on seals. This question remains that depicting an evil animal on a personal seal contradicts religious regulations in Zoroastrianism. This opposition could be caused by diversity in interpretations of scriptures or by the co-existence of various factions of Zoroastrianism. The presence of other religions all over the Sassanid Empire could be one more cause of this discord. Through a comparison between depictions on seals and Pahlavi scriptures, the current study concludes that several images of xrafstarân depicted on seals are related to religions other than Zoroastrian Mithraism, Judaism, Christianism, and even Gnosticism. Moreover, most Zoroastrian scriptures mentioning xrafstarân are written only after the Sassanid era. It seems likely that after the collapse of Sassanid dynastys, some Zoroastrian priests rearranged the classification of beneficent animals created by Ahura and evil animals created by Ahriman. Nonetheless, the vital role of geography and cultural diversity of each region of the vast Sassanid Empire could not be overlooked while studying the presence or absence of animal themes in depictions.

Sasanian Empire was one of the most powerful periods in ancient Iran. Archaeological evidence and traces, and Sasanian and Post-Sasanian texts show cultural and artistic relations of the Sasanian Empire from the East to the West. However, official Sasanian methods of warfare are one of the most important legacies of the period that have been less studied. These offensive and defensive arms and armor can be analyzed by looking at remaining evidence left by kings and officials within the national borders to the lands abroad. Sasanian swords are depicted on rock reliefs, silver dishes, and coins (drachmas and dinars). Although studies have been done on the classification of Sasanian swords shown on rock reliefs, no systematic study on the depiction of Sasanian swords on Sasanian drachms has been done so far. The following paper tries to restudy the subject by comparing the swords depicted on Sasanian coins and compare them to the swords shown on rock reliefs and dishes. Sasanian swords are depicted on different Sasanian royal arts such as Sasanian coins, Sasanian silver dishes, and Sasanian rock reliefs. Different elements will be taken into consideration such as the shape of swords in general and their method of hanging from the belt in particular. A closer look shows that Sasanian drachmas and dinars show two major types of hanging Sasanian swords via a scabbard slide system: A. hanging the sword in front of the body. B. hanging the sword on the left or the right hip. Additionally, the following paper will compare them to some extant examples of Sasanian swords that are kept in museums and private collections.

The developmental process of architectural tradition of tower tombs in Azerbaijan during the 12 th – 14 th centuries (AD)  is one of the basic questions in the Iranian history of architecture. Historically, the architectural constructions and decorations were developed in Nakhchivan by the end of 12 th century. Based on the formulated doctrines of the former USSR academy, the late Seljukid architecture in Nakhchivan was indigenous and originated from the local innovations. Turkish art historians have classified the late Seljukid architecture in Nakhchivan as a variety of Turk – Islam tradition in the post- USSR years. These kinds of de- historized studies have not considered the socio- cultural relationships among Qazvin, Maragheh, Tabriz and Nakhchivan within the Iranian cultural context. The main aim of this study is to investigate the general specifications of the 12 th – 14 th centuries (AD) architecture of the tower tombs in Nakhchivan and Maragheh to examine their artistic and technical interactions appeared in the glorious architectural monuments during the Iranian Late Seljukid – Ilkhanid history of architecture. Methodologically, the origin of Nakhchivani tower tombs should be sought in the architectural manner of Maragheh due to the chronological order of their existing Persian and Arabic inscriptions. Although the USSR and Turkish decontextualized subjectivities in the architectural history of Nakhchivan are not well-reviewed, the architecture of the tower tombs in the Late Seljukid Nakhchivan has a processual trajectory initiated from the early Seljukid Kharāghān in Qazvin to the late Seljukid Maragheh and then the Nakhchivani manner of Ajami Nashawi.