The Persian Empire

The Persian Empire is the name given to a series of dynasties

centered in modern-day Iran that spanned several centuries—from
the sixth century B.C. to the twentieth century A.D. The first Persian
Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great around 550 B.C., became one
of the largest empires in history, stretching from Europe’s Balkan
Peninsula in the West to India’s Indus Valley in the East. This Iron
Age dynasty, sometimes called the Achaemenid Empire, was a
global hub of culture, religion, science, art and technology for more
than 200 years before it fell to the invading armies of Alexander the
Great.

Cyrus the Great

The Persian Empire started as a collection of semi-nomadic tribes
who raised sheep, goats and cattle on the Iranian plateau.

Cyrus the Great—the leader of one such tribe—began to defeat

nearby kingdoms, including Media, Lydia and Babylon , joining them
under one rule. He founded the first Persian Empire, also known as
the Achaemenid Empire, in 550 B.C.

The first Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great soon became the
world’s first superpower. It united under one government three
important sites of early human civilization in the ancient
world: Mesopotamia , Egypt ’s Nile Valley and India ’s Indus Valley.

Cyrus the Great is immortalized in the Cyrus Cylinder, a clay

cylinder inscribed in 539 BC with the story of how he conquered
Babylon from King Nabonidus, bringing an end to the Neo-
Babylonian empire.

Darius the Great, the fourth king of the Achaemenid Empire, ruled
over the Persian Empire when it was at its largest, stretching from
The Caucasus and West Asia to what was then Macedonia (today’s
Balkans), the Black Sea, Central Asia, and even into Africa including
parts of Libya and Egypt. He unified the empire through introducing
standard currency and weights and measures; making Aramaic the
official language and building roads. The Behistun Inscription, a
multilingual relief carved into Mount Behistun in Western Iran, extolls
his virtues and was a critical key to deciphering cuneiform script. Its
impact is compared that of the Rosetta Stone , the tablet that
enabled scholars to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Where Is Persia?

At its height under Darius the Great, the Persian Empire stretched
from Europe’s Balkan Peninsula—in parts of what is present day
Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine—to the Indus River Valley in
northwest India and south to Egypt.

The Persians were the first people to establish regular routes of

communication between three continents—Africa, Asia and Europe.
They built many new roads and developed the world’s first postal
service.

Persian Culture
The ancient Persians of the Achaemenid Empire created art in many
forms, including metalwork, rock carvings, weaving and architecture.
As the Persian Empire expanded to encompass other artistic centers
of early civilization, a new style was formed with influences from
these sources.

Early Persian art included large, carved rock reliefs cut into cliffs,
such as those found at Naqsh-e Rustam, an ancient cemetery filled
with the tombs of Achaemenid kings. The elaborate rock murals
depict equestrian scenes and battle victories.

Ancient Persians were also known for their metalwork. In the 1870s,
smugglers discovered gold and silver artifacts among ruins near the
Oxus River in present-day Tajikistan.

The artifacts included a small golden chariot, coins and bracelets

decorated in a griffon motif. (The griffon is a mythical creature with
the wings and head of an eagle and the body of a lion, and a symbol
of the Persian capital of Persepolis.)

British diplomats and members of the military serving in Pakistan

brought roughly 180 of these gold and silver pieces—known as the
Oxus Treasure—to London where they are now housed at the British
Museum .

The history of carpet weaving in Persia dates back to the nomadic

tribes. The ancient Greeks prized the artistry of these hand-woven
rugs—famous for their elaborate design and bright colors. Today,
most Persian rugs are made of wool, silk, and cotton.
Persepolis

Embossed bas relief carvings of servants bringing gifts to the king

on the sidewall of stairs in front of Tachara Palace, also known as
the Palace of Darius, in Persepolis.

The ancient Persian capital city of Persepolis, situated in southern

Iran, ranks among the world’s greatest archeological sites. It was
named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

The Achaemenian palaces of Persepolis were built upon massive

terraces. They were decorated with ornamental facades that
included the long rock relief carvings for which the ancient Persians
were famous.
Persian Religion
Many people think of Persia as synonymous with Islam , though
Islam only became the dominant religion in the Persian Empire after
the Arab conquests of the seventh century. The first Persian Empire
was shaped by a different religion: Zoroastrianism .

Named after the Persian prophet Zoroaster (also known as

Zarathustra), Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest
monotheistic religions. It’s still practiced today as a minority religion
in parts of Iran and India..

Zoroaster, who likely lived sometime between 1500 and 500 B.C.,
taught followers to worship one god instead of the many deities
worshipped byearlier Indo-Iranian groups.

The Achaemenian kings were devout Zoroastrians. By most

accounts, Cyrus the Great was a tolerant ruler who allowed his
subjects to speak their own languages and practice their own
religions. While he ruled by the Zoroastrian law of asha (truth and
righteousness), he didn’t impose Zoroastrianism on the people of
Persia’s conquered territories.

Hebrew scriptures praise Cyrus the Great for freeing the Jewish
people of Babylon from captivity and allowing them to return
to Jerusalem .

Subsequent rulers in the Achaemenid Empire followed Cyrus the

Great’s hands-off approach to social and religious affairs, allowing
Persia’s diverse citizenry to continue practicing their own ways of
life. This period of time is sometimes called the Pax Persica, or
Persian Peace.

Religious toleration has been described as a "remarkable feature" of the

Achaemenid Empire. The Old Testament reports that king Cyrus the
Great released the Jews from their Babylonian captivity in 539–530 BC,
and permitted them to return to their homeland. Cyrus the Great assisted
in the restoration of the sacred places of various cities.
During the reign of Artaxerxes I and Darius II, Herodotus wrote "[the
Persians] have no images of the gods, no temples nor altars, and
consider the use of them a sign of folly. This comes, I think, from their
not believing the gods to have the same nature with men, as the Greeks
imagine." He claims the Persians offer sacrifice to: "the sun and moon,
to the earth, to fire, to water, and to the winds. These are the only gods
whose worship has come down to them from ancient times. At a later
period, they began the worship of Urania, which they borrowed from the
Arabians and Assyrians. Mylitta is the name by which the Assyrians
know this goddess, to whom the Persians referred as Anahita." (The
original name here is Mithra, which has since been explained to be a
confusion of Anahita with Mithra, understandable since they were
commonly worshipped together in one temple).

Fall of the Persian Empire

The Battle of Issus between Alexander the Great and Darius III in
333 BC, leading to the fall of the Persian Empire.
Leemage/Corbis/Getty Images

The Persian Empire entered a period of decline after a failed

invasion of Greece by Xerxes I in 480 BC. The costly defense of
Persia’s lands depleted the empire’s funds, leading to heavier
taxation among Persia’s subjects.
The Achaemenid dynasty finally fell to the invading armies
of Alexander the Great of Macedon in 330 B.C. Subsequent rulers
sought to restore the Persian Empire to its Achaemenian
boundaries, though the empire never quite regained the enormous
size it had achieved under Cyrus the Great.

Art
.

Art of the Persian Empire

The art of the Persian Empire combined a diversity of styles from other
cultures to create a unique Persian style.

Key Points

 Assyria, ancient Egypt, and Mycenae are three of many

cultures whose styles feature in Persian art.
 Gold and silver objects demonstrate advanced skill in
metalworking among artists living in the Persian Empire.
 Multilingual inscriptions, such as those on a relief of Cyrus the
Great, demonstrate the diversity of those living in the Persian
Empire.

Key Terms

 rhyton:A large ceremonial drinking cup fashioned in the

shape of an animal’s head.
 syncretic:Art that bears the style(s), themes, or other
attributes of more than one culture.
 stylized:Art that is not naturalistic but not distorted enough to
be abstract.

The earliest Persian art tended to be small and portable objects,

things like ceramics, delicate ivory carvings, and small bronze
sculptures from a mountainous area called Luristan. A good example
of a Luristan bronze is this elegant horse bit. Two fanciful winged
goats feature curving horns and upward twisted tails. The
unidentified artist was clearly concerned with more than just a
utilitarian piece of hardware.
Achaemenid art includes frieze reliefs glazed brick masonry, fine
craftsmanship (masonry, carpentry, etc.), and gardening. Most survivals
of court art are monumental sculpture, above all the reliefs, double
animal-headed Persian column capitals and other sculptures
of Persepolis (see below for the few but impressive Achaemenid rock
reliefs).
Although the Persians took artists, with their styles and techniques, from
all corners of their empire, they produced not simply a combination of
styles, but a synthesis of a new unique Persian style. Cyrus the Great in
fact had an extensive ancient Iranian heritage behind him; the rich
Achaemenid gold work, which inscriptions suggest may have been a
specialty of the Medes, was for instance in the tradition of earlier sites.
The rhyton drinking vessel, horn-shaped and usually ending in an animal
shape, is the most common type of large metalwork to survive, as in
a fine example in New York. There are a number of very fine smaller
pieces of jewellery or inlay in precious metal, also mostly featuring
animals, and the Oxus Treasure has a wide selection of types. Small
pieces, typically in gold, were sewn to clothing by the elite, and a number
of gold torcs have survived.

Metalworking

One artistic technique incorporated from other cultures involved the

smithing and hammering of gold, possibly adopted from the Medes. The
most common surviving metal objects are ceremonial drinking cups
called rhyta made of gold and silver. Rhyta were used in prehistoric
Aegean and Greek cultures, most notably the Mycenaeans in the
sixteenth century BCE. The gold rhyton below, which bears a stylized
ram’s head in relief, dates to the Achaemenid period.
Gold rhyton (550–330 BCE)

Better known than ceremonial rhyta is the Oxus Treasure, a 180-piece

trove of reliefs, figurines , jewelry, and coins made of gold and silver.
The treasure is important because it demonstrates the variety of forms in
which metal was worked during the early Persian Empire. The gold
chariot below demonstrates the precision possible with small sculptures
and includes a small votive based on the Egyptian god Bes.

Gold chariot from Oxus Treasure, amalgamated from fragments of

other objects in the trove
The griffin-headed bracelet also found in the treasure was once inlaid
with enamel and precious stones. Once thought to have originated with
the ancient Egyptians, the manner of goldsmithing evident in the amulet
was later found in Assyrian art. The style of the animals originated with
the Scythians, who inhabited the Steppes of Russia.

Bracelet from the Oxus Treasure: Indentations show where the

bracelet once held enamel and stone inlay.

Achaemenid Architecture and Art

The focus of Persian art and architecture during the Achaemenid Era
was the city of Persepolis, founded by Darius the Great in the 6th
century BC. Meant to serve as a government center but also a place
for ceremonies and festivals, Persepolis was built in terraces or
layers on a leveled section of a mountainside. It was a monumental
undertaking and took several rulers and almost a century to
complete.
Surrounded by fortified walls, Persepolis included a complex of
structures built from locally plentiful limestone. Buildings included a
Treasury to store the kingdom's wealth, a Throne Hall, and a building
called the Apadana for great royal receptions. Seventy-two thin
columns with distinctive capitals (the very top part of a column) of
double animal shapes surrounded the Apadana. It also had two large
stairways leading up to it decorated with elaborate relief carvings of
soldiers, dignitaries, and animals. A closer look at a remaining
section of staircase reveals the distinct character of Achaemenid art.

View of portion of staircase in the Apadana,

Persepolis

Built of limestone, it features a series of figures in relief (a carving

that's not quite fully three-dimensional and still connected to a
surface) in a line along the staircase. Imagine how you would have
felt as a visitor to this palace, surrounded by such figures and
geometric, stepped stonework as you headed to the stairs.
The stairway is punctuated by a large relief carving of a lion attacking
a bull. Both animals have a definite feeling of motion and carefully
rendered detail. But they're also very decorative, as you can see in
this detail of another lion and bull design on another section of the
Apadana staircase. Contrasting textures of smooth and beaded lines
mark the bull's surface and the lion's mane and snarling mouth are
patterned as well as realistic.
 Detail of a relief, lion attacking a bull, on the
Apadana at Persepolis

In sculpture, however, the Assyro-Babylonian style was at first preserved in

almost its original purity. Some subjects, such as the human-headed bulls
and the king fighting monsters, were treated so much in the same style that
they appear to be almost copies. The main difference lay in the greater
roundness of Persian technique, in its loss of the force and directness of
Assyrian art, in the lack of vitality and expression in the figures, and in the
narrowness of the range of subjects all of which are qualities that might be
expected in an art that was not original but derived. At the same time, there
was often visible a trace of archaic Greek influence, especially in the
treatment of drapery and in the decoration. As in Assyria, the relief was the
favourite form of sculpture, and it was also in connection with the royal
palaces that the great masses of sculpture were employed. The new form of
the Persian pal-aces made the arrangement of the sculptures somewhat
different from that in the Assyrian royal residences, and there was not the
same opportunity for continuous friezes and for variety of subjects. Reliefs
decorated both sides of the main stair-way ascending to the palace. The
entrances were flanked, as in Assyria, by colossal winged bulls. The Apadana,
or main hall, of the Persian palace, which, with its many rows of columns,
was quite an innovation in the East, was decorated with the reliefs of the king
and his attendants. The reliefs were not upon slabs used as a facing for brick
walls, as in Assyria, or for detached decoration, as often in Babylon, but were
carved in the stone used in the construction itself, in the limestone sub-
structures of the palace platforms and the faces of the limestone portals. No
full-sized statues in the round are known to have existed.

Cyrus the great .

HISTORY, SUBJECTS, METHODS. Persian sculpture flourished little over a

century, consequently it has but little history and varies only slightly during
the course of its development. We notice toward the close the increased
influence of Greek artists from Thessaly or from Asia Minor. The earliest
sculpture known is that of the winged figure of King Cyrus, standing in an
attitude of adoration, carved over a door jamb at Pasargadea, and dating
probably from the first years of Darius. The largest series of sculptures thus
far discovered is that of the palace of Darius at Persepolis. The subject of
these sculptures is the glorification of the king. All the figures are rep
resented as directing their steps toward a central point. A double procession,
on either side of the stairway, mounts the steps, and there is another
procession higher up on the inner faces of the door frames. These are the
subject-peoples bringing to the king their gifts and tributes horses, wild
asses, camels, rich stuffs, rare products, objects in precious metals; and these
figures are passing through the long array of life guards, officers, and
courtiers, the Medes in flowing garments and the Persians in tight-fitting
dress. Further on we see the king, either enthroned on his high platform
supported by caryatid-like figures of the conquered nations, or walking under
a sunshade, or plunging a dagger into some wild beast who represents the
foes of his majesty.

Bas relief figure Persepolis

Bas relief figure Persepolis comparison with Assyrian relief
The range of Persian sculpture was the glorification of the king in one great
composition. In the rock-cut relief of the royal tombs the same subject was
repeated in a simplified form. There was no variety, as in Assyrian art, either
in subject or in treatment. As no distinct event, but only a symbolic
representation, was given, the scene had an air of unreality. At the same
time, it had distinct merits. For the first time Oriental sculpture attempted to
give the soft texture of drapery and imitated its natural folds, and here we
trace distinctly the influenoe of archaic Ionic Greek sculpture. There was also
a distinct advance in the ability to bring sculpture into its proper relationship
to architecture. Instead of scattering scenes broadcast over the surface, as in
Egypt, in fine disregard of any distinctive grouping or subordination; instead
of using sculpture as an art connected with architectural structure, as in
Assyria, the Persians showed some of the Greek conception of the
harmonious relationship possible between the two arts. Thus, the
processions carved on the sides of the staircases followed the natural
architectural outlines, as was the case later. with the stairway at Pergamon,
and the faces of the limestone portals were used for reliefs, like the inner
sides of the Roman triumphal arches. But this peculiar merit was shown
especially in the use of sculpture for distinctly architectural decoration. The
colossal bull-capitals at Persepolis and Susa were masterpieces. The
treatment of the bulls in these works was the greatest triumph of Persian
sculpture, for naturalism, technique, and spirit.

Most characteristic of Achaemenid sculpture are the slabs carved in low relief
that decorate the various stairways leading to the ceremonial buildings.
Representations of hundreds of alternating Persian and Median servants
bringing food and drink for a royal feast are on the walls of several palace
stairways at Persepolis. Dating to the reign of Artaxerxes II (r. 404-360 B.C.),
this relief was part of a stairway along the western side of the Palace of Darius.
The relief depicts a Median, identified by his style of dress: a belted tunic and
rounded felt cap. He is being led by a Persian counterpart, and the figures are
shown hand in hand.
Bas relief figure Persepolis

Rock relief
The large carved rock relief, typically placed high beside a road, and
near a source of water, is a common medium in Persian art, mostly used
to glorify the king and proclaim Persian control over territory. It begins
with Lullubi and Elamite rock reliefs, such as those at Sarpol-e
Zahab (circa 2000 BC), Kul-e Farah and Eshkaft-e Salman in southwest
Iran, and continues under the Assyrians. The Behistun relief and
inscription, made around 500 BC for Darius the Great, is on a far
grander scale, reflecting and proclaiming the power of the Achaemenid
empire. Persian rulers commonly boasted of their power and
achievements, until the Muslim conquest removed imagery from such
monuments; much later there was a small revival under the Qajar
dynasty.

Naqsh-e Rustam: ancient tombs of powerful

Persian Kings
Naqsh-e Rustam is one of the most spectacular and awe-inspiring ancient
sites of the Achaemenid Empire, consisting of the colossal tombs of Persian
kings dating back to the first millennium BC. It stands as a lasting
memory of a once powerful empire that ruled over a significant portion of
the ancient world.
Naqsh-e Rustam is the necropolis of the Achaemenid dynasty (500–330
BC), with four large tombs cut high into the cliff face. These have mainly
architectural decoration, but the facades include large panels over the
doorways, each very similar in content, with figures of the king being
invested by a god, above a zone with rows of smaller figures bearing
tribute, with soldiers and officials. The three classes of figures are
sharply differentiated in size. The entrance to each tomb is at the centre
of each cross, which opens onto a small chamber, where the king lay in
a sarcophagus. The horizontal beam of each of the tomb's facades is
believed to be a replica of the entrance of the palace at Persepolis.
Only one has inscriptions and the matching of the other kings to tombs is
somewhat speculative; the relief figures are not intended as
individualized portraits. The third from the left, identified by an
inscription, is the tomb of Darius I the Great (c. 522–486 BC). The other
three are believed to be those of Xerxes I (c. 486–465 BC), Artaxerxes
I (c. 465–424 BC), and Darius II (c. 423–404 BC) respectively. A fifth
unfinished one might be that of Artaxerxes III, who reigned at the longest
two years, but is more likely that of Darius III (c. 336–330 BC), last of the
Achaemenid dynasts. The tombs were looted following the conquest of
the Achaemenid Empire by Alexander the Great.

Naqsh-e Rustam (meaning Throne of Rustam ) is located approximately 5 km (3

miles) to the northwest of Persepolis, the capital of the former Achaemenid
(Persian) Empire in present day in Iran. Engraved on the façade of a mountain
range considered sacred in the Elamite periods are the rock-cut tombs of
Achaemenid rulers and their families dating to the 4 th and 5 th centuries BC, as
well as richly decorated reliefs carved by the Sasanians in the 3 rd century AD.
In addition to being a royal necropolis, Naqsh-e Rustam became a major
ceremonial center for the Sasanians until the 7 th century AD.

Naqsh-e Rustam at dawn

The Naqsh-e Rustam site was already in use prior to the arrival of the
Achaemenids, as evidenced in one pre-Achaemenid (possibly Elamite) relief
and a number of old graves. Although this relief has been carved over by a
Sasanian relief, a portrait of a man with a forward pointing hat and a long dress-
like garment (clothing not typical of the Achaemenids and Sasanians) can still
be discerned on the extreme right of the later relief. According to some sources,
it was this figure that locals associated with the mythical hero of
the Shahnameh writings in the “book of the kings”, named Rustam, hence the
name of the site.
Naqsh-e Rustam is named after the legendary figure Rustam, who is depicted
here killing Esfandyar. Medieval Persian miniature.

Most of the reliefs, however, date to beginning of the Sasanian period. In the 3
rd century AD, the Sasanians, a vassal of the Parthian Empire that succeeded in
overthrowing its master, were a new power that rose in the East. In order to
legitimize their rule, the Sasanians sought to associate themselves with the
Achaemenid (Persian) Empire, and regarded themselves as its direct successors.
One of the things they did to achieve this goal was to carve reliefs at Naqsh-e
Rustam.
While the site itself does not yet have UNESCO World Heritage status, the
Sasanian relief carvings are protected as part of the “ Sassanid Archaeological
Landscape of Fars Region ”, recognized by UNESCO for embodying the
political, historical, cultural and artistic developments of the mighty Sasanian
Empire. The newly UNESCO-registered ensemble, as of July 2018, is
comprised of eight archaeological sites situated in three geographical parts of
Firuzabad, Bishapur and Sarvestan.

Sasanian relief at Naqsh-e Rustam depicting the triumph of Shapur I over the
Roman Emperor Valerian, and Philip the Arab.
Two other local names for Naqsh-e Rustam are Salib, an Arabic word meaning
‘cross’, and the Persian Crosses. This is due to the façade of the tombs, which
resembles crosses. It was the tombs, which belonged to the Achaemenids that
attracted the Sasanians to Naqsh-e Rustam. These tombs are burial chambers
carved into the side of the hill rock, and each contained a sarcophagus. It is
unclear, however, whether the bodies were placed directly into these
sarcophagi, or the bones interred in them after being exposed on a ‘tower of
silence’. Furthermore, it is believed that all the tombs were looted and
desecrated following the invasion of Alexander the Great during the 4 th
century BC.
Although there are four tombs, only one of them can be identified with
certainty, as it is accompanied by a trilingual inscription. This is the tomb of
Darius I, the third ruler of the Achaemenid Empire. Above the cross façade of
Darius’ tomb is a panel with a relief. The relief depicts Darius, whose hands are
raised in a gesture of worship, standing on a three-stepped pedestal in front of
an altar. The king’s piety accords him divine protection, as the winged disc of
Ahuramazda (the god of the Zoroastrian faith), is shown floating above his
head. The relief also proclaims the might of the Achaemenid Empire, as the
entire scene is supported by throne bearers representing the 28 nations under the
empire.
The tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam
The other three tombs at Naqsh-e Rustam are thought to belong to Darius’
successors, Xerxes I, Artaxerxes I and Darius II. This is based on the fact that
the layout of these tombs is copied from the tomb of Darius. Without any
inscriptions or additional evidence, the identities of the tomb owners may
remain merely as speculation. Other royal tombs of a similar form can be found
in Persepolis. These tombs, cut into the rock face at Kuh-i Rahmat, are thought
to belong to the later Achaemenid rulers, and demonstrate of the influence
exerted by the tombs at Naqsh-e Rustam.

The Kuh-e Rahmat Mountain where the rock-cut Achaemenian monument of

Qadamgah stands today. Photo by Pontocello, 2009.
After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, no new tombs were made at Naqsh-e
Rustam. As mentioned earlier, the Sasanians attempted to make a connection
with the Achaemenids by carving reliefs on the rock walls of Naqsh-e Rustam.
The subjects of the reliefs are varied, and were carved over between the 3 rd and
early 4 th centuries AD by different Sasanian rulers. One of the most famous
reliefs is that of Shapur I’s victory over the Roman emperors Gordian III,
Valerian and Philip the Arab. Other reliefs include the investiture of Ardashir I
(the first relief to be carved at the site), and the equestrian relief of Hormizd II
(the last relief to be carved).
The investiture of Ardashir I.
Plans are underway to include the whole site of Naqsh-e Rostam on the
UNESCO World Heritage list by incorporating it into the adjacent Persepolis,
which already has World Heritage status. As part of this process, several
restoration projects are underway. Detailed laser scanning of the site is
underway to support exact restoration.
Naqsh-e Rostam, Fars province, Iran.

Carpets

Detail of a Persian Animal carpet, Safavid period, 16th century

Carpet weaving is an essential part of Persian culture and art. Within the
group of Oriental rugs produced by the countries of the so-called "rug
belt", the Persian carpet stands out by the variety and elaborateness of
its designs.
Persian carpets and rugs of various types were woven in parallel by
nomadic tribes, in village and town workshops, and by royal court
manufactories alike. As such, they represent different, simultaneous
lines of tradition, and reflect the history of Iran and its various peoples.
The carpets woven in the Safavid court manufactories of Isfahan during
the sixteenth century are famous for their elaborate colours and artistical
design, and are treasured in museums and private collections all over
the world today. Their patterns and designs have set an artistic tradition
for court manufactories which was kept alive during the entire duration of
the Persian Empire up to the last royal dynasty of Iran. Exceptional
individual Safavid carpets include the Ardabil Carpet (now in London and
Los Angeles) and the Coronation Carpet (now in Copenhagen). Much
earlier, the Baharestan Carpet is a lost Sasanian carpet for the royal
palace at Ctesiphon, and the oldest significant carpet, the Pazyryk
Carpet was possibly made in Persia.
Carpets woven in towns and regional centres
like Tabriz, Kerman, Mashhad, Kashan, Isfahan, Nain and Qom are
characterized by their specific weaving techniques and use of high-
quality materials, colours and patterns. Town manufactories like those
of Tabriz have played an important historical role in reviving the tradition
of carpet weaving after periods of decline. Rugs woven by the villages
and various tribes of Iran are distinguished by their fine wool, bright and
elaborate colours, and specific, traditional patterns. Nomadic and small
village weavers often produce rugs with bolder and sometimes more
coarse designs, which are considered as the most authentic and
traditional rugs of Persia, as opposed to the artistic, pre-planned designs
of the larger workplaces. Gabbeh rugs are the best-known type of carpet
from this line of tradition.
The Hunting carpet made by Ghyath ud-Din Jami. Wool, cotton and silk,
1542-3
The art and craft of carpet weaving has gone through periods of decline
during times of political unrest, or under the influence of commercial
demands. It particularly suffered from the introduction of synthetic dyes
during the second half of the nineteenth century. Carpet weaving still
plays a major part in the economy of modern Iran. Modern production is
characterized by the revival of traditional dyeing with natural dyes, the
reintroduction of traditional tribal patterns, but also by the invention of
modern and innovative designs, woven in the centuries-old technique.
Hand-woven Persian carpets and rugs were regarded as objects of high
artistic and utilitarian value and prestige from the first time they were
mentioned by ancient Greek writers, until today.
Although the term "Persian carpet" most often refers to pile-woven
textiles, flat-woven carpets and rugs like Kilim, Soumak, and
embroidered fabrics like Suzani are part of the rich and manifold tradition
of Persian weaving. Persia was famous for its textiles at least as early as
for its carpets.
In 2010, the "traditional skills of carpet weaving"
in Fārs and Kashan were inscribed to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural
Heritage Lists.
Persian miniature

Behzad's Advice of the Ascetic (c. 1500–1550). As in

Western illuminated manuscripts, exquisitely decorated borders were an
integral part of the work of art.
A Persian miniature is a small painting on paper, whether a book
illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of
such works called a muraqqa. The techniques are broadly comparable to
the Western and Byzantine traditions of miniatures in illuminated
manuscripts. Although there is an older Persian tradition of wall-painting,
the survival rate and state of preservation of miniatures is better, and
miniatures are much the best-known form of Persian painting in the
West, and many of the most important examples are in Western, or
Turkish, museums. Miniature painting became a significant
Persian genre in the 13th century, receiving Chinese influence after
the Mongol conquests, and the highest point in the tradition was reached
in the 15th and 16th centuries The tradition continued, under some
Western influence, after this, and has many modern exponents. The
Persian miniature was the dominant influence on other Islamic miniature
traditions, principally the Ottoman miniature in Turkey, and the Mughal
miniature in the Indian sub-continent.
The tradition grew from book illustration, illustrating many narrative
scenes, often with many figures. The representational conventions that
developed are effective but different from Western graphical perspective.
More important figures may be somewhat larger than those around
them, and battle scenes can be very crowded indeed. Recession (depth
in the picture space) is indicated by placing more distant figures higher
up in the space. Great attention is paid to the background, whether of a
landscape or buildings, and the detail and freshness with which plants
and animals, the fabrics of tents, hangings or carpets, or tile patterns are
shown is one of the great attractions of the form. The dress of figures is
equally shown with great care, although artists understandably often
avoid depicting the patterned cloth that many would have worn. Animals,
especially the horses that very often appear, are mostly shown sideways
on; even the love-stories that constitute much of the classic material
illustrated are conducted largely in the saddle, as far as the prince-
protagonist is concerned. Landscapes are very often mountainous (the
plains that make up much of Persia are rarely attempted), this being
indicated by a high undulating horizon, and outcrops of bare rock which,
like the clouds in the normally small area of sky left above the
landscape, are depicted in conventions derived from Chinese art. Even
when a scene in a palace is shown, the viewpoint often appears to be
from a point some metres in the air.
Persian art under Islam had never completely forbidden the human
figure, and in the miniature tradition the depiction of figures, often in
large numbers, is central. This was partly because the miniature is a
private form, kept in a book or album and only shown to those the owner
chooses. It was therefore possible to be more free than in wall paintings
or other works seen by a wider audience. The Qur'an and other purely
religious works are not known to have been illustrated in this way,
though histories and other works of literature may include religiously
related scenes, including those depicting the Prophet Muhammed, after
1500 usually without showing his face.
As well as the figurative scenes in miniatures and borders, there was a
parallel style of non-figurative ornamental decoration which was found in
borders and panels in miniature pages, and spaces at the start or end of
a work or section, and often in whole pages acting as frontispieces. In
Islamic art this is referred to as "illumination", and manuscripts of the
Qur'an and other religious books often included considerable number of
illuminated pages. The designs reflected contemporary work in other
media, in later periods being especially close to book-covers and
Persian carpets, and it is thought that many carpet designs were created
by court artists and sent to the workshops in the provinces.
Relief with glazed bricks

Glazed brick relief panel Achaemenid Persian, late 6th century BC from
Susa, south-west Iran. From the palace of Darius I, ruler of the largest
empire in antiquity. This panel is made of polychrome glazed bricks which
were found in a courtyard of the palace built by the Persian king Darius I
(522-486 BC). It was part of a larger frieze depicting rows of guards,
perhaps the 'immortals' who made up the king's personal bodyguard.
Molding bricks into sculptures within palace walls was not an original
conception introduced by the Achaemenids. The model had existed since
the Middle Elamite period (12th century BCE) at Susa, here employing
unglazed bricks. Glazing of objects including plaques also occurred later
at Susa, in the Neo-Elamite period (9th-8th centuries BCE; Nadali, p.
99). But the conception of glazed individual brick-molded
iconographical motives first occurs in Assyria, at Nineveh in the 9th
century BCE. We next encounter them in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar
at Babylon, where glazed relief bricks were extensively and spectacularly
employed. They became known to the Achaemenids in 539/8 BCE
when Cyrus II captured Babylon, and where the Achaemenids soon
adopted the practice there and elsewhere (Haerinck, pp. 118-27).

Each glazed brick is 8.5 cm x 33 cm in size, and of varying thickness.

The Susa examples are wedge-shaped at the rear; on the viewing side
they are mold-formed as one component of a pre-planned cull figure,
scene or frieze. The figures on the relief bricks were glazed in multi-
colors, formed from a siliceous amalgam of oxides, producing yellow,
blue, blue green, black, brown, and white. After being fired in high heat
the bricks were then set in place piece by piece, to become “part of a
larger design extending across a number of courses of brick” (Caubet,
1992, p. 224).

The depicted iconography was quite varied: winged bulls and griffins,
lions, armed guards, servants carrying food, all exhibited in profile.
There were also decorative patterns of lotus, palmettes and rosettes on
tiles, motives formed not in relief but in cloisonné, thin lines of thick
glaze compartmentalized to form a design. The only examples of glazed
bricks from Persepolis consisted of a frieze of cloisonné palmettes, and
two bricks with circular bands.

The unglazed relief bricks vary in size, but exhibit the very same figures
– striding lions, winged bulls and griffins – as those depicted in glazed
color. Many seem to have been reused as pavement and wall fillings in
later period structures.

Most of the molded bricks from Babylon were recovered in the

Achaemenid palace. At Susa, however, while some were excavated in the
palaces, but not in their original positions, many were recovered outside
the palaces, and even in post Achaemenid levels, all reused. Hence it is
not possible to reconstruct their original positions, contexts and
juxtapositions. Judging from the preserved stone relief loci at Persepolis,
most surely were set in palace walls, in stairway and doorway panels
(Caubet, 1992, p. 225). Fortunately, a large number of relief bricks
recovered south of the Susa Apadāna (where they may have been
originally positioned) were re-joined to form one of the best known of all
the Susa friezes. This is a group of panels, of which eighteen have been
reconstructed, each seventeen bricks in height, depicts walking guards
facing right and left, dressed in exquisitely decorated garments, and
carrying bows, quivers, and spears. A number of glazed bricks from
Babylon also depict similar walking guards. Represented also in stone at
Susa and Persepolis, they may indeed represent units of the famous Ten
Thousand (see Immortals), the elite troops mentioned by Herodotus
(Muscarella, “Guards,” 1992, p. 226). Another well-preserved panel at
Susa, fourteen bricks in height, was recovered within the palace; it
consists of two sphinxes with heads facing in different directions, under
a sun disc (Muscarella, “Confronting Sphinxes,” 1992, p. 229).
The reliefs from Susa may be seen today in Iran and in the Musée du
Louvre. Much painstaking work was employed to rejoin the isolated
bricks found in different areas and levels, and to reconstruct units of the
original compositions.