The Ritual Landscape at Persepolis

Mark B. Garrison

ISBN 10: 1614910340 / ISBN 13: 9781614910343

Edité par Institute For The Study Of Ancient Cultures Jul 2017, 2017

A propos de cet article

Neuware - There are, perhaps, no more contentious issues within the study of Achaemenid Persia than those surrounding its religion(s) and religious iconography. Owing to the role that fire plays in Zoroastrian beliefs in later periods in Iran, almost any discussion of the subject of Achaemenid religion will eventually turn to the identification of sacred fire, fire temples, fire worship, and fire altars in the archaeological, epigraphic, and literary records. The focus of this book is a corpus of glyptic imagery preserved as impressions on two large archives of administrative tablets from Persepolis, the Persepolis Fortification archive (509-493 BC) and the Persepolis Treasury archive (492-457 BC). The glyptic imagery here published concerns representations of what have been traditionally termed 'fire altars' and/or 'fire temples.' Most of this glyptic evidence has never been published; many of the structures and the scenes in which they occur are strikingly original. The goals of this study are to introduce a new corpus of visual imagery concerning religious ritual in the Achaemenid period and to explore the significance of this visual language for our understanding of ritual traditions emerging within the heart of the empire at its most critical formative period, the reign of Darius I. This study seeks also to use the Persepolitan glyptic evidence as a springboard to re-visit the most famous 'fire altar' depicted in Achaemenid art, that on the tomb relief of Darius I at Naqs-e Rostam. This study is an initial step in the development of a religious topography for the zone encompassing Persepolis and Naqs-e Rostam, both a topography on the imaginary level (through images) and a topography on the physical level (through the built space). The glyptic images assembled in this study are the most numerous, the most visually complex, and the best dated and contextualized evidence that currently exists for the study of fire in ritual, and religious ritual more broadly, in early Achaemenid Iran.

N° de réf. du vendeur 9781614910343

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: The Ritual Landscape at Persepolis
• Éditeur: Institute For The Study Of Ancient Cultures Jul 2017
• Date de parution: 2017
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 1614910340
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9781614910343
• Reliure: Taschenbuch
• État de l'article: Neu
• Dimensions: 298 L x 229 H x 0 P (en millimètres) 298 millimètres de largeur par 229 millimètres de hauteur par 0 millimètres de profondeur
• Poids: 1790 grammes

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

There are, perhaps, no more contentious issues within the study of Achaemenid Persia than those surrounding its religion(s) and religious iconography. Owing to the role that fire plays in Zoroastrian beliefs in later periods in Iran, almost any discussion of the subject of Achaemenid religion will eventually turn to the identification of sacred fire, fire temples, fire worship, and fire altars in the archaeological, epigraphic, and literary records.

The focus of this book is a corpus of glyptic imagery preserved as impressions on two large archives of administrative tablets from Persepolis, the Persepolis Fortification archive (509 493 BC) and the Persepolis Treasury archive (492 457 BC). The glyptic imagery here published concerns representations of what have been traditionally termed fire altars and/or fire temples. Most of this glyptic evidence has never been published; many of the structures and the scenes in which they occur are strikingly original.

The goals of this study are to introduce a new corpus of visual imagery concerning religious ritual in the Achaemenid period and to explore the significance of this visual language for our understanding of ritual traditions emerging within the heart of the empire at its most critical formative period, the reign of Darius I.