Showing posts with label Achaemenid Persia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Achaemenid Persia. Show all posts

Monday, May 6, 2024

Camels from Persepolis

 Salvete Omnes,

on the theme of camels in historic iconography - another does of the Iranian-Persian camel iconography - this time from the ancient Persian Achaemenid Empire -  from their imperial palace complex at Persepolis, one of the official capitals of the empire.

 





Persepolis - the powerful Apadana imagery provides us with the examples of camels - both dromedary and bactrian - led by various delegations.



Here, the delegations from Parthia, Aria, Arachosia, Arabia and Bactria lead camels in tribute to their King of Kings.






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enjoy

Valete

Monday, April 8, 2024

Alexander sarcophagus in the Istanbul Archaeological Museums - short side & the battle of Issus

 Salvete Omnes,



the short sides of the sarcophagus contain two battle scenes - here I will share with you the photos form Wiki Commons of the battle of Issus (eg prof. Nicolas Sekunda's The Persian Army - book published by Osprey Military Publishing)















beautiful sculptures to study, copy and interpret - link to Wiki in my previous post
enjoy

Valete

Alexander sarcophagus in the Istanbul Archaeological Museums

 Slavete Omnes,



the great Istanbul museum has this amazing piece of ancient  Greek funerary art -  The Sarcophagus of Alexander - from Sidon in the ancient and beautiful land of Lebanon. 
this is the first of my post showing this sarcophagus - and thanks to the photographers and museum policies in Turkiye we can enjoy almost every detail of this amazing sculptural work. 






the top of the sarcophagus ..





more to follow 

Enjoy
Valete

Monday, March 20, 2023

Happy Nowruz 2023

 Salvete Omnes,

 


today is Nowruz, the ancient Zoroastrian holiday of the new year, also celebrated by the pagan Slavic peoples as Jare Gody.

Persepolis Bull (Moon, Winter) vs Lion (Spring, Sun)






ps
and a little beauty of a horse from our Polish maestro Tadeusz Ajdukiewicz for this New Year
This painting is supposedly titled A Turkish Courtyard - showing a groom with a saddled beautiful chestnut horse (Polish name:  cisek, cisawy, & kasztan)  - from Artnet or Mutual art,



Valete

Saturday, April 30, 2022

Achaemenid horsemen from Troad - Can Sarcophagus


 Salvete Omnes,

Brave Ukrainians are defending themselves from the Russian invasion, Gods speed - but there must be peace again, the war must stop and Ukraine returned to status quo ante, with reparations and compensation from the Russian government. 

....




let us canter across the Mediterranean Sea to Anatolia, or Asian part of  Republic of Turkey, where in Troad, near Canakkale, there is a grouping of ancient Persian tombs including surviving sarcophagi from the Achaemenid Imperial era. One of such tombs is  the 'Can Sarcophagus.' It was discovered circa 1998, and is dated the beginning of the IV century B.C. There was a 22-27 years old male buried in the tumulus( based on the osteological analysis). The subject matter is hunt and war - all on horseback, perhaps the most favorite activity of the Achaemenid Empire warrior.

 






On Academia there are certainly good articles to familiarize oneself with the topic - these Persian horsemen and their adversaries and prey. 
eg the discovery,  on the Mysians, or even on the Persian (Achaemenid) armor.  So enjoy the reading while some of the images are attache to the post to whet your appetite for reading more about it.


 



Valete