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This paper aims to highlight examples of artistic motifs common throughout Egyptian history but augmented in novel ways during the 27th Dynasty, a time when Egypt was part of the Achaemenid empire and ruled by Persian kings. These kings represented themselves as traditional pharaohs within Egypt’s borders and utilized longstanding Egyptian artistic motifs in their monumental constructions. These motifs, however, were manipulated in subtle ways to send targeted messages to audience(s) of this art. Art historians tend to situate visual styles and motifs within the longue durée of artistic tradition and pick a singular, official, and centralized perspective to narrate the history and reception of that art. In the case of Egypt, this perspective is often that of the king, and there is an assumption that there was a monolithic message sent to his people. But we are not dealing with a homogenous people; a diverse population would have had varied reactions to and interpretations of this visual signaling. By highlighting both the augmentation of traditional motifs undertaken by the Achaemenid administration and the multiplicity of perspectives they held for their audience(s), we can better understand ancient art as being dynamic in function and interpretation, rather than as a static snapshot of carbon-copied royal authority.

Dasht-e-Morghab is a fertile plain situated in the Fars province of Iran. Several petroglyph sites are identified in the region, which mostly have been pounded on the stone walls of Achaemenid (c. 550-330 BCE) castles of the Pasargadae World Heritage site. Moreover, several petroglyph panels are identified on the rock outcrops in the area. The depictions consist of zoomorphs, anthropomorphs and aniconic markings. A preliminary chronology can be established according to the patination and archaeological evidence, including Historic constructions and inscriptions, which suggest that most of the depictions were probably made after the Achaemenid period.

Dasht-e-Morghab is a fertile plain situated in the Fars province of Iran. Several petroglyph sites are identified in the region, which mostly have been pounded on the stone walls of Achaemenid (c. 550-330 BCE) castles of the Pasargadae World Heritage site. Moreover, several petroglyph panels are identified on the rock outcrops in the area. The depictions consist of zoomorphs, anthropomorphs and aniconic markings. A preliminary chronology can be established according to the patination and archaeological evidence, including Historic constructions and inscriptions, which suggest that most of the depictions were probably made after the Achaemenid period.

Einige der prunkvollsten Schatze persischer Kunst befinden sich in den Archiven der Eremitage. Lange verloren geglaubt, wurden sie doch wiedergefunden, katalogisiert und werden jetzt in diesem Bildband mit einer unvergleichlichen Auswahl an Farbabbildungen vorgestellt und analysiert. In einer umfassenden Einleitung dokumentieren Wladimir Lukonin und Anatoli Iwanow die Hauptentwicklung der persischen Kunst, von der ersten Anzeichen menschlicher Zivilisation in den iranischen Steppen bis hin zum fruhen 20. Jahrhundert. Dabei wird der rote Faden der persischen Kunst, der sich konsequent uber drei Jahrtausende durch die Kunst der Region zieht und selbst durch politische und religiose Umwalzungen nicht aus der Bahn geworfen wurde, geschickt visualisiert. Der zweite Teil bietet einen Katalog von Kunstobjekten mit Beschreibungen, Fundorten und Kunstlerbiografien. Egal ob Architektur, Skulptur, Fresko- und Miniaturmalerei, Porzellanherstellung oder Tuchmalerei, egal ob der Kunstler ein einfacher Handwerker oder ein bekannter Hofmaler ist - die persische Kunst ist durchdrungen von einer Feinheit und Rafinesse, die jeden Kunstliebhaber begeistern wird.

Einige der prunkvollsten Schätze persischer Kunst befinden sich in den Archiven der Eremitage. Lange verloren geglaubt, wurden sie doch wiedergefunden, katalogisiert und werden jetzt in diesem Bildband mit einer unvergleichlichen Auswahl an Farbabbildungen vorgestellt und analysiert. In einer umfassenden Einleitung dokumentieren Wladimir Lukonin und Anatoli Iwanow die Hauptentwicklung der persischen Kunst, von der ersten Anzeichen menschlicher Zivilisation in den iranischen Steppen bis hin zum frühen 20. Jahrhundert. Dabei wird der rote Faden der persischen Kunst, der sich konsequent über drei Jahrtausende durch die Kunst der Region zieht und selbst durch politische und religiöse Umwälzungen nicht aus der Bahn geworfen wurde, geschickt visualisiert. Der zweite Teil bietet einen Katalog von Kunstobjekten mit Beschreibungen, Fundorten und Künstlerbiografien. Egal ob Architektur, Skulptur, Fresko- und Miniaturmalerei, Porzellanherstellung oder Tuchmalerei, egal ob der Künstler ein einfacher Handwerker oder ein bekannter Hofmaler ist - die persische Kunst ist durchdrungen von einer Feinheit und Rafinesse, die jeden Kunstliebhaber begeistern wird.

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction History at a Glance The Armor of Coercion: In Defense of Empire The Armature of Authority Living Under Empire: Households Beyond Palaces Dying Under Empire: Archaeology of Mortuary Practice Divine Disjuncture Conclusions and New Beginnings Guide to Further Reading

This chapter focuses on those elements of contact that relate more directly to Mesopotamia than to Syria and the Levant, and to matters that pertain more to figural representation and architecture than to other material manifestations of contact. Small‐scale ivory panels, originally part of furniture and attributed to Phoenician workshops especially during the Iron Age, were perhaps one of the most effective media of transmission of ancient Egyptian visual ideas to Western Asia. With the exception of the Predynastic Period, the material in the chapter has inevitably gravitated toward the impact of Egyptian art on the artistic traditions of Western Asia. One unique element in the reverse direction is within the domain of architecture, the so‐called Eastern High Gate at Medinet Habu from the New Kingdom. Achaemenid Persian court art looked for inspiration mainly from the two imperial artistic traditions, Egyptian and Assyrian.

An inscription carved on the interior corner of the north-west anta of the Temple of Artemis at Sardis records the obligations of a certain Mnesimachos in return for a loan of money he received from the temple funds. Unable or unwilling to pay his loan, Mnesimachos declared his decision to convey his estate to Artemis and accept the conditions of the contract. This estate, including villages, dwellings, and peasant-serfs, had been given to him by King Antigonos Monophthalmos around 300 bce. The present work attempts to focus on the sequence of events in Mnesimachos’ life and their relation to the history and architecture of this important temple. The new reading of these events as a result of the last two decades or excavations at Sardis offers us a synthetic understanding of the Hellenistic history of the city and an insight into Mnesimachos’ willingness to forgo his estate in a financial deal that ultimately tricks the goddess.

This book explores the representation of Persian monarchy and the court of the Achaemenid Great Kings from the point of view of the ancient Iranians themselves and through the sometimes distorted prism of Classical authors.

What was Judaean religion in the Persian period like? Is it necessary to use the Bible to give an answer to the question? Among other things the study argues that • the religion practiced in the 5th c. BCE Elephantine community and which is reflected in the so-called Elephantine documents represent a well-attested manifestation of lived Persian period Yahwism, • as religio-historical sources, the Elephantine documents reveal more about the actual religious practice of the Elephantine Judaeans than what the highly edited and canonised texts of the Bible reveal about the religious practice of the contemporary Yahwistic coreligionists in Judah, and • the image of the Elephantine Judaism emerging from the Elephantine documents can revise the canonised image of Judaean religion in the Persian period (cf. A. Assmann). The Elephantine Yahwism should not be interpreted within a framework dependent upon theological, conceptual and spatial concepts alien to it, such as biblical ones. The study proposes an alternative framework by approaching the Elephantine documents on the basis of N. Smart's multidimensional model of religion. Elephantine should not be exotified but brought to the very centre of any discussion of the history of Judaism.