Persica Antiqua

Rick Abad Tepe is located north of the Zab River in Northwest of Iran, close to the border with Iraq. The excavation at this archeological site was carried out in the summer of 2019. The materials and evidence obtained from there showed Rick Abad belonged to the Bronze Age, with some monuments not documented yet from any site in the Zab Basin. The Tamarchin passage, west of Piranshahr, connects this region to northern Mesopotamia. This research tries to respond to the following questions: What was the status of Zab Basin settlements in the Bronze Age? How was the regional and extra-regional communication with the surrounding areas? As a matter of fact, seven levels belonging to the Bronze Age were identified in the course of the excavation. In the south of Lake Urmia, Kura-Araxes potteries were less visible; however, typical black-burnished ceramics similar to those of the Kura-Araxes tradition were recovered from some sites. Surprisingly, Painted Orange Ware (POW) and beveled-rim Bowl were seen in the early Bronze Age of the Zab Basin. Furthermore, the impression of the seal from Rick Abad is remarkable as well since this type of object had an administrative function and it is a sign of economic and social activities as well as regional and extra-regional relations. The location of this region between northwest of Iran and the north of Mesopotamia (Iraqi Kurdistan) somehow turned this basin into a meeting place of various cultures. Probably these sites played a key role in trade and commerce, although, they never attained an urban status.  

The consequences of climate change could be so severe and extensive that the issue has prompted human societies to change their subsistence system and adopt strategies to deal with those challenges. In the past, droughts and the reduction in water resources caused serious problems for human societies and made it difficult for water-dependent communities to continue living in a specific region and area. In order to get out of the crisis, many communities either migrated to favorable areas or attacked other communities. In the second millennium BC, Central and West Asia witnessed large-scale human migrations and violent invasions, which apparently overlapped with climatic stresses. The extensive migration of Aryan tribes and predatory invasions of the Sea Peoples in Egypt, Levant, Anatolia, and Greece during the second half of the second millennium BC coincided with the 3.2 ka BP mega drought event. This research, with an environmental archeology approach, actually tries to warn about the unfortunate consequences of global warming, i.e. climate migrations and social tensions. Here, the reason for population displacements and attacks on civilizations in the second millennium BC has been investigated from the climatic perspective. The Paleoclimate research indicates frequent climatic events in the early Late Holocene in Central and West Asia, which probably triggered many socio-political events.

The period of Darius I Achaemenid and his son Xerxes, owning to the construction of Persepolis, is one of the most important periods of cultural exchange in the ancient world. Achaemenid satrapies operated in a regular and coordinated network from the Nile to the Indus Valley and from Oxus to the Mediterranean. At the same time, this network became efficient through the construction of ancient roads, and the roads management system defined the function of this network in the direction of control and monitoring accompanied by the regular management system on each plain. It is very important to identify the route of the royal road in the Achaemenid period from Persepolis to Susa and Sardis in Asia Minor. The author has identified an ancient site in the archaeological survey in the southwest of Iran where there are signs of Carian stonemasons in a stone torus. The identification of newly discovered evidence for the first time from this site is important and effective in understanding the relations of Persepolis with the Anatolia region and the presence of Asia Minor masons in the construction of the royal road in ancient Persia.

The Liār-Sang-Bon cemetery is located in Amlash City in Gilan province. During the field research, more than 100  pit graves, catacombs, and jar burials were identified at the cemetery. Some of these graves contained various types of ornaments. The questions which are raised in the current research are as follows: Considering the comparison of the ornaments of the Liār-Sang-Bon cemetery with similar sites, what time frame can be suggested for these data? Based on the discovered decorations, what exchanges did this area have with the surrounding areas? What is the relationship between the use of jewellery and the gender of the deceased in the tombs of Liār-Sang-Bon? It is suggested that the typology and classification of cultural finds obtained from this site and their comparison with other Iranian cultural sites, especially from the first century BC to the fourth century AD, can help us in dating the graves. 

In the 1980s, Polish researcher Maria Składankowa promoted in her publications a theory stating that the representatives of the Sistani family described in Ferdowsī's Šāh-nāma were reflections of the rainy and sunny steppe shamans. The four main representatives of this lineage were said to alternately represent these particular shamans beginning with the primordial and rainy shaman personified by Sam and ending with the solar shaman in the form of Sohrab. Another rain shaman according to Składankowa was to be Rostam. This article aims to introduce Składankowa's theory to the international research community and to subject it to verification. The battle between Rostam and White Dīv, which was the seventh trial in Rostam's cycle of seven trials, was used for verification. This is a clash between two national heroes and the circumstances of this battle blur the boundaries between what is commonly understood as good and as evil. Thus, this is an example that perfectly demonstrates Składankowa's theory of rejecting religious notions of good and evil and focusing on the primeval connection between man and nature when it was man's greatest ally and enemy. Neither Rostam nor White Dīv, according to Składankowa's theory, are therefore completely good or completely evil, like any element of nature, which can be a life-giving or destructive force. Identified with good forces, the sun warms the earth and causes vegetation but can also cause drought and the death that follows. Identified with evil forces, rain can cause floods, but without it, vegetation will die. There is no absolute good or absolute evil in nature. Nor is there one in the battling Rostam and White Dīv. Ferdusī's description of this combat in Šāh-nāma clearly goes back to this primeval myth leaving the story universal.

Adrienne Mayor’s The Poison King is a fascinating biography of Mithradates Eupator Dionysus, one of the most controversial monarchs of ancient history who has been especially neglected by scholars of Iranian history. This biography, like any other about ancient heroes, is full of tales, legends, stories, and historical narratives and its crafty author knows how to distinguish between fact and fiction. The book contains 15 chapters, in which, other than  the first, the remaining chapters are arranged based on Mithradates’ life, from his birth to his death.