درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

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.

Emphasis on the importance of social-political fabric and its effect on the urbanization and economic system that are aspects of urbanization life is one of the necessities during the Achaemenid Period. This study was conducted based on the deductive-inductive method. First, written sources (clay inscription of Persepolis and classic authors) have been used to achieve general information about the social-political fabric of Fars during Achaemenid Period then archeological evidence remained from the economic system of Achaemenid period in Central Fars was analyzed within this framework. No coin, including Shahi or so-called Satrapy, has been discovered from archaeological excavations in Iran, even. It seems that Achaemenid Empire had no plan for monetary economic development, and coin promotion and use in transactions despite its wide territory and regular discipline. On the contrary, it seems that Darius and his successors considered coin as a political instrument used to convey and show the message of the political and military power of the Achaemenid king at that ear not as a tool for the economic system. Therefore, studies focused on clay inscriptions of Persepolis and evaluated works of authors indicate that the sociopolitical fabric of Iranian society, especially Fars has been traditional and based on agriculture and husbandry during Achaemenid Era. As we know, the city was not shaped during the Achaemenid period despite the presence of urban structures, such as social sophistication, specialism, and the modern administrative system of the ear; therefore, coin use was not institutionalized in the economy of that era.

Most modern scholars consider the Book of Esther to be a kind of historical novel; hence, the historicity of many of its characters and events is highly debatable. While the present study does not intend to defend the historicity of the book, it does review it again by using sources that have received less attention in this regard. That the Book of Esther has a lot of Persian realia in it is not news, but most scholars have debated its historical value by comparing the book with classical sources. However, the present article aims to show how a significant part of the historical material of the Book of Esther is in line with evidence that if not all, but most of the classical sources are unaware of, and accepting this fact means that the author of the Masoretic Esther had direct or indirect access to sources associated with the Persian state. In order to prove this issue, using the descriptive-analytical method based on library studies, the primary focus of this article has been on sources other than the Greek ones, mainly Achaemenian royal inscriptions, and economic and legal documents found in different parts of the Persian Empire.

Light and color are effective factors in the creation of works of art, which, as the most immaterial element of nature, have always been influential in Iranian Islamic painting, and in fact, they represent the sublime world and spiritual atmosphere Also, the research about light and color in painting and its impact on painters and its contribution to the scope of expressing the influence of mysticism in the whole Islamic culture and art is at the starting point certainly knowing and understanding the three words mysticism, light and color and finding their meaning and meaning in a symbolic way is not only effective in better understanding Iranian and Islamic painting, but also our insight in understanding the Islamic ideas that are rooted in mysticism and Sufism and It also makes the behavior smoother. Colors have a chemical aspect in art, and mixing them is an art similar to alchemy. The main concern of this research, which is presented in an analytical way, is aesthetics and investigating the mystical aspects of paintings and motifs in Islamic civilization in Iranian art and architecture. It seems that Islamic art and architecture tries to manifest God's unity among colors, forms, lights, and sounds. Each color has a special allegory and a relationship with one of the inner states of man and soul. Color is an important factor for spiritual use in the painting effects of Islamic architecture. Mosques in the Islamic world usually use turquoise green and blue colors. Blue and turquoise colors are the main background colors of walls, tiles, altars, domes, and courtyards and along with the golden color in Iranian Islamic paintings, among other colors, they have a special shine and effect. These colors are manifestations of the inner meanings of colors. The colors of turquoise, green and white, which are symbols of nature's sky and divine light, respectively, are mixed together and add to the majesty of the mosques. The colors that result from the radiation of light are a symbol of the manifestation of unity in multiplicity and the dependence of multiplicity on unity. The reflection of the existence of colors in Iranian art shows an extraterrestrial truth outside the world of the senses, rather than imitating the surrounding natural colors. Vigilance and accurate insight in the arrangement of colors and the correct selection of each color refers to a symbolic concept of colors and their mutual effects that permeate the human soul and spirit.