درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

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.

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.  

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.

Middle Persian Private Inscriptions in the Sasanian and Post-Sasanian Period: Funerary and Memorial Inscriptions, Cyrus Nasrollahzadeh, Tehran, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, 2019, 2 vol. (vol. 1: Text. vol. 2: Picture), 340 + 272 pp, ISBN: 978-964-426-998-1; Vol 1: 978-964-426-996-7; Vol 2: 978-964-426-997-4.