درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

A study of the arrow guide or nāvak in Iran. It covers the technical aspects of arrow guides and how they may have entered Iran. In Persian, arrow guides are called nāvak and their projectiles are called tīr-e nāvak. However, sometimes nāvak is used for the arrow as well, and even the bow. It also covers how outside cultures viewed Iran as a source of innovation in the further development of these devices. In Arabic they are called majrā and this is the term most familiar in the west due to two important translations of Arabic archery manuals into English, Arab Archery and Saracen Archery, but they were mentioned earlier as nāvak in an English translation of part of the Hidāyat ar-Rāmī, where they were mistakenly described as crossbows. Essentially, an arrow guide is a partially closed tube used with a bow to shoot a short arrow drawn much farther than its length would normally allow. This produces a projectile that has increased velocity and less friction through the air than a regular arrow. The arrow guide has had a long history in Iran, probably entering in the last years of the Sasanian Dynasty, surviving the Arab conquest and persisting until the gradual takeover by firearms. It was fertile ground for invention with many variations being spread across the Islamic world. The persistent association with Iran in Arabic archery manuals reflects the perception that much of its development was tied to Persian users. Here, Persian and Arabic sources are examined. Reference is made to original artefacts and reconstructions.

The wave scroll motif is among the designs that, nowadays, are mainly seen in rural and nomadic carpets in a wide geographical area, from Central Asia to Anatolia and the Caucasus, as well as Iran. Historically, this motif originates from Hellenistic art and is still used in oriental carpets today. The purpose of this article is to find out how and the possible time of the arrival of this pattern from Greek art to Iranian carpets using archaeological evidence, including old museum carpets. Using valuable motifs of Sassanian Carpets, this article tracks the transfer of this motif from the Hellenic-Byzantine civilization to the art of pre-Islamic Iran and in various artistic disciplines such as pottery and textiles to clarify this motif’s long journey from pre-Islamic art to the Islamic period. This study shows that the motif was most likely known since the Seleucid period in the Persianate world, but the most evidence of it can be seen in the art of the Parthian and Sasanian periods, furthermore the findings show that this motif was used at least from late Parthian era on the border of hand-made textiles like carpets.

In archaeological finds, seals are generally considered as one of the most important data bearing important economic, political and even artistic information of relevant time periods. Moreover, the iconography of seals plays an informative role to explore the main characteristics of seals or sealing in order to better understand the social, economic or even the administrative contexts of the societies to which they belonged to. Different styles in the different space and times are known in terms of pictography that can help researchers understand the characteristics of a time period better in the absence of sufficient information. The ancient city of Susa with a rich collection of seals related to different historical-cultural periods is one of the most important ancient sites in Iran which have been used as clues to decipher or interpret that can guide researchers in the stylistics and iconology of seals from its neighboring areas. The cylindrical seal No. 1841 has been registered in the catalogue of the National Museum of Iran with an “unknown” location. The similarity of the image engraved on this seal to those found on seals obtained from Susa was the reason the author came up with this article in order to introducethe seal and specify iconography and stylistics and finally its date and origin with a comparative study. The present study tries to answer the research questions: “What style and time period can be considered for the iconography of the cylindrical seal in the National Museum?” and “Is it possible to prove that it belongs to the city of Susa according to the iconography of the image of the relevant seal?” Studies that have been conducted with the comparative method and with the approach of the image analysis, the IVA style of Susa is considered for it leading to the conclusion that this seal probably belonged to Susa itself.