the round city of ardeshir khwarah, with its concentric layout, can be considered as the first city which established by the founder of the sasanian dynasty as a symbol of the sasanian royal ideology. ardeshir khwarah plays a key role in establishment of sasanian sovereignty and urban planning. however, a little is known about the history of the city. it seems even stranger if we consider the r...

abstract         sasanian dynasty, who governed as the last and the most glorious dynasty before islam in iran, has had an important role in enrichment of sasanian silver works and we owe the majority of silver works to this era. metalwork is one of the oldest arts iniranian civilization. the prominent metalwork crafts‚ left from different ages‚ acknowledge this fact. the art of this era has di...

this paper studies two ancient seasonal festivals which were celebrated on summer and winter solstices. because of misconceptions regarding sasanian calendar, these two festivals, known as ābrīzgān and āḍarjašn, have remained unnoticed in modern researches. a sound interpretation of the old iranian calendar as described by biruni would uncover the true character of these festivals. this paper d...

This article analyzes the scene of Sasanian king combating a lion in two rock reliefs. Most Bas-reliefs belong to first 150 years dynasty and most are located modern Fars province. The reliefs typically depict king’s investiture by deity (who is usually Ahurā Mazdā, but, some reliefs, Mithra or Anāhitā), with courtiers, his family, at war, triumph over enemies, fighting hunting wild animals. Tw...

hyrcania (gorgan) has long attracted men of power due to its strategic and economic location. according to historical evidence, the iranian governments before the sassanid dynasty, attempted to dominate the region in order to consolidate their power. the sassanid dynasty, following the same policy of the former dynasties, not only established an important military base there but also constructe...

In this paper, we are discussing the effect of the use of magnetic compasses on the orientation of ancient Chinese architectonical complexes. As Czech researchers proposed in 2011, assuming these complexes ideally oriented by the ancient architects along north-south direction, in the case that the surveys were made by means of magnetic compasses, we can find the axes of the complexes deviating ...