From the Armenian Highland to Iran

This volume, the 4th of Serie Orientale Roma n.s., presents the work of archaeologist Roberto Dan, ISMEO member and long-term collaborator of CNR-ICEVO (now CNR-ISMA), who has participated for several years in archaeological missions in Armenia and Iran. In particular, the 2013 Mission in Armenia directed by him may be added to the list of archaeo- logical expeditions that the new ISMEO (continuing the legacy of IsIAO) has conducted in recent years in Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan and Thailand. The work formed part of the PRIN 2009 Project (2009JHSEE7) “Sedi del potere, comunicazione politica e società nell’Iran achemenide: ricerche e studi archeologici ed epigrafici”, directed at L’Orientale University by Adri- ano V. Rossi, and is fruit of the Author’s personal research in recent years. The Author’s perspective is that of a specialist in South Caucasus cul- tures and in particular in the archaeology and history of Urartu; he offers a systematic and detailed analysis of the vexed question of the origins and development of the eclectic art of the Achaemenid Empire, a most interest- ing topic, to date mostly treated by specialists of ancient Iran in a superficial way. Those who in the past have written of the alleged Urartian-Iranian koinè, on the basis of an approximate knowledge of Urartian archaeology, have contributed to the creation of assumptions which – although mostly erroneous or unsupported by archaeological evidence – have proven sur- prisingly resistant over time. Geographically, the question examined concerns an extensive territory, especially – as the title of the book makes clear – the Armenian and Iranian uplands. Historically, the period investigated is that between the progres- sive dissolution of the Urartian political system during the second half of the 7th century BC, and the gradual formation of the Achaemenid Empire in the years before the enthronement of Cyrus II the Great, i.e. mid-6th century BC. In this obscure epoch the almost total absence of written documents, as frequently happens during such periods of the dissolution and renewal of ancient political systems, renders impossible a detailed analysis of the pos- sible dynamics of the relationship between these two political entities. In this study, the Author outlines a varied picture of the cultural land- scape in the centuries prior to the beginning of the Achaemenid civiliza- tion, and shows that Urartu played no special role in the formation and the definition of Achaemenid art, but was only one source of influence among many….