PREHISTORIC IRAN LONG before the great plateau was called Iran, it was well popuJ lated. Obsidian flakes have been found under the alluvial deposits from the last glacial period, while men of the late Stone Age left their crude flint implements in the open. By the fifth pre-Christian millennium, numerous tiny hamlets sheltered a peaceful […]
When Cyrus entered Babylon in 539 B.C.} the world was old. More significant, the world knew its antiquity. Its scholars had compiled long dynastic lists, and simple addition appeared to prove that kings whose monuments were still visible had ruled more than four millenniums before. Yet earlier were other monarchs, sons of gods and so
the second part of Âsâr-i ‘Ajam Fursat devotes the second part of Âsâr-i ‘Ajam to the city of Shiraz, his hometown. He returns there between travels and compares the city to the small towns he stays in during his voyages. Shiraz is a center of knowledge for the entire region and beyond, inhabited by friends
Fursat’s observations of Âsâr-i ‘Ajam The narrative of Âsâr-i ‘Ajam proceeds by diversions and detours that correspond to Fursat’s travels. To expand and clarify findings, Fursat subsequently interspersed the travelogues with chapters written once he returned from his journeys. The bulk of the information in the Âsâr-i ‘Ajam comes from Fursat’s observations, supplemented by the
Short introduction by Fursat Fursat traces the territory of Âsâr-i ‘Ajam through a series of conceptual and geographical delimitations that identify the object of the book, extracting it from larger regions and topics. The book opens describing Iran as “a vast country whose places had many names that changed over time and comprised Irâq, Khurn,
interest in the ancient In Iran, interest in the ancient past of the country grew during the nineteenth century. The Qajar monarchs appropriated Achaemenid or Sassanian elements into their visual culture, commissioning or carrying out excavations (Abdi 2001; Baygdilû 2001; Grigor 2007; Scarce 2006). In the same period, European philologists put Iran at the
