Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Italy. University of Venice “Ca’ Foscari”
10.22059/jarwa.2022.333534.16
Abstract
Isolated rams or a couple of rams beside a central tree represented the most popular subject on Sasanian sphragistics. This animal could have been a religious symbol in Sasanian art especially when embellished with ribbons or a necklace. By focusing on contemporary parallels in Sogdian art and much earlier specimens in Mesopotamian art, this paper argues that the ram could be the symbolic animal of a deity associated with the planet Venus among ancient Iranian peoples. The best candidate in Sasanian Persia seems to be Anahita, the Zoroastrian goddess of water and fertility whose name is still connected to the planet Venus in modern Iran.
Keywords
Ackerman, S. (2008) Asherah, the West Semitic Goddess of Spinning and Weaving? Journal of Near Eastern Studies 67, 1: 1-30.
Baulo, A., Marshak, B. (2001) Silver Rhyton from the Khantian Sanctuary. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 3, 7: 133-141.
Begmatov, A., Berdimurodov, A., Bogomolov, G., Murakami, T., Teramura, H., Uno, T., Usami, T. (2020) New Discoveries from Kafir-kala: Coins, Sealings, and Wooden Carvings. Acta Asiatica 119, 1: 1-20.
Bivar, A. D. H. (1969) Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum. Stamp Seals, vol. I. The Sasanian Dynasty. London.
Buccellati, G. (1982) The Descent of Inanna as a Ritual Journey to Kutha? Syro-Mesopotamian Studies 4, 3: 3-22.
Callieri, P. (1990) On the Diffusion of Mithra Images in Sasanian Iran. New Evidence from a Seal in the British Museum. East and West 40, 1-4: 79-98.
Caubet, A., Bernus-Taylor, M. (1991) The Louvre. Near Eastern Antiquities. Paris.
Collon, D. (1987) First Impressions. Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East. London.
Compareti, M. (2014) Teratologia fantastica in Subcaucasia. La migrazione di motivi decorativi tra l’Iran e il Caucaso. Al crocevia delle civiltà. Ricerche su Caucaso e Asia Centrale, ed. A. Ferrari, D. Guizzo. Venezia: 11-50.
Compareti, M. (2016) Observations on the Rock Reliefs at Taq-i Bustan: A Late Sasanian Monument along the “Silk Road”. The Silk Road 14: 71-83.
Compareti, M. (2017) Nana and Tish in Sogdiana: The Adoption from Mesopotamia of a Divine Couple. Dabir 1, 4: 1-7.
Compareti, M. (2018) The Late Sasanian Figurative Capitals at Taq-i Bustan: Proposals Regarding Identification and Origins, in: Persian Art. Image-Making in Eurasia, ed. Y. Kadoi. Edinburgh: 20-36.
Compareti, M. (2020) Contributions for the Identification of the Human Bust on a Winged Disc in Iranian Arts. The Archaeology of Iran in the Historical Period, ed. K. A. Niknami, A. Hozhabri. Tehran: 425-433.
Compareti, M. (2021a) The Elusive Persian Phoenix. Simurgh and Pseudo-Simurgh in Iranian Art. Bologna.
Compareti, M. (2021b). From Sasanian Persia to the Tarim Basin: Pre-Islamic Iranian Art and Culture along the Silk Road. Roma.
Farridnejad, S. (2018) Die Sprache der Bilder: Eine Studie zur ikonographischen Exegese der anthropomorphen Götterbilder im Zoroastrismus. Wiesbaden.
Fleischer, R. (1984) Aphrodite. Lexicon Iconographicum Mithologiae Classicae II, 1. Zürich-München: 2-154.
Frye, R. (1973) Sasanian Remains from Qasr-i Abu Nasr. Seals, Sealings and Coins. Cambridge Mass.
Göbl, R. (1976) Die Tonbullen von Tacht-e Suleiman. Ein Beitrag zur spätsāsānidischen Sphragistik. Berlin.
Grenet, F. (2003). La geste d’Ardashir fils de Pabag. Kārnāmag ī Ardaxšēr ī Pābagān. Die.
Grenet, F. (2013) Some hitherto Unrecognized Mythological Figures on Sasanian Seals: Proposed Identifications. Commentationes Iranicae. Sbornik statej k 90-letiju Vladimira Aronovicha Livshica, ed. S. Tokhtas’eva, P. Lur’e. Sankt-Peterburg: 202-210.
Grenet, F. (2021) Le zoroastrisme des Sogdiens. Tadjikistan. Au pays des fleuves d’or, ed. S. Makariou. Paris: 188-191.
Gunter, A. C., Jett, P. (1992) Ancient Iranian Metalwork in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art. Washington D.C.
Gyselen, R. (1995) Les sceaucx des mages de l’Iran sassanide. Au Carrefour des religions. Mélanges offerts à Philippe Gignoux. Res Orientales VII, ed. R. Gyselen. Bur-sur-Yvette: 121-151.
Gyselen, R. (2006a) Sceau de mage. Bélier. Les Perses sassanides. Fastes d’un empire oublié (224-242), ed. F. Demange. Paris: 209.
Gyselen, R. (2006b) Sceau d;une reine du IVe siècle. Les Perses sassanides. Fastes d’un empire oublié (224-242), ed. F. Demange. Paris: 207.
Gyselen, R. (2009) Primary Sources and Historiography on the Sasanian Empire. Studia Iranica 38, 2: 163-190.
Gyselen, R. (2016) Sasanidische Siegelsteine de P. Horne et G. Steindorff revisité. Words and Symbols: Sasanian Objects and the Tabarestān Archive. Res Orientales XXIV, ed. R. Gyselen. Bur-sur-Yvette: 27-106.
Halilov, D. A., Koshkarly, K. O. (1985) Ikonografija dvuh serebrjanyh bliud iz Azerbajdzhana. Hudozhestvennye pamjatniki i problem kul’tura Vostoka, ed. V. G. Lukonin, Leningrad: 77-81.
Kröger, J. (1993) Décor en stuc. Splendeur des Sassanides. L’empire perse entre Rome et la Chine [224-642], ed. B. Overlaet. Bruxelles: 63-65.
Kröger, J. (2006) Les stucs. Les Perses sassanides. Fastes d’un empire oublié (224-242), ed. F. Demange. Paris: 51-52.
Lurje, P. (2010) Personal Names in Sogdian Texts. Wien.
Mode, M. (2003) Die Religion der Sogder im Spiegel ihrer Kunst. Die vorislamischen Religionen Mittelasiens. ed. K. Jettmar, E. Kattner. Stuttgart: 141-218.
Nikitin, A., Roth, G. (1995). A New Seventh-Century Countermark with a Sogdian Inscription. The Numismatic Chronicle 155: 277-279.
Ornan, T. (2016) Sketches and Final Works of Art: The Drawings and Wall Paintings of Kuntillet ‘Ajrud Revisited. Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University 43, 1: 3-26.
Schmidt, E. (1997) Venus. Lexicon Iconographicum Mithologiae Classicae II, 1. Zürich-Düsseldorf: 192-230.
Shavarebi, E. (2018) The Temples of Anāhīd at Estakhr (Southern Iran): Historical Documents and Archaeological Evidence. Sacralization of Landascape and Sacral Places, ed. J. Belaj, M. Belaj, S. Krznar, T. Sekelj Ivančan, T. Tkalček. Zagreb: 179-194.
Shenkar, M. (2014), Intangible Spirit and Graven Images: The Iconography of Deity in the Pre-Islamic Iranian World. Leiden-Boston.
Sinisi, F. (2017) Royal Imagery on Kushan Coins: Local Tradition and Arsacid Influences. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 60: 818-927.
', './data/archsci/coversheet/241663051009.jpg'))