Archaeology of Near East - archaeology of Ancient Iran 2800-PO-BWI

The above-mentioned thematic blocks are:
- Inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia in the Iranian highlands during the Uruk culture?
The beginnings of Mesopotamian contacts with neighboring Suziana date back to 5,000. B.C.E. They intensified in the IV millennium, when we observe so-called Uruk expansion in nearby and remote regions. The new chronological findings suggest that, contrary to what was previously thought, in relation to Iran, we should use the term "Suza expansion" instead of "Uruk expansion". Soon the Proto-Elamite culture emerged in Iran characterized by the development of urban centers, the use of writing, seals and the development of commercial contacts. The genesis and causes of the decline of Proto-Elamite culture will be one of the topics discussed during the classes.

- Intercultural relations between eastern and southern Iran and the Oxsus culture.
Discovery of the Late Bronze sites of the so-called "Bactrian-Margiana archaeological complex (= BMAC) in today's Turkmenistan, in the region of antiquity called Margiana, and in southern Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and in northern Afghanistan, i.e. in ancient Bactria, showed in a completely new light the relationship between these areas and Iran. The discovery of the Jiroft culture in southern Iran and the clear presence of monuments of this culture in the BMAC sites and at the same time BMAC monuments in southern Iran prompts a new interpretation of the nature of the contacts linking these regions.

- On the open air and in the city temple. Gate to the sacred grove and portraits of the dead. Elamite religion and Elamite funeral customs.

- A time of great changes. Early Iron Age. Kingdom of Urartu. Mannai, Medes.
In the second half of the II millennium B.C.E. in western Iran an entirely new culture is emerging with links to the Late Bronze culture of northeastern Iran. Centuries later, the kingdom of Urartu in eastern Anatolia and the neighboring kingdom of Mannai in northeastern Iran and the kingdom of the Medes in western Iran will emerge. The course will analyze the various stages of the rise and fall of these political entities, using written and archaeological sources.

- In the court of the Persian king. Thanks to relatively numerous texts, both local and external, the remnants of court architecture and art, we can look into the royal bedroom, living room, take part in the audience and learn about the management mechanisms of a huge empire stretching from the Syr Daria, the Indus Valley in the east to Egypt and Libya in west.

- What happened to the Iranian culture after Alexander the great's conquests?
Until recently, the Seleucid kingdom was called the "Western" empire that imposed Greek culture on the peoples of the East. For this reason, most of the ancient Near Eastern handbooks ended with a discussion of Achaemenid rule or the conquests and death of Alexander the Great. From the late 1970s, the awareness of the continuity of Mesopotamian culture during the Seleucid period, including monarchical traditions, has become more and more common among researchers of the Near and Middle East. Cultural and political continuity was arguably even stronger in Iran.

- Great revival. Parthians (3rd century BC - 3rd century AD), Greek-Bactrian kingdom and Sasanides (III-VIII century AD). The internal and external troubles that ended the Seleucid Empire in the middle of the 3rd century BC contributed to the emergence of what scientists call the crisis of the transition of power. This crisis ended the Seleucid rule over the East when the satraps of the Parthia and Bactria declared their independence. While in the Greek-Bactrian kingdom the Hellenistic traditions survived until the end of the Kushan rule, in Iran the Parthian rule is a return to the Iranian traditions. The period of the reign of the Sasanians is the time of economic and civilization splendor of the Iranian lands. The heritage of Sassanian Iran is also found in medieval Europe.