Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TAXT (Seals and Sealing Practices in Sasanian Iran: New Evidence from Taxt-e Solaymān)
Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2021-08-31
The subject of this project is the publication of an extraordinary collection of 824 Sasanian clay bullae bearing almost 2,000 seal impressions and inscriptions. The collection was recovered by Dr Yousef Moradi, the Experienced Researcher of this application, at the World Heritage site of Taxt-e Solaymān (Western Azerbaijan Province of Iran), the religious complex of Ādur Gušnasp, or ‘Fire of the Warriors’, in 2002–2008 during seven seasons of excavations conducted under the auspices of the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization (ICHO). While most other Sasanian seals and sealings currently known are unprovenanced, the significance of this collection lies in the fact that it was recovered in a controlled archaeological excavation, with a specific provenance of the bullae. TAXT will produce the publication, both online and in print, of these bullae, and detailed studies of the seal impressions, including images and inscriptions, on the obverse. It will also provide a study of the impressions on the back-sides, or reverses, of the bullae. The reverses have small holes for the cord, and display cord marks and accidental traces of thumb and fingerprints of the persons handling the bullae when impressing the seals into the soft clay and when attaching the bullae to the objects which they were sealing. Moreover, there are imprints of the objects to which the bullae were attached, indicating that the objects were made of leather, grained parchment, and other materials. Coming from one of the three most sacred Zoroastrian fire temples of the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE), TAXT will reveal unprecedented insights into the economic role of this Zoroastrian fire temple and its priesthood, generating findings that will be of interest to scholars from a variety of disciplines, including linguistics, history, religious studies, art history, and archaeology.
Within the project, we have created a comprehensive 157-page descriptive printed cata-logue of the 824 bullae (inv. nos. 7767–11067) and a library has been created of ca. 4000 high-resolution digital photographs of 32MB raw format files each of both the obverse and reverse of each bulla and seal impression. They have all been photographed by a pro-fessional photographer using the technique of macro photography and producing images greater than life size by extreme close-up photography.
Results of the research have been exploited and disseminated in several conference presentations and the publication of one article, with a second one scheduled to appear at the end of 2021 and a third article currently being under preparation. Conference presenta-tions include: 12 Sept. 2019 in Berlin (Germany), 19 February 2020 in Tokyo (Japan), 21 February 2020 in Kyoto (Japan), see the details below and in the attached images.
The work carried out during the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship resulted in new research material, the amount and interest of which far exceeded expectations, and in the new research themes to be investigated. The study of the inscriptions and iconogra-phy have enriched our knowledge of the ties between religion and state as well as the con-cept of royal gift-giving within the context of Zoroastrian pilgrimage. Textual sources in-dicate that from at least the 5th century it became customary that after ascending to the Sasanian throne, the newly crowned king made a pilgrimage from Ctesiphon, the site of coronation, to the fire temple of Ādur Gušnasp. On that and other occasions, e.g. before departing for a military campaign and following a victory, the king would bestow lavish and extravagant royal gifts upon the fire temple as gift-giving was integral to the king’s pilgrimage rituals. Fundamental procedures governed the acceptance, classification, re-cording, retention and disposal of gifts and booties received by the fire temple from the royal court. The objects were safely packaged in bags and boxes, and the packages were probably accompanied by a list recording the items they contained. Packages and related documents were sealed by the royal court, as a guarantee of authenticity before being of-fered to the fire temple. Bullae bearing the impressions of royal seals were attached to a document or a commodity sent by the royal court to the fire temple of Ādur Gušnasp. Such bullae testify to the strong devotion of the royal court to the Zoroastrian priesthood and to the fire temple by paying tribute to the sanctuary.
We disseminated results of the project as follows:
13 September 2019
https://multimediayasna.wixsite.com/muya/single-post/2019/09/26/ecis-9-conference-muya-panel(opens in new window)
Prof. Almut Hintze read a joint paper prepared with Dr. Yousef Moradi titled ‘A collec-tion of Sasanian clay bullae found in Takt-e Solaymān: an interim report’ at the Ninth Eu-ropean Conference of Iranian Studies (ECIS 9) which was held at the Freie Universität Berlin from the 9th-13th September 2019
12 February 2020
https://www.soas.ac.uk/news/newsitem146101.html(opens in new window)
Marie Curie postdoctoral Fellow Dr Yousef Moradi will be giving two talks in Japan later this month. The first, 'Rediscovering Sarab-e Murt and its Relation to the Town of Hol-wan', will take place during the Sasanian Cities conference at the University of Tokyo on the 19th February 2020. He will then give a talk, 'Takht-e Solayman in the Light of Ar-chaeological Excavations: Report of Seasons 2002-2008', at Kyoto University on the 21st February 2020.
9 February 2021
https://www.biblioiranica.info/persia-552-bce-758-ce-primary-sources-old-and-new/(opens in new window)
Moradi, Y. and A. Hintze. 2020. “A New Sealing of Pērōz from Taḵt-e Solaymān and its Historical Context”, Res Orientales, 28: 113-136.
Moradi, Y. and A. Hintze. 2021. “The Seal of Ādur Gušnasp at Taḵt-e Solaymān and Some Other New Sealings Relating to the Ritual Fire”, Res Orientales, 29, forthcoming.
Results of the research have been exploited and disseminated in several conference presentations and the publication of one article, with a second one scheduled to appear at the end of 2021 and a third article currently being under preparation. Conference presenta-tions include: 12 Sept. 2019 in Berlin (Germany), 19 February 2020 in Tokyo (Japan), 21 February 2020 in Kyoto (Japan), see the details below and in the attached images.
The work carried out during the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship resulted in new research material, the amount and interest of which far exceeded expectations, and in the new research themes to be investigated. The study of the inscriptions and iconogra-phy have enriched our knowledge of the ties between religion and state as well as the con-cept of royal gift-giving within the context of Zoroastrian pilgrimage. Textual sources in-dicate that from at least the 5th century it became customary that after ascending to the Sasanian throne, the newly crowned king made a pilgrimage from Ctesiphon, the site of coronation, to the fire temple of Ādur Gušnasp. On that and other occasions, e.g. before departing for a military campaign and following a victory, the king would bestow lavish and extravagant royal gifts upon the fire temple as gift-giving was integral to the king’s pilgrimage rituals. Fundamental procedures governed the acceptance, classification, re-cording, retention and disposal of gifts and booties received by the fire temple from the royal court. The objects were safely packaged in bags and boxes, and the packages were probably accompanied by a list recording the items they contained. Packages and related documents were sealed by the royal court, as a guarantee of authenticity before being of-fered to the fire temple. Bullae bearing the impressions of royal seals were attached to a document or a commodity sent by the royal court to the fire temple of Ādur Gušnasp. Such bullae testify to the strong devotion of the royal court to the Zoroastrian priesthood and to the fire temple by paying tribute to the sanctuary.
We disseminated results of the project as follows:
13 September 2019
https://multimediayasna.wixsite.com/muya/single-post/2019/09/26/ecis-9-conference-muya-panel(opens in new window)
Prof. Almut Hintze read a joint paper prepared with Dr. Yousef Moradi titled ‘A collec-tion of Sasanian clay bullae found in Takt-e Solaymān: an interim report’ at the Ninth Eu-ropean Conference of Iranian Studies (ECIS 9) which was held at the Freie Universität Berlin from the 9th-13th September 2019
12 February 2020
https://www.soas.ac.uk/news/newsitem146101.html(opens in new window)
Marie Curie postdoctoral Fellow Dr Yousef Moradi will be giving two talks in Japan later this month. The first, 'Rediscovering Sarab-e Murt and its Relation to the Town of Hol-wan', will take place during the Sasanian Cities conference at the University of Tokyo on the 19th February 2020. He will then give a talk, 'Takht-e Solayman in the Light of Ar-chaeological Excavations: Report of Seasons 2002-2008', at Kyoto University on the 21st February 2020.
9 February 2021
https://www.biblioiranica.info/persia-552-bce-758-ce-primary-sources-old-and-new/(opens in new window)
Moradi, Y. and A. Hintze. 2020. “A New Sealing of Pērōz from Taḵt-e Solaymān and its Historical Context”, Res Orientales, 28: 113-136.
Moradi, Y. and A. Hintze. 2021. “The Seal of Ādur Gušnasp at Taḵt-e Solaymān and Some Other New Sealings Relating to the Ritual Fire”, Res Orientales, 29, forthcoming.
The project has produced a set of images of unprecedented quality of the bullae. The arti-cle by Moradi and Hintze 2020 illustrates the quality of the visual presentation of the bul-lae. This goes far beyond any of the images published so far of other bullae.
The project has gone beyond the state of the art by providing fresh sigillographic evi-dence, for the first time, on the involvement of Jewish and Christian communities with the economic and administrative structure of one of the most important Zoroastrian fire tem-ples in Sasanian Iran.
The project also has provided evidence for the cultural interaction between the Graeco-Roman world and the Iranian world. There are bullae in the collection suggesting that the Sasanians not only used themes of their own cultural sphere but also that they appreciated foreign iconographies. Several studies have addressed the cultural interaction between the Graeco-Roman world and the Iranian world as manifested in engineering works, such as bridges and buildings, in medicine, and in art, including rock reliefs, mosaics, silverware, and textiles. All these achievements concern the social elite, in particular princes and the nobility. Interaction of the Sasanians with the Graeco-Roman world has received much less, if any, attention in the minor arts such as glyptics. The latter, however, are of particu-lar interest because seals were used not only by the upper class but by members of all so-cial levels of society. They could thus provide rare insights into the imagery used by low-er social classes.
The project has gone beyond the state of the art by providing fresh sigillographic evi-dence, for the first time, on the involvement of Jewish and Christian communities with the economic and administrative structure of one of the most important Zoroastrian fire tem-ples in Sasanian Iran.
The project also has provided evidence for the cultural interaction between the Graeco-Roman world and the Iranian world. There are bullae in the collection suggesting that the Sasanians not only used themes of their own cultural sphere but also that they appreciated foreign iconographies. Several studies have addressed the cultural interaction between the Graeco-Roman world and the Iranian world as manifested in engineering works, such as bridges and buildings, in medicine, and in art, including rock reliefs, mosaics, silverware, and textiles. All these achievements concern the social elite, in particular princes and the nobility. Interaction of the Sasanians with the Graeco-Roman world has received much less, if any, attention in the minor arts such as glyptics. The latter, however, are of particu-lar interest because seals were used not only by the upper class but by members of all so-cial levels of society. They could thus provide rare insights into the imagery used by low-er social classes.