Analytic View to Symbolic Designs and Religious Symbols in Achaemenid Art

Although many things about Achaemenids’ religion are vague and not clear, the evidences we have at hand show that, like other era in the Middle East, religion and religious traditions have played an important role in people’s life in this era too. As objects remained from this period show, lots of Achaemenids’ reliefs were symbolic and undeniably related to religious concepts and believes. On the other hand, since many of these reliefs have been common among other people in Near East and have clearly had a religious theme in pre Achaemenid period, it is supposed that their reappearance in Achaemenid period in a new form is related to their Mazdaism believes. The most important religious and symbolic reliefs looked at in this paper are: Winged disc, Sun, Moon, Star, Fire altar and Barsam.