مجله هنر و تمدن شرق
پیاپی 30 (زمستان 1399)

Being given such a high position in Iran and India, Mitra (commonly known as Mehr), the god of the sun, friendship, and energy, attained an elevated position in Rome over the centuries after its journey from Persian Empire. Possessing a total of attributes, assisting real patriots and warriors in wars, fighting with the demon of evils, being the god of promise, holding vast lands, a symbol of grace in human, plants, and animals, this deity used to be dominant in the West and East over the centuries, being worshipped and sanctified. Solar deities existed in all world’s nations and peoples and were glorified as the symbol and source of the continuing existence of the universe. These deities have often been superior to other gods in a variety of nations including Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Greeks and Romans, the Chinese and the Japanese, Indonesians, American indigenous tribes, aborigines of Australia, and African people who have been aware of their utmost importance. Aton and Rae in ancient Egypt, Apollo, Helios and Sol in Greece and Rome, Mitra and Surya in Iran and India as well as other deities of the sun in the West and East represent signs and symbols in different cultures and arts.

Arthur Pope was one of the greatest scholars who introduced Persian culture and architecture to the world. This study aims to study the writing of Arthur Pope in his famous book entitled “A Survey of Persian Art”. This book is one of the most important encyclopedias of Persian art before and after Islam and the most detailed and authoritative reference book on the history of Iranian art. This book is the richest resource of Persian art with the illustrations in which it has been published. In 1926, Pope began writing A Survey of Persian Art for the first time, after the first congress in Philadelphia, shortly after his return to the United States. In his research, he introduced any building using an image; Like the method that archaeologists use to present the results of their excavations. Pope’s view of the history of Persian architectural art is positivist, influenced by the teachings of Kant’s philosophy and the modern view of history. Relying on different types of resources, focusing on political and diplomatic history, this approach deals with the classification of documents, and with an empirical perspective, pays attention to objective spaces. The results indicated that the sub-criteria of Persian art that according to Pope, are effective in regulating the spatial system of Iranian architecture are: continuity, abstraction, symbolism, clarity and accuracy, social and traditional character of Iranian art history and the relationship and impact of Persian architecture and other civilizations and their influence on each other.

AbstractCoins are illustrative and credible sources of ancient times whose study can shed light on the darker parts of history. Coins had security, commercial, and media role in the past. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that enhance and threaten the security functions of the Achaemenids period coins (559-330 BC) using a historical research method and a descriptive-analytical writing approach, library sources, and museum archives and documents. Trade and trading tools have always been one of the most important components of a society’s social life. The present study attempts to investigate this aspect of socio-economic history by proposing the hypothesis the political and economic factors can affect the Achaemenid coin security functions. The findings indicated that the Achaemenid coins have to be reinforced by Darius’s efforts to pay attention to economic (royal road), administrative (Divine Road), and political management practices (Satrapies). The threatening effects of the Achaemenid coins must also be found in the political, social, and economic mismanagement of Darius’s successors, such as the policy of gold coinage in the Peloponnesian Wars, the recruitment of mercenary soldiers, corruption of the court, the rise of the Satraps, and the increase in interest rates and taxes.

AbstractBecause of the entry of foreign patterns to the jewelry market, the need to produce artworks with a cultural burden and an emphasis on the identity of Iranian women is felt more than ever. Choosing Shahnameh composed by Ferdowsi can be a good source of inspiration. This study focuses on Rudaba, one of the women of Shahnameh, who has the most descriptions in this book.This study was shaped based on the two main question1)how mythical character of Rudaba can be applied for designing jewelry, and how can storytelling approach be used for designing jewelry. Therefore, This study aimed to design jewelry for contemporary Iranian women based on an Iranian mythical woman (Rudaba) to introduce this archetype.In the storytelling approach, the focus is not on the function of a product but on its message. This study comprised two phases: In the first phase, mythology research was carried out and the story related to the selected character was narrated. To this purpose, first, women in Shahnameh were studied and the priority was given to the most widely described characters. Then, the symbols were selected and the stories were narrated using the classic framework and the second phase included ethnography and evaluation. This phase included identifying common patterns, developing a mood board, defining four stories for consumers and designing based on the stories and mood board, and finally requesting users to evaluate the designs and selecting the top four designs). Evaluating the artworks by users through rating showed that the designed jewelry can be used for introducing mythical patterns to a contemporary woman. The proper use of symbols in the designing and attention to the consumers’ perceptions of the forms is important in evoking the concept of a symbol. Through storytelling, the ancient and mythical Iranian female symbols can be used in developing appropriate and desirable designs for contemporary Iranian women.

AbstractThis article studies the approach applied by the architects of the contemporary Islamic world to design and build mosques in different parts of the world. In this research, five contemporary mosques, built from 1968 to 2019, were selected and analyzed to figure out to what extent contemporary architects have used traditional architectural styles, their creativity or contemporary art forms to design mosques, and in case of putting aside traditional practices, what new ideas they applied to maintain the social and spiritual functions of mosques. In this research, the design method of the Jundishapur Mosque in Ahvaz, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, the Marashi Mosque in Egypt, the Cologne Central Mosque, the Valiasr Mosque in Tehran was studied. The architect’s approach and the designer’s suggestions to replace old methods with new ones and whether it succeeded to fulfill the visual and spiritual functions of the mosque based on the requirements of Islamic mosque design were investigated for each of the case studies. The research data was collected through bibliographical and field studies and was examined using a descriptive-analytical method.

Abstract“Abbas Kiarostami” is the best-known figure in Iranian cinema on the international stage and he has received numerous awards from prestigious festivals and film organizations throughout the world. As a leading and innovative filmmaker, Kiarostami, in his documentaries and feature films, specially produced in the 80s and 90s, seeks to show the commonalities and distinctions between the real and the fictional matter in cinema. His cinema has attained a distinguishable authorial style in the world by utilizing a new method of narration and defining a new approach in the film production cycle. Kiarostami through his work establishes that cinema can imperfectly record reality and fiction in a fusional and compositional atmosphere. Films such as “Close-up” and the “Koker trilogy”, “which includes where is the Friend’s Home”? Life and Nothing More, and Through the Olive Trees, are successful instances of Kiarostami’s conscious manipulation with the quasi-fictional narration in a documentary-like background.