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سال دوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 4، پاییز و زمستان 1401)

The Urartu Kingdom established a central administrative system in Eastern Anatolia for the first time in the mid-9th century BC and ruled the land for over 200 years. Therefore, the decline and fall of this kingdom is a completely fascinating subject full of unknowns and question marks. Although this process has attracted the attention of some researchers in recent times, studies in this field have been limited due to the lack of written and archaeological data. Hence, many of the answers to its fall are unclear. For example, it is unclear whether the decline started in one particular region and spread to other regions or occurred collectively. Among the other questions that need to be answered is whether the government and the royal families continued after the large fires that were observed in different strata in the Urartian centers or not. And if kings like Rusa and Sarduri - mentioned in inscription tablets - were actually from the same dynasty. The scarcity of written documents that can shed light on the death of the Urartu kingdom has forced us to study the archaeological remains to reach certain conclusions about this process.

The understanding of the early history of Achaemenid in recent studies has undergone significant changes. Recent research has emphasized the family distinction between Cyrus the Great and Darius the First, and it has become difficult to validate the traditional and contemporary reconstruction of Dar Yush's claims of kinship, which implies a dual descent from Achaemenid through Tish-Peesh. In one inscription related to Cyrus and another related to Darius. Since the inscriptions of Cyrus in Pasargad were shown to be fake, therefore, the "Achaemenid" dynasty as a descendant of Darius and the relationship between Darius and his predecessors needs a new evaluation.The understanding of the early history of Achaemenid in recent studies has undergone significant changes. Recent research has emphasized the family distinction between Cyrus the Great and Darius the First, and it has become difficult to validate the traditional and contemporary reconstruction of Dar Yush's claims of kinship, which implies a dual descent from Achaemenid through Tish-Peesh. In one inscription related to Cyrus and another related to Darius. Since the inscriptions of Cyrus in Pasargad were shown to be fake, therefore, the "Achaemenid" dynasty as a descendant of Darius and the relationship between Darius and his predecessors needs a new evaluation.

The most important contribution to the subject of Urartian archeology is the publication of a preliminary report on the excavations at Karmirblur in 1950. This report (Karmir Blur, I) is short and on 97 pages with 16 illustrations and 64 figures prepared by Piotrovsky (Akademii Nauk Armyanskoy S.S.R., Erivan, 1950). Its importance lies in the fact that, firstly, it is the first scientific and controlled exploration that has been carried out in the Urartian territory, and secondly, the objects and items discovered have been described in terms of their nature. The accuracy considered in the excavation has increased its importance. As other copies of this report outside the "Iron Curtain" must be very rare, we have thought fit to provide an illustrated summary for the benefit of Western scholars. This book may also be a bit compressed.

The 1967 excavation campaign at Noushjan, about eleven kilometers northwest of Malair and sixty-nine kilometers southeast of Hamedan, was described by Mr. David Stronach in his article for the Metropolitan Museum Bulletin. Continued in more detail in No. 1969 (Iran. 2) On the last day of the season, a hoard of silver objects was discovered in a bronze bowl buried below the floor level at the base of the ramp to the east. The building or castle of this structure has been attributed by excavation to the Noushijan I phase, related to the period of the kingdom of the Medes in the 7th century BC. These discoveries by him seem to be related to 600 BC, which is fully confirmed by the current investigation of this matter. More than 200 silver objects were found in the bowl, some of them in the form of jewelry, including an earring and several double and quadruple spiral beads. These explorations should be discussed elsewhere by Mr. Stronach. This article examines that these items are not intended for personal adornment or jewelry making, but rather because of their valuable content, they are considered as the most ancient money.

At the beginning of the Achaemenid period, the institution of slavery was still poorly developed in Iran. In Media a custom existed whereby a poor man could place himself at the disposal of a rich person if the latter agreed to feed him. The position of such a man was similar to that of a slave. However, he could at any time leave his master if he was poorly fed (see I. M. D’yakonov [Diakonoff], Istoriya Midii, Moscow and Leningrad, 1956, pp. 334-35). By the time their own state had emerged (the first half of the 6th cent. b.c.), the Persians knew only of such primitive slavery, and slave labor was not yet economically significant.