The Art of Ancient Iran, Pre-Islamic
Cultures

Notes for Chapter Six

2. The daggers with inscriptions were assembled b W. Nagel in 'Die Königsdolche der Zweiten Dydnastie von Isin,' Archiv für Orientforschung XIX [1959-1960], pp. 95-104. A new group of such daggers, augmented by inscribed axes and arrow-heads, was published by G. Dossin, 'Bronzes incrits du Luristan de la collection Foroughi,' Iranica Antiqua II/2 [1962], pp. 149-164. The theroy that the daggers were given to mercenaries or auxiliaries in recognition for their services was taken up by me in my article 'Nomads and Luristan Bronzes,' Dark Ages, p. 111 ff.; see espcialy note 10 contributed by J. A. Brinkman. I reserve judgment on a dagger of Luristan type which has the name of Darius in Old Persian cuneiform signs inscribed on one side, but on the other side signs which do not make any sense; see R. Borger and H. R. Uhlemann, 'Ein neues achämenidisches Schwert,' Bibliotheca Orientalis XX [Jan.-March 1963], pp. 3-5.

3. The excavations of the sanctuary of Surkh Dum were described by E. F. Schmidt in 'The Second Holmes Expedition to Luristan,' Bulletin of the American Institute for Iranian Art and Archaeology V [1938], pp. 205-216.

4. For a brief account of the principal viewpoints concerning the dates of the Luristan bronzes, see my introduction in 'Nomads and Luristan Bronzes' [cited in VI/2]. C. F. A. Schaeffer in Stratigraphie, pp. 477-495, assumes an even longer time span for the bronzes than I do; my principal disagreement with his theory, however, is that he places the entire output of bronzes before the Iron Age, that is, before 1200 B.C.

5. The bulls flanking a tree appear on the crown and on the robe of King Marduknadinahhe [c.1100 B.C.] on a boundary-stone dated on stylistic grounds in his reign; see L. W. King, Babylonian Boundary-Stones . . . [British Museum, London, 1912], Pl. LIV and text, P. 37.

6. An example of such a goblin can be seen in the votive pin in the booklet by Y. and A. Godard, Bronzes du Luristan [The Hague, n.d., approximately 1956], Pl. 8, cat. no. 150.

7. For Assyrian cylinder seals showing a throne decorated with a line of fringe, see Frankfort, Cylinder Seals, P l. XXXIV: h, or Corpus I, nos. 673-676.

8. A lion with a powerful arched neck can be seen on examples of Achaemenid cylinder seals of the late sixth or fifth centuries B.C., e.g., Persepolis II, Pl. 15, PT 6673, or Corpus I, nos. 824, 825.

9. For comment on the wide disribution of Mitannian seals of Common Style, see Frankfort, Cylinder Seals, p. 280.

10. For the documentation of these daggers, see the articles cited in note VI/2.

11. R. Ghirshmann, who ascribes the Luristan bronzes to the Cimmerians, is of the opinion that the inscribed objects from tombs in Luristan come from temples sacked by the Assyrian army, in which the Cimmerians formed a corps of mercenaries; see 'A propos des bronzes inscrits du Luristan,' Iranica Antique II/2 [1962], pp. 165-179, especially p. 175.

12. In the meantime an article on these finds, entitled 'Une Fouille en Luristan,' has been published by Yolande Maliki in Iranica Antiqua IV/1 [1964], pp. 1-35. More than anything else the article illustrates the tragedy of Iranian archaeology, in which the principal evidence for theories concerning the date of this important material comes from uncontrolled excavations.

13. In the collectin of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, made available to students at Columbia University in New York, there is an example of an ibex standard in which a tube has become fused by corrosion with the ring on which they rest their 'elbows'. Furthermore, a standard with felines reproduced by A. Moortgat, Bronzager˝s aux Luristan [Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatische Abteilung, 1932], Taf. VI: 15 also shows a tube which seems to have been originally connected with the standard and not adfed later by dealers, as was often done with the more complicated elements of the composite standards.

14. For Western Asiatic pins with a head in the shape of a pomegranate, see P. Jacobsthal, Greek Pins and their Connexions with Europe and Asia [Oxford, 1956], p. 39.

15. See note V/40.

16. The cylinder seal showing ibexes flanking a tree or bush, found at Surkh Dum, was published in Dark Ages, Pl. 1, Fig. 1.

17. The term 'wands' was used by E. F. Schmidt in his report on the Holmes expedition to Luristan [cited in note VI/3], p. 210.

18. For Ghirshman's ideas concerning horse bits and cheek-pieces, see Iranica Antiqua II/2 [1962], p. 168.

19. In the German and French editions of Alt Iran, I placed the relief in the time of Ashurbanipal but have now returned to labeling it Sennacherib.

20. The term jewelled line was used by Ellen Kohler in connection with ivories from Gordion and North Syria. I stress the derivation of the term because these jewelled bands or lines, whether found in Syria or Luristan, may have been a general fashion of the early first millennium B.C.

21. See note VI/6 for reference to a goblin on another Luristan bronze.

22. Women wearing pins with the points sticking up, rendered on Greek vases, were reproduced by Jacobsthal, Greek Pins, Figs. 333, 335.

23. For comment on the refuge areas of Iran, see Frye, Heritage of Persia, pp. 7-9; for comment on the Zagros mountains, see especially p. 9.