Iran and the East – Displaying the Persian Connection
(2018) ICAANE 2018 — Location: Munich (3.April.2018)
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- Authors
Van de Ven, Annelies 
- Abstract
- The narrative of historical progress created through museological engagements with the Achaemenid Empire has primarily focused on the era’s legacy in the West. Despite the prominence of Biblical, Hellenistic and Aryan frameworks in the scholarship of this period, the Empire was based in Western and Central Asia, and a great deal of its material and territorial wealth was located in an area now termed Greater Iran, consisting of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Through trade relations, diplomatic exchanges, and the dissemination of religious beliefs, Achaemenid influence even extended beyond their tribute paying Empire as far as India and China. These connections were made even stronger under the Parthian, Sassanian and successive Perso-Islamic empires. Within the archaeological record it is visible in the exchange of material goods, cultural ideas and artistic trends along the steppe routes. Rather than being seen as the eastern peripheries of a Western-facing Empire, these regions should be understood as central to its success and cultural endurance. In this paper I will highlight an alternative museological approach that focuses on the Asian legacy of the Achaemenid Empire and its successors. By contrasting these with the canonical historical narratives prevalent in displays of Achaemenid culture I intend to demonstrate the need for a re-Orienting of Achaemenid Culture.
- Affiliations
University of Melbourne
Citations
Van de Ven, A. (2018). Iran and the East – Displaying the Persian Connection. ICAANE 2018, Munich. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/213668