Introduction : conceptualizing Iran and building Iranian empires -- Building the First Persian Empire -- The destruction of Achaemenid Persia and the creation of Seleucid Iran -- The rise of the Arsacids and a new Iranian topography of power -- Rival visions and new royal identities in post-Achaemenid Anatolia and the Caucasus -- Sasanian rupture and renovation -- Persian religion and Achaemenid sacred spaces -- The Seleucid transformation of Iranian sacred spaces -- Ancient sacred landscapes and memories of Persian religion in Anatolia and the Caucasus -- Iranian funerary landscapes -- Dynastic sanctuaries -- Sasanian memory and the Persian monumental and ritual legacy -- Reshaping Iran's past and building its future -- Persian palatial cosmologies -- The Seleucid and Arsacid transformations of Iranian palatial architecture -- The palace of the Lord of the Sevenfold World -- Earthly paradises.
Summary:
"The Iranian Expanse explores how kings in the ancient Iranian world utilized the built and natural environment--everything from royal cities and paradise gardens, to hunting enclosures and fire temples--to form and contest Iranian cultural memory, royal identity, and sacred cosmologies over a thousand years of history. Although scholars have often noted startling continuities between the traditions of the Achaemenids and the art and architecture of medieval or Early Modern Islam, the tumultuous millennium between Alexander and Islam has routinely been downplayed or omitted. The Iranian Expanse delves into this fascinating period, examining royal culture and identity as something built and shaped by strategic changes to architectonic and urban spaces and the landscape of Western Asia. Canepa shows how the Seleucids, Arsacids, and Sasanians played a transformative role in developing a new Iranian royal culture that deeply influenced not only early Islam, but also the wider Persianate world of the Il-Khans, Safavids, Timurids, and Mughals."--Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.