The Glory of Ancient Persia - The Essence of Iranian Cultural Relics Exhibition

Foreword: Ancient Iran was the center of ancient civilization in the southwestern part of Asia. In the 7th century BC, the powerful Achaemenid dynasty was born on the Iranian plateau, and the ancient Greeks called this illustrious neighbor by the name of the dynasty's royal homeland - Persia (pars, today's Fars Province of Iran). Throughout the long Bronze and Iron Ages, the mountain-surrounded Iranian plateau had frequent interactions with the civilizations of the Mesopotamian river valleys and the steppe regions. During the Elamite kingdom, they began to build cities, use cuneiform writing, establish their own temples, and express the world of spirit and belief in various patterns or decorations on their artifacts. With the start of the Achaemenid dynasty, ancient Iran established a strong postal system across a vast region stretching from India in the east to the Mediterranean coast in the west, effectively maintaining the commercial civilization network of the Western Asia region. Local lords regularly came to the Persepolis palace complex to pay tribute, and frequent commercial interactions also brought about cultural integration. From the Parthian to the Sassanian dynasty, ancient Iran further shaped its own distinct ancient Iranian cultural tradition, with the political thought of 'divine right of kings, divine protection of rulers' reflected in many artifacts. In the Islamic period, the traditional figurative arts of ancient Iran began to combine with faith. Due to the avoidance of idol worship, various styles of calligraphy became a new form of expressing faith, with far-reaching influence. Observing the development of ancient Iranian civilization from the perspective of cultural relics, civilization is no longer an 'abstract' term; it has its own growth pattern in the long historical process. Each ancient culture in history is a part of human civilization, with their own characteristics, and as they develop, they collide and merge with each other, converging into more splendid symphonies.