In various spots in Parseh Citadel carvings of the royal audience can be seen, with the king sitting on his throne and the court head guard is bringing his right hand close to his mouth, in the manner of Hetmati (Ilam) nobles, and greeting the king. The king’s successor with other nobles are standing behind the king.
In various spots in Parseh Citadel carvings of the royal audience can be seen, with the king sitting on his throne and the court head guard is bringing his right hand close to his mouth, in the manner of Hetmati (Ilam) nobles, and greeting the king. The king’s successor with other nobles are standing behind the king.
Some believe that when Xerxes is killed by head of the court guards and a clergyman named Mehrdad, in his sleeping quarters, this incident is blamed on his successor, namely, darius. Darius also is killed. Then, Goshtasb, another of Xerxes’s sons, steps down, so that, according to a historian named Thucydides, Ardashir I, an Achaemenid who studied astronomy in Babylon, would succeed Xerxes at the age of eighteen.
Maybe that after these events, Ardeshir I of the achaemenid dynasty, seeing this carving as a reminder of the assassination of his father and brother, ordered that these two carvings be removed from the two sides of Apadana palace and taken to the treasure house. Today, one is in the Parseh citadel, and another is kept in the Tehran Museum of Ancient Iran.
Akinaka, or the royal dagger of Ardehir I, the Achaemenid king, was recently unveiled in the Getty Museum, in US. This dagger can be seen in the royal audience carvings, on the waist of artaban, the head guard of the court, and also another person who is the king’s weapon bearer. Unfortunately, in the pictures of 15-20 years ago printed in Iran, we can see the royal audience carving in Takhte Jamshid which has been destroyed to some extent, but but half of the dagger and part of the akinaka of the head guard can still be seen, but today this part has also been destroyed by the blows of hammer. It remains to be known when and by whom this destruction took place.
Another point is that this image should be symmetric with its replicate in Tehran, but it is not so, because the carving of Artaban’s akinaka in Parseh Citadel is from the front and in the lithograph which kept in the museum of ancient Iran it is seen from behind.
The relief of the king’s weapon bearer, in Parseh Citadel, is broken and it cannot be determined whether his dagger is also from the front, or not.
Because, the king’s weapon bearer in the royal audience relief kept in the ancient Iran museum, is carved from the front and we can clearly see the mountain goats on his akinaka but this is not seen in the Artaban akinaka.
Now, the question comes up; whether these reliefs were more than the two, i.e., 3 or 4 different reliefs?
If they were only two reliefs, the relief of the king’s weapon bearer, standing behind the clergyman in Takhte Jamshid, should also be carved from behind. And, today we cannot see the goats. On the other hand, its replicate in the ancient Iran museum is carved from the front.
But the main question is, why have those who question and ignore the akinaka of the Getty Museum of America been terrified of it? And who has damaged Persepolis in the last fifteen to twenty years?
Were there four characters, the other two in the palace of Goftogoo or council or the same three gates, and the other two in the palace of Apadana? Did these four roles have the same fate as the four chests in the four corners of Apadana Palace?
Could not someone who had found two chests with gold and silver plates before Hertzfeld and Crafter found the other two sides of Apadana Palace and the other two chests?
Until we see Krefter says: that he has found only two chests, and we even see that one of the golden plates was melted down and destroyed in the early years after 1957 by the museum trustee, whom himself had a degree in history and archeology from the world’s prestigious universities.
This destruction must have occurred between the years eighty to eighty-three!
Walter Hintz’s book contains an archive photo from 1975, and, strangely, most of the akinaka of Persepolis is intact.
In the book about the Persepolis structure, published in English language in 1976, the Akinaka of Takhte Jamshid is intact; surprisingly Prof shahpour Shahbazi died in 2006, and in his illustrative book about Takhte Jamshid, published in 2008, a picture of the destroyed akinaka is in it, but there is no mention about why and how it was destroyed.
In the book “Persepolis, the Brilliant Capital of the Persian Empire” written by Heidemarie Koch, translated by amir Hossein Akbari Shalchi, in 2012, first edition, the archive photo is before 1357 (1979), but it is intact.
In the book giving report of excavations by the British Institute of Iranian Studies between years 1061 to 1967, by David Sternbach, Artaban’s akinaka at Parseh is half ruined, but not entirely ruined.
In the book “Iranian Art/Nowruz in Takhte Jamshid” by Grishman and in the book “Darius’s world administration” by Prof. Shahpour Shahbazi – 2005, Artaban’s akinaka is shown ruined. In the book “Darus Speaks” pages 113 and 114, the pictures show the akinaka half ruinted.
In the classic description of Parseh by Dr Abolhassan Atabaki Najafzadeh, page 115, the picture shows the dagger semi intact.
In Davood Vakilzadeh’s book the picture (taken in winter of 2007) shows the dagger damaged.
The book “Glory of Persepolis” by Farzin in 2004 has a photo of akinana, which has been destroyed.
Who, in the past 15-20 years has destroyed the akinaka in Takhte Jamshid audience hall?
What is the connection between those who have called the Achaemenid Golden Sword of the American Getty Museum fake and the description of this lithograph in the audience hall of Parseh Citadel?
The golden sword of the American Getty Museum has Ardeshir Achaemenid carved on it; this tradition continued into the Islamic era. The swords bore the names of the Sultan or king of the time.
But what sets this akinaka apart from the other akinakas (daggers) are the falcons engraved on it, which shows that this sword was made either for the king or the Achaemenid princes.
It is worth mentioning here what Xenophon has recorded: “The achaemenid flag had the image of falcon on it.”
But the image of a cow under the scabbard of this akinaka is like the image we today see on the walls of the Palace of Nations or Council, on the waist of the court guards.
But some have objected to the many carvings on this akinaka, claiming that the akinakas engraved in the Parseh Citadel are simple and have no design. Unfortunately here, it becomes clear that they do not even know how many akinaka have been carved in Parseh!
Today, in the offerings section, you can see akinakas in the hands of the guides of Persia and Media and the Medes themselves, on the backs of the Scythians, and especially in the hands of Scythians. They come from the northeast of the Caspian Sea.
But in the golden akinaka found in the Scythian lands of Eastern Europe, dense and beautiful patterns are clearly seen.
I wish there would be a proper research done before any word is said, but the question will always be: what are some people afraid of?
What is the connection between the fake reading of the royal akinaka of the Getty Museum of America and the destruction of the relief of the royal throne on Persepolis?
Babak Parsajem, tourist guide
Thanks to the guidance of the esteemed archeologist, Dr Ardeshir Emadi
This lithograph, which can be seen in the picture above, is still kept in the Museum of Ancient Iran, and the lithograph in the image below is still preserved in Parseh Citadel. Photograph of the book by Darius, Heidemarie Koch, page 113, showing that akinaka is still unbroken.
Also, in the book Persepolis, the Brilliant Capital of Persia, by Heidemarie Koch, published in 2012, there is a photo from the archive before 1978, and Akinake is also present in this picture.
The book “The Face or Profile of Persepolis or the Structure of Persepolis” in English, published in 1976 (1354 solar), Akinaka Artaban is still standing.
In Dariush’s book on cosmopolitanism, written by Professor Shahpour Shahbazi and reprinted in 2005, the designs on artaban’s akinaka has been completely destroyed.
In Farzin Rezaeian’s book “The Glory of Persepolis,” the image of Akinaka Artaban in Persepolis has completely vanished.
The place where the sword was broken can be seen in this picture. The image of the king’s dagger has disappeared.
A photo from Dariush Shahpour Shahbazi’s book on tourism, published in 2005, in which the design on the sword has disappeared – 2005. Surprisingly, in the book by Walter Hintz (1975) also, the design on the dagger is intact.
