Anatoli: Heir to an Irano-Greek Legacy

By Dr. Kaveh Farrokh

The article regarding the history of the Lion and the Sun motifs on Iranian flags bears the image below which was originally identified as an Achaemenid seal of King Artaxerxes II (at left) facing the goddess Anahita who sits atop a lion. The seal however was not produced during the Achaemenid era, but after the fall of the Achaaemenids and is traceable to the post-Achaemenid dynasties of Anatolia known as Commagene, Cappadocia and the Pontus.

The seal was discovered along the northeastern shore of the Black Sea (Consult Collon, 1987, no. 432) in the region of the ancient Pontus.  The seal is in the British museum and not the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg as is often assumed.

Before we discuss (or revisit) the themes imprinted upon the plaque, we need to first provide a sketch of the successor states of Anatolia following the fall of the Achaemenids in 333-323 BC.

The Greco-Persian Legacy of Anatolia: An Overview

As Parthia gained prominence on the Iranian plateau and Mesopotamia, Persian culture had (once again) risen in prominence in Anatolia as it had during the Achaemenid era. Despite the fall of the Achamenid Empire a few hundred years before, the legacy of Iranic culture had never departed from eastern and central Anatolia. The Hellenic conquests had certainly resulted in political divisions with different regional monarchies, however the Iranic Culture of Pontus-Cappadocia endured.

The Kingdoms of Anatolia, Pontus, Commagene and Cappadocia bore a very strong Iranian cultural, artistic and mythological tradition which was combined with that of ancient Greece. The kingdoms were later absorbed by the Roman Empire. Eastern Anatolia to this day endures with a distinct Iranic tradition with its Kurdish population speaking a west Iranian language akin to Persian.

The most famous Pontic leader was Mithradates (Mehrdad ) VI Eupator who was raised in the Greek language but also learned Persian (Bickerman, 1985, p.103; Raditsa, 1985, p.110).  Plutarch notes that Mehrdad Eupator appeared in “Persian Dress“.

 Mithradates (Mehrdad ) VI Eupator (134-63 BC). Mithradates spoke both Persian and Greek and sought to combine the traditions of both Greece and Persia. According to Plutarch, he appeared in “Persian Dress”. 

Some Iranian influence even extended to Ionian coast along  Aegean. Plutarch had noted that the cultural exchanges taking place in Ephesos (near modern Izmir in western Turkey), were leading to latter’s “barbarization” (Plutarch, Lys. 3).  In Lycia, Iranic names become widespread among the nobility (Dandamaev & Lukonin, 1989, p.300). It was this Greco-Iranian legacy that was to inspire Mithradates of Eupador.

However, to characterize those regions as exclusively Iranian is simplistic: Eastern Anatolia bears a powerful Hellenic and subsequent Armenian imprint as well. During the Achaemenid era Greek cities began to be founded along the Black Sea coast just as the Iranian Magi, nobility and settlers were arriving into the region. A similar process of Irano-Greek fusion had been taking place in the ancient Ukraine since at least Median times.

Just twenty years after the passing of the Hellenic conqueror Alexander in 333 BC, two independent Irano-Anatolian monarchies gained power in Anatolia by 305 BC: the Kingdoms of Pontus and Cappadocia. What is especially of interest is that their subjects claimed descent from the Achaemenids of the First Persian Empire (Raditsa, 1985, p.106). Note the contrast to those Iranians west of the Halys River in western Anatolia: these had become Hellenecized after the conquests of Alexander.Pontic Greek music performance during the Olympic ceremonies held in Athens, Greece in 2004. The music is of interest in that it contains instruments, percussion and melodies consistent with the Music of northern Iran, the Caucasus and Turkey. The drumming for example is seen in western Iranian folklore music; the genuflect motion is seen in various types of Kurdish dances; and the attire is seen in traditional Georgian and Armenian costume.

The Iranians of Cappadocia fought against Alexander at Gaugamela in 331 BC and continued to resist the Greeks, even after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire (Raditsa, 1985, p.106). Hellenization took longer to find its roots in Cappadocia and began a century after Alexander’s conquests. The Iranian character of Cappadocia recognized as late as the time of Roman Emperor Augustus by the ancient historian Strabo who considered Cappadocia as: “a living part of Persia” (Strabo XV, 3.15).

Cappadocia bore a strong Zoroastrian legacy.  Despite Alexander’s conquests of Asia Minor, Cappadocia still had many Iranian temples and Zoroastrian magi by the advent of Parthian rule in Persia (Strabo, XI, 14.16, XV, 733). Remarkable is the term of Grand Magus as being second after the king (Strabo, XII, 2.3). This term is found in Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanian Persia.

The Mithraic-Zoroastrian temples of Cappadocia also served as centers of worship for the populations of: Armenia and Pontus (Raditsa, 1985, p.107) just as the temples of Media Atropatene did for Medes, Persians, Hyrcanians and other Iranic peoples of the Parthian realm.

By the 1st century BC Antiochus I of Commagne spoke of combining the mythology and cultures of Greece and Persia. His genealogy claimed Iranian descent from the Achaemenids and Greek descent from Alexander.Statue at Nimrud-Dagh (ancient Commagene). Note the combination of tall conical Persian hat (still used by mystic cults and Dervishes) with Greek style of anthropomorphic depiction.  Antiochus I (86-38 BC) spoke Greek but dressed in Iranian style and demanded that the local Magi dress like the Persians. The surviving statues and architecture of Nimrud-Dagh shows a clear synthesis of Greek and Persian arts and architecture (Ghirschman, 1962).  

The regions of Cappadocia and Pontus failed to attract the same level of Hellenic immigration as those further east and south into Iran and Mesopotamia. As noted by Raditsa:

“…Hellenization in lands like Pontus and Cappadocia meant that the natives Hellenized themselves” (1985, p.112)

Assyriology notes on the Plaque: Heir to a Mesopotamian Tradition

But what of the plaque discussed in the introduction of the article?

 It is interesting that the seal shows the sun emanating 21 rays, the same symbol which is used by various ancient Iranic cults among the Kurds of Iran, Iraq and Turkey. The 21 rays may be related to the festival date of Mehregan (Festival of the Sun-god Mithra) which takes place from the 16th to the 21st of Mehr of the Iranian calendar.

That too is in the post-Achaemenid tradition of arts and its style bears a stronger resemblance to the Achaemenid rather than the Hellenic arts. This was (as noted earlier) found in the site of the ancient Pontus where the imprint of Zoroastrianism was strong.

The plaque represents Anahita superimposed on a solar deity – perhaps the ancient Iranic god Mithras. But is the theme specifically Iranic and/or Zoroastrian? The discipline of  Assyriology provides an interesting explanation as to an ancient Mesopotamian tradition that has exerted its own influence upon the Iranian-type seal. Simo Parpola accounts of the seal are as follows:

The Achaemenid seal discovered on the northeast coast of the Black Sea and represents the goddess Anahita, mounted on a lion and surrounded by the divine radiance, appearing to a Persian king. The details of the king’s and the goddess’s dress and crown are Persian, but in all other respects the seal is a faithful reproduction of centuries older Assyrian seals depicting appearances of the goddess Ishtar to members of the imperial ruling class. It thus illustrates not only the adoption of the Mesopotamian concept of “divine radiance” by the Persians,A Neo-Assyrian seal (circa  750-650 BC) of Ishtar (at left) standing with her bow on her mythical lion. She is faced by a worshipper. British Museum. The Assyrian and Mesopotamian tradition in general certainly left a robust legacy on the Achaemenid Persians who succeeded them. Indeed the Aramaic language was the Lingua Franca of the Achaemenid Empire.

Therefore while the Achaemenid (or post-Achaemenid) seal has Iranian mythological themes, its artistic motifs have certainly drawn from an ancient Mesopotamian tradition.

References

Collon, D. (1987). First Impressions: Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East. London: British Museum Publications.

Dandamaev, M., & Lukonin, V.G. (1989). The Culture and Social Institutions of Ancient Iran. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Ghirshman, R. (1962). Iran: Parthians and Sassanians. London: Thames & Hudson.

Nissinen, M. (Editor) (2000). Prophecy in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context: Mesopotamian, Biblical, and Arabian. Atlanta, GA:  Society of Biblical Literature.

Parpolo, S. (1997). Assyrian Prophecies. Helsinki, Finland:Helsinki University.

https://www.kavehfarrokh.com/news/eastern-anatolia-heir-to-an-ancient-irano-greek-legacy/

Hailed as one of the country’s most significant finds in a century, the site dates to a time of political, religious and artistic change in what experts are lauding as one of the most significant Egyptian archaeological finds of the past century, a team has uncovered the country’s largest known ancient city: So’oud Atun , or the “Rise of Aten.”Zahi Hawass , a famous—and controversial— Egyptian scholar, announced the discovery of the “lost golden city” near Luxor , site of the ancient city of Thebes, on Thursday.

As BBC News reports, the city was established during the reign of Amenhotep III ,
between roughly 1391 and 1353 B.C. Many of the Rise of Aten’s walls are well preserved. So far, the research team has identified a bakery, an administrative district and a residential area, as well as scarab beetle amulets, pottery and other everyday items.

Betsy M. Bryan , an Egyptian art specialist at Johns Hopkins University who visited the
site but was not involved in the excavation, says in a statement that the find is “the
second most important archeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun .”
(Through his father, Akhenaten , Tut is actually the grandson of Amenhotep.)

Archaeologists discovered the city in September while searching for a mortuary temple.
It’s located close to a number of important ancient Egyptian monuments, including
the Colossi of Memnon , the Madinat Habu Temple and the Ramesseum .
Amenhotep, ninth king of the 18th Dynasty, ruled during the second half of the New
Kingdom period. He sponsored the construction of a number of huge temples and public buildings. Toward the end of his reign, he shared power with his eldest son, the soon-to-be Amenhotep IV.

Per National Geographic ’s Erin Blakemore, the younger Amenhotep dramatically
changed the country’s direction following his father’s death. He abandoned all the
Egyptian gods except the sun god Aten ; changed his name from Amenhotep IV
to Akhenaten , meaning “devoted to Aten”; and oversaw the rise of a new artistic
movement. He and his wife, Nefertiti , also moved Egypt’s royal seat from Thebes to a
new city called Akhetaten (now known as Amarna ).
As Mia Alberti and Jack Guy report for CNN , the team found an inscription in So’oud
Atun dated to 1337 B.C., just one year before Akhenaten established his capital at
Amarna.

In the statement, Bryan notes that the newly discovered city offers a “rare glimpse into
the life of the ancient Egyptians” at the height of the empire, in addition to shedding light
on the mystery of why the pharaoh and his queen moved to Amarna.
After Akhenaten’s death, his son Tutankhamun’s government reversed his transformation of the country. Tutankhamen and his successor, Ay , continued to use the Rise of Aten, notes BBC News.

Egypt Today ’s Mustafa Marie reports that the archaeologists examined hieroglyphic
inscriptions on the lids of wine vessels and other containers for clues to the city’s history. One vase containing dried or boiled meat was inscribed with the names of two people from the city and information showing that Amenhotep and Akhenaten ruled the city jointly at the time it was made.

The team also found a production area for mud bricks used to build temples and other
structures. The bricks bear Amenhotep’s seal. Casting molds show that workers in the
city produced amulets and decorations for temples and tombs; evidence of spinning and weaving exists at the site, too. A zig-zag wall with just one entry point encloses an
administrative and residential area, suggesting that authorities maintained security by
limiting movement in and out.

One room within the city contains the burial of two cows or bulls—an unusual find that
researchers are still investigating. In another odd discovery, the team found a human
burial with the remains of a rope wrapped around the knees. The team has not yet been
able to fully explore a group of rock-cut tombs accessible through stairs carved into the
rock. “There’s no doubt about it; it really is a phenomenal find,” Salima Ikram , an
archaeologist at the American University in Cairo, tells National Geographic. “It’s very
much a snapshot in time—an Egyptian version of Pompeii.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-discover-3400-year-ohappy-nowruz-march-21-2020-2ld-
egyptian-city-180977471/

Cosmos Magazine reports that Daryl Wesley of Flinders University and Mimal and
Marrku Traditional Owners of the Wilton River area used machine learning to analyze
changes in rock art styles in northern Australia’s Arnhem Land. The computer was
supplied with information of more than 1,000 types of objects and a mathematical model
to determine how similar two images are to one another. The model was then applied to
images of the rock art. “One amazing outcome is that the machine learning approach
ordered the styles in the same chronology that archaeologists have ordered them in by
inspecting which appear on top of which,” said team member Jarrad Kowlessar of
Flinders University. Styles of artwork that are closer to each other in age are also closer
to each other in appearance, he explained. The team members suggest that this approach takes tiny details easily missed by humans into account, and removes possible human bias from the evaluation of rock art sites

MUNICH, GERMANY—According to a statement released by Ludwig Maximilian University , early Neolithic sheep herders in central Anatolia learned how to care for their livestock on the job over a period of about 1,000 years. Curator Nadja Pöllath of the State Collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy in Munich, and zooarchaeologist Joris Peters and statistician Sevag Kevork of Ludwig Maximilian University, analyzed the bones of fetal and neonatal lambs unearthed at Aşikli Höyük, an early Neolithic site in central Anatolia where compacted layers of animal dung have been uncovered. The researchers then compared what they found with other collections of sheep bones to identify the stages of a young lamb’s life. They determined that between 8350 and 7300 B.C., the life expectancy of newborn lambs gradually improved as herders learned to reduce the number of infections and improve nutrition by moving the animals out to open grass from overcrowded conditions in the settlement. Read the original scholarly article about this research in the Journal of Archaeological Science

The Guardian reports that burrowing rabbits on Skokholm Island, which is located in the Celtic Sea off the coast of Wales, turned up stone tools and pieces of pottery.
Archaeologist Andrew David identified the stone tools as beveled pebbles that may have been used by hunter-gatherers to process shellfish or prepare seal hides between 6,000 and 9,000 years ago. “Although these types of tools are well known on coastal sites on mainland Pembrokeshire and Cornwall, as well as in Scotland and northern France, this is the first example from Skokholm, and the first firm evidence for late Mesolithic occupation on the island,” David said. A piece of thick-walled pottery is thought to be the rim of an Early Bronze Age urn thought to have been made some 3,750 years ago for a cremation burial, according to Jody Deacon of the National Museum Wales. This is also the first artifact of its kind to be found on any of the western Pembrokeshire islands, she explained. Further investigation of the area is being planned