Description
Book SynopsisWith the rise of the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE), Persian institutions of kingship became the model for legitimacy, authority, and prestige across three continents. Despite enormous upheavals, Iranian visual and political cultures connected an ever-wider swath of Afro-Eurasia over the next two millennia, exerting influence at key historical junctures. This book provides the first critical exploration of the role that Persian cultures played in articulating the myriad ways power was expressed across Afro-Eurasia between the sixth century BCE and the nineteenth century CE. Exploring topics such as royal cosmologies, fashion, banqueting, manuscript cultures, sacred landscapes, and inscriptions, the volume’s essays analyze the intellectual and political exchanges of art, architecture, ritual, and luxury material within and beyond the Persian world. They show how Perso-Iranian cultures offered neighbors and competitors raw material with which to formulate their own imperial aspirations. Unique among studies of Persia and Iran, this volume explores issues of change, renovation, and interconnectivity in these cultures over the longue durée
Table of ContentsToward a New Transmillennial Understanding of Perso-Iranian Visual, Material, and Political Cultures and Their Global Impact - Matthew P. Canepa Trilingual Inscriptions: Translating Language and Culture - Rachel Mairs “Position and Honor”: Iranian Sartorial and Commensal Politics and the Transformation of the Afro-Eurasian Sensorium of Power - Matthew P. Canepa Giganticism and Bamiyan: Türk, Iranian, and Chinese Traditions of Dynasticism - Warwick Ball Buried with a Silver Spoon? Sasanian and East Roman (Byzantine) Objects in Dialogue in Central Asia and the Caucasus - Stefan R. Hauser Between Alexander and Byzantium: Notions and Concepts of the “West” in Central Asia (First Century BCE–Eighth Century CE) - Sören Stark and Lauren Morris Beyond Space and Time: Sino-Iranian Textiles and the Creation of a Eurasian Material and Visual Culture - Mariachiara Gasparini From the Ground Up: Perso-Islamic Kingship in Southern Asia - Alka Patel Shifting Power, Displaced Artists: On the Circulation, Transformation, and Emulation of Persianate Manuscripts (1300–1600) - Lamia Balafrej How Persianate Is It? Imitation and Refraction in a Sixteenth-Century Cosmography from India - Vivek Gupta Early Meetings between Parsi Merchant Princes and Boston Brahmins - Jenny Rose
