Arjan bowl (Persian: ''Jaam-e Arjan'') is a bronze bowl dated between 800 B.C and 500 B.C. It was discovered in 1982 after a bulldozer working on the Marun Dam project cut into a rock tomb near

Behbahan Behbahan () is a city in the Central District of Behbahan County, Khuzestan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Etymology The origin of word 'Behbahan' can be traced back to two distinct ideas. Accord ...

, Iran. Arjan is the ancient name of

. Originated from the

Elam Elam () was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of modern-day southern Iraq. The modern name ''Elam'' stems fr ...

ite period, it measures 43.5 cm by 8.5 cm. The bowl is engraved with five concentric registers around a central rosette, and contains an inscription in the

Elamite language Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Scythic, Median, Amardian, Anshanian and Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was recorded in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite i ...

which translates to " Kidin-Hutran son of Kurlush."

Background

In 1982, the remains of a tomb from the 2nd millennium BCE was discovered near an archaeological site of Arjan. The tomb covers an area of about , with only scattered traces of buildings, walls, a castle, a

qanat A qanāt () or kārīz () is a water supply system that was developed in ancient Iran for the purpose of transporting usable water to the surface from an aquifer or a well through an underground aqueduct. Originating approximately 3,000 years ...

, a dam, and a bridge across the nearby Marun river. The tomb contains a large bronze coffin which had a golden ring, ninety-eight golden buttons, ten cylindrical vessels, a dagger, a silver bar, and a bronze tray with various images found with the coffin. The tray is called Arjan Bowl or Dezmone Starks and is more than three thousand years old. Arjan tray drawings include five painting circles in its center, a sixteen-pointed flower (similar to a ''

Helianthus annuus The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a species of large annual forb of the daisy family Asteraceae. The common sunflower is harvested for its edible oily seeds, which are often eaten as a snack food. They are also used in the pro ...

'' sunflower, and a type of

chrysanthemum Chrysanthemums ( ), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants in the Asteraceae family. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia, and the center of diversity is in China. Co ...

). This flower symbolizes the

sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

and the wheel of destiny. A row of lions, cattle, and birds are associated with various rituals, and the seven circles or rings in the tray represent the sacred number seven. The number is sacred in Judaism and many other religions. The origin of this sanctity is not clear, but like many symbols of famous religions, it has a root in ancient primitive religions. The logo used by Iran at the 2020 Summer Olympics was the Arjan tray.

Flowers of Sixteen Feathers

The Flowers of Sixteen Feathers in the center of the Arjan tray is an important work that exists in many civilizations. Similar to the sunflower which was introduced as the Lotus, the Flower of Sixteen Feathers is a symbol and an icon of the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, the Spinning Wheel and the Goddess of Destiny - having a similarity with

Inanna Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...

and star of

Ishtar Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...

. Sumerian and

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

n civilizations share similar symbolic concepts with the Flower of Sixteen Feathers. The real secret of this flower-like symbol has not yet been properly revealed. The second circle of the Arjan Cup depicts lions, cattle and birds performing various rituals alongside seven circles or rings representing the number 7, sacred in

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

and many other religions and sects. The flower-like shape was not correlated to the Lotus flower in the first periods, only being attributed in later times. The Flower of Sixteen Feathers represents various concepts in many different cultures. Persian culture attributes it as a sunflower, not a lotus. Japan attributes the flower as its national emblem (which is also a symbol in Buddhist and Shinto temples), albeit varying in description having 16 leaves and corresponding to the symbol on the Arjan tray. The symbols in Persepolis and the Indian Drama Wheel are also similar. The flower-shaped wheel is known as Dour Flak (in Persian), the

Dharmachakra The dharmachakra (Sanskrit: धर्मचक्र, ) or wheel of dharma is a symbol used in the Dharmic religions. It has a widespread use in Buddhism.John C. Huntington, Dina Bangdel, ''The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art,'' p. ...

, or the Wheel of Destiny. Its continuous use throughout history elicits its status as the oldest symbol and can be traced in

, the

Achaemenids The Achaemenid dynasty ( ; ; ; ) was a royal house that ruled the Achaemenid Empire, which eventually stretched from Egypt and Thrace in the west to Central Asia and the Indus Valley in the east. Origins The history of the Achaemenid dy ...

, and other civilizations. In

Greater Khorasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West Asia, West and Central Asia that encompasses wes ...

, present-day Afghanistan and the

Gandhara Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...

civilizations, the ancient footprints of this wheel can be seen in the same way today. The Arjan bowl is somewhat overshadowed by its counterpart the Arjan Ring of Power, a

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

en artifact also named after Arjan (Arrajan), an ancient city of the Elamite era. The artifact dates back to the Neo-Elamite period (c. 1100 – 540 BC). Elam was an ancient Iranian civilization centered in the far west and south-west of what is now modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now

Khuzestan Khuzestan province () is one of the 31 Provinces of Iran. Located in the southwest of the country, the province borders Iraq and the Persian Gulf, covering an area of . Its capital is the city of Ahvaz. Since 2014, it has been part of Iran's ...

and Ilam provinces as well as a small part of southern Iraq. The capital of Elam was Susa; in the

Hellenistic age In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the Roma ...

, Susiana ("the Land of Susa") was part of the Seleucid and the

Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe ...

. Later, the

Sasanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

and Arabs took control.

References

External links

*The Arjan Bowl(article in Persian Language

*Elamite bowl selected as the symbol for Iranian delegation for the Summer 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo. * ARJĀN TOM

* Iranatla

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714082554/https://iranatlas.info/elimate/arjan.htm , date=2021-07-14

* گلهای سنگ‌تراشی تخت جمشید گل نیلوفر یا لوتوس نیست

* ALIZADEH, A. A Tomb of the Neo-Elamite Period at Arjan, Near Behbahan,1985. * AMIET, P. Tiares Elamites. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici XXX. 1992. *BLACK, J. and GREEN, A.Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia (University of Texas Press),۱۹۹۲. * CURTIS, J. E. and READE, J. E.Art and Empire. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996. * DURHAM, S. The Monkey in the Middle. ZA, band 1985. CURTIS, J. E. Later Mesopotamia and Iran: Tribes and Empires 1600-639 B.C. British Museum Press, 1995. * GUNTER, A. Representation of Urartian and Western Iranian Fortress Architecture in the Assyrian Reliefs. Iran XX, 1982. Elam Archaeological discoveries in Iran 1982 archaeological discoveries Bronzeware Elamite language Inscriptions

Background

Flowers of Sixteen Feathers

See also

References

External links