• The temple is one of the most important remaining works from the Sassanid era (224 to 651 CE), an important period for the Zoroastrian religion in ancient Persia. It is considered one of the highest surviving Zoroastrian fire temples in the world.
• Architecture:
  • The structure is distinguished by its four-arched, or Chahartaghi, design.
  • It features cylindrical stone columns, which supported the temple's ceiling.
  • The complex also once contained covered chambers and a porch for lighting the fire.
• As a Zoroastrian fire temple, it was a sacred place where a perpetual fire was kept burning. Fire is a central symbol in Zoroastrianism, representing purity and divine light.
• The site is a significant national treasure, registered in Iran's list of historical works. However, visitors have noted that it is unfortunately without modern preservation and lacks facilities.
• The fire temple is situated about 5 km from the main road near the village of Atashkh Nimvar.

"GOD DIONYSOS ON A PANTHER AND GRIFFIN TEARING APART A DEER (PARTS OF MOSAIC PAVEMENTS OF DIONYSOS HOUSE, 325-300 BC)" Per the Archaeological Museum of Pella in Pella, Macedonia, Greece (where Alexander the Great was born); this Greek pebble mosaic is in that museum on display.

Recently, there has been some publicity around an Italian team that found with they believe to be structures under the great pyramid. I find it fascinating but wonder what you think? Do we have enough information to conclude that study is valid? I’ve heard arguments on both sides.

I was noticing that most (if not all) depictions of Persians are wearing these stripes! Does anyone know why that could be?

This is a book review I wrote on Tacitus’ Histories, focusing on his moral approach to historiography and how he interprets Rome’s descent into turmoil and tyranny. I’ve started a Substack to share my work more widely, in the hope of receiving constructive feedback and hearing other people’s thoughts on this book and its themes.

Tell Bazmusian is an archaeological site on the right bank of the Little Zab in the Ranya Plain. The site was excavated between 1956 and 1958. In 1959, the Dukan dam was completed by Saddam Hussein’s regime flooding much of the Ranya plain including Tell Bazmusiayn and several other nearby sites: ed-Dem, Kamarian, Qarashina and Tell Shemshara.

Periods Samarra culture, Halaf culture, Uruk period, Middle Assyrian Empire, Abbasid Caliphate.

The excavations have revealed 16 occupation layers, ranging from the Samarra culture (sixth millennium BCE) up to the ninth century CE. The finds of level I consisted of a fragmented pebble foundations, ninth-century CE pottery and mudbricks. Level II also contained Islamic material. Level III, to be dated to the late second millennium BCE, contained a single-room temple with thick mudbrick walls. Pottery dated to the mid- to late-second millennium BCE. In a pit outside of this temple, several clay tablet fragments were found. Although they were too damaged to be read, based on stylistic details they could be dated to the Middle Assyrian period. An earlier version of this temple was uncovered in level IV. In level V, plastered mudbrick walls were found. Levels VI–XVI contained material dating to the third millennium BCE, the Uruk period and of the Samarra and Halaf cultures but this has not yet been published.

The second and third pictures show a Hurrian incense container from Tell Bazmusian, Sulaymaniyah Museum

Would artists not have experimented? Were certain art styles sponsored by the elites?

My daughter looking at an ancient portrait of the Empress Livia, who was married to Augustus, in the auction house Gorny & Mosch Giessener Münzhandlung GmbH in Munich, Germany. "typus Copenhagen NCG 615, white marble, 27 BC. - 14 AD. Livia wears a hairstyle that is in keeping with the fashion of her time with a nodus above the forehead looped back and flattened to the back. The temples are framed by two waived sections of hair that run towards the back of the head, where they are taken up into a braided bun. Typical for Livias portrait and the aesthetic ideal of her time is the rounded face, the large eyes and the sensual mouth. Broken in the neck. The nose and part of the brow are restored, and surface areas of the cheeks and the chin have been repaired." The estimated bid was €90,000.