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 Marun Dam, also spelled Maroun, is a rock-fill embankment dam on the Marun River about north of Behbahan in Behbahan County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. The dam serves to provide water for irrigation and to generate hydroelectric power as well. ...

project cut into a rock tomb near

Behbahan Behbahan ( fa, بهبهان, also romanized as Behbahān and Behbehān) is a city and capital of Behbahan County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. Etymology The origin of the name "Behbahan" may be from two words: "Beh" meaning good better, and "Baha ...

, Iran. Arjan is the ancient name of

. Originated from the Elamite 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 Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was used in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite works disappear from the archeological record ...

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 qanat or kārīz is a system for transporting water from an aquifer or water well to the surface, through an underground aqueduct; the system originated approximately 3,000 BC in what is now Iran. The function is essentially the same across ...

, 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'' sunflower, and a type of chrysanthemum). This flower symbolizes the

sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

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 center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

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

Ishtar Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in Su ...

. Sumerian and

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

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 ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

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; Pali: ''dhammacakka'') or wheel of dharma is a widespread symbol used in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and especially Buddhism.John C. Huntington, Dina Bangdel, ''The Circle o ...

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

Achaemenids The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest emp ...

, and other civilizations. In

Greater Khorasan Greater Khorāsān,Dabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 or Khorāsān ( pal, Xwarāsān; fa, خراسان ), is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plat ...

, present-day Afghanistan and the Gandhara 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 royal

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

armlet A brassard or armlet is an armband or piece of cloth or other material worn around the upper arm; the term typically refers to an item of uniform worn as part of military uniform or by police or other uniformed persons. Unit, role, rank ...

also named after Arjan (Arrajan), an ancient city of the Elamite era. The armlet dates back to the

Neo-Elamite period Elam (; Linear Elamite: ''hatamti''; Cuneiform Elamite: ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ; he, עֵילָם ''ʿēlām''; peo, 𐎢𐎺𐎩 ''hūja'') was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stret ...

(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 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 Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...

, 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 in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conque ...

. Later, the

Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

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.{{Cite web, date=2020-12-12, title=Elamite bowl selected symbol for Iran Olympic delegation, url=https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/455688/Elamite-bowl-selected-symbol-for-Iran-Olympic-delegation, access-date=2021-09-21, website=Tehran Times, language=en * ARJĀN TOM

* Iranatla

* 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

Background

Flowers of Sixteen Feathers

See also

References

External links