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Antiquarianism is one of the significant elements of Iranian nationalism that emerged through archaeological research and exploration by Iranian scholars and Western archaeologists in the realm of Iran's history and culture. It provided a fresh definition of Iranian history and identity, playing a crucial role in the construction of modern Iranian nationhood during the era of Reza Shah. Nationalist antiquarianism had a lasting impact on cultural, literary, and even political aspects, transforming the understanding of Iranian history and identity. As an intellectual and cultural movement, antiquarianism aimed to uncover the unknown aspects of Iran and its people beyond recorded history. Its purpose was to revitalize the material and spiritual culture of the historical Iranian nation, turning it into a source of pride and a foundation for constructing a new government-nation with a rich historical civilization. In this context, Reza Shah leveraged the Iranian antiquarian movement to construct a modern Iranian government-nation, utilizing the deep-rootedness of the monarchy system in pre-Islamic Iranian history as a legitimate link, presenting it as a legitimate pole against the backdrop of Islamic Iranian history. This research seeks to answer the question of the function of antiquarianism in the development of Iranian nationalism during the reign of Reza Shah, employing a descriptive-analytical method. It explores the coordinates of Iranian nationalist antiquarianism and investigates why Iranian nationalists conceptualized antiquarianism as the foundation of the Iranian nationalist movement.

In archaeological finds, seals are generally considered as one of the most important data bearing important economic, political and even artistic information of relevant time periods. Moreover, the iconography of seals plays an informative role to explore the main characteristics of seals or sealing in order to better understand the social, economic or even the administrative contexts of the societies to which they belonged to. Different styles in the different space and times are known in terms of pictography that can help researchers understand the characteristics of a time period better in the absence of sufficient information. The ancient city of Susa with a rich collection of seals related to different historical-cultural periods is one of the most important ancient sites in Iran which have been used as clues to decipher or interpret that can guide researchers in the stylistics and iconology of seals from its neighboring areas. The cylindrical seal No. 1841 has been registered in the catalogue of the National Museum of Iran with an “unknown” location. The similarity of the image engraved on this seal to those found on seals obtained from Susa was the reason the author came up with this article in order to introducethe seal and specify iconography and stylistics and finally its date and origin with a comparative study. The present study tries to answer the research questions: “What style and time period can be considered for the iconography of the cylindrical seal in the National Museum?” and “Is it possible to prove that it belongs to the city of Susa according to the iconography of the image of the relevant seal?” Studies that have been conducted with the comparative method and with the approach of the image analysis, the IVA style of Susa is considered for it leading to the conclusion that this seal probably belonged to Susa itself.

The Sasanian, the last Iranian dynasty before the Arab invasion of Iran, overthrew the Parthians and ruled the region for more than four centuries between 224-651 AD. One of the structural characteristics of the Sasanian state was the establishment of an official religion and the concentration of political and religious sovereignty. The official recognition of the Zoroastrian religion led the Sasanian kings and priests to build numerous fire temples in various parts of Iran, and many archaeological evidences of Sasanian era burials have been found, which are intertwined with art. The kings enriched the art of this period by creating rock carvings to display various matters. A rock carving in the Sasanian style was accidentally discovered a few years ago at a local airport in England. When this discovery was reported in the early days of 2023, the main question was whether it was an independent rock carving that had been detached from the mountain or whether it belonged to a structure? Based on the library studies and comparisons made with other works in this article, it seems that the newly discovered Sasanian rock carving from Stansted Airport in London was likely part of a stone structure similar to a fire altar or a Astōdān (one type of Ossuary), and it most probably dates back to the early Sasanian period.

Guitty Azarpay was born in Tehran, Iran in 1934. She graduated with a PhD in Art History in 1964 from UC Berkeley.She taught at UC Berkeley until her retirement in the early 2000s. Her research on the ancient Iranian and Transoxiana (Central Asia) art, especially about Urartian Art and Sogdian Painting, is highly commendable, as she wrote two valuable books such as Urartian Art & Artifacts (1968) and Sogdian Painting: The Pictorial Epic in Oriental Art (1981). The publication of the book of Sogdian Painting introduced many art scholars to Sogdian art. Azarpay played a valuable role in introducing Sogdian paintings and Sogdian art. She was the recipient of the Book of the Year Award from the University of California Press for Sogdian Painting, and received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement award.About 20 years ago, Azarpi donated her personal library to Golestan Palace in Tehran.Guitty Azarpay passed away in early April 2024.

Amlash is one of the most important parts of Guilan Province in northern Iran. It has endured unending political and military turmoil due to its special geopolitical and geostrategic position, during the early and middle Islamic eras. The establishment of numerous castles in the area is one of the manifestations of this state of affairs during that period. This study, based on library and field study, is aimed at analyzing the factors that might have led to the formation of the castles. The library studies included a review of literature on military castles and fortresses for an analysis of the factors that might have contributed to the castles in the Amlash region. The field studies included direct observation of the locating, photographic imaging, and numerical measurement and topographical features of those castles.