Papers by Mark K . Gradoni
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Conference Presentations by Mark K . Gradoni
The study of Late Antiquity has received renewed emphasis in the current academic climate
among h... more The study of Late Antiquity has received renewed emphasis in the current academic climate
among historians and archaeologists. For the study of Sasanian Iran, many scholars have focused
on the evolution of the Iranian state’s relationship with its western neighbor, the Roman Empire.
While this relationship between two of the great powers of Late Antiquity is certainly deserving of
extensive study, far less attention is given to the exploration of the dynamic that existed between
Iran and “non-western” polities, particularly the expansion of Sasanian power into Central Asia.
The expansion of Sasanian Iran into Central Asia has long been acknowledged, and the early
military activity of that dynasty is commonly associated with the end of Kushan polity that had
dominated Tokharistan, Transoxania, and Bactria during the first two centuries of the Common
Era. However, other than a rough outline of possible Sasanian conquests, the process by which
Sasanian Iran entered into the political landscape of Central Asia, surpassed the Kushan state in
regional primacy, and perhaps incorporated many of the latter’s territories into its own sphere of
influence and administration is not elucidated.
This paper seeks to employ numismatic studies of Kushan and Sasanian coin typologies,
archaeological excavation reports, analysis of artistic motifs in royally commissioned art, and
primary texts to address the present lack of a suitable historical model of Kushano-Sasanian
relations.
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The early monarchs of the Sasanian dynasty expressed an ideology of kingship situated within the ... more The early monarchs of the Sasanian dynasty expressed an ideology of kingship situated within the doctrines of the Mazdean faith and the traditions of Iranian popular, mythic history. The interplay of these convergent heritages is only now beginning to be explored within the context of material culture and the built environment. However, while architectural and art historical considerations of the Sasanian implementation of “technologies of memory” have initiated paradigmatic shift, the fruitful avenue of numismatic analysis has largely, to this point, been neglected.
Coinage, in the context of ancient states, offered controlled, structured media through which a ruler could introduce his, and perhaps his dynasty’s, ideological claims through an approved system of iconography and language. These messages were then introduced into, and circulated among, the daily workings of a monetized economy. While relief sculpture, inscriptions, and monumental architecture could similarly convey messages couched in a desired iconography or language, coinage offered a superior medium for such a task because of its inherent mobility, both within and beyond the state. This paper explores message of identity and legitimacy that the early monarchs of the Sasanian dynasty sought to communicate to their subjects via coinage.
In order to parse the numismatic ideology of the third century shahs, the coinages of the late Achaemenian dynasty are contrasted with recent studies of the Fratarakā “dynasty” of Pars during the Seleucid and Aškānīān periods, as well as the numismatic productions of the first three generations of Sasanian monarchs. Specific attention is devoted to ideological motifs and forms, both consistent and inconsistent, employed by the Iranian dynasties in antiquity. Furthermore, links with the contemporary Kushan dynasty, and their monetary traditions, are considered. Through this process, the coinages of the first three generations of Sasanian imperial dynasts are situated within both the national memory of the Mazda-worshipping Iranian peoples, and their own interpretation of Iranian imperial heritage.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The early monarchs of the Sasanian dynasty expressed an ideology of kingship situated within the ... more The early monarchs of the Sasanian dynasty expressed an ideology of kingship situated within the doctrines of the Mazdean faith and the traditions of Iranian popular, mythic history. The interplay of these convergent heritages is only now beginning to be explored within the context of material culture and the built environment. However, while architectural and art historical considerations of the Sasanian implementation of “technologies of memory” have initiated paradigmatic shift, the fruitful avenue of numismatic analysis has, to this point, been neglected.
This paper explores the possible sources for the ideology of the nascent Sasanian dynasty as expressed on the coinages of the third century shahs. The coinages of the late Achaemenian dynasty are contrasted with recent studies of the Fratarakā “dynasty” of Pars during the Seleucid and Aškānīān periods, as well as the numismatic productions of the first three generations of Sasanian shahs. Specific attention is devoted to ideological motifs and forms, both consistent and inconsistent, employed by the Iranian dynasties in antiquity. Furthermore, links with the contemporary Kushan dynasty, and their monetary traditions, are considered. Through this process, the coinages of the first three generations of Sasanian imperial dynasts are situated within both the national memory of the Mazda-worshipping Iranian peoples, and their own interpretation of Iranian imperial heritage.
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The dearth of autochthonous sources for many periods of Central Asian leads to an understandable ... more The dearth of autochthonous sources for many periods of Central Asian leads to an understandable emphasis on what extant forms of source material persist. In the case of the Middle Iranian period, this emphasis manifests as a focus on epigraphic and artistic production. Third century Iran witnessed a flowering of artistic development under the nascent Sasanian dynasty, whose Shahs commissioned series of reliefs unprecedented by their Arsacid Parthian predecessors, and unequalled by their progeny. While questions of attribution, order, and identity have proliferated since the rediscovery (by Europeans) of the reliefs, recent discoveries at Rag-i Bibi, Afghanistan necessitate a reevaluation of the objectives of these artistic programs under the early Sasanians.
This paper surveys the royal Sasanian reliefs of the third century CE, examining the development of the sophisticated craftsmanship that culminates in the “Sasanian Baroque” during the reign of Bahrām II, before locating the reliefs within both historical trends of Near Eastern art and their built environments. The interactions of subject and place, as well as the desire to both emulate Achaemenian art and harken back to Assyrian tradition, are scrutinized. Specifically, this paper seeks to examine the third century Sasanian reliefs through the lens of Sonik’s concepts of interface between text and image and pictorial mythology. By applying a theoretical framework originally developed for Achaemenian art we provided an innovative methodology to situate Sasanian artistic traditions within the broader art history of the ancient Near East.
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Thesis Chapters by Mark K . Gradoni
The shahs of the early Sasanian dynasty faced the challenge of establishing their legitimacy as t... more The shahs of the early Sasanian dynasty faced the challenge of establishing their legitimacy as the rulers of an imperial polity after rising to power through military insurrection. The early shahs of the dynasty sought to locate themselves within the religious, mythic, and historical context to link themselves to the glorious rulers and dynasties of Iranian myth and history, while simultaneously espousing Mazdean virtue.
Through the concepts of Ērānšahr and Farr, the notion of the territorial unity of the Mazda-worshiping peoples prescribed in the Avesta and the divinely-bestowed glory of rulers, respectively, the motivations that underlaid Sasanian statecraft during the first four generations of the dynasty are contextualized.
The idea of Ērānšahr as a sacrosanct territorial delimitation of the homelands of the Mazdean peoples was first employed to validate and legitimize the rebellion of the Sasanians against the Parthian Aškānīān dynasty. After the civil war that established Ardašīr I as šāhanšāh, the defense of Ērānšahr as both a tangible expanse of territory and
a religious concept was used to justify punitive and retaliatory military action in the west against the Roman Empire, as well as to acquire the Central Asian holdings of the Kushan Empire. The claim to the sole possession of Farr was similarly employed to justify first rebellion, and then conflicts with the Kushan Empire, whose own rulers claimed Farr from Mazdean divinities.
Establishing the religious, mythic, and historical contexts to which the early Sasanian dynasts were subject illuminates the motivations for imperial policy and allows the scrutiny of those policies and actions to transcend the biases inherent in non-Iranian sources for the period. Furthermore, privileging autochthonous sculptural, epigraphic, and numismatic productions produces an innovative analysis of early Sasanian statecraft cognizant of, and rooted within, Iranian cultural paradigms.
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Papers by Mark K . Gradoni
Conference Presentations by Mark K . Gradoni
among historians and archaeologists. For the study of Sasanian Iran, many scholars have focused
on the evolution of the Iranian state’s relationship with its western neighbor, the Roman Empire.
While this relationship between two of the great powers of Late Antiquity is certainly deserving of
extensive study, far less attention is given to the exploration of the dynamic that existed between
Iran and “non-western” polities, particularly the expansion of Sasanian power into Central Asia.
The expansion of Sasanian Iran into Central Asia has long been acknowledged, and the early
military activity of that dynasty is commonly associated with the end of Kushan polity that had
dominated Tokharistan, Transoxania, and Bactria during the first two centuries of the Common
Era. However, other than a rough outline of possible Sasanian conquests, the process by which
Sasanian Iran entered into the political landscape of Central Asia, surpassed the Kushan state in
regional primacy, and perhaps incorporated many of the latter’s territories into its own sphere of
influence and administration is not elucidated.
This paper seeks to employ numismatic studies of Kushan and Sasanian coin typologies,
archaeological excavation reports, analysis of artistic motifs in royally commissioned art, and
primary texts to address the present lack of a suitable historical model of Kushano-Sasanian
relations.
Coinage, in the context of ancient states, offered controlled, structured media through which a ruler could introduce his, and perhaps his dynasty’s, ideological claims through an approved system of iconography and language. These messages were then introduced into, and circulated among, the daily workings of a monetized economy. While relief sculpture, inscriptions, and monumental architecture could similarly convey messages couched in a desired iconography or language, coinage offered a superior medium for such a task because of its inherent mobility, both within and beyond the state. This paper explores message of identity and legitimacy that the early monarchs of the Sasanian dynasty sought to communicate to their subjects via coinage.
In order to parse the numismatic ideology of the third century shahs, the coinages of the late Achaemenian dynasty are contrasted with recent studies of the Fratarakā “dynasty” of Pars during the Seleucid and Aškānīān periods, as well as the numismatic productions of the first three generations of Sasanian monarchs. Specific attention is devoted to ideological motifs and forms, both consistent and inconsistent, employed by the Iranian dynasties in antiquity. Furthermore, links with the contemporary Kushan dynasty, and their monetary traditions, are considered. Through this process, the coinages of the first three generations of Sasanian imperial dynasts are situated within both the national memory of the Mazda-worshipping Iranian peoples, and their own interpretation of Iranian imperial heritage.
This paper explores the possible sources for the ideology of the nascent Sasanian dynasty as expressed on the coinages of the third century shahs. The coinages of the late Achaemenian dynasty are contrasted with recent studies of the Fratarakā “dynasty” of Pars during the Seleucid and Aškānīān periods, as well as the numismatic productions of the first three generations of Sasanian shahs. Specific attention is devoted to ideological motifs and forms, both consistent and inconsistent, employed by the Iranian dynasties in antiquity. Furthermore, links with the contemporary Kushan dynasty, and their monetary traditions, are considered. Through this process, the coinages of the first three generations of Sasanian imperial dynasts are situated within both the national memory of the Mazda-worshipping Iranian peoples, and their own interpretation of Iranian imperial heritage.
This paper surveys the royal Sasanian reliefs of the third century CE, examining the development of the sophisticated craftsmanship that culminates in the “Sasanian Baroque” during the reign of Bahrām II, before locating the reliefs within both historical trends of Near Eastern art and their built environments. The interactions of subject and place, as well as the desire to both emulate Achaemenian art and harken back to Assyrian tradition, are scrutinized. Specifically, this paper seeks to examine the third century Sasanian reliefs through the lens of Sonik’s concepts of interface between text and image and pictorial mythology. By applying a theoretical framework originally developed for Achaemenian art we provided an innovative methodology to situate Sasanian artistic traditions within the broader art history of the ancient Near East.
Thesis Chapters by Mark K . Gradoni
Through the concepts of Ērānšahr and Farr, the notion of the territorial unity of the Mazda-worshiping peoples prescribed in the Avesta and the divinely-bestowed glory of rulers, respectively, the motivations that underlaid Sasanian statecraft during the first four generations of the dynasty are contextualized.
The idea of Ērānšahr as a sacrosanct territorial delimitation of the homelands of the Mazdean peoples was first employed to validate and legitimize the rebellion of the Sasanians against the Parthian Aškānīān dynasty. After the civil war that established Ardašīr I as šāhanšāh, the defense of Ērānšahr as both a tangible expanse of territory and
a religious concept was used to justify punitive and retaliatory military action in the west against the Roman Empire, as well as to acquire the Central Asian holdings of the Kushan Empire. The claim to the sole possession of Farr was similarly employed to justify first rebellion, and then conflicts with the Kushan Empire, whose own rulers claimed Farr from Mazdean divinities.
Establishing the religious, mythic, and historical contexts to which the early Sasanian dynasts were subject illuminates the motivations for imperial policy and allows the scrutiny of those policies and actions to transcend the biases inherent in non-Iranian sources for the period. Furthermore, privileging autochthonous sculptural, epigraphic, and numismatic productions produces an innovative analysis of early Sasanian statecraft cognizant of, and rooted within, Iranian cultural paradigms.
among historians and archaeologists. For the study of Sasanian Iran, many scholars have focused
on the evolution of the Iranian state’s relationship with its western neighbor, the Roman Empire.
While this relationship between two of the great powers of Late Antiquity is certainly deserving of
extensive study, far less attention is given to the exploration of the dynamic that existed between
Iran and “non-western” polities, particularly the expansion of Sasanian power into Central Asia.
The expansion of Sasanian Iran into Central Asia has long been acknowledged, and the early
military activity of that dynasty is commonly associated with the end of Kushan polity that had
dominated Tokharistan, Transoxania, and Bactria during the first two centuries of the Common
Era. However, other than a rough outline of possible Sasanian conquests, the process by which
Sasanian Iran entered into the political landscape of Central Asia, surpassed the Kushan state in
regional primacy, and perhaps incorporated many of the latter’s territories into its own sphere of
influence and administration is not elucidated.
This paper seeks to employ numismatic studies of Kushan and Sasanian coin typologies,
archaeological excavation reports, analysis of artistic motifs in royally commissioned art, and
primary texts to address the present lack of a suitable historical model of Kushano-Sasanian
relations.
Coinage, in the context of ancient states, offered controlled, structured media through which a ruler could introduce his, and perhaps his dynasty’s, ideological claims through an approved system of iconography and language. These messages were then introduced into, and circulated among, the daily workings of a monetized economy. While relief sculpture, inscriptions, and monumental architecture could similarly convey messages couched in a desired iconography or language, coinage offered a superior medium for such a task because of its inherent mobility, both within and beyond the state. This paper explores message of identity and legitimacy that the early monarchs of the Sasanian dynasty sought to communicate to their subjects via coinage.
In order to parse the numismatic ideology of the third century shahs, the coinages of the late Achaemenian dynasty are contrasted with recent studies of the Fratarakā “dynasty” of Pars during the Seleucid and Aškānīān periods, as well as the numismatic productions of the first three generations of Sasanian monarchs. Specific attention is devoted to ideological motifs and forms, both consistent and inconsistent, employed by the Iranian dynasties in antiquity. Furthermore, links with the contemporary Kushan dynasty, and their monetary traditions, are considered. Through this process, the coinages of the first three generations of Sasanian imperial dynasts are situated within both the national memory of the Mazda-worshipping Iranian peoples, and their own interpretation of Iranian imperial heritage.
This paper explores the possible sources for the ideology of the nascent Sasanian dynasty as expressed on the coinages of the third century shahs. The coinages of the late Achaemenian dynasty are contrasted with recent studies of the Fratarakā “dynasty” of Pars during the Seleucid and Aškānīān periods, as well as the numismatic productions of the first three generations of Sasanian shahs. Specific attention is devoted to ideological motifs and forms, both consistent and inconsistent, employed by the Iranian dynasties in antiquity. Furthermore, links with the contemporary Kushan dynasty, and their monetary traditions, are considered. Through this process, the coinages of the first three generations of Sasanian imperial dynasts are situated within both the national memory of the Mazda-worshipping Iranian peoples, and their own interpretation of Iranian imperial heritage.
This paper surveys the royal Sasanian reliefs of the third century CE, examining the development of the sophisticated craftsmanship that culminates in the “Sasanian Baroque” during the reign of Bahrām II, before locating the reliefs within both historical trends of Near Eastern art and their built environments. The interactions of subject and place, as well as the desire to both emulate Achaemenian art and harken back to Assyrian tradition, are scrutinized. Specifically, this paper seeks to examine the third century Sasanian reliefs through the lens of Sonik’s concepts of interface between text and image and pictorial mythology. By applying a theoretical framework originally developed for Achaemenian art we provided an innovative methodology to situate Sasanian artistic traditions within the broader art history of the ancient Near East.
Through the concepts of Ērānšahr and Farr, the notion of the territorial unity of the Mazda-worshiping peoples prescribed in the Avesta and the divinely-bestowed glory of rulers, respectively, the motivations that underlaid Sasanian statecraft during the first four generations of the dynasty are contextualized.
The idea of Ērānšahr as a sacrosanct territorial delimitation of the homelands of the Mazdean peoples was first employed to validate and legitimize the rebellion of the Sasanians against the Parthian Aškānīān dynasty. After the civil war that established Ardašīr I as šāhanšāh, the defense of Ērānšahr as both a tangible expanse of territory and
a religious concept was used to justify punitive and retaliatory military action in the west against the Roman Empire, as well as to acquire the Central Asian holdings of the Kushan Empire. The claim to the sole possession of Farr was similarly employed to justify first rebellion, and then conflicts with the Kushan Empire, whose own rulers claimed Farr from Mazdean divinities.
Establishing the religious, mythic, and historical contexts to which the early Sasanian dynasts were subject illuminates the motivations for imperial policy and allows the scrutiny of those policies and actions to transcend the biases inherent in non-Iranian sources for the period. Furthermore, privileging autochthonous sculptural, epigraphic, and numismatic productions produces an innovative analysis of early Sasanian statecraft cognizant of, and rooted within, Iranian cultural paradigms.