CONTACTS WITH THE ACHAEMENID WORLD ACCORDING TO THE GLYPTIC MONUMENTS OF GEORGIA
Abstract
The material obtained by archaeological excavations provides quite a lot of information about the political, religious, cultural and economic contacts between Achaemenid Iran and Colchis-Iberia. It should be noted that the topic of Achaemenid Iran was brought to Georgian archeology by Yulon Gagoshidze, who is one of the first researchers who justified the need to study the mentioned problem from a multi-faceted aspect. Z. Bragvadze has an interesting opinion on this topic, which we completely agree with. It has seen Iranian artifacts found in Georgia as the result of military-political and cultural-religious relations.
State of Kolketi was established in the VI century BC. The period of rise of this Kingdom is considered in VI-IV BC i.e. the age of power of Achaemenid Iran.
As is known, according to Strabo, Colchis was divided into skeptuchs at that time, and as a result of the reforms of Darius I, Iran was divided into satrapies. Here we should also remember Leonti Mroveli – the King Pharnavaz divided the Kingdom into administrative territorial units “saeristao” and most importantly he carried out and organized this reform like the Persian kingdom.
The Iranian model of state organization was implemented in the Kingdom of Kartli (Iberia) after the destruction of the Achaemenid state, in the III century BC. In the opinion of archaeologist Zurab Bragvadze, this is a very noteworthy narration, because it clearly shows that the reforms developed and implemented in Iran were relevant and exemplary in Iberia even after this kingdom.
An example was also the eclectic Achaemenid art, which had borrowed details of the art of various countries (Assyria, Babylon, Elam, Urartu, Greece, etc.) and despite this, Achaemenid art as a whole remained specifically Iranian.
The same can be said about the Achaemenid glyptic. According to J. Bordman, the sharp separation of the Greek and Persian style in the monuments of the Achaemenid glyptic is a complex issue and is sometimes associated with great difficulties. Glypticits Ketevan Javakhishvili defined the shapes of the Achaemenid glyptic monuments found in Georgia: cylindrical, conical, pyramidal, scaraboid and polygonal. We have added to this list the triangular and quadrangular-shaped handle-shaped bronze printing presses whose intaglio scenes were created under the influence of Achaemenid art.
Key words: Achaemenid glyptic monuments; Tsikhiagora; a bronze stamp with triangular shaped handle; a bronze stamp with quadrangular shaped.
