The Ancient Throne. The Mediterranean, Near East, and Beyond, from the 3rd Millennium BCE to the 14th Century CE.Proceedings of the Workshop held at 10th ICAANE in Vienna, April 2016, pp. 151-172, 2020/09/02
Proceedings of the Workshop held at the 10th ICAANE in Vienna, April 2016
In 1948, the Soviet Expedition JuTAKE excavated the building called the ‘Square House’ at the Parthian site of Mithridatkert, known from ancient sources as Nisa, the alleged site of the graves of Parthian kings. Among the precious objects unearthed in this royal treasury, was a large inventory of ivory artefacts. Of these, the famous rhytons, masterpieces of Hellenistic art, were carefully restored and studied, while some 40 pieces of furniture were restored only in part and preliminarily published. A thorough discussion and extensive publication of these findings has still not been undertaken. In 2013, however, thanks to support from the Shelby White & Leon Levy Foundation, the National Museum of Ashgabat was able to conduct a careful investigation of the materials and prepare a complete set of photos and drawings in order to give this material the recognition it deserved within Western scholarship. The furniture items consist of the legs of thrones and beds (klinai), whose design clearly reflects the Hellenistic craft tradition and finds parallels in a number of specimens from Anatolia, Bactria, Chorasmia and Armenia. Through careful consideration of the quantity, shape and size of each item, the author suggests a possible reconstruction of the furniture that lay buried in the Square House, and highlights its ideological and symbolical meaning within the historical framework of the Parthian Empire.
Keywords: Parthians, Old Nisa, Hellenistic furniture, ivory, banquet