# List of Iranian artifacts abroad

History of Greater Iran :
Pre-IslamicBCE / BC
Prehistory Kura–Araxes culture c. 3400 – c. 2000 Helmand culture/Jiroft culture 3300-2200 Proto-Elamite civilization 3200–2800 Elamite dynasties 2800–550 Lullubi/Zamua 3100-675 Marhaši 2550-2020 Bactria–Margiana Complex 2400–1700 Gutian Dynasty 2141-2050 Avestan period c. 1500 BCE – 500 BCE Kingdom of Mannai 10th–7th century Neo-Assyrian Empire 911–609 Urartu 860–590 Median Empire 728–550 Scythian Kingdom 652–625 Achaemenid Empire 550–330 Ancient kingdom of Armenia 331 BCE – 428 CE Seleucid Empire 330–150 Caucasian Iberia c. 302 BCE – 580 CE Greco-Bactrian Kingdom 250–125 Parthian Empire 248 BCE–224 CE Caucasian Albania 2nd century BCE – 8th century CE Roman Empire 27 BCE – 330 CE CE / AD
Kushan Empire 30–275 Sasanian Empire 224–651 Afrighid dynasty 305–995 Hephthalite Empire 425–557 Kabul Shahi kingdom 565–879 Dabuyid dynasty 642–760 Bagratid Armenia 880s – 1045 Alania 8th/9th century – 1238 / 9 Kingdom of Georgia 1008–1490 :
Islamic Rashidun Caliphate 637–651 Umayyad Caliphate 661–750 Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258 Shirvanshah 799–1607 Tahirid dynasty 821–873 Dulafid dynasty 840–897 Zaydis of Tabaristan 864–928 Saffarid dynasty 861–1003 Samanid Empire 819–999 Sajid dynasty 889/90–929 Ziyarid dynasty 928–1043 Buyid dynasty 934–1055 Sallarid dynasty 941–1062 Ghaznavid Empire 975–1187 Ghurid dynasty pre-879 – 1215 Seljuk Empire 1037–1194 Khwarazmian dynasty 1077–1231 Sultanate of Rum 1077–1307 Salghurids 1148–1282 Ilkhanate 1256–1353 Kart dynasty 1231–1389 Ottoman Empire 1299–1923 Muzaffarid dynasty 1314–1393 Chupanid dynasty 1337–1357 Jalairid Sultanate 1339–1432 Timurid Empire 1370–1507 Qara Qoyunlu Turcomans 1407–1468 Aq Qoyunlu Turcomans 1378–1508 Safavid Empire 1501–1722 Mughal Empire 1526–1857 Hotak dynasty 1722–1729 Afsharid Iran 1736–1750 Zand dynasty 1750–1794 Durrani Empire 1794–1826 Qajar Iran 1794–1925 :
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List of Iranian artifacts abroad is a list of Iranian and Persian antiquities outside Iran, especially in museums. Most of these were found outside modern Iran, in parts of the former Persian Empire, or places influenced by it.

## Neighbors of Iran during the Achaemenid period
### Afghanistan

* Tillya Tepe often known as the Bactrian gold is a collection of about 20,600 ornaments, coins and other kinds of artifacts, made of gold, silver, ivory etc., that were found in six burial mounds (five women and one man) with extremely rich jewelry, dated to around the 1st century BCE-1st century CE. The ornaments include necklaces set with semi-precious stones, belts, medallions and a crown. After its discovery, the hoard went missing during the wars in Afghanistan, until it was "rediscovered" and first brought to public attention again in 2003. The heavily fortified town of Yemshi Tepe, just five kilometres to the northeast of modern Sheberghan on the road to Akcha, is only half a kilometre from the now-famous necropolis of Tillia-tepe.
* Buddhas of Bamiyan For half a century, through war, anarchy and upheaval, Afghanistan has been stripped of tens of thousands of Buddhist and Hindu antiquities, 33 of those antiquities, were handed over to the Afghan ambassador,at a ceremony in New York.
The artifacts were part of a hoard of 2,500 objects seized in a dozen raids between 2012 and 2014 from Subhash Kapoor, a disgraced Manhattan art dealer currently jailed in India on smuggling and theft charges.

### Gallery

* Aphrodite and Eros. Tomb II, Tillia tepe.
* Statuette of winged figurine
* Cloth decorations.
* Bracelets.
* Decorative stars. Tomb I.
* Amorini riding on fish, Tillia tepe. Tomb II.
* Rings from Tillia tepe; the left one represents a seated Athena. Tomb II.
* Necklace. Tomb II.
* "Kings with dragons". Tomb II.
* Men in armor, in Greek fighting gear. Tomb III.
* "Akinakes" polylobed decorated daggers. Tomb IV.
* Dyonisos and Ariadne riding a lion. Tomb VI.

### Anatolia (Turkey)

Xerxes I inscription at Van is a trilingual cuneiform inscription of the Achaemenid King Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BC). is located on the southern slope of a mountain adjacent to the Van Fortress, near Lake Van in present-day Turkey. When inscribed it was located in the Achaemenid province of Armenia. The inscription is inscribed on a smoothed section of the rock face near the fortress, approximately 20 metres (70 feet) above the ground. The niche was originally carved out by Xerxes' father, King Darius (r. 522–486 BC), but he left the surface blank.
* A Persian city unearthed During the Oluz Höyük excavations in Amasya, column bases of a 2 thousand 500-year-old palace from the Persian period were unearthed. which reflects the Persian cultural character in terms of architecture, pottery and small finds, is divided into two main phases A and B. The head of the excavation, Professor of Archeology at Istanbul University, stated that they deepened the work after finding the remains of the city's road, mansion and fire temple. Dr. Şevket Dönmez said, “For the first time this year, a colonnaded reception hall called 'Apadana', a throne hall, and an executive hall began to come to light. We are just at the beginning of the excavations. But even the current findings are very exciting, ”he said.Emphasizing that the finds are very important in terms of Anatolian Iron Age history, Anatolian Ancient history and Persian archeology, Prof. Dr. Dönmez said, “Very important findings that identify and make it unique. Currently 6 column We have revealed the pedestal. Prof. Dr. Dönmez said, "Before we started the excavation, we did not know what such a Persian city we would find. Neither such a temple, nor such a reception hall. We did not guess anything. We would just dig an ordinary Central Anatolian mound and solve the problems of Iron Age culture by ourselves. Believe it now, the whole world has begun to follow Oluz Höyük. I think that after Göbeklitepe, Anatolia started to become a very important center that changed the history of religion in Anatolia.

### Tbilisi

Atashgah’. It means ‘place of fire’ and its use is usually associated with Zoroastrian fire temples. The history of the Atashgah in the capital city of Tbilisi goes back to the 5th or 6th century, when Persia was ruled by the Sasanian dynasty, of which Georgia was a part.
Also Treasure of Persian Manuscripts at Dagestan Scientific Centre.

## Europe and the United States

The Metropolitan Museum of Art displays ancient Persian artifacts. Among the oldest items on display are dozens of clay bowls, jugs and engraved coins dating back 3,500 years and formerly housed in the University of Chicago's famed Oriental Institute.
* United Kingdom – Museums in UK have many Persian artifacts among them British Museum
The Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient clay cylinder, now broken into several pieces, on which is written a declaration in Akkadian cuneiform script in the name of Persia's Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great. It dates from the 6th century BC and was discovered in the ruins of Babylon in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) in 1879. It was created and used as a foundation deposit following the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 BC, when the Neo-Babylonian Empire was invaded by Cyrus and incorporated into his own empire. It is currently in the possession of the British Museum, which sponsored the expedition that discovered the cylinder.
* France :The Louvre's department of Near Eastern antiquities was established in 1881 and presents an overview of early Near Eastern civilization and "first settlements", before the arrival of Islam. The department is divided into three geographic areas: the Levant, Mesopotamia (Iraq), and Persia (Iran). The collection's development corresponds to archaeological work such as Paul-Émile Botta's 1843 expedition to Khorsabad and the discovery of Sargon II's palace. These finds formed the basis of the Assyrian museum, the precursor to today's department.
The museum contains exhibits from Sumer and the city of Akkad, with monuments such as the Prince of Lagash's Stele of the Vultures from 2450 BC and the stele erected by Naram-Sin, King of Akkad, to celebrate a victory over barbarians in the Zagros Mountains. The 2.25-metre (7.38 ft) Code of Hammurabi, discovered in 1901, displays Babylonian Laws prominently, so that no man could plead their ignorance. The 18th-century BC mural of the Investiture of Zimrilim and the 25th-century BC Statue of Ebih-Il found in the ancient city-state of Mari are also on display at the museum. The Persian portion of Louvre contains work from the archaic period, like the Funerary Head and the Persian Archers of Darius I. The section also contains rare objects from Persepolis which were lent to the British Museum for its Ancient Persia exhibition in 2005.

## Oxus treasure

The Oxus treasure (Persian: گنجینه آمودریا) is a collection of about 180 surviving pieces of metalwork in gold and silver, the majority rather small, plus perhaps about 200 coins, all from the Achaemenid Persian period. The collection was found by the Oxus River sometime between 1877 and 1880. The exact place of the find remains unclear but is often proposed as being near Kobadiyan, Tajikistan. It is likely that many other pieces from the hoard were melted down for bullion; early reports suggest there were originally some 1500 coins and mention types of metalwork that are not among the surviving pieces. The metalwork is believed to date from the sixth to fourth centuries BC, but the coins show a greater range, with some of those believed to belong to the treasure coming from around 200 BC. The most likely origin for the treasure is that it belonged to a temple, where votive offerings were deposited over a long period. How it came to be deposited is unknown.
The British Museum now has nearly all the surviving metalwork, with one of the pair of griffin-headed bracelets on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum, and displays them in Room 52. The group arrived at the museum by different routes, with many items bequeathed to the nation by Augustus Wollaston Franks. The coins are more widely dispersed, and more difficult to firmly connect with the treasure. A group believed to come from it is in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, and other collections have examples.

## Japan

The Miho Museum houses Mihoko Koyama's private collection of Asian Achaemenid, Sassanid and Western antiques bought on the world market by the Shumei organization in the years before the museum was opened in 1997. There are over two thousand pieces in the permanent collection, of which approximately 250 are displayed at any one time. Among the objects in the collection are more than 1,200 objects that appear to have been produced in Achaemenid Central Asia. Some scholars have claimed these objects are part of the Oxus Treasure, lost shortly after its discovery in 1877 and rediscovered in Afghanistan in 1993. The presence of a unique findspot for both the Miho acquisitions and the British Museum's material, however, has been challenged.
The Tokyo National Museum preserves a variety of Iranian antiquities and works of art, including pottery, paintings, calligraphy, metalwork, sculpture, inlaid pottery and textiles. .

## Gallery

* Proto-Elamite cylinder seal (Louvre Museum)
* Orant figure of Susa IV (Louvre Museum)
* Carnelian beads (Louvre Museum)
* Weight in veined jasper (Louvre Museum)
* Iranian male royal figure (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
* Persian objects (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
* Artifacts of Tall-i Bakun in University of Chicago Oriental Institute