Description
The Iranian Expanse explores how kings in the ancient Iranian world utilized the built and natural environment-everything from royal cities and paradise gardens, to hunting enclosures and fire temples-to form and contest Iranian cultural memory, royal identity, and sacred cosmologies over a thousand years of history. Although scholars have often noted startling continuities between the traditions of the Achaemenids and the art and architecture of medieval or Early Modern Islam, the tumultuous millennium between Alexander and Islam has routinely been downplayed or omitted. The Iranian Expanse delves into this fascinating period, examining royal culture and identity as something built and shaped by strategic changes to architectonic and urban spaces and the landscape of Western Asia. Canepa shows how the Seleucids, Arsacids, and Sasanians played a transformative role in developing a new Iranian royal culture that deeply influenced not only early Islam, but also the wider Persianate world of the Il-Khans, Safavids, Timurids, and Mughals.
About the Author
Matthew P. Canepa is Professor of Art History at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Reviews
"A highly original study of the manner in which the succession of rulers of Iran, from the time of the Archaemenids (50-330 BCE) to that of the Sasanians (224-651 CE), manipulated collective memory through the creation of stunning monuments at important locations of their empires. . . .Canepa enables us to see the world not with Roman eyes (as is usually the case) but with Persian eyes, looking out over the Middle East from the immense plateau of Iran." -- Peter Brown, * New York Review of Books *
"[Canepa's book] continues the investigations of recent years on the construction of identity and history, as well as on the culture of remembrance, with particular emphasis on the forms of expression in architecture and building policy." * Plekos *
"A thoroughly comprehensive analysis of the long-term, crucial developments characterizing the self-representation of kingship and power ideology in pre-Islamic Iran and neighboring areas." * Iranian Studies *
Book Information
ISBN 9780520290037
Author Matthew P. Canepa
Format Hardback
Page Count 512
Imprint University of California Press
Publisher University of California Press
Weight(grams) 1633g
Dimensions(mm) 279mm * 216mm * 41mm
About the Author
Matthew P. Canepa is Professor of Art History at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Reviews
"A highly original study of the manner in which the succession of rulers of Iran, from the time of the Archaemenids (50-330 BCE) to that of the Sasanians (224-651 CE), manipulated collective memory through the creation of stunning monuments at important locations of their empires. . . .Canepa enables us to see the world not with Roman eyes (as is usually the case) but with Persian eyes, looking out over the Middle East from the immense plateau of Iran." -- Peter Brown, * New York Review of Books *
"[Canepa's book] continues the investigations of recent years on the construction of identity and history, as well as on the culture of remembrance, with particular emphasis on the forms of expression in architecture and building policy." * Plekos *
"A thoroughly comprehensive analysis of the long-term, crucial developments characterizing the self-representation of kingship and power ideology in pre-Islamic Iran and neighboring areas." * Iranian Studies *
Book Information
ISBN 9780520290037
Author Matthew P. Canepa
Format Hardback
Page Count 512
Imprint University of California Press
Publisher University of California Press
Weight(grams) 1633g
Dimensions(mm) 279mm * 216mm * 41mm
