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“Globalisation” is one of the most influential philosophical thoughts with direct effects on the economic, political and cultural entities of countries in the modern era. Most scholars relate the emergence of this phenomenon to the period after Renascence. However, with little contemplation, one could trace the roots and origins of philosophical thoughts and mythical concepts – of course not in their present form – to ancient civilisations. Doubtless, Sasanian empire (224-651 CE),  with 427 years of glory in the world,s  political arena, can be considered as one of the greatest and most powerful cultural foregrounds of ancient era that was managed by the direct instructions of Zoroastrian philosophers. The founder of this empire (ArdašīrPāpakān: 224-241 CE), in response to the question that why have you risen against your reigning king (Ardavan V Ashkani), clamed: “To make a world with a single-God”. Now, the question is. Can “Ardašīr’s efforts in establishment of a world under governance of a single God” be counted as the first efforts toward unification of the world and the initial steps in globalisation? – efforts that were accompanied by practices and widespread endeavours. The principal hypothesis is that the thoughts of globalisation were nurtured in the thoughts of Zoroastrians’ eminent Mōbads and practiced by the founder of Sasanians Empire. The main aim of the present research is to investigate the first veinsofglobalisation notions and the associated practical measures of Sasanian kings. In doing so, all of the Sasanian historical and archaeological evidences that certify the research hypothesis are envisaged and discussed in the context of globalisation and cosmopolitanism thoughts. The cosmopolitanism idea, with roots in the ancient world, is also used to associate the today’s globalisation concepts with the ancient ones. These concepts together with archaeological and historical evidences are clear indications that globalisation and cosmopolitanism thoughts have been introduced 1800 years ago in Iran; and indeed practiced on the relevant scale by Sasanians.  

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The demonstration of female figures on Sasanian silver vessels was an interesting subject to Sasanian silversmiths which caused much dispute among the scholars over whose character the female figure represents. Are they representations of the goddess Anahita or members of her cult? Is there any connection between them and the cult of Asiatic Dionysus? The other question that arises is whether they are secular objects or bearing a religious significance. This paper aims to review previous studies and then, on the basis of an iconographical study and also referring to the Sasanian religious text, present a new interpretation of themes.

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Among the various of Sasanian kings, Narseh (293-302 A.D.) is the one whose important and striking rock relief remained at Naqsh-i Rustam in Iran’s Fars province. This relief records investiture ceremony from Anahita ( known as Goddess of fertility and protector of water). Until now, various views and interprations have been put forwarded about the real identity and historical theme of this relief. But the attribution of a lady to Shapurdokhtak II (Narseh`s wife) is the latest and most controversial view given by Alireza Shapur Shahbazi, who has conducted excavations and archaeological studies at Takht-i Jamshid for several years. In fact, this attribution has also provoked the authors of the present article hence; he has tried to highlight the depiction through opinions of various researches. The present study supports the accuracy and validity of the attributed lady to water goddess Anahita and refuses other theories.

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Darabgird is one of the ancient cities in Fars province. According to Iranian mythology, Darab Shah (Dariush, the Great) found the city in the Achaemenid period. But, due to the fact that 1.21% of total ceramics gathered from the city belongs to the Parthian era, we can accept that the city remained in use since Parthian period to the Islamic era. Data analysis shows that the city had a strong and intensive settlement during Sasanians, After the Arab conquest and the collapse of Pars province, some changes occurred in the function of urban spaces. Accordingly, the main settlement shifted to the north of the city. Apparently, the southern half of the city was abandoned in Islamic era. Finally, according to some other early Islamic cities, apparently in this period, the main settlement of the city shifted to outside of Sasanian city (in this case, north of the Sasanian fortifications) and we should survey this area to discover available evidences of this period. Unfortunately, this area is presently being used for agricultural purposes.

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The first season of survey at Qeshm, carried out during the winter of 2006, resulted in the identification of nine sites from the Parthian and Sasanian periods. The surface pottery from these sites suggests their trade and cultural relations with contemporary sites in the southern Persian Gulf and other areas. For instance, the Parthian and Sasanian glazed types in Qeshm Island are closely related materials found from Khuzestan as well as northern and southern coasts of the Persian Gulf, including ed-Dur, Suhar, Kush, Failaka and Qalat Bahrain. Parthian painted ware reveals close similarities to monochrome and bichrome painted pottery of southeastern Iran, Oman coasts and the southern Persian Gulf, specifically ed-Dur, Suhar, Kush and Tel-i-Abrak. The so-called Indian Red Polished Ware is the other diagnostic type widespread in the northern and southern coasts of the Persian Gulf from the middle Parthian up to the early Islamic period. The material was being widely produced in the Indian region (Gujarat) and Indus, and exported to different places around the Persian Gulf. The Coarse Black Ware (ceramic noir epaise) with decorative raised bands recorded in Qeshm compares with coarse-black material from the southern Persian Gulf, also occurring at sites such as ed-Dur and Abu Dhabi Islands. Plain, common Parthian and Sasanian pottery from Qeshm shows parallels with known materials of this period in the northern and southern Persian Gulf.

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Archaeology of children and childhood is rather a new field of study within archaeology and anthropology. However, it is very difficult to trace the presence of children in archaeological material. Their manifestation is mainly limited to mortuary, artefacts or objects considered to be toys or built environment that too may have been either in connection with specific items used by or were in relation to children or iconographic evidence from past. The present study tries to examine depictions of children in Sasanian rock reliefs which have long been the subject of extensive research, nevertheless it seems such depiction on art objects was not a matter of attraction by itself. On the other hand, lack of coherent literary evidence about social status, roles and realm of children and childhood in the Sasanian society leave many questions unanswered. Hence, despite a large number of researches in the field of Sasanian history and archaeology, one cannot postulate a coherent research background specific to the aforementioned subject.  Children are displayed in a number of Sasanian rock reliefs which are introduced and presented in chronological order. Identity of these children and purpose of their depiction is discussed based on available works. Although, the historical identity of these children may never be certainly established, but those shown in investiture and parade reliefs of Ardashir I, Shapur I and Narseh at Firuzabad, Naqsh-e Rajab and Naqsh-e Rustam are certainly the children of high status or having royal lineage. In two of Shapur I reliefs, a putto is depicted and a probably captive child –enemy’s son- are seen in Bahram II/Shapur II relief in Tang-e Chowgan.