By Jaime León
Tehran, June 7 (EFE).– Ancient clay tablets, brought back to Iran from the United States last year after more than nine decades and on displace at a museum in Iran, have opened a window into the world of 2,500 years ago.
The exhibited artifacts offer insights into the Achaemenid-era of 6th Century BC.
There is a reference to the barber of Darius I, a Persian ruler who served as the third “king of kings” of the empire from 549 to 486 BC.
Inscriptions on these 163 displayed tablets, written in the Achaemenid Elamite cuneiform script, throw light on details such as references to the production of the imperial garden and payments to officials.
The artifacts are among 56,000 found in 1932 in Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemenid Empire (550 BCE-331 BCE), and were sent to the University of Chicago for a three-year study period.
However, historical upheavals, wars, revolutions, and geopolitical tensions dragged those three years to more than nine decades. Despite five phases of returns in the 1940s and 1950s, and three more in the 2000s, some items still remain in the United States.
“About 6,000 tablets are still missing but will soon be returned to the country. We are working on it,” said Jebrael Nokande, the director of the National Museum of Iran.
The museum is hosting an exhibition of the 163 returned tablets, which were part of more than 3,500 items returned last year.
The archaeologist said his relationship with colleagues at the University of Chicago was excellent, unlike the political relations between the two countries.
He cited events like World War II, the Islamic Revolution, and the break in relations with the United States as causes for the delay in recovering these treasures.
The pieces of the treasure were also seized following a lawsuit in US courts seeking compensation for the victims of a 1997 attack in Jerusalem that killed five people.
However, in 2018, the US Supreme Court ruled that cultural heritage cannot be used to pay compensation.
But that same year, the US re-imposed economic sanctions on Iran, complicating the shipment and insurance of these period pieces. The latest batch was returned to Tehran in 2023 on the plane of the then-president, Ebrahim Raisi, after his visit to New York.
World History According to Nokandeh, the significance of the inscribed clay tablets extends beyond Iran. They date from the reign of Darius I, the third king of the Achaemenid dynasty founded by Cyrus II the Great. The dynasty extended over a vast territory until it was conquered by Alexander the Great.
«The material now on display at the National Museum is a part of world history. It provides insights into the reign of Darius I, who governed a territory covering 7,200,000 square kilometers.»
Simin Piran, PhD in archeology and head of the museum’s epigraphy section, said that the “tablets open a window to the past and show us how society functioned in the Achaemenid era.”
Piran said the Achaemenids had an «impressive» administrative system and utilized the tablets to meticulously record «even the smallest details» in the logo-syllabic script used to write the Elamite language.
«There are even details about Darius I’s barber on one of these tablets,» she said.
Negotiations with Other Countries Nokandeh said Iran was negotiating with several countries, including those in Europe, for the return of stolen Iranian archaeological objects.
In 2022, 51 bricks dating from the 10th to 7th centuries BC, originating from the kingdom of Mannea, were returned to Iran after decades in a Swiss bank.
Tehran successfully repatriated 300 artifacts, 3,000 years old, following a legal dispute in Belgium in 2014.
«All objects smuggled out of the country must be returned to Iran,» said Nokandeh. EFE
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