Sassanid antiquities in the LEIZA collection and their comparison pieces

Since the 1960s, the LEIZA has housed one of the world's most important collections of important small antiquities of the later Sassanid period (5th/6th to 7th century AD) outside the Near East. Although relatively modest in size, it comprises weapons and costume components (including brooches and belt fittings) as well as metal vessels, glass and ceramics. Although some of the objects have already been mentioned frequently in the literature, their basic publication status has not yet been brought up to modern scientific standards.

In the context of the present project, therefore, the entire collection is to be catalogued completely and in detail for the first time, and the significance of the artefacts is to be investigated with regard to their potential mediation between cultural influences from the Roman-Byzantine Mediterranean, from Southeast Asia and from the world of the Eurasian steppe regions inhabited by nomadic horsemen. Two possible burial inventories contained in the collection, whose probable area of origin is at the south-western end of the Caspian Sea – i.e. in a peripheral position within the Sassanid Empire – could prove to be particularly helpful in answering these questions.

In order to more strongly substantiate emerging conclusions on the history of culture and development, it is also planned to draw on selected external comparative objects/collection holdings from other museums within and outside Europe, including from the core area of the Sassanid Empire, in the later course of the project (second phase) and – as far as possible – to integrate them into the final project publication in corresponding detail.

The LEIZA’s Sassanid collection will be catalogued, divided by material groups, by various scholars working at the museum, and their individual results will be brought together in a final synthesis.