History of handmade carpets in ancient Iran
Determining the texture of handmade carpets in Iran is not easy due to the history of handmade carpets in ancient Iran. But what most historians and researchers agree on is There are Iranian signs on the Pazyryk carpet Which dates the carpet weaving in Iran to at least 2500 years ago. In addition to Pazyryk carpets, what makes carpet weaving in ancient Iran certain, There are two other carpets that were found at the same place where the Pazyryk carpet was discovered.
In one of the discovered carpets, which consists of four squares, In each square, there is a picture of two women facing each other with a fire in the middle and two female servants behind them. (Exactly like the engravings on the inscriptions left over from ancient Iran) And on the other carpet, two strong lions like the body Engraved lions are engraved on Persepolis statues.
There are other signs in the writings of historians. Historians report That Alexander the Great after the conquest of Iran in 331 BC, When he went to Pasargadae, He found the coffin of Cyrus the Great covered with a delicate and exquisite carpet.
Ancient historians talk about the carpets that caught fire in the Persepolis fire. “The treasure Iranians gathered the whole country in this city (Persepolis),” they write. Including expensive carpets that are just for luxury And the splendor of the royal mansion was wide, out of account.
After the birth of Christ, although weak signs have been obtained from the art of carpet weaving in Iran. Fragments of a Lucan tomb found in China It belongs to the second and third centuries AD. Studies have shown that the wool type can only belong to the Caucasus region Which was part of Iran at that time.
According to history, when in 628 AD Hercules, the Byzantine emperor, plundered the palace of the Sassanid king Khosrow II (Khosrow Parviz). Among the many exquisite fabrics and handicrafts, he found (soft) knotted rugs and embroidered rugs. Sassanid arch carving, which belongs to the Sassanid era, It shows a kind of cloth with the role of Taki Pichan hanging on the body of a boat.
Professor Arthur Opham Pope, a well-known American Iranologist, writes: “When Heraclius (Eastern Roman or Byzantine Emperor) invaded Dastjerd (around Isfahan) in 628 AD, Among the looted valuables, There were a lot of soft rugs, some of which were embroidered And some of them have been thick and soft. It seems that Pope considers the meaning of the term soft carpets to be the same as today’s fluffy carpets.