The Sassanid Dynasty is the Second Persian Empire, the last pre-**** Persian Empire.

In 224 AD, the Sassanid Empire replaced the Sabbatical Empire, which was regarded as one of the two great powers in Western Asia and Europe, and coexisted with the Roman Empire for more than 400 years, only to end in 651 AD due to civil strife and external wars.

This is a centralized dynasty, and for Zhang Nan, its demise is a bit incredible: after more than 400 years of existence, it only took 5 years for it to fall apart!

It was not reimbursed at all because of decay and weakening of national strength, nor was it finished by an irresistible invasion of foreign enemies.

Probably only in that land of the Middle East can such a strange thing happen, the so-called empire, the so-called powerful, and the whole Ni-Ma is a pile of sand!

It doesn't matter what you believe in, you don't need any reason to finish it, and when you finish it, it's over.

The Sassanid Empire was very large, and its territory included present-day Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, the Caucasus, southwestern Central Asia, parts of Turkey, parts of the Arabian Peninsula coast, the Persian Gulf, southwestern Pakistan, and even India.

The empire controlled 5.6 million square kilometers of land in the two or three decades before it ended, with a population of nearly 20 million at its peak.

In the early 7th century AD, it was a truly vast empire.

It is not only a powerful country, but also a cultural influence that extends far beyond its borders, spreading throughout Western Europe, Africa, China and India, and has played a significant role in the formation of medieval art in Europe and Asia.

In today's world, regardless of whether it is the West or the East, some relics of the Sassanid Dynasty will be unearthed, which can show its cultural influence at the time, at least its handicrafts are very popular with the magnates of the East and the West.

For example, this exquisite gilt silver kettle, which experts will admire, is a representative of Sassanid artefacts.

The silver kettle is 37.5 cm high and weighs 1.5 kg. The shape is full of Middle Eastern style of the 6th and 7th centuries, with a tall and long body, an oval belly, a thin neck, a duckbill-shaped flow, and a round base. The handle is bent at both ends to form a sheep's head, the top is cast with a human head, the figure wears a round hat with a high nose, and the ampulla belly hammers three groups of 6 male and female images with a protrusion around the circle.

There is no need to check any information, and there is no need to know how this gilt silver kettle came to be and how it was studied, Nong Bosheng, the only one here who is proficient in Western cultural relics and archaeology, can casually say that the three sets of patterns on the silver kettle tell a mythological story of ancient Greece.

A very interesting story, a story that can fully reflect the "brain problems and love of green on the head" of people and society in the Western world two or three thousand years ago: three goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrohites want to fight for "who is the most beautiful goddess", and Zeus, the king of the gods, ordered to be judged by Paris, and this Paris is the son of the king of Troy...

Immortal beauty pageant, referee mortals, this brain hole......

The problem is that the three goddesses are not easy to choose, and Aphroşita (Venus as the Romans said) wants to make some black gold deals: she secretly promises the handsome prince Paris that if she is chosen, she will give him Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world.

The handsome prince Paris immediately turned into a pig brother and gave Aphroshite a golden apple engraved with the words "To the most beautiful goddess", and Venus won without a hitch, and the first set of motifs on this gilt silver pot says just that.

With the help of the goddess Venus, the prince crosses the sea to Greece in search of Helen, the queen of Menelaus, king of Sparta.

Then, Helen, a, fell in love with the prince from afar, and when her husband left the palace, she took jewelry with her, abandoned her daughter, and eloped with His Royal Highness the prince to the city of Troy.

Well, his wife eloped with someone else, and King Menelaus was furious, so the 10-year Trojan War began, and finally the Greek coalition defeated Troy through the "Trojan Horse Scheme".

Menelaus, the cuckold king, finally recaptures his beloved queen Helen, and the third set of patterns on the silver kettle depicts Menelaus wearing a helmet welcoming back Helen, and continues to happily be his cuckold king.

As for the origin of this gilt silver kettle, it was seven years ago, in the autumn of 1983, the archaeological team discovered a large aristocratic tomb with frescoes located in the southern suburbs of Guyuan City, Xianing.

Through the records on the epitaph, it is confirmed that the owner of the tomb is Li Xian, a general of the Zhu State in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and his wife Wu Hui.

It is said that more than 1,400 years ago, the Sassanid Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty had frequent trade exchanges, and it is not surprising that Yuanzhou (now Guyuan) was located at the key point of the Silk Road, with a large number of business travelers and convenient transportation, and it is not surprising that a large number of goods from the Western Regions flowed into China.

As a famous family in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, it has become quite normal for the Sassanid Dynasty handicrafts unearthed from the cemetery of the general of the Zhu Kingdom, but I don't know if Li Xian and his wife knew what the story on this gilt silver pot was, they would have brought it to the grave.

Even if the emperor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty is surnamed Yuwen, he can't bear such a powerful story, right?

There is a question, how can there be ancient Greek myths on the crafts of the Sassanid Dynasty?

This is not surprising, there have been many wars between the Sassanid Empire and the Roman Empire, the former has even killed one and captured a Roman emperor, and the latter has also won many wars.

Among the prisoners of war captured by the Sassanid Empire during the war, there were probably a large number of Roman craftsmen, and it is very likely that the gilded silver jugs depicting Greek mythological stories were made by these craftsmen.

For Nong Bosheng and others, this cultural relic is very valuable, not only because there is only one gilt silver pot of the Sassanid Dynasty unearthed in China, but it is also a rare treasure among the existing Sasanian cultural relics in the world, so if you want Zhang Nan to take a good look, it is a rare opportunity.

But Zhang Nan actually said that he has a lot, and if Comrade Curator likes it, he can give it one.

This......

Mandarin, everyone hears it.

Seeing everyone's reactions, Zhang Nan said with a smile: "What's strange, I have two gilded silver pots with similar shapes and patterns; there are three or four pieces of silverware similar to that of a hammer; as for the general Sasanian silverware, there are more, about a dozen pieces."

I'm not interested in the story of the cuckold, abandoning the woman and abandoning the husband, such a woman should be immersed in the pig cage, the king is even more pig-headed, I really don't know how messy the Greeks and Romans were at the beginning, a bunch of cattle. ”

Hehe, the ancient Romans were messy enough, think about the starring actor who died of pancreatic cancer, and in the end, there was no blood and sand to understand.

Disorderly!

Because of a group of American bodyguards around him, as well as Charlie, Zhang Nan didn't break out the classic sentence "When we are human, they are still monkeys!".

Without courtesy, righteousness and shame, it can only be a brute.

As for the origin of Sasanian silverware, of course, it is the mine cave in Berchtesgaden: not more than a dozen pieces, but a whole 8 large boxes, which Nazi cultural relics experts have already helped Zhang Nan sort out and study, at least 200 pieces of large and small!

Almost one-third of it has a Roman style, and Zhang Nan feels that either the original Sassanid aristocracy liked this Taoism, or because Western archaeologists and explorers liked this style, so it occupies such a large proportion.

Middle Eastern archaeology, or plunder, was pioneered by Western explorers. In World War II, except for Britain, Italy was an ally, and without attacking a few client states, Nazi Germany looted all of Europe.

In addition to the Sassanid artifacts originally found in Europe, the Nazis possessed definitely a lot of cultural relics, and the eight large boxes can only be said to be a very small part.

The small meaning of silver gilt, the pure gold Sasanian long-necked pot Zhang Nan has two, and the pattern of one of them is almost exactly the same as the one in front of him!

Nong Bosheng really likes it, it's really a trivial matter to give him a silver kettle, Zhang Nan really doesn't like it, and when he looks at it, he feels that those people are all neurotic and unlucky.

Before the experts could express their opinions, Charlize Theron, who had just been listening to his brother, asked curiously, "What is a dipping pig cage?"

In Chinese, she can understand some and speak a few words.

Zhang Nan glanced at the girl and opened her mouth, but finally didn't say anything.

"Chie..."

Signaled: Hurry up and pull this curious baby away, what is this called!

Weng Qianhui smiled and called Charlie to the side, contrary to Zhang Nan's expectations, two women, one big and one small, chirped softly on the side for a while, and then the girl had a surprised expression on the road.

Here Zhang Nan was discussing the matter of Sassanid silverware with several experts, but he didn't expect that Charlie would make trouble again: "Brother, Helen, this-woman should be immersed in the pig cage, Menelaus is a psychopath, and his wife deserves to run away with someone!"

Now she said English, which Nong Bosheng couldn't understand, but an old expert in his 60s who was proficient in English laughed.

As soon as a few people asked, the expert surnamed Wang explained euphemistically, and everyone smiled: Well, this American girl is good, she knows how to be polite and honest.

They all thought Charlie was American.

The matter of the gilt and silver kettle was put aside, and Zhang Nan said to Charlie: "You haven't heard that story before?"

Westerners, as a matter of course, shouldn't.

The girl shrugged her shoulders, "I just know a rough idea, I didn't think I was so perverted here, I pity those warriors who fought for a slut and a psychotic king."

Those Trojans are also quite pitiful, and this battle is very flawed. ”

Thinking about it, this is also normal: when I met her, this child was only 13 years old, and he was busy studying ballet before, how could he have the time to learn more about ancient Greek mythology, and he could hear that Helen was very beautiful, so beautiful that it would be good for two countries to fight.

As for the Trojan Horse Slaughter City, knowing this legend is almost the same, which parent will tell the girl in the family about the bunch of twists and turns here.