The Iran National Museum in Teheran is a treat for the senses spanning as it does many glorious centuries of civility.
I spent a full day there in 2019, and would love to go back for a few more!
This magnificent statue is one of the finest to survive from the Achaemenid period, though the head and upper body are missing.
It shows a king in a Persian dress with a dagger stuck in his belt.
What is even more amazing are the inscriptions on the pleats of the robe on the right in cuneiform 3 official languages of the Empire: Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian.
On the left are inscriptions in Egyptian hieroglyphs.
It tells us the titles of the king and records that it was made in Egypt on the orders of Darius, probably to be set up in the temple of Heliopolis.
Made of grey granite, chemical analysis has shown the stone was quarried in Wadi Hammat in Eastern Egypt.
it was brought to Susa probably in reign of Xerses.
The dress is Persian while the pillar at the back and decoration on base are in Egyptian style.
The front and back of the base are carved with Hapi, the Nile God.
the sides show the people of the empire and even include Indians.