Recorded: April 13, 2023
Event: Achaemenid Workshop 1
Citation: Potts, Daniel. "Elam and Persis." Pourdavoud Center: Achaemenid Workshop 1 (April 13, 2023).
by Daniel Potts (New York University)
The distinction between Elam and Anšan was already apparent to nineteenth-century scholars such as Billerbeck, Sayce, and Halévy. Similarly, it was readily apparent to Scheil, Vallat, and Amiet. Nevertheless, it is all too easy, when considering the late Elamite precursor of Teispid and Achaemenid Persis, to think of Elam as a monolithic entity and to ignore the regional diversity indicated in the archaeological and epigraphic record. This paper will explore that diversity in order to see whether it was of potential significance for the Elamite inheritance in Teispid and Achaemenid Persis.
About the Speaker
Daniel T. Potts is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University. A member of the Harvard team that excavated Tepe Yahya in the 1970s, and co-director of the Iranian-Australian team at Tol-e Nurabad, Tol-e Spid, and Qaleh Kali (2003–2010), he has worked on many aspects of Iranian archaeology and history, from prehistory to the Qajar era.