A 1971 emblem built around an object twenty-five centuries older than itself.
Six parts of the emblem struck for October 1971, when the 2,500th anniversary of the Iranian monarchy was marked at Persepolis. It is a modern design built around an object twenty-five centuries older than itself.
What you seeA barrel of clay at the centre, gold, its surface ruled with cuneiform.
What is knownMade in the 6th century BCE, excavated at Babylon in 1879, and readable. Its text records Cyrus taking Babylon and then restoring sanctuaries and sending displaced peoples home. UNESCO describes it as an early charter of human rights and cultural diversity.
What you seeThe Pahlavi arms above the field — lion and sun, crown, supporters.
What is knownThis places the emblem exactly. It is a state device of 1971, not an antiquity, and it says who was doing the commemorating.
What you seeThe imperial crown surmounting the arms.
What is knownThe crown form belongs to the dynasty that commissioned the celebration, which is why period examples of Iranian emblems differ from one another — the crown changes with the house.
What you seeThe cylinder set on a pale blue oval.
What is knownThe oval isolates the object and turns it into a device. This is the move that converts an archaeological find into an emblem — the same operation performed on the Persepolis capital ten years earlier.
What you seeA heavy gold chain of oval links closing the ring around the field.
What is knownCollars of this form belong to the visual language of dynastic orders and honours. Here it frames rather than fastens.
What you seeAn emblem with no numerals on it.
What is known12–16 October 1971, at Persepolis, marking 2,500 years from Cyrus. The celebration set Iran's antiquity beside its present deliberately, and the Cylinder was chosen as the symbol of the whole event.
The object at the centre of this emblem was made around 539 BCE and dug out of Babylon in 1879. The emblem around it was made in 1971. Between those two dates the cylinder was buried, forgotten, excavated, translated, and finally chosen to stand for the entire history of a country.
