Roman Ghirshman
The Arts of Ancient Iran: From Its Origin to the Time of Alexander the Great.
Golden Press, 1964. The Arts of Mankind. First edition. Translation by Stuart Gilbert and James Emmons. xxi/439 pages.
Large-format volume, measuring approximately 9.25" x 11.25", is bound in red cloth, with stamped gilt lettering to spine and publisher's emblem stamped in gold on front cover. Book is new. Price-clipped dust jacket is in fine condition.  Illustrated throughout in black-and-white and color, plus fold-out map at rear. Volume is housed in cardboard slipcase (9.25" x 12").
This is the fifth volume of this series.
"At the beginning of the first millenium before Christ, three antagonists confronted each other in the Near East. There was the vast empire of the Assyrians, a Semitic people who were great warrior and great artists, and whose art attests to both their cruelty and their strength. Vying with them were the Urartu, a powerful tribe of Asian origin. And finally there were the Iranians who, after a long and intense struggle, succeeded in dominating the other two.
These, and smaller groups -- the Medes, the Scythians, the Cimarians -- were all peoples of considerable force and vitality, as is witnessed by the arts they left behind them. That their artistic achievements are as valid today  as they ever were is amply illustrated by this book. Professor Ghirshman draws on an unparalleled knowledge of the period, on the experience of thirty years of excavating in the Iranian plateau, and on his extensive study of the work in the fields done by others, notably the Russians. The result is a vivid and brilliant reconstruction and commentary on the life and art of the Iranian plateau people from their origins until Alexander the Great brought down the proud Achaemenian dynasty.
Illustrating the text are incomparable pictures in color and black and white showing such masterpieces as the bronzes from Hamadan, items from treasure of Ziwiyeh, and the massive decorations ordered by by Cyrus and by Darius for their palaces at Susa and Persepolis. The influence of Iranian art as it flourished under the Persians radiated outward until it touched not just the western world, but also India and even distant Siberia. The development of htis artistic genius is the thesis of this book."