Research on Men’s Motifs in Elam Civilization: From Early Days of the Third Millennium to the Middle of the First Millennium B.C

 

 
The remaining artworks from different periods and places in Iran show the beliefs, customs, traditions and life in that times and places. Using men’s motifs has been prevalent in the remained works of different civilizations and historical periods since the most ancient times. One of the most important and oldest civilizations of the Iran plateau is Elam. Elam was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a part of Fars and Lorestan province. Elam is an artificial construct, a name coined by Mesopotamian residents to describe regions of highland southwest Iran and its people. The Elamites called their country Haltamti, Sumerian Elam, Akkadian Elamu. Large and small human sculptures made from different materials and human images on dishes and other things in Elam civilization shows that how much importance Elamit people attach to themselves. In fact the human motifs are the most important pictorial sources in order to identify Elamit culture. This research, which has been done in a historical-descriptive way, and by using written materials, investigates the human motifs specially men’s images in Elam civilization. The civilization is well-known among researchers for its special attention to women, so we are going to give more information about Elamit people’s social and cultural situation by investigating more men’s images. The purpose of the research is to investigate and study men’s motifs which can explain more about the Elamit men’s role and position. Motifs such as their hair and shaving styles, their  hats and clothes and the kinds of men’s sculpture presentations which has been repeated in Elamit works , has been investigated using pictorial sources. We paid a special attention to men’s features in motifs that can explain men’s position in Elam civilization and describe the differences between men and women in Elamit society .this research shows that despite the fact that Elam has been influenced by Mesopotamia civilization, it has different features in its men’s images. Elam emphasis on the difference between men and women position in the society is evidently observable in their works. In spite of the great importance that they attach to women, they keep men’s position in cultural, social and political affairs and this is what human being has been looking for in different civilizations during the history.  The history and archaeology of Elam are marked by the intermittent reconfiguration of the entity which we call by that name but we can see Elamite art works from early days of the third millennium to the middle of the first millennium B.C Elam despite influence of neighboring cultures and civilizations has distinct characteristics in culture and civilization. We can see these characteristics by study of their architecture, sculpture and reliefs. In this article beard, hair, clothes, hats, and position of Elamite mans were studied.