TEHRAN – The Iranian delegation for Tokyo 2020 has selected a magnificent Elamite-era bowl as its symbol for the Summer Olympic Games.

“Jaam-e Arjan (“Arjan bowl”), which belongs to the beautiful city of Behbahan, has been selected as the symbol for the Iranian delegation for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games,” CHTN reported on Friday.

The selection was made in a follow-up meeting in southwestern Khuzestan province, which was attended by the Minister of Sport and Youth Masoud Soltanifar, the report added.

Arjan bowl is somewhat overshadowed by its counterpart “Arjan ring of power”, which is a royal golden armlet both named after Arjan, an ancient city of the Elamite era, the armlet dates back to the Neo-Elamite period (c. 1100 – 540 BC).

The armlet along with some other relics were discovered in a tomb reportedly belonging to the 2nd millennium BC.

Elam was an ancient pre-Iranian civilization centered in the far west and south-west of what is now modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam provinces as well as a small part of southern Iraq. Elam was an ancient pre-Iranian civilization centered in the far west and south-west of what is now modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam provinces as well as a small part of southern Iraq.

The Elamite kingdom, founded on the hot alluvial plain of the rivers Dez, Karun, and Marun, has a long history, during which its inhabitants were in various ways involved in the affairs of their Mesopotamian neighbors: the Sumerians and the Akkadians of southern Iraq, the Babylonians, the Kassites in the northeast, and the Assyrians in the far north, and the Persians in the east.

The capital of Elam was Susa; the Elamite language is unrelated to any other known language. One of the main sanctuaries was Dur Untash (Tchoga Zanbil). In the Hellenistic age, Susiana ("the land of Susa") was part of the Seleucid and Parthian Empires. Later, the Sasanian Persians and Arabs took control. Nowadays, Khuzestan is the Arab-speaking part of Iran. The country is fertile and well-known for rice, sugar, linen, and cotton.

The International Olympic Committee has ruled out postponing the Tokyo Games for a second time, while a government-led task force has started planning how the global event can be staged safely, with suggestions that it will put on a simplified version of the event. The announcement comes after growing uncertainty about whether the Tokyo Olympics would be canceled altogether, leaving sponsors, tourism, and hospitality businesses in limbo.

AFM/