TEHRAN - Iranian authorities have recently confiscated 106 historical relics from a smuggler in Harsin, Kermanshah province, CHTN reported on Monday.

The objects have been estimated to date from the Seleucid and Parthian eras, said Amir Rahmatollahi, a senior police official in charge of protecting cultural heritage.

The police discovered vital clues to identify the smuggler following several days of thorough inspection and constant efforts under close collaboration with judicial authorities, Rahmatollahi explained.

Earthenware statues and rhyton(s), coins and bronze bowls were amongst the confiscated objects, he added.

The Seleucid Empire was a Hellenistic state ruled by the Seleucid dynasty, which existed from 312 to 63 BC. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, Persia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and what is now Kuwait, Afghanistan, and parts of Pakistan and Turkmenistan.

The Parthian Empire (247 BC–224 CE), also known as the Arsacid Empire was a major Iranian political and cultural power which at its height stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to eastern Iran.

AFM/PA