TEHRAN–An ornate Iranian sword has recently been recovered during an excavation survey in the Black Sea Region in the present-day Krasnodar Krai of Russia.

Dating back to the 4th to the 6th century CE, the sword, along with several relics, have been unearthed from a warrior burial, who was an inhabitant of the Taman Peninsula, Heritage Daily reported on Saturday.

The sword suggests a political and cultural connection with the Sassanian or Neo-Persian Empire from modern Iran and Iraq, likely given as a diplomatic gift or taken as a military trophy, the report added.

Also, the archaeological project yielded pieces of a harness, buckles, and belt tips, as well as high-status items such as glass jugs, wooden and metal utensils, and wooden boxes with decayed cloths.

There is no doubt that the cited warrior was a representative of the elite of Phanagoria and was a bearer of the military aristocratic culture of the Bosporan Kingdom in the Migration Period, said one of the members of the project.

The ancient city of Phanagoria was a Greek colony, first founded in the Taman peninsula by Teian colonists in the 6th century BC after a conflict with the Persian king Cyrus the Great. The city grew into a major trading center that, along with the associated necropolis, covers an area of over 2223 acres.

In many ways, Iran under Sassanian rule witnessed tremendous achievements of Persian civilization. Experts say that the art and architecture of the nation experienced a general renaissance during Sassanid rule.

In that era, crafts such as metalwork and gem engraving grew highly sophisticated, as scholarship was encouraged by the state; many works from both the East and West were translated into Pahlavi, the official language of the Sassanians.

The legendary wealth of the Sassanian court is fully confirmed by the existence of more than one hundred examples of bowls or plates of precious metal known at present. One of the finest examples is the silver plate with partial gilding in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The dynasty was destroyed by Arab invaders during a span from 637 to 651.

ABU/AM