Persian-Sassanid art patterns

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Persian-Sassanide art patterns have similarities with the art of the Bulgars, Khazars, and Saka-Scythians, and have recurred in Asia. They predominantly feature motifs of fighting animals. Gold was frequently used as a base for their art creations.

The characteristic patterns of Persian-Sassanide art exhibit similarities to the art of the Bulgars,^[1] Khazars, and Saka-Scythian, and have recurred at different locations in the Central Asia region. A "griffin fighting an elk" motif from the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós, found in 1799 in what is today Romania, bears similarities with another griffin & elk motif discovered in the tombs of Hsiung-nu^[2] (early Huns, also Xiongnu) during Colonel Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov^[3][4] expedition (1907–09) near Urga (Outer Mongolia).^[5][6][7]

A gold symbolization of "animals-in-fight" has been also found in the vicinity of the city of Turpan,^[8] the principal crossroad of the northern Silk Road. Golden "animals-in-fight" have also been identified as 3rd – 2nd century B.C. Mongolia (or southern Siberia), being characteristic of Hsiung-nu or Xiongnu.

The early history of the Nomads is not well recorded, which changed after their contact with cultures possessing written history. Nomadic people of the vast steppes of Asia were a major force in history.^[9] Their power was not in the empires they built, but rather the turmoil they created among ancient civilizations such as China or Persia, impacting their historical development substantially.^[10] It is believed that the nomads ranged widely, forever moving on for sake of richer grazing for their horses and sheep.^{[citation needed]} Migrations were often seasonal. Their skill at extracting gold was unprecedented.^{[citation needed]} In summer, during the tribe's seasonal migration, a fleece would be weighted on a riverbed to collect particles of alluvial gold. Upon the tribes' return, the fleece would be sheared, burned, and a gold ingot the size of a horse's hoof would result.^{[citation needed]} The tay tayak (the horse's hoof) was a unit of gold for a long period, which was used as a measure of an amount of golden metal rather than money, since gold was not fabricated as currency.^{[citation needed]} Using gold was a spiritual practice, as emblems of priestly office, prizes for physical prowess in ritual sport, or as adornment of the sacral ceremony of marriage.^[11]

• Iranian art
• History of decorative arts
• Toreutics
• Asian art
• Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós
• Hunnic Empire
• Xiongnu
• Scythian art
• Thraco-Cimmerian
• Turko-Persian tradition