TEHRAN - Iranian authorities have recently confiscated 448 historical objects which were illegally kept in a place in the city of Tehran, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

A total of 448 historical relics made of bronze, silver and gold, which date back to the first millennium BC, Sassanid and Islamic periods, have been seized by the police, said Amir Rahmatollahi, a senior police official in charge of protecting cultural heritage.

Three people have been detained in this regard, he noted.

The Sassanid era (224 CE–651) is of very high importance in the history of Iran. Under Sassanids, Persian art and architecture experienced a general renaissance. Crafts such as metalwork and gem-engraving grew highly sophisticated, yet scholarship was encouraged by the state. In those years, works from both the East and West were translated into Pahlavi, the language of the Sassanians.

Islamic arts, the literary, performing, and visual arts of the vast populations of the Middle East and elsewhere that adopted the Islamic faith from the 7th century onward. These adherents of the faith have created such an immense variety of literatures, performing arts, visual arts, and music that it virtually defies any comprehensive definition. In the narrowest sense, the arts of the Islamic peoples might be said to include only those arising directly from the practice of Islam.

More commonly, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, the term is extended to include all of the arts produced by Muslim peoples, whether connected with their religion or not.

AFM/MG