July 27, 1971
The Celebration of the 2500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great
Dr. Froelich G. Rainey
Director
University Museum
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
Dear Dr. Rainey:
It is fitting that the University of Pennsylvania, by publishing the collection of ten articles on Iranian Arcaheology from the Neolithic Age 9000 B.C. to the present time, covering a full range of Iran’s cultural history, will play a leading role in the United States commemoration of the 2500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great and the Declaration of Human Rights. This outstanding Institution has a relationship of over forty years with Iran in the studies of Persian Art and archaeology, highlighted by the discovery by Professor Robert H. Dyson, Jr., of the famous Hasanlu Gold Bowl dating 1000 B.C.
With the publication of these scholarly works on Persian Art the University has again demonstrated its dedication to examining the cultural heritage of our country which has been one of the foundations of Western Civilization. As President of the Western Hemisphere committees, whose United States Committee is headed by Mrs. Richard M. Nixon, Honorary Chairman, and Ralph E. Becker, General Chairman, I congratulate the University on its outstanding publication which will occupy a prominent place among the scholarly works of the art and culture of Iran.
Let this 2500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great, with his unprecedented Declaration of Human Rights based on freedom, morality and tolerance, renew and reaffirm the great friendship between Iran and the United States.
Sincerely,
Aslan Afshar
Ambassador of Iran