What are Sasanian Rock Reliefs?
The Sasanian rock reliefs are monumental carvings cut into cliff faces across the Iranian plateau in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries CE. They depict the investiture, victory, and ritual combat of the Sasanian kings and constitute the most concentrated surviving collection of Persian royal imagery. The reliefs were carved at multiple sites across the empire, including Naqsh-e Rostam, Bishapur, Firuzabad, Taq-e Bostan, Naqsh-e Rajab, and others. The first stop is Georgina Herrmann’s “The Sasanian Rock Reliefs at Naqsh-e Rostam” (in Iran, 1969) and her subsequent publications, with Matthew Canepa’s The Two Eyes of the Earth (2009) and his recent essays giving the cross-cultural context. The recent volume by Touraj Daryaee, Sasanian Persia in Late Antiquity (2013), and the work of Pierfrancesco Callieri on the Bishapur reliefs, are also useful.
Origins and development
The tradition of Sasanian rock relief was inaugurated by Ardashir I, the founder of the dynasty, in the early third century CE. Ardashir, who had overthrown the last Arsacid king and proclaimed himself King of Kings, used the rock reliefs as a powerful statement of his legitimacy and his divine right to rule. The earliest Sasanian reliefs, at Firuzabad and Naqsh-e Rajab, depict the investiture of Ardashir by the supreme god Ahura Mazda, the symbolic foundation of the Sasanian state, and the defeat of the Arsacids and Romans in battle.
The tradition was continued by Shapur I (r. 240–270 CE), who used the rock reliefs to commemorate his victories over the Roman emperors Gordian III, Philip the Arab, and Valerian. The great victory relief of Shapur at Naqsh-e Rostam, depicting the king on horseback with the captive Roman emperors in attendance, became the model for Sasanian royal iconography for the rest of the dynasty. The tradition was further developed under the later Sasanian kings, with major additions at Taq-e Bostan and elsewhere in the sixth and seventh centuries.
Naqsh-e Rostam
The site of Naqsh-e Rostam is the most important of all Sasanian rock relief sites. Four monumental reliefs are carved into the cliff face at the base of the mountain, beneath the Achaemenid royal tombs. The reliefs, arranged from south to north, depict the investiture of Ardashir I, the great victory of Shapur I over the Romans, the investiture of Shapur I, and the mounted combat of Bahram II. Each relief is several metres high and was originally brightly painted; traces of the original pigment can still be seen in protected areas.
The Investiture of Ardashir
The earliest of the Sasanian reliefs at Naqsh-e Rostam depicts Ardashir I, mounted on horseback, receiving the ring of kingship from Ahura Mazda, also mounted. The two horses, with their riders, are shown moving to the right, with the fallen Arsacid king Artabanus V lying beneath the hooves of Ahura Mazda’s horse. The composition is a clear statement of Sasanian legitimacy: the new dynasty is presented as the recipient of divine favour and the heir to the Achaemenid tradition.
The Victory of Shapur
The great victory relief of Shapur I is the most elaborate of the Sasanian reliefs at Naqsh-e Rostam. The composition shows a mounted Shapur, with a sword in one hand and a spear in the other, charging forward on a charger. In front of him, a line of captured Roman emperors, including Philip the Arab and Valerian, hold the bridle of his horse, while the dying Roman emperor Gordian III lies beneath the hooves. The composition is a vivid image of Sasanian triumph over Rome, and it became the model for Sasanian royal iconography for the rest of the dynasty.
The Investiture of Shapur
A second Shapur relief at Naqsh-e Rostam depicts the king standing before a high column, receiving a ring from Ahura Mazda, while a smaller figure, the crown prince, stands behind. A small Zoroastrian fire altar burns at the centre of the composition, and a row of courtiers stands to the right.
Bishapur
The site of Bishapur, in the Fars province, was founded by Shapur I as a new imperial city and contains several important Sasanian rock reliefs. The reliefs, cut into the cliff face above the river, include scenes of the investiture of Shapur, the victory of Shapur over the Romans, and the unusually frank image of the Roman emperor Valerian submitting to Shapur.
The Valerian relief at Bishapur is unique in Sasanian art for its depiction of a Roman emperor in a posture of submission. The Roman, having been captured by the Sasanians in 260 CE, is shown kneeling before the Sasanian king, with his hands raised in supplication. The composition, though more formal than the victory relief at Naqsh-e Rostam, is no less triumphant, and it was clearly intended as a permanent monument to Shapur’s great victory. The French archaeological work at Bishapur, directed by Roman Ghirshman in the 1930s and 1940s, is the principal publication.
Firuzabad
The site of Firuzabad, in the Fars province, contains the earliest of the Sasanian rock reliefs. Two reliefs are cut into the cliff face at the Tang-e Chogan, a narrow gorge near the city. The earlier relief depicts the investiture of Ardashir I by Ahura Mazda, with the king and the god both mounted on horseback. The later relief depicts the victory of Ardashir over the Arsacid king Artabanus V, the Battle of Hormozdgan in 224 CE that decided the succession. The Firuzabad reliefs are important as the prototypes of the Sasanian investiture and victory compositions.
Taq-e Bostan
The site of Taq-e Bostan, near the modern city of Kermanshah in western Iran, contains the latest and most elaborate of the Sasanian rock reliefs. The site, set in a small limestone cliff beside a stream, includes two large iwans, each containing a sculpted scene, and a series of smaller reliefs.
The smaller iwan depicts a hunting scene, in which a mounted king pursues a stag, a boar, and other game, with his attendants following behind. The composition is a vivid image of the royal hunt, a metaphor for the king’s victory over chaos and evil. The larger iwan, the most famous of the Sasanian reliefs at Taq-e Bostan, depicts the investiture of Khosrow II (r. 590–628 CE), the last great Sasanian king. The king is shown standing on a platform supported by two winged victories, receiving the ring of kingship from a female figure, often identified as Anahita, the Iranian goddess of water and fertility. The composition is the most elaborate of the Sasanian investiture scenes and includes a long inscription in Middle Persian, with details of Khosrow’s reign and his divine right to rule.
Iconography and style
The Sasanian rock reliefs are characterised by a number of distinctive features. The king is typically shown in a frontal, hieratic pose, with elaborate dress, a heavy crown, and a jewelled diadem. The horse, when present, is rendered with extraordinary attention to detail, including the bridle, the saddle, and the elaborate harness. The figures are arranged in a formal, often symmetrical manner, with the king always in the central position. The relief is, in technique, a flat plane carved in low or high relief, with the figures projecting from the background.
The style of the Sasanian reliefs is sharply different from the more naturalistic art of the Hellenistic tradition. The figures are stylised, the proportions are formal, and the composition is hierarchical. The Sasanian reliefs represent a deliberate rejection of Hellenistic naturalism in favour of an Iranian tradition of monumental art, and they became, in turn, a model for Byzantine, Islamic, and even Western European royal imagery.
Influence and reception
The Sasanian rock reliefs had a profound influence on the art of the wider region. The investiture composition, with the king receiving the ring of kingship from a divine figure, was adopted by the Byzantine, Carolingian, and Ottonian empires and became a central element of Christian coronation imagery. The hunting scene, with the king in combat with a wild animal, was translated into the mosaic floors of Roman villas, the silk textiles of Tang China, and the carved reliefs of Mughal India. The Sasanian royal crown, with its distinctive globular form, became a model for the crowns of medieval Europe, the Russian tsars, and even the divine figures of Hindu mythology.
The Sasanian rock reliefs also had an important influence on the development of Islamic art. The caliphs of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties used the Sasanian imperial iconography as a model for their own image, and the Sasanian investiture composition was adapted to the new religious context of Islam. The iwan form, which originated in the Sasanian period, became a central element of Islamic religious architecture and was used in the great mosques of the Islamic world from Spain to India.