Rock Carvings of the Sassanian Kings

Persian Center, Berkeley (Sept. 12, '99)
In the third century of the common era Ardashir I, ruler of Fars and founder of the Sassanian dynasty, rebelled against his Parthian overlord Ardavan V. Ardashir commemorated his decisive military victory in the battle of Hormozdegan (c. 224 CE) in a monumental rock carving near his capital at Gur. This sculpture captures the formative instant of a dynasty that was to rule Iran for the succeeding four centuries. During their reign the Sassanians succeeded in expanding the frontiers of Iran (approaching at times the vast frontiers of Achaemenid Iran), and served repeatedly as the principal rivals of Rome.
The cliff at Naqsh-i Rustam, Kaveh Niazi, 1999.
More than thirty Sassanian rock carvings have survived to the present day. These reliefs show scenes of battle, and the royal hunt, as well as scenes of the court. "Investiture" scenes are a common theme, also -- depicting the monarch as he is granted the symbols of royal glory. The majority of the reliefs were carved in the first two centuries of Sassanian rule and are located in Fars, the ancestral homeland of the Sassanians. Among the best known, however, are a set of sculptures commisioned by Khusrau II at Taq-i Bostan, near Kermanshah in western Iran. Created during the most storied and opulent part of Sassanian history, shortly before the fall of Iran to the armies of Islam, the reliefs at Taq-i Bostan represent the terminus of this particular tradition of sculpture in Iran. Many of the features of Sassanian art survived the collapse of the Sassanian state, however, and went on to form the basis for the art and architecture of Islamic Iran.
Investiture of Nerseh, Naqsh-i Rustam, 1998. © Kaveh Niazi, 1999.
Victory Relief of Shahpur I, Naqsh-i Rustam, 1998. © Kaveh Niazi, 1999. Three Roman emperors marched against Iran during Shahpur's reign. The first, Gordian, was killed in battle. Of the other two, Phillip the Arab reportedly sued for peace, and Valerian is said to have been captured in hand to hand combat. Hence the prisoner kneeling in front of Shahpur's horse is often identified as Phillip, and the standing prisoner as Valerian.
Sassanian Ruler (probably Khusrau II) on Horseback, Taq-i Bostan, 1999. © Kaveh Niazi, 1999. Considered a masterpiece of Sassanian sculpture, the life-size figure of a chain-mailed warrior preparing for battle is nearly free of the background panel. The horse may be Shabdiz, Khusrau Parviz's famed charger. Two celebrated hunting scenes are sculpted in low relief on the walls adjacent to the central figures.
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