Sasanian Art(Part 2.)

On the obverse the Sasanian coins displayed the bust of the reigning monarch; occasionally a king associated his son or wife, or both, with him on the coins, thereby following Roman practice, presumably for dynastic reasons. The reverse side of the coins does not show the image of the ancestor as did the Parthian coins but, in conformity with the religious devotion of the Sasanian dynasty, an alter with the sacred fire whose hereditary guardians had been the ancestors of their royal family. The coins of Ardashir show a table with lions' feet on top of which burns the sacred fire. It is supported in the centre by a column, and the feet also are placed on low supports. Perhaps there was a difference in meaning between this rendering of the fire altar and the one found on the coins of Shapur I where only a column supports the plinth on which the fire burns, and where the fire altar is flanked by two attendants, each of whom grasps with one hand a spear and rests the other hand on the pommel of his sword. The figures wear battlemented crowns but lack the orb of curls on top of the head which distinguished the Sasanian kings, hence they were probably priestly rather than royal guardians. Later a king and a priest were pictured and finally, from the time of Khusraw I [531-579] onward, two royal figures shown full face in conformity with the stylistic development of the period which favoured a directionless rigid frontality. Rare examples show on the reverse of the coins a scene of investiture, such as a coin of Bahram II [276-293], which shows the king facing the goddess Anahita with eagle or falcon cap. [13] . . . .[p. 199]

The most impressive and best-known works of Sasanian art are the rock reliefs, of which about thirty are known from the first two centuries of Sasanian rule. The largest number is in Fars, in the majestic silent valley of Naqsh-i Rustem, in the small bay of rocks at Naqsh-i Rajab, and on the steep inclines of the gorge at Bishapur. Reliefs were also cut singly into the surface of a rock incline, but so far only one has been discovered outside the province of Fars. It is in Azerbaijan and is thought to represent Ardashir I and his son Shapur receiving the homage of the Armenians.. [14]

Only a few of these reliefs have inscriptions; their identification with a specific king must therefore be based on the shape of the crown as distinguished in the coins discussed in the preceding pages, beginning on page 199.

The ancient Iranian tradition of including natural reliefs in an historical or religious context was revived by the Achaemenids and reached its apogee under the Sasanian rulers. Ardashir I initially placed the rendering of his investiture by the god Ahura Mazda in Naqsh-i Rustem, at the entrance of a valley, the sanctity of which was stressed in Achaemenid times by the sacred tower and the tombs of the first Achaemenid rulers. Surely the site had been chosen by Ardashir to unite the divine beneficial radiance, the xvarnah of the Achaemenids, with his own person and with his family.. [15] [p. 202]

In Ardashir's relief of his investiture, god and king are both on horseback and are of equal size; the orb of curls or korymbos of the king is even higher than the crenellated crown of the god. Only the fact that the god holds the diadem and that the king reaches out for it indicates the dependence of the mortal king on favours from the highest god. The emblem of the god is the barsom bundle which Ahura Mazda holds in his right hand. He wears a long beard cut off horizontally at the bottom and resembling the beards of the Achaemenid kings. The beard of the Sasanian king is either pulled through a ring or tied by a ribbon; it therefore appears pointed and shorter. Both figures wear long loose garments, of which the upper one lies like a cape in thin folds over a garment with long sleeves. The lower part falls in thin curves over the leg and hangs down beside it in slightly broadening folds. Both figures have their legs stretched toward the ground so that they seem to stand rather than to sit, which adds to their apparent height. Moreover, the unnaturally small size of the horses further enhances the size of the human figures. Pictorial stress on the principal figures by gradation of size according to their importance can frequently be noted in Sasanian art, which is more concerned with expression than with the [p. 203] rendering of natural forms and proportions. Thus the horses bend their necks as in the Achaemenid reliefs of Persepolis, although the loose reins in the present rendering show that this is merely one part of a pictorial formula. The second part is provided by the curve formed by the raised leg of the horse, the hoof of which rests here on the head of a fallen enemy. The two enemies are Ahriman, the personification of evil, and Ardavan, the last Arsacid king and representative of all the military opponents of the Sasanians. The heads of the enemies are worked in high relief, whereas the bodies are indicated by flat silhouettes behind the horses. Ahriman's curls look like bodies of snakes, but only in the front is a snake head clearly recognizable, indicating the sculptor's intent. Ardavan wears a helmet with what was probably a dynastic emblem of the Arsacids.

Behind Ardashir stands a page holding a fly-whisk and slightly disturbing the symmetry of the composition. Only the principal actions of investiture and triumph are related to an imaginary axis of symmetry. This closed directionless composition, a heritage of ancient Near Eastern art, expresses the irrevocability and permanent effect of the event. Erdmann pointed out correctly, however, that the apparent calm is effectively mitigated by the fluttering mantle at the back of the god, the pleated bands of the diadems, and the large tassels swinging from the harness of the horses.

The relief is high and the hind legs of the horses are worked out almost fully in the round; the treatment of the surface, however, is restrained and limited to a number of delicate linear patterns, as seen in the pleats of the bands or in the folds of the garments, which curve in different directions. Other reliefs with representations of the investiture of Ardashir at Firuzabad and Naqsh-i Rajab show god and king standing, not on horseback, but Ardashir's successors mostly chose the mounted scheme for the rendering of the investiture. The finest of these is a relief of Bahram I [273-276]. Ancient Near Eastern tradition is here successfully combined with Roman influence, which had penetrated Sasanian relief sculpture in the time of Shapur I [241-272]. Dictates of ancient Near Eastern schemes can be observed in the limitation of the scene to the two principal figures and in their traditional heraldic arrangement. The influence of the artistic principles of classic antiquity is visible in the structure and modelling of the bodies, the logical and varied rendering of the drapery, and the psychologically convincing and expressive gestures of the figures.

Roman influence can be recognized after Shapur's successes in the West, especially with his victory over the Roman emperor Valerian. Perhaps the first relief in which Shapur's triumph was represented is the one carved in the rock at Naqsh-i Rustem, opposite the sacred Achaemenid tower on the socle of which appears an account of Shapur's deeds and military successes.

In the relief two Roman emperors, probably Philip the Arab and Valerian, look entreatingly toward the powerful Sasanian ruler. This identification of one Roman emperor is of recent date.. [16] It is based in part on the resemblance of coin portraits of Philip the Arab to the profile of the kneeling emperor in another version of Shapur's triumph, carved in the rocks near Bishapur. The inscription of Naqsh-i Rustem proudly mentions that Philip the Arab had to pay five hundred thousand dirhams [that is, drachmas] to Shapur. If the kneeling figure is Philip, the standing one toward whom Shapur extends his hand can be only Valerian, whom the Persian king made a prisoner at Edessa in A.D. 260.

The figure of the Romans together with the mounted king from a triangle whose apex is the korymbos of Shapur, which breaks through the upper edge of the [p. 204] relief. This increases the size and majesty of the Persian king. The free composition of the relief, the vigorous modeling of the figures, the relatively free treatment of the king's drapery and of the mantles worn by the Romans, show some influence of Roman style. Yet this influence is limited to a fairly superficial imitation of Roman characteristics. Closer examination of the costume of the Roman emperors, for example, shows that the folds of the dress are greatly patternized and do not contribute toward the visual understanding of the bodies which they are supposed to cover. One would therefore hesitate to ascribe such reliefs even to a Roman artist of the eastern provinces and would rather assume the hand of an Iranian sculptor who had merely seen Roman works of art. Such an indigenous artist could well have been responsible for the posture of the king, which combines the frontality of the thorax with the profile view of head and legs. This combined view is used to best advantage in the present relief, in which the king's broad chest conveys the impression of great power. A Roman artist of the period would have scarcely employed this ancient Near Eastern posture so successfully. Other reliefs which represent the triumph of Shapur show more direct Roman influence and may partly be the work of sculptors from the Romanized region of northern Syria.

The scenes of investiture and triumph so far discussed, which show high relief and little action, may be viewed as a further development of Achaemenid sculpture. The rock-carving of Darius at Bisutun especially is in high relief and may also be considered iconographically to belong to the scenes of triumph. In contrast to this type of relief those of the Parthian period are flat and probably show the transposition of wall-paintings into rock reliefs. From this tradition seems to derive a relief of Ardashir I [224-241] in Firuzabad which represents an equestrian battle. This work. [17] [not reproduced here] depicts in three single contests of increasing fury Ardashir's victory over Ardavan. The relief is flat and seems close to wall-painting in the successful linear design and in the indication of evident pleasure with which ornamental details of armour and harness are drawn.

The theme of an equestrian battle occurs again on high relief at Naqsh-i Rustem, a work ascribed to Bahram II [276-293] on the basis of the shape of the crown. The king who charges his opponent with couched spear, galloping over a fallen enemy, resembles in his posture the figure of Ardashir in the relief of Firuzabad. The Roman opponent, however, differs from the sad rider who tumbles from his toppling horse in the relief of Ardashir. Instead he maintains himself on his horse and, though mortally wounded, points his spear at the approaching king. Thus the rendering of the battle scene is far more dramatic than in the earlier relief, in which the enemy no longer offered any resistance. In the lower half of Bahram's relief an unidentified Persian opposes a Roman horseman. The battle is as yet undecided. These equestrian battles of Sasanian times seem like illustrations of tournaments long before the age of chivalry in the West.