The Persian Empire

by Kia, Mehrdad;

  The entries in this chapter can be divided into cities and archaeological sites built by each of Iran’s pre-Islamic dynasties. The majority of archaeological sites dating back to the Median period, namely Baba Jan Tepe, Godin Tepe, and Tepe Nush-i Jan, are located in the Hamedan-Malayer-Kangavar triangle (also known as the Median Triangle) in western Iran.

  The most renowned of Achaemenid ancient sites are the tomb of Cyrus II the Great at Pasargadae, Darius I’s inscription at Bisotun, the magnificent palace complex of Persepolis, and the Achaemenid burial tombs at Naqsh-e Rostam. Pasargadae served as the capital of the Persian Achaemenid Empire during the reign of Cyrus II the Great (r. 558–530 BCE). It was probably chosen as the first residence of Cyrus because it was the site of his last and decisive battle against the Medes. Aside from the majestic tomb of Cyrus, Pasargadae contained a variety of buildings, including palaces, pavilions, fire altars, gardens, and a large park. Even after the death of Cyrus and the transfer of the capital from Pasargadae to Susa, Ecbatana, and Persepolis, the Achaemenid kings returned to Pasargadae as the site for their royal investiture.

  Built by the Achaemenid king Darius I (r. 522–486 BCE) and completed by his successors, Persepolis’s pillars, massive floors, and carved reliefs tell the story of one of the world’s great empires and symbolize Persian imperial power at its height. The main palace complex, 35.4 miles (57 kilometers) northwest of the city of Shiraz in the southern Iranian province of Fars, rises on a large artificial terrace platform covering an area of 149,499 square yards (125,000 square meters). Ornate palace inscriptions by Darius I welcomed visitors from distant provinces of the Persian Empire. In one of his inscriptions at the site, Darius acknowledged that the building of the structures on the site had been accomplished by artisans who hailed from the various nations that inhabited the Persian Empire. Indeed, the architecture of Persepolis borrowed heavily from the artistic and architectural designs of ancient Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, Lydia, and many other nations. Workers from places as far away as Egypt, Lebanon, Asia Minor, India, and Central Asia contributed significantly to the construction and design of the magnificent palace complex. After the death of Darius I, his son and successor Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BCE) and his grandson Artaxerxes I (r. 465–424 BCE) added their own buildings to the palace complex. The main structures of Persepolis consisted of the grand double staircases; the palace of Darius I; the audience palace, known as Apadana; Xerxes I’s Throne Hall, better known as the Hall of a Hundred Columns; the palace of Xerxes I; the second palace, or the harem of Xerxes I; the Tripylon, or the entranceway to the private palaces; and the Treasury.

  Naqsh-e Rostam (Picture of Rostam), a short distance from both Pasargadae and Persepolis, served as the royal necropolis, or burial site, for four kings of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty: Darius I, Xerxes I, Artaxerxes I, and Darius II. The grounds of Naqsh-e Rostam include a tall and impressive towering cliff. The resting places of the four Achaemenid kings were designed as cross-shaped tombs cut into the rock. A door in the center of the facade provided access to the interior of each royal tomb. A large cube-shaped building called Ka’ba-ye Zardosht (Ka’ba of Zoroaster) stands across the rock-cut tombs. The structure was probably built sometime during the Achaemenid period and contains a staircase and a door as well as blind windows in dark gray limestone on all four sides. The function of Ka’ba-ye Zardosht is unknown. Some scholars have maintained that the building was used as a site for royal coronations, while others have argued that it may have been used as a depository for religious or governmental records.

  Few standing structures can be traced back to the Arsacid (Parthian) period (r. 247/238 BCE–224 CE). Perhaps the most important historical and archaeological site of the Arsacid dynasty is Nisa, which is located near the village of Bagir, 6 miles (10 kilometers) west of Ashgabat, the capital of the Republic of Turkmenistan. There is no settled consensus among archaeologists who have studied Nisa regarding the function and purpose of the site and its numerous buildings. It has been variously described as an Arsacid (Parthian) capital city, a royal residence, an army fortress, and even a major religious center.

  Numerous historical and archaeological sites remain from the Sasanian period. Naqsh-e Rostam near Persepolis originally served as an Achaemenid necropolis, but during the reign of the Sasanian dynasty (r. 224–651 CE) it emerged as an important center for royal and religious ceremonies. Eight Sasanian rock reliefs are carved at the base of the cliff below the tombs of the Achaemenid kings. The most impressive of these is the victory relief of the Sasanian monarch Shapur I (r. 239/240/241/242–270/272 CE). The Persian king of kings sits on a horse, while the captured Roman emperor, identified by some as Valerian, kneels before him. Two other Roman figures appear on the relief. The first, believed by many to be Emperor Gordian III, has fallen and died next to the majestic horse of the Persian king; the second Roman figure, identified by some as Emperor Philip the Arab and by others as Emperor Valerian, stands next to Shapur while his hand is held by the Sasanian monarch. Another impressive rock relief at Naqsh-e Rostam depicts the investiture of Ardashir I, founder of the Sasanian dynasty. It shows the great god Ohrmazd (Ahura Mazda) bestowing the diadem of kingship on Ardashir I, thus implying Ardashir’s divine origins. During the reign of Shapur I, three royal inscriptions in Parthian, Middle Persian, and Greek were also incised into the three walls of the towerlike structure called Ka’ba-ye Zardosht, which stands across from the Achaemenid tombs and the Sasanian rock reliefs. Below the Middle Persian inscription, the powerful Zoroastrian high priest Kartir, who served the Sasanian monarchs Shapur I, Hormozd I, Bahram I, and Bahram II, added his own inscription.

  Another important Sasanian site is the city of Bishapur. Located in the southern Iranian province of Fars, the city was built by the Sasanian monarch Shapur I to celebrate his victorious campaigns against three Roman emperors: Gordian III, Philip the Arab, and Valerian. Bishapur was constructed at the foot of a mountain where the Shapur River cuts through a gorge and opens onto a wide open plain. Roman prisoners of war most probably participated in the construction of the new city, which was surrounded by massive walls and deep, wide moats. Three rock reliefs along the sides of the Bishapur River gorge commemorated Shapur’s triumph over Roman emperors, and three other reliefs added later by the Sasanian kings Bahram I, Bahram II, and Shapur II indicate that the city was viewed as an important urban center in the third and fourth centuries CE and was frequently visited by Sasanian kings. Aside from these rock reliefs, archaeologists also discovered several buildings at Bishapur. These structures include a palace, a temple, and a building and courtyard with intricate floor mosaics depicting Persian nobles as well as musicians. In a large limestone cave a few miles outside Bishapur stands a colossal statue nearly 22 feet (6.70 meters) high of Shapur I.

  Another important Sasanian historical site is Taq-e Bostan, located near the city of Kermanshah in western Iran. The Persian term taq means “arch,” and bostan means “garden.” Taq-e Bostan therefore means “Garden’s Arch.” The site is home to two arched grottoes, two royal investiture scenes, and two highly detailed reliefs of a royal hunt dating back to the reign of the Sasanian dynasty. The reliefs provide the visitor with a rare glimpse into the daily life of Iran’s Sasanian kings.

  The oldest relief at Taq-e Bostan depicts the investiture of the Sasanian monarch Ardashir II (r. 379–383 CE). Carved into a rectangular rock frame, the bas-relief shows the Persian king receiving the diadem of kingship and sovereignty from the hands of a crowned figure identified previously as the great god Ohrmazd (Ahura Mazda) and more recently as Ardashir’s predecessor, Shapur II. Behind Ardashir II stands the sun god, Mithra, the guarantor of covenants and oaths. Mithra, who wears a crown festooned by rays of sun, holds a bundle of sacred twigs known as barsom and stands on a large lotus flower. Ardashir II and Ohrmazd/Shapur II stand on the body of a defeated foe, perhaps a Roman emperor.

  Next to the bas-relief of the investiture of Ardashir II are two grottoes. On the back w
all of the first and smaller grotto stand the sculptures of Shapur III (r. 383–388 CE), the immediate successor to Ardashir II, next to his father, Shapur II (r. 309–379 CE). The hands of both monarchs rest on the pommel of a large sword. Next is the larger arched grotto. The back wall of this grotto is divided into upper and lower panels. The upper panel depicts the investiture of Khosrow II Parvez (Parviz), who ruled from 590 to 628 CE. The Sasanian monarch stands in the middle and is flanked on the right by the great god Ohrmazd (Ahura Mazda), who is handing the Persian king the diadem of power. To the left of the king stands Anahid (Anahita), the goddess of waters and the patron deity of the Sasanian royal family. In the lower panel stands the statue of the Sasanian monarch Khosrow II mounted on his horse, Shabdez (Shabdiz). Both the horse and his rider are dressed in full battle armor from head to foot. The face of the Persian monarch is completely covered and therefore invisible. On the interior left wall of the grotto appears a highly detailed carved relief of a royal boar hunt. The king is portrayed twice as he stands in a large boat targeting wild boars with his bow and arrow, while elephant riders drive the animals from the surrounding marshes toward the monarch. As the king discharges his arrows at the boars, female musicians in smaller boats play music. On the interior right wall is another detailed relief depicting the king three times: first as he arrives on his horse in the hunting ground, a second time as he rides and hunts deer in a forest, and finally as he departs the scene after the end of the hunt. As in the boar hunt, here too musicians are depicted playing their instruments.

  Afrasiyab, City of. See Samarqand

  Asaac

  A city that played an important role in the history and identity of the Arsacid dynasty (r. 247/238 BCE–224 CE). In his Parthian Stations, which provided a short account of overland trade routes between the Levant and India in the first century BCE, Isidore of Charax provided important information about several cities in the northeastern and eastern regions of the Parthian Empire. The first of these cities was Asaac. Isidore of Charax wrote that after departing Hyrcania (Gorgan) in northern Iran, the traveler reaches Astauena “in which there are 12 villages in which there are stations; and the city of Asaac, in which Arsaces,” the founder of the Arsacid dynasty, “was first proclaimed king; and an everlasting fire” was “guarded there” (Isidore of Charax: 4). Isidore also stated that beyond this district was Parthyena, within which is a valley, and the city of Parthaunisa, where there are royal tombs. There is no information on the exact location of Asaac, and archaeologists have not been able to identify the site, but some scholars have suggested that it was located near the present-day town of Quchan in the upper Atrek River Valley in northeastern Iran (Debevoise: 10–11).

  For decades there was a debate among historians and archaeologists about the exact location of Asaac and Parthaunisa. Parthaunisa was believed by many scholars to be not only the first capital of the Arsacid dynasty but also its religious and spiritual heart. Beginning in 1930, Soviet archaeologists A. A. Marushchenko and A. S. Bashkirov conducted scientific investigation on the present-day site of Nisa, located near Ashgabat, the capital of the then Soviet Republic of Turkmenistan. These ruins have since been confirmed as the Parthaunisa described by Isidore of Charax. Nisa has been described as one of the capital cities of the Arsacid dynasty, a “sacred fortress of the Parthian kings,” a royal residence of Parthian monarchs, or even a “Parthian dynastic or general religious center” (Pilipko: 114). Nisa is located near the village of Bagir, 6 miles (10 kilometers) west of Ashgabat, the capital of the Republic of Turkmenistan. The “fortified site of Staraia (Old) Nisa is situated on the southeastern fringe of Bagir, while Novaia (New) Nisa is on the southwestern fringe. The distance between the two sites is 1.5 kilometers” (Pilipko: 114).

  See also: Ancient Cities: Nisa; K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Arsaces I; Peoples: Arsacids

  Further Reading

  Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), The Seleucids, Parthian and Sasanian Periods, edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

  Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.

  Isidore of Charax. Parthian Stations: An Account of the Overland Trade Route between the Levant and India in the First Century B.C. Translated by Wilfred H. Schoff. Philadelphia: Commercial Museum, 1914.

  Lecomte, Oliver. “Vehrânkâ and Dehistan: Late Farming Communities of South-West Turkmenistan from the Iron Age to the Islamic Period.” In Parthica: Incontri Di Culture Nel Mondo Antico. Pisa, Italy: Istituti Editoriali Poligrafici Internazionali, 1999.

  Lukonin, Vladimir G. Persia II. Translated from the Russian by James Hogarth. Cleveland and New York: World Publishing, 1967.

  Pilipko, V. N. “Excavations of Straia Nisa.” In Bulletin of the Asia Institute: The Archeology and Art of Central Asia Studies from the Former Soviet Union, edited by B. A. Litvinski and Carol Altman Bromberg, 101–116. Bloomfield Hills: Asia Institute, 1994.

  Bibi Shahrbanu

  A shrine located in Ray, south of the present-day Iranian capital of Tehran. The shrine of Bibi Shahrbanu may have originally been a holy place dedicated to the worship of the Zoroastrian divinity Anahita (Anahid), the goddess of water. According to a legendary account that dates from the beginning of the Islamic era, the shrine contains the body of Shahrbanu, a daughter of Yazdegerd III (r. 633–651 CE), the last king of the Persian Sasanian dynasty. According to this legend, after the collapse of the Sasanian Empire and the death of Yazdegerd III, Shahrbanu was captured by the invading Arab armies and transported to Medina in Hejaz in western Arabia, where she married Hussein, the grandson of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, and the second son of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the messenger of Islam, and of Fatima, the favorite daughter of Muhammad. According to the same legend, this marriage of Hussein and Shahrbanu produced a son. This son, Ali Zayn al-Abedin, succeeded his father after Hussein was martyred on the plains of Karbala in southern Iraq in 680. According to this legendary lineage, the Shia imams, beginning with Zayn al-Abedin, had royal Persian blood and were directly descended, through Shahrbanu, from the Sasanian royal family. Meanwhile, after the death of her husband Shahrbanu returned to Iran, but the enemies of her husband pursued her all the way to Ray. In a last desperate effort to save her life, the Persian princess sought God’s protection, but instead of shouting “Oh God” (“Yallahu”) she mistakenly uttered “Oh Mountain” (“Ya Kuh”). In response to this plea, the mountain suddenly opened, allowing her to conceal herself among the rocks (Boyce: Bībī Šahrbanū). Sometime later a tomb was erected on the site, which emerged as a major shrine for pilgrims through many centuries down to our own time. No historical evidence exists to confirm the validity of the Shahrbanu legend and her marriage to the third Shia imam, Hussein. The scholar Mary Boyce has maintained that the shrine originated as a pre-Islamic holy place dedicated to the veneration of the “Zoroastrian divinity” Anahita (Anahid), who carried the title “Banu” (Lady), and “her shrine at Ray may well have been devoted to her as Shahrbanu, ‘Lady of the Land’ (i.e., Iran)” (Boyce: Bībī Šahrbanū).

  See also: Ancient Cities: Ray; Religion: Anahita

  Further Reading

  Boyce, Mary. “Bībī Šahrbānū.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1989, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bibi-sahrbanu/.

  Curzon, George. Persia and the Persian Question. 2 vols. London: Longmans, Green, 1892.

  Jackson, A. V. W. Persia Past and Present. London: Macmillan, 1899.

  Rante, Rocco. “Ray i. Archeology.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2010, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ray-i-archeo.

  Bishapur

  A city built by the Sasanian monarch Shapur I (r. 239/240/241/242–270/272 CE) in the southern Iranian province of Fars after his campaigns against three Roman emperors: Gordian III, Philip the Arab, and Valerian. During his long reign, Shapur I fought several major wars with the Romans. In his
inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam near Persepolis in the province of Fars, Shapur stated that after he had ascended the throne, the Roman emperor Gordian III (r. 238–244 CE) marched on Assyria but was killed on the battlefield (Frye: 371–373). The large Roman army initially had succeeded in capturing Nisibis (present-day Nusaybin in southeastern Turkey) but was defeated at Anbar in present-day Iraq in 244. Gordian’s successor, Phillipus or Philip the Arab (r. 244–249 CE), negotiated a peace agreement with Shapur I and paid him 500,000 dinarii, but war resumed after Shapur I accused the Romans of lying and treating Armenia with injustice. The Sasanian army attacked and defeated a Roman force of 60,000 at Barbalissos on the Euphrates. The defeat of the large Roman force exposed Roman possessions in Syria, including Antioch and Dura Europos, to attacks from the Persians. Shapur I used his impressive victory at Barbalissos to capture Armenia. One of Shapur’s sons, Hormozd, was appointed the ruler of Armenia.

  The Roman Empire could not allow Shapur I to get away with such a victory without any adverse consequences. Thus, when the Persian monarch attacked and laid siege to Carrhae (present-day Harran) and Edessa (modern-day Urfa) in present-day southeastern Turkey, the Roman emperor Valerian (r. 253–260 CE) marched against him with a force of 70,000. Either through trickery or combat, Shapur captured Valerian as well as a group of army commanders and Roman senators, who were sent to Fars in southern Iran and were later settled in various parts of the Sasanian Empire (Frye: 372).