Photo ID: GA0033
Site: Taq-I Bustan
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Description: Invasions and exploitation of Iran by nomads and turmoil and disorder at home, eroded the once great Oriental empire of the Sasanians in the fifth century. This decline was effectively reversed with the ascension of Khusro I (AD 531-579), soon revered as Anushirvan (“Of the Immortal Soul ”) whose fiscal and military reforms restored the state to its former glory. Khusro’s assumption of greater royal prerogative, and his strengthened bureaucracy created a new mystique of kingship. The king, as possessor of farr, the divine glory, was increasingly perceived as a remote and superhuman figure, concealed behind the mask and ceremony of his office. The late Sasanian mystique of kingship is perhaps most notable in the monumental sculptures of Khusro II ( AD 590-628), from the great rock-cut arch of Taq-I Bustan, near Kermanshah, dated to the early 7th century. Khusro’s arch resembled the Sasanian palace, here set beside a mountain spring in a hunting park, the Iranian “paradise.”
Photo Source: Neil Hart slide
See Sasanian Sites for collection summary.
Sasanian Projects at UC Berkeley
Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative
URL: ECAI.orgWebsite
Maintained by:Information
Systems and Services,
International and Area Studies,
UC Berkeley
Last updated: November 8, 2001:jlz