Central Iran Gems - Naqsh-e Rostam and Naqsh-e Rajab

  - Naqsh-e Rostam and Naqsh-e Rajab
  (dome of Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque at Isfahan)

You may wish to read an introduction to this section first.

Naqsh-e Rostam from "Jean Chardin, Journal du voyage du Chevalier Chardin en Perse - 1686"

To the East rose amiably a hill of foure Akers, In which On stately Mausoleums were Intombed the Monarchs of the world.
Sir Thomas Herbert - Some Yeares Travels Into Divers Parts of Asia and ... - 1638 (in Persia in 1626-1629)
In the spaces of the Mountain are a great number of Niches that are opposit to the Pillars, and were certainly the places where the ancient Persians put their Idols.
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier - Travels through Turkey and Persia (1630s-1660s)

Naqsh-e Rostam seen from the road to Persepolis

Darius the Great decided to be buried in a tomb cut on a high cliff near Persepolis, the new capital of the Achaemenid Empire he had founded. Three of his successors, most likely Xerxes, Artaxerxes I and Darius II, decided to have similar tombs at the same site. Two of the last Achaemenid kings (Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III) chose instead to be buried in a tomb cut into a rock at Persepolis.

Naqsh-e Rostam - Tombs and reliefs

In 330 BC Persepolis was burnt down either intentionally or accidentally by Alexander the Great. Only a few columns did not collapse whereas a layer of ashes covered the imposing palaces which celebrated the power of the Achaemenid Empire. The tombs on the cliff were left untouched and they became the symbol of that glorious period.
In 228 AD Ardashir, governor of Persia, deposed the last Parthian king and proclaimed himself the continuator of the Achaemenid Empire. He and his successors (Sassanid kings) had reliefs portraying themselves carved right under the tombs to indicate their link with the past rulers of the country.

Tombs of Xerxes, Artaxerxes I and Darius II

Externally the tombs present the following Features. The lowest segment of the cross is a bare cutting, (..) and absolutely unadorned. Next come the main or transverse limb, which contains the entrance to the sepulchre. This takes the shape of a reproduction in rock-carving of the facade of an Achaemenian palace. Four bull-headed columns rise from a platform, formed by the deeply recessed incision in the cliff, and support a massive entablature, adorned with an elegant moulding or cornice. Between the two central columns is the doorway.
George N. Curzon (Lord Curzon) - Persia and the Persian Question - 1892
The tomb itself occupies the horizontal axis. It depicts the front of a palace with a central entrance which led to a small funerary chamber (all tombs have been looted). A large relief, similar to those found at the palaces of Persepolis, occupies the upper arm of the cross. All tombs have roughly the same size. They might have influenced the way the tombs of the kings of Pontus at Amasya and those of Petra are displayed as well as the decoration of Kale Kapi, a large tomb in north-western Turkey. Many towns of Lycia in South-Western Turkey, e.g. Kaunos and Myra, have high cliffs housing temple-like tombs.

Illustration from "Jean Chardin, Journal du voyage du Chevalier Chardin en Perse - 1686" showing the tombs of: (left) Darius II (right) Darius the Great

It is however, upon the upper limb of the cross that the skill of the sculptor was mainly lavished, and that the solemn character of the entire monument is expressed. The entablature already spoken of sustains a curious platform or throng consisting of two stages, each of which is upheld by fourteen figures with both hands uplifted to sustain the weight above their heads.(..) Of all the Achaemenian sculptures these on the royal tombs alone have a purely religious character. Lord Curzon

Tomb of Darius the Great (left) and detail showing its upper part with a long inscription (right)

Upon its summit appear two objects. On the left hand is a small platform of three receding steps upon which stands the king, seven feet in stature, clad in the royal robe and tiara, holding in his left hand a bow which rests upon the ground, while his right hand is uplifted with a gesture of oath or adoration towards an object that floats in the air overhead. This we know from the inscriptions to be the image of the god Ahuramasda. The deity is depicted as a small figure, with the upper part of a men and with hair and headress similar to those of the king, but with the lower part of his body terminating in plumes. A disc encircles his waist, long streamers float behind him, and he is upborne in space by outspread horizontal, wings. He faces the king and lifts one hand in attitude of benediction; in the other he holds a ring. Behind the god is sculpted the second object upon the platform, viz. a fire-altar, upon which the undying flame is depicted in the form of a cone of fire. Lord Curzon
The only tomb identified with certainty is that of Darius the Great, because of two long inscriptions in which the king proudly says of himself: I am Darius the great king, king of kings, king of countries containing all kinds of men, king in this great earth far and wide, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid, a Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan, having Aryan lineage and calls for divine protection: Darius the King says: This which has been done, all that by the will of Ahuramazda I did. Ahuramazda bore me aid, until I did the work. May Ahuramazda protect me from harm, and my royal house, and this land: this I pray of Ahuramazda, this may Ahuramazda give to me!
At the time of Darius Ahuramazda was regarded as the divine creator and was symbolized by a faravar, a guardian angel holding a solar disc (a similar symbol can be seen in a Hittite relief in Turkey). The worship of Ahuramazda was not limited to Zoroastrians, but was shared by other Persian cults.

Investiture of Ardashir (left) by Ahuramazda (right)

The two main figures face each other on horseback; their steeds which, with an excess of disproportion are here little bigger than stout cobs or ponies, touching their foreheads in the centre of the panel, whose total length is over 22 feet. The figure on the right hand of the spectator, as an inscription on the shoulder of his horse reveals, is that of the god. Upon his head is the mural crown, with curled hair piled above it, and subsequently falling upon the shoulders. His beard is square-cut, not tasselled. In his left hand he holds a sceptre, which in the Sassanian sculptures appears to be an emblem of divinity. With his outstretched right he grasps one-half of a circlet with pendant ribands, the other side of which is held by the king. Both figures wear long, flowing trousers and at each horse's hind quarter hangs the usual big tuft or tassel. Ardeshir wears a globe-crowned helmet, of which the balloon-like, inflated globe is commonly supposed to tipify fire, while the close-fitting helmet with check-plates and back-plate supplies an interesting contribution to the history of ancient armour. His left hand is uplifted, and, apparently, hold to his mouth. He wears a rounded beard and hair which hangs uncurled upon his shoulders. (..) Behind the king stands a single figure holding a fly-flap. (..) A prostrate figure lies on the ground, beneath either horses' hoofs, that beneath the charger of the king wearing an helmet or head-piece (..) being commonly supposed to represent Artabanus, the last Parthian king. Lord Curzon
This Sassanid carving is most likely the oldest one. An inscription explains that Ardashir rebelled against his Parthian king obeying a request by Ahuramazda. For the Sassanids the latter was no longer the divine creator, but the God of Good who fights his twin Angra Mainyu, the God of Evil, whose head is beneath Ahuramazda's horse. An attendant behind Ardashir holds a fly-whisk, similar to reliefs at Persepolis.

Relief depicting Shapur I with three Roman Emperors

Shapur I, son of Ardashir, led a series of victorious campaigns against the Romans. He claimed to have killed Emperor Gordian III (whose head was most likely depicted beneath the king's horse) in 244. Emperor Philip the Arab, the man on his knees, declared himself vassal of Shapur in that same year. Emperor Valerian, the man whose hand is held by the king, was taken prisoner in 260.
The relief is almost identical to one at Bishapur, a town Shapur founded in the south-western part of the Iranian tableland.

Other Sassanid carvings

Other Sassanid kings placed carvings where they were portrayed killing enemies in combat. Overall they depict a medieval tournament. Some of these carvings were covered by the ground.
Naqsh-e Rostam means "image of Rostam". Rostam was a mythical Persian hero who was celebrated by Ferdowsi, a Xth century poet whose main work Shahnameh (The Book of Kings) is an epic account of Pre-Islamic Persia. The Sassanid reliefs were believed to portray Rostam.

"Zoroaster's Cube", maybe a tomb, maybe a repository of funerary equipment or maybe a fire temple

This is real architecture. (..) If it stood in a Mediterranean country, it would be hailed as the original source of domestic architecture in Quattrocento Italy and Georgian England. (..) Its beauty is in the spacing of ornament on a flat wall. It is surprising to find this principle, on which all domestic building since the Renascence has depended, fully stated in Persia about the middle of the VIth century BC.
Robert Byron - The Road to Oxiana - Macmillan 1937 (piece written in March 1934).
A similar building can be seen at Pasargadae. Tombs having the appearance of a tower were common at Palmyra, but some very tall ancient funerary monuments were built also in the western part of the Roman Empire, e.g. in Germany, France and Spain.

Naqsh-e Rostam - Inscription by Shapur I in Parthian, an alphabet similar to the Palmyrene/Aramaic one

Excavations which unearthed the lower part of the tower found on three sides a very long inscription known as Res Gestae Divi Saporis, a reference to Res Gestae Divi Augusti (aka Index Rerum Gestarum), an inscription dictated by Emperor Augustus containing a list of his achievements (see that at Ankara). The inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam is written in three languages: Greek, middle Persian and Parthian. It contains long lists of provinces and town conquered by Shapur, but it ends with an appeal for divine protection, similar to that in Darius' inscription: Now as we serve and worship the gods with zeal, since we are the wards of the gods and with the aid of the gods we have searched out these peoples, have dominated them and have acquired fame for bravery, also whoever comes after us and rules, may he also serve and worship the gods with zeal, so the gods may aid him and make him their ward. (Translation by R. N. Frye).

Details: (left) double-protome capital at the tomb of Xerxes; (right) member of Shapur's court, most likely the leader of a tribe or the governor of a province

Naqsh-e Rajab

Naqsh-e Rajab - Investiture of Ardashir (left) by Ahuramazda (right)

We now cross the valley to its southern side, where, soon after turning the angle of the mountain that faces the plain (..) at about two miles distance from the palace-platform, we come across a small natural recess in the base of the cliff, the sides and back wall of which have been artificially smoothed in order to receive the work of the chisel. So snugly hidden is this rock-nook (..) that four travellers out of five would probably pass it unobserved. Its sides converge towards the back wall of the natural rock; and all three surfaces are adorned with bas-reliefs of the earliest Sassanian period. Lord Curzon
Four carvings have been found on three rocks surrounding a sort of small hall. They are almost hidden, contrary to those at Naqsh-e Rostam which is just a few hundred yards away. The carving portraying Ardashir is perhaps the oldest one. The king is followed by an attendant and by Shapur, his son whom he assigned to the throne. The relief, unlike some of the others, was not defaced. Another relief which you can see in the introductory page portrays Shapur and members of his court.
Rajab is the seventh month of the Islamic calendar. It is unclear why it was associated with the carvings.

Naqsh-e Rajab - High Priest Kartir

This carving is the only one which does not portray a king. Kartir was the grey eminence during the reigns of Shapur and his successors Hormizd I, Bahram I and Bahram II. While almost all other Sassanid inscriptions were written in two or three languages to respect the presence of different cultures in the empire, that next to Kartir was written only in middle Persian. He claims to have purified the religion by killing heretics by fire and sword. He did not live enough to see the full triumph of his views. This occurred in the middle of the IVth century when King Shapur II decreed Zoroastrianism to be the sole accepted religion and began an all-out persecution of Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Manicheans, followers of Mani, a prophet born in Mesopotamia and executed by Bahram I in 276.

The image used as background for this page shows a member of Shapur's court with a horse-shaped hat.