1During the Sasanian rule in Greater Iran and Mesopotamia from ad 224 until 651, a rich repertoire of different themes was used for the architectural decoration of a group of buildings with distinct architectural features. Continuing a tradition inherited from the Parthian period, the main material used was stucco. Many sites were destroyed and no textual sources are available for an interpretation of the decoration. Due to a continuously growing number of significant sites all over the Sasanian territory and due to new research, it now seems probable that these buildings were used for specific ceremonies.
2Sites in both Iran and Mesopotamia demonstrate the importance of stucco in Sasanian architecture. The following discussion presents an overview of the important sites in chronological order (see the map in Boucharlat, fig. 1, this volume). A number of newly excavated sites in Iran which further add to the overall picture not only of the stucco repertoire but also understanding function are dealt with by Boucharlat in this volume. Whenever possible, I have made cross-references.
- 1 Kröger 1982, p. 195-196 pl. 90, 2-4.
3In the southern province of Fars the city of Bishapur was built by Shapur I (241-272), in the 3rd cent. Within the city an ensemble of different buildings was erected. A large, square building with cruciform plan is now understood as the main ceremonial hall of a fire temple complex. Niches along the walls were decorated by an acanthus frieze and a meander, and seem to have been used for the placement of statues.1 The few remains of the interior decoration point to a strong Roman influence and were executed by Roman craftsmen. Whereas the type of classical acanthus scroll was not continued in Sasanian stucco, the meander pattern belonged to the Sasanian repertoire.
- 2 Azarnoush 1994, p. 39-167; Huff 1995, p. 355-363.
4An exceptionally rich and hitherto unique figural repertoire is characteristic of a building at Hajiabad in the province of Fars in Southern Iran.2 The attribution of a bust to Shapur II (309-379) suggests a terminus post quem for this site. However royal busts may not have represented reigning kings but seem to have been manifestations of the Sasanian concept of sacred kingship and played an important role in the ancestor cult.
- 3 Ayvān is a vaulted hall with walls on three sides but completely open on the fourth side.
- 4 Azarnoush 1994, p. 94-95 Fig. 61-63.
5Within a major building, two court-ayvān3 sections and a smaller room were extensively decorated. The finds consist of different types of busts of kings as well as busts of aristocrats on circular panels (fig. 7). Within another small room statues of females of different sizes (fig. 9) were found. Similar to Bishapur, the females were placed in niches with a meander motif as a frame. The finds included a small repertoire of further figural as well as plant motifs.4 In their stylization, palmettes and flowers are not unlike those of the 5th cent.
- 5 Azarnoush 1994, p. 66-92; Huff 1995, p. 355-359; Huff 2007, p. 211; Callieri 2014, p. 113.
- 6 Azarnoush 1994, p. 67; Callieri 2014, p. 52; Huff 1995, p. 358; See Boucharlat in this volume.
6Due to certain similarities with Bishapur, the building may have belonged to a large cult area5 in which the ancestor cult played an important role. Its use as a mansion with a private chapel has been advanced by some authors while others disagree with this interpretation.6 The complex architectural layout, as well as the rich stucco decoration, shows different iconographical types for each section, which may indicate a difference of function.
- 7 Rahbar 1998, p. 213-230; Rahbar 2004, p. 19-20.
- 8 Rahbar 2004, p. 10-11, fig. 3-4.
- 9 Rahbar 2004, p. 9, fig. 2; Rahbar 2008, p. 16, fig. 5 and 7.
- 10 Rahbar 1998, p. 219-250; Callieri 2014, p. 54-55.
- 11 Callieri 2014, p. 118-127.
- 12 See Boucharlat in this volume.
7In Bandian, near Dargaz north of Mashhad in the province of Khorasan, an ensemble of buildings was constructed around 425 by King Bahram V Gur (420-438) to mark his victorious campaign against the Hephtalites and was destroyed around 484.7 The excavated building in Site A was interpreted as a fire temple with a fire altar made of stucco.8 A main hall from which one could witness the ceremonies was supported by four columns decorated with palmettes alternating with continuous knot motifs (Boucharlat, fig. 16, this volume).9 The walls were decorated with large panels of carved reliefs.10 Split-palmettes of a very characteristic type and meander stripes were used as borders. The panels with different scenes (hunting and fighting scenes as well as standing figures and a woman pouring a liquid in a jug etc.) show a continuous arrangement. The figures as well as the details carved in a low relief and additionally inscribed middle Persian texts are unique. Because of their narrative character,11 which is atypical for other Sasanian sites with stuccoed buildings, these relief panels are of a different nature and show a character closer to rock-reliefs. Due to these differences Site A in Bandian is, according to Callieri and Boucharlat, probably a building with a ceremonial hall where funerary rituals for the deceased members of an aristocratic family and a remembrance of their deeds seem to have taken place. For these ceremonies a fire altar seems to have been a necessity but the building may not have been a fire temple.12
- 13 Kaim 2002, p. 215-224; for further details see Boucharlat in this volume.
- 14 Kaim 2001, p. 16-17, pl. 9; Kaim 2002, p. 218-220, fig. 9-11.
- 15 Kaim 2001, p. 16-17, pl. 9; See Callieri 2014, p. 96.
- 16 Callieri 2014, p. 119-120.
8Mele Hairam is a site in the Sarakhs region of Eastern Khorasan, in the same region as Bandian, where a small fire temple datable to the period from the 1st to the 4th cent. was excavated.13 In a room next to an undecorated smaller room with a fire altar, a podium decorated with knot motifs and palmettes was excavated (Boucharlat, fig. 14, this volume).14 Due to their very characteristic details the split palmettes and the knot motifs in Mele Hairam closely resemble those at the site of Bandian, which is not far away from Mele Hairam. The only difference is that the knot motif in Bandian is made of pearls.15 It is very probable that the stucco podium in Mele Hairam can also be dated to the 4th cent. The reason of these similarities in the ornamental repertoire seems to be the close relation of both sites to the art of Central Asia.16
- 17 Moorey 1978, p. 122-140; Kröger 1982, p 190-193, pl. 78-87.
9During the excavations of ancient Kish, southeast of Babylon, two large structures belonging to an ensemble of Sasanian buildings were excavated.17 Building I is of the court-iwan type with surrounding rooms and Building II had a columnar hall and a courtyard. Two shallow pools are typical for both buildings. Surrounding rooms appear to have been used for specific cult practises.
10The major part of the decoration came from Building I. Besides the fragmentary bust of a king, busts of females (fig. 8) and female heads of different size were excavated. A very rich repertoire of plants (fig. 2-3) and animals was also typical for this building. Building II had fewer plant decorations, but instead fourteen royal busts came from the courtyard. Although their crowns were at first identified with Shapur II (309‑379) and later with Bahram V Gur (420-438), they were probably not meant to portrait a specific king but were exemplary images of the Sasanian concept of sacred kingship and thus cannot be used for dating purposes. On stylistic grounds both buildings are contemporary and can most likely be dated to the second half of the 5th or the early 6th cent. Their rich repertoire forms a major corpus of Sasanian stucco decoration in Mesopotamia.
11Since the repertoire as well as the distinct architectural features of both buildings are not identical, they may have been connected with different ceremonial functions.
12The area of the cities Ctesiphon/al-Madaʾen was one of the centres of the late ancient Near East. In the Sasanian period it was an ensemble of cities with different names. The 6th-cent. Sasanian palace Taq-e Kesra or Ayvān-e Kesra built under Khusrau I (531-579) was situated in a palatial area on the eastern side of the Tigris. Residential buildings were excavated in the eastern and northern vicinity of the palace at the sites of Umm az-Zaʾatir and in Maʾaridh and are also datable to the 6th cent.
- 18 Kröger 1982, p. 22-23; 31-37, pl. 3-4.
- 19 Kröger 1982, p. 187-188, pl. 75,2-3.
13The main motif of the royal palace area consisted of large double-sided rosette-wheels with palmettes.18 They were decorated to be seen from both sides. The simple palmette pattern of these rosettes-wheels contrasts with a double-sided rosette-wheel from an unknown building, presumably of the 6th cent., in the Kirkuk region which had a cock within a pearl frame on one side and large flowers on the other side.19 In the recently excavated fire temple of Palanggerd near Kermanshah another type of one-sided wheel was excavated (Boucharlat, fig. 13, this volume). Rather than viewing these single or double-sided wheels as a purely decorative feature, it should not be excluded that they were used to designate specific areas.
- 20 Kröger 1982, p. 22-30 pl. 4-5.
14A building south of the royal palace Taq-e Kesra, also of the 6th cent., was not extensively excavated. However, within the palace area the remains of this structure yielded the main source of extensive stucco decoration. Given the numerous finds of rosette-wheels identical with those of the Ayvān-e Kesra, the building must have been of considerable importance in connection with the palace. A number of figural relief-fragments were excavated. Curling hairlocks typical for royal busts and horse’s heads, suggest royal busts as well as royal hunters on horseback in a relief-frieze.20 Due to its destruction it is not possible to assign a function to this large building.
- 21 Kröger 1982, p. 50-134, pl. 14-52.
15Certain areas of the residential buildings in the larger Ctesiphon area had decorated archivolts (fig. 4) and vaulted ayvāns (fig. 5) opening onto courtyards. The repertoire consisted of ornaments, plants, humans, animals and monograms (fig. 11).21 Apart from the fact that no busts were excavated, it is noteworthy that the repertoire of these residential buildings was not very different from that of sites with ceremonial character. Therefore, the decorated parts of the houses in the larger Ctesiphon area may also have been used for specific ceremonial functions.
- 22 Huff 2008, p. 3-5.
- 23 Huff 2008, p. 1; Kröger 1982, p. 141-147, pl. 59-61.
- 24 Huff 2008, p. 5.
16Takht-e Soleyman in northern Iran in the province of Azerbaijan was the sanctuary of the important Azar Gushnasp fire, which was kept in the main fire temple No. 1. A second independent and less prominent temple No. 2 had a sequence of two three-winged halls and anterooms with a fire altar in a cella.22 This temple was accessed only from the royal palace and was thus reserved for the king and the nobility. The building phase started in the first half of the 6th cent. under Kavad I (499-531), while the destruction was the result of a campaign of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius in 626-628. Due to the nearly total destruction, only a few stuccoes were found beneath a later floor in the columnar hall. They belong to human figures as well as animals and plants.23 “The rather different layouts of both [temples] are remarkable; they indicate that both fires had different functions, and that both were connected with different ceremonies”.24
- 25 Adle 1993, p. 632-638.
- 26 Kimball 1937, p. 327-350. In particular, the panels with plant motifs show characteristics of a lat (...)
- 27 Huff 1995, p. 355.
- 28 Huff 1995, p. 355; Huff 2011, p. 105, n. 144.
17The remains of a Sasanian building southeast of the present town of Damghan in the north-eastern province of Khorasan and next to the prehistoric site of Tepe Hissar are probably datable to the late 6th or early 7th cent.25 A decorated building with an ayvān-like triple aisled hall with large columns and a square domed room was excavated.26 This hall was surrounded by a number of rooms of different sizes which may have served the special needs of religious functions.27 The large columns had repetitive ornamental patterns with geometrical designs and plants. Their patterns find a continuation in the columns of the Ray-Varamin buildings. Among the finds of the hall were square panels with the motif of a female in a window, the protomes of a boar and a monogram, types well known from other sites such as Kish and the residential buildings of the Ctesiphon region. This building may actually have been a fire temple28 in which the columnar hall was used for specific ceremonies.
- 29 Kröger 1982, p. 263.
- 30 Thompson 1976, p. 108.
18Three sites of the Ray-Varamin region southeast of Tehran, Chal Tarkhan Eshqabad, Tepe Mil and Nizamabad follow the same pattern, as they seem to have originated in the latest Sasanian period but acquired their main decorative phase in the Umayyad period. Close stylistic features hint at the same building period for these sites.29 Numerous ornamental panels were excavated which are typical for the principles and style of Umayyad art. The figural repertoire in Chal Tarkhan-Eshqabad and Nizamabad partly shows a repertoire not known from the Sasanian period and seems to have been developed after the fall of the dynasty.30
- 31 Thompson 1976, Kröger 1982, p. 201-202, pl. 93-95.
- 32 Thompson 1976, p. 53-54.
19Chal Tarkhan-Eshqabad consisted of a three-aisled hall and a square room with piers and columns which had a unique repertoire.31 Columns with continuous ornamental designs as well as large-scale human and animal reliefs, relief statues and moulded small figural panels with an idealized Sasanian ruler are typical of the eclectic style of this site.32
- 33 Kröger 1982, p. 202-203, pl. 95-97.
20Tepe Mil consists of an elevated building with a hall of piers.33 Beneath this building is a tunnel which has a connection to a structure with columns on a lower level. The columns are decorated by a grid of rectangular panels with patterns using different plant motifs such as palmettes and vine leaves.
21Due to destruction only birds from a figural repertoire remained.
- 34 Kröger 1982, p. 148-186, pl. 62-74.
22Nizamabad was a tepe owned by a landlord who had it commercially excavated.34 Nothing is known about the architecture. Ornamental panels are closely related to both Chal Tarkhan-Eshqabad and Tepe Mil. Among the figural finds large sculptural fragments in high-relief belonging to differently sized riders bring to mind the Sasanian rock-reliefs.
- 35 Kröger 1982, p. 209-213.
23Sasanian architecture was mainly built of stone, burnt- or mud-brick. To cover surfaces, stucco (plaster) was the most common technique throughout the period.35 The material was ideally suited for sculptures in high-relief as well as for figural or ornamental reliefs of a lesser height. Free-standing sculptures are not known but would have been technically possible.
24One can distinguish between three different methods. Carved stucco, which was typical for the Parthian period, was a technique used throughout the Sasanian period and continued into the early Islamic age. Figural and vegetal themes as well as geometrical patterns could be carved by hand and figural reliefs were sometimes finely worked in different layers.
25A second technique was the additional use of master moulds to produce identical sculptures or plaques/panels. Although already used earlier, this technique became common from the 4th cent. onwards. It was selected when a subject was to be shown in a repetitive manner. Patterns had to be designed accordingly. Single or multiple moulds were used. The master-moulds were probably made of plaster too. Most moulded stucco panels are relatively thin (about 2.5 cm) so that they could be easily applied to the walls.
26For rounded surfaces the moulding technique could only be used if multiple moulds were used. Moulding went out of use in the late Sasanian/Umayyad period probably because the now fashionable overall panels could not be easily designed to fit moulds and thus had to be carved by hand.
- 36 Azarnoush 1994, p. 155.
- 37 Watelin 1938-1939, p. 590. Iron may also have been used in Nizamabad.
27Little is known about the technologies of placing the sometimes heavy stucco plaques on to a wall. Examples from the Ctesiphon area indicate a number of regular cuts on the back surface of the panels made to allow a safe contact with the wall. The most common way seems to have been to fit the panels on to mortar of stucco. For certain parts wooden attachments36 or iron hooks37 were used.
- 38 Rahbar 2008, p. 18; Watelin 1938-1939, p. 587.
- 39 Kröger 1982, p. 216-220.
28Since stucco with a low amount of gypsum reached a considerable hardness when fully dried, it could be used both on the inside and the outside of buildings. Usually one or more coats of whitewash were applied. Sasanian stucco was painted in a large variety of colours, with dark blue for backgrounds and further colours (red, yellow and black) for details of the motifs. On the walls of the temple in Bandian traces of red occurred, and this colour was also noted on plain walls in Kish.38 Some panels had remains of three different colours (blue, red and yellow), but some plant patterns seem to have remained monochrome.39
29The use of stucco was restricted to certain sections of Sasanian buildings. Courtyards, ayvāns and three-aisled halls with columns were often lavishly decorated with a canon of iconic images consisting of ornamental or abstract designs, plants as well as figural reliefs and panels with animals. The repertoire shows that a specific iconography was created in the Sasanian period.
30Moulded patterns were designed for square or rectangular panels of different size which were arranged in friezes or in an over-all arrangement to cover large areas. Small-sized panels generally seem to have become frequent from the 5th cent. onwards. Rows of single or alternating motifs were typical for friezes which were usually used as a cornice or with archivolts (fig. 4). Square or rectangular panels could have been arranged like textiles in an overall design (fig. 1-3, 10). However, due to the destruction of most sites, neither the full extent nor the exact manner in which walls were decorated is known with certainty.
31Typical for Sasanian stucco is the stylization of motifs and the use of abstract icon-like patterns (fig. 10‑11). Principles of design were symmetry (fig. 1), repetition (fig. 2), and alternation (fig. 4).
32Of particular importance was the meander pattern, as it was used throughout the entire Sasanian period and appears in nearly all sites. Meander patterns surrounded niches with figures or were used for friezes (fig. 1) as well as for large wall panels. Interlacing patterns appear in ornamental stucco from the 5th cent. onwards and seem to have become more common during the late Sasanian period and were transferred into the Umayyad period.
33Motifs used for borders consisted of different astragal versions, leaves or hearts (fig. 5). They were used as single elements placed in a row but overlapping also gradually became typical for hearts.
- 40 A panel from Kish shows star-disks which leave ample space for the palmettes, Kröger 1982, p. 192, (...)
- 41 Bier 1978, p. 132, no. 56; p. 154-156, no. 59-60.
34One of the main characteristics of late Sasanian stucco are pearls with or without central holes. They were used in single or double rows (fig. 5) and occur frequently as pearl-roundels which had diadem connotations (fig. 10) and were used in connection with themes signifying the “divine glory” (fig. 10). Pearl-roundels are absent in 5th or early 6th cent. Kish.40 It seems that in the late 6th and early 7th cent. the type with double pearl-like diadems became especially frequent (fig. 10 and Boucharlat, fig. 6, this volume) This has been called the pearl-roundel or medallion style. The medallions created by the pearl-roundels gradually tend to occupy the whole square panel thus leaving little space for the palmette motif in the spandrels (fig. 10). In the Umayyad period, patterns of single panels merged to an over-all pattern. Sasanian textiles or textiles in the Sasanian tradition show this process as well.41
35Plant themes can be considered as particularly typical of Sasanian stucco. Interlacing patterns and meanders were often filled with a variety of plants. Mouldings of archivolts were treated as plant-like elements such as wreaths (fig. 4), trunks of palm trees or further vegetal motifs. An unusual feature is an archivolt held by a hand (Boucharlat, fig. 9, this volume).
36The most common plant motifs were different types of palmettes (half palmettes, split palmettes), trefoils (fig. 3), pomegranates (fig. 2), vine scrolls, as well as blossoms of various types (fig. 4-5). Due to the use of square or rectangular panels, patterns were created by the repetitive use of a single motif (fig. 2) or by alternating with other motifs (fig. 4).
37Among the rich repertoire of the buildings in Kish, a small panel shows a trefoil surrounded by a pair of wings tied together by a pair of flying ribbons (fig. 3). Due to such symbolic motifs as flying ribbons, a pair of wings or split palmettes evoking pairs of wings, it becomes evident that plants were iconographically meaningful sacred emblems. This symbolic use of plants motifs is typical for Sasanian art.
38An abundant figural repertoire was widely used. Particularly important were the busts of kings which occur in large numbers within one building. Busts are known from Hajiabad, Kish and Tell Daroz (fig. 6). The kings are shown frontally with the typical Sasanian crowns consisting of stepped crenellations and sometimes an additional large globe as well as the royal attributes of jewellery. The busts were symbols of sacred kingship and suggest the widespread practice of an ancestor cult in the Zoroastrian tradition of Iran. This becomes apparent through the chalice of plants of the Tell Daroz bust (fig. 6). Medium-sized busts from Hajiabad are an indication that members of the royal family or aristocrats were also venerated (fig. 7).
39Fragments of larger sculptures in a building near the Taq-e Kesra palace may show that the theme of the hunt occurred in relief decoration. Small panels with the royal hunter on boars are known from the early Islamic site of Chal Tarkhan-Eshqabad. The king has an idealized crown and is depicted with a nimbus of rays pointing to his god-like status. A group of riders of different sizes in high-relief belong to the unique repertoire known from the site of Nizamabad. Their statue-like appearance is related to the Sasanian rock reliefs. Numerous female representations were probably associated with divinities such as the goddess Anahita, but an interpretation of most of the females as belonging to the goddess Anahita is hardly possible due to their very different appearance. Unique are the representations of clad or unclad females of different sizes and in different postures arranged in niches in Hajiabad (fig. 8), where the types occurred in larger numbers. High-relief busts of queens (?) as well as smaller busts of a female with a crown of vegetal elements, possibly a garland of leaves, are unique to the repertoire in Kish (fig. 9).
- 42 Kröger 1982, pl. 83,3 (Kish), pl. 22-23 (Maʾarid IV), pl. 88, 3 (Tepe Hissar).
40Heads of different females were also found in Kish, used as part of the decoration of an archivolt. Busts of the “woman in a window” type on small panels were common during the later Sasanian period, as examples from Kish, the Ctesiphon region and Tepe Hissar are known.42 The recently excavated square panels with females holding plants in Barz Qavalah are without precedent (Boucharlat, fig. 5, this volume).
- 43 Kröger 1982, p. 54-57 pl. 14,4-5; p. 187-188 pl 75, 2.
41A large figural group shows different animals. In spite of their repetitive use, these motifs were symbolic representations too, intended to depict in a visual form certain abstract qualities of a divinity or an allusion to divine kingship. Guinea fowl on a disc nimbus, numerous other birds (Boucharlat, fig. 15, this volume) as well as cocks in pearl-roundels are known.43
42The ram, a symbol of royal glory, could be shown as an animal in a natural environment, as a protome between double wings or in a resting position with a pearl-diadem attached to ribbons fluttering from its neck and within a pearl-roundel that has itself a diadem-like character (fig. 10). It is typical of Sasanian art that the same animal can be represented in very different ways. A further category of animals, usually in high-relief, are reclining bulls, elephants and mythical creatures such as the winged horse.
43Monograms, half-image half-word, called nishan in Middle Persian, seem to have been present in every building from the late 5th to the early 7th cent. Examples are known from Building I in Kish and in Damghan/Tepe Hissar. In both sites the monogram consisted only of words. From residential buildings in the Ctesiphon region come round or square panels with a monogram above a double-wing within a pearl roundel (fig. 11). The square panels were used in a repetitive manner within an ayvān vault.
- 44 Strube 1984, p. 61-77, pl. 15-18; Canepa 2009, p. 208-223.
44As demonstrated by examples of architectural decoration of the 5th and 6th cent. from Byzantium, especially the architectural decoration from buildings in Constantinople, the principles of Sasanian architectural decoration were integrated during a period of closer relations between the two empires.44 However, only a very restricted number of motifs such as plants were actually integrated, since the highly efficient pictorial language developed during the Sasanian period was closely connected with the cult of divine kingship and thus was not transferable.
45During the formative phase of Islamic art numerous Sasanian ornamental motifs were transferred into the new artistic language. This is demonstrated by the buildings in the Ray-Varamin region. Figural motifs connected with the concept of Sasanian kingship such as the hunt were integrated, but motifs with specific Sasanian religious connotations such as icons symbolising divinities were not understood and vanished within a short period of Islamic rule.
- 45 Kröger 1982, p. 264-276 (Zeremonialhallen); Callieri 2014, p. 42 and 79. Later I changed this inter (...)
- 46 Canepa 2009, p. 17. “In these civic or domestic sanctuaries the royal personages inhabited the same (...)
- 47 Callieri 2014, p. 198 (English summary) and p. 72 (original French text).
- 48 Boucharlat in this volume.
46The survey of the sites including the recent discoveries has shown that only certain parts of the buildings were decorated. The closely related repertoire of iconic images in all buildings thus suggests functional parallels. In 1982, I tried to show that the stucco repertoire came from a religious architecture and suggested that the places were ceremonial halls.45 The architecture of these ayvāns and columnar halls belonged to different architectural concepts. They were situated within building complexes or were buildings on their own and many of them were connected with a fire temple or had a separate part with a fire altar.46 Callieri has recently published his interpretations for the functions, stating “... that these halls were intended for a function connected with a celebration of nobility, without excluding their presence in the most important fire sanctuaries”.47 For Boucharlat “some of them are very likely ceremonial buildings, or Zoroastrian temples”.48
- 49 Boyce 1975, p. 98.
- 50 Boyce 1975, p. 98.
- 51 Boyce 1975, p. 104. This may be the reason why figures in high-relief were quite common. Sasanian i (...)
- 52 Boyce 1975, p. 104, n. 62.
- 53 Boyce 1975, p. 101. The texts on the Middle Persian ostraca excavated in Nizamabad mention confirma (...)
- 54 Canepa 2009, p. 17.
- 55 Thus the temple No. 2 at Takht-e Soleyman was accessed only from the palace, Huff 2008, p. 5. My or (...)
47It may not be impossible that the ceremonies took place in buildings or parts of buildings that were called “image shrines” by Mary Boyce.49 By the end of the Achaemenian period there were “temples of two kinds, the one sheltering images and the other sacred fires”.50 Temples with sacred fires are well known from the Sasanian era. As Zoroastrians of the Sasanian era were not offended by high relief statues,51 the temples sheltering images may have been those columnar halls, courtyards and ayvāns that were extensively decorated with a rich repertoire of different images. Numerous allusions in the form of deities and symbols of the divine glory as well as royal or princely busts suggest a close relationship between these temples and Sasanian kingship. The temple No. 2 at Takht-e Soleyman provides strong evidence for such an image temple.52 It is likely that within many of these shrines “rituals for the soul of the dead were performed”.53 Thus the image temples may not only have been endowed by royal patronage but also by aristocrats for the “benefit of the royal family”.54 It is probable that the image temples were reserved for the king and members of the royal family as well as for the aristocracy.55
Figure 1. Umm az-Zaʾatir, Ctesiphon region: frieze panel with a scroll of half palmettes between meanders, 6th cent.
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst
Figure 2. Kish, Iraq, Building I: panel with pomegranates, late 5th or early 6th cent.
(after Kröger 1982, pl. 81,1)
Figure 3. Kish, Iraq, Building I: panel with a trefoil framed by a pair of wings, late 5th or early 6th cent.
(after Kröger 1982, pl. 83,5)
Figure 4. Umm az-Zaʾatir, Ctesiphon region, Iraq: detail of the archivolt of the western ayvān, 6th cent.
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst
Figure 5. Al-Maʾarid V, Ctesiphon region, Iraq: vault decoration of an ayvān, 6th cent.
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst
Figure 6. Tell Daroz, Iraq: bust of a Sasanian king above a chalice of leaves, probably 5th cent.
(after Kröger 1982, pl. 76,1)
Figure 7. Hajiabad, Iran: medium-sized bust of an aristocrat, 4th cent.`
(after Azarnoush 1994, pl. 10 cat. No. 22)
Figure 8. Hajiabad, Iran: Small-sized statuettes of a nude female figure, 4th cent.
(after Azarnoush 1994, pl. XII cat. No. 39)
Figure 9. Kish, Iraq, Building I: bust of a woman with a crown, late 5th or early 6th cent.
(after Kröger 1982, pl. 83,2)
Figure 10. Iraq, exact provenance unknown: square panel with a ram, early 7th cent.
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst
Figure 11. Umm az-Zaʾatir, Ctesiphon region, Iraq: square panel from the western ayvān with monogram, 6th cent.
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst
I would like to thank R. Boucharlat for introducing and sharing the material from these sites with me.
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