'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎562] (625/714)

PERSIA
to the Persian king of Ins bride, the beautiful Sira or Shirin *
and his crown. On this supposition, Chosroes is standing in his
robes ot inauguration between the imperial pair, the princess on
the one side holding a diadem, and the emperor on the other
presenting the new king with the crown, to which'the arms of the
Romans had restored him. At the same time it is doubtful
whether either of the supporters' is a female figure, or whether the
tradition itself is true ; and the figures are more probably sym
bolical representations. The lower space is almost wholly occu
pied by a colossal equestrian figure of the same monarch, both
horse and rider being covered with a coat of mail. The sculpture
has been much damaged by the Arabs, and there are no intelligible
11 mains of the inscriptions once engraven upon it.
1 he sides of the arch are covered with representations of the
sports of the field, wild-boar and stag hunts. In the panel repre-
Panels Of senting the former boats appear,-indicating a marshy
the chase countiy intersected by lakes . ponderoug elep}iantg
with their riders, plunge through the reeds in order to drive the
pigs towards the king in the middle. Two of the boats are filled
w ith harpers, thought by some to be women ; in a third are men who
appear to be clapping their hands. In the centre of the scene are
two boats, in one of which stands the king, of gigantic stature, with
ow full-bent, while in the other he appears to be again depicted,
with a halo round his head, receiving an arrow from one of his
attendants, while a musician sits near him in the same boat,
playing on the harp. Above the boar-hunt Mohammed Ali Mirza,
son of Fath Ali Shah, and Governor of Kermanshah, had sculped
a pompous image of himself in the early part of this century. On
the opposite side of the arch is another relief, representing the
chase of the deer. On this the same king Chosroes II. appears
S the ^ 0f Shirin and the r0Ck 0f Behistun the Persians have
sociated one of those poetic romances so dear to the national genius. Ferhad,
the most famous sculptor of his time, who was very likely employed by Chosroes
with ShWn t ( J e f Se , bas - rellefs ' is said ^ the legend to have fallen madly in love
throu!w\ 1° :: eceived a promise of her the king, if he would cut
The lover ^pt tn "I and ^ a stream to the Kermanshah plain.
the remains ] 0 WOr ^ a a11 bu t completed his gigantic enterprise (of which
LmeTw 1 r 6 ' 6 ' ln f terpreted ' are stm to be seen), when he was falsely in-
W 1 rook . r ry the kil,g 0f hiS Ws death. In despair he leaped
t0 . PieCeS - The le ^ d of the unhappy lovefis
or excavation as f U ^ ^ iS USed t0 ex P lain m any traces of rock-cutting
or excavation as far east as Beluchistan.