نسخة مذيلة من "بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي" بقلم جورج كرزون، مع أوراق مدرجة [و‎‎٥‎٥‎١] (١٨١٤/١١١٤)

PEKSEPOLIS, AND OTHER RUINS
119
Bahrain Gur, the great hunter) and his spouse, for no other apparent
reason, however, than that the story of their separation and reunion is
one of the most popular of Persian legends. 1 Between the images of
the king and queen (if, indeed, the latter be a woman, which, in spite
of a 2 ')Tioi i improbability, it seems somewhat difficult to doubt) is a
small and terribly defaced figure, apparently that of a boy. 2 This fact
has led Dieulafoy to conjecture that the royal trio are Varahran II.,
his wife (who, according to Darmesteter was daughter of the leading
Jew of Babylon), and their son, whose united figures appear on the
coins of the reign. On the other hand, it is doubtful whether the
public portraiture of the female form would have been admissible as
early as the end of the third century a.d. I prefer therefore to leave
the indentification uncertain. Behind the king are two warriors or
attendants, the foremost of whom has a thick beard and braided hair,
and wears a tall helmet (Binning calls it ‘ a high-peaked hat ’) termina-
ting, after a fashion not unfamiliar in Sassanian likenesses, in the head
of an animal, generally supposed in this case to be a horse. His right
hand and forefinger are uplifted in the conventional attitude of respect.
Where this sculpture has escaped mutilation, it is well executed, and
after the lapse of 1300 to 1500 years retains an astonishing sharpness and
vigour.
The next two tablets, as well as the fifth in sequence, belong, in
common with a similar bas-relief at Firuzabad (which will be mentioned
Second and nex ^ chapter), to a different class of monumental
sculptures. They illustrate neither the pomp of regal
investiture nor the triumph over a captive foe, but the
equestrian prowess of warring kings. Accordingly, the stiff
and somewhat ponderous forms and pose of the ceremonial
panels are here replaced by a freedom of movement and a vivacity of
conception which reflect infinite credit on the artist who designed
them, and entitle the sculpture of the middle Sassanian period to
no mean place in the history of art. The particular form of crown or
helmet worn by the king in one of these bas-reliefs has suggested their
connection with the name of Varahran IV. (a.d. 388-399), and
whether he be the actual monarch depicted or not, it is probably
to that period that all the equestrian panels should be attributed. The
first two, that now claim our notice, are carved one above the other in
the rock at Naksh-i-Rustam, below the second Achsemenian tomb,
which is that of Darius, son of Hystaspes. It was not till fifty years
1 Fired by a similar enthusiasm, Mounsey (Journey, p. 209) describes the royal
circlet as ‘ a wreath held in token of the bond of love which united them !
2 Ker Porter (Travels, vol. i. p. 531) did not, apparently, discern this figure
himself, but mentions having seen it in an old drawing at Shiraz, It is, however,
clearly visible both to the naked eye and in photographs.
third
tablets:
Eques
trian
combat