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The Sasanian Rock Relief of Bahram Ii at Guyum (Fars, Iran)

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The Sasanian Rock Relief of Bahram Ii at Guyum (Fars, Iran) Iranica Antiqua, vol. XLIV, 2009 doi: 10.2143/IA.44.0.2034387 THE SASANIAN ROCK RELIEF OF BAHRAM II AT GUYUM (FARS, IRAN) BY Ernie HAERINCK* & Bruno OVERLAET** 1 (*Ghent University; **Royal Museums of Art and History & Vesalius University College, Brussels) Abstract: The rock carving at Guyum is known since the early 20th century but did not receive full attention yet. Situated to the north of Shiraz, it can be attrib- uted to the reign of the Sasanian king Bahram II. The panel depicts the standing king Bahram II in full, in a venerating position with bent forefi nger and holding a sword with his left hand. A detailed discussion is presented as well as several previously unpublished photographs. Keywords: Guyum, Shiraz, Fars, Iran, Bahram II, Barm-i Dilak, Sasanian rock relief The fi rst scholar to mention the Sasanian rock carving at Guyum was Ernst Herzfeld who visited the site on February 18, 1924. Although he made two photographs and a sketch of it (Pl. 1-2 and 11), he never published any illustration but merely mentioned it in a “Reisebericht” (Herzfeld 1926: 250). His notes, sketches and photographs are part now of the “Herzfeld archives”, and are kept at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (see: http://www.asia.si.edu/archives/fi nding_aids/herzfeld.html#a12). The intrepid explorer Aurel Stein stayed at the walled village of Guyum during his survey of western Fars in 1935, but it is uncertain whether he saw the relief since he made no mention of it (Stein 1940: 4). As far as we know, it was Louis Vanden Berghe who published the fi rst photographs of the sculpture (Pl. 3-6). He visited Guyum on May 21st 1957 and devoted a paper to it, written in Dutch but with a French abstract. 1 The authors are indebted to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., and par- ticularly to Dr. Ann C. Gunter, curator, and to Miss Betsy Kohut, Mr. David Hogge and Mrs. Linda Ravitz, staff, for assisting them in accessing the Herzfeld archives and for the permission to reproduce plates 1, 2 and 11. 11504-08_Iran_Antiqua_44_14504-08_Iran_Antiqua_44_14 553131 220-03-20090-03-2009 113:04:123:04:12 532 E. HAERINCK & B. OVERLAET However, as it was published in the “Gentse Bijdragen tot de Kunst- geschiedenis en de Oudheidkunde”, the journal of the former Higher Insti- tute for Art and Archaeology at Ghent University, it was not readily avail- able to many scholars (1959b). In the same year, Vanden Berghe published a photograph of the sculpture in his monumental work “L’archéologie de l’Iran Ancien” (Vanden Berghe 1959a: 56, Pl. 83). In 1968, he made another comment on it in a general brochure on the Belgian involvement in Iranian archaeology, published in fi ve different languages by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Vanden Berghe 1968: 21-22, ill.). In November 1972, Louis Vanden Berghe and Erik Smekens paid a visit to the site and made detailed observations. Another visit to the site was made in May 1975 by Louis Vanden Berghe, Ernie Haerinck and Erik Smekens. That year, this team spend more than 4 months in Iran, with the sole intention to visit all known sites with rock reliefs. These were recorded, measured, described and photographed in preparation of a general book on Iranian rock sculptures that has not materialised so far. In the late 1960’s or early ‘70’s Guyum was also visited by other scholars interested in rock sculptures, such as Georgina Herrmann (Matheson 1972: 210) and Eric De Waele (1978: 21, fi g. 6). Erich Schmidt also provided a short description of the site but his report was based exclusively on Vanden Berghe’s 1959 book (Schmidt 1970: 134). Guyum is located at ca. 30 km to the NNW of Shiraz, on the road to Ardakan. It lies 3 km to the west of the village of Guyum at Tang-i Qavam- abad, in a garden named Ab-i Shar (at least that was the name in the fi f- ties), with a spring at the foot of the rock. As is often the case, rock carv- ings are located in the vicinity of a spring or river (e.g. Firuzabad, Darabgird, Bishapur, Sarab-i Bahram, Barm-i Dilak and Taq-i Bustan). A lot of grapes are grown in the region of Shiraz and it was probably a major wine producing area, also in Sasanian times (De Waele 1978: 15 and note 16). The rock relief of Guyum lies about 4.50 m. above the actual plain level and is oriented to the northwest. Only the standing king is represented, facing right. He is 2.60 m. high, and the panel is 1.60 m. in width. In view of the crown this person is to be identifi ed as Bahram II (276-293), grand- son of Shapur I. He was a politically unimportant king, who had, however, to pay a lot of attention to internal affairs (Shahbazi 1989). No less than six and possibly eight rock carvings are known of him: Naqsh-i Rustam II 11504-08_Iran_Antiqua_44_14504-08_Iran_Antiqua_44_14 553232 220-03-20090-03-2009 113:04:123:04:12 ROCK RELIEF AT GUYUM 533 (with family and nobles), Sarab-i Bahram (seated king and noblemen), Bishapur IV (mounted king receiving a foreign delegation), Sar Mashhad (king fi ghting lions), Barm-i Dilak IIA (panel with standing king alone) and Guyum (standing king alone), and maybe also Naqsh-i Rustam III (jousting scene) and VII (double jousting scene). He is quite often shown in the presence of members of the aristocracy or members of his family. The relief at Bishapur IV, where the mounted Bahram II receives a foreign delegation, is the only one seemingly representing external affairs. Two other reliefs, one at Sarab-i Qandil (e.g. De Waele 1978: 17-20; Herrmann 1983: 31-36) and another at Barm-i Dilak I (Vanden Berghe 1989: 805), most likely do not represent the king himself. A man, a prince heir, a dignitary or a local noble is shown giving a fl ower to or receiving one from a lady. These rock carvings are generally attributed to the time of Bahram II (e.g. Herrmann 2000: 42). However, Levit Tawil (1993: 167- 168) is of the opinion that both rock carvings should be attributed to the time of Ardashir I. The representations of Kartir at Naqsh-i Radjab II (bust and inscription), Naqsh-i Rustam VI (bust and inscription) and Barm-i Dilak IIB (panel with standing Kartir) most likely also belong to the time of Bahram II. The king considered Kartir as his mentor and gave him the title of “saviour of Bah- ram’s soul”. He also gave him the rank of noble and appointed him as the custodian of the dynastic shrine at Istakhr and as the supreme judge of the empire (Shahbazi 1989: 516). The relief at Guyum shows the standing king Bahram II in full with his body almost in a frontal position (Pl. 1-12). As is common in Sasanian rock carvings, he is shown with exaggerated shoulders. Since many reliefs are carved at quite a height, the exaggerated shoulders create an optically more correct fi gure with normal proportions when viewed from ground level. The carving is much weathered, which of course may account for the loss of some details, but the carving itself was probably not much detailed from the start. This is obviously worsened by certain willingly infl icted damages, such as on the kings’ face. Bahram II is not represented in a nicely cut rectangular panel, as is usu- ally the case, but in an irregular panel that largely follows the king’s out- line. This is also more or less the case at Barm-i Dilak (Pl. 14-17), but here it may have another explanation. It is not to be excluded, that the Guyum relief was in fact never fi nished. 11504-08_Iran_Antiqua_44_14504-08_Iran_Antiqua_44_14 553333 220-03-20090-03-2009 113:04:123:04:12 534 E. HAERINCK & B. OVERLAET At Guyum the area in front of the king is obviously fl attened. The paral- lel chiseling lines are still clearly visible on Pl. 3, 4 and 6. Also the hori- zontal ledge on which the fi gure is placed extends in front of this fl attened area. The top of the panel above the king and above this fl attened area is cut away in the same manner and to the same depth as the lower ledge. It seems probable that a second fi gure, an object (e.g. an altar) or a panel with an inscription was originally intended to be placed in front of the king. From the unfi nished rock sculpture of Narseh at Naqsh-i Rustam (Pl. 13), we do have some ideas about how the Sasanian sculptors went ahead. Starting from a fl at panel, they cut the outline of the fi gure and completely fi nished the fi gure before starting work on the next fi gure. At Guyum, it is only around the Bahram II fi gure that the sculptor has worked the relief to the intended full depth of the representation. It seems the sculptor fi nished this royal fi gure (or in view of the limited detail, almost fi nished the royal fi gure) and was about to start on the area in front of the king when the project was either abandoned or altered. This is of course a speculative interpretation of this monument, since we do not have any historical infor- mation to document the original concept or the circumstances in which it was created.
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