A silver gilt head of Shapur II (309 to 379 AD)
Because Greco/Roman civilization takes such a central place in the foundations of contemporary Western society, we tend to forget the true counterweight to Greece and Rome. East of the Roman Empire lay the vast and powerful Persian Empire. Western classicists tend to think of Persia monolithically—but it was actually three great empires: the Achaemenid Empire (550 BC – 330 BC), the Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD), and finally the Sasanian dynasty (224 AD to 651 AD).
The Sassanid Empire in 570 AD
Today’s post features a peek into the last of these great Persian eras. The Sasanians were the antithetical power to the Roman/Byzantine Empire and much of the history of the two civilizations involved their struggle against each other.
A bust of a Sasanian King–probably Shapur II (AD 310-379), silver with mercury gilding, raised from a sheet of silver with chased and repousse details
Here is the bust of a great Sasanian King–Shapur II (AD 310-379) who was the tenth monarch of the dynasty. He is pictured wearing a typical crenelated crown topped with a striated orb and a crescent (which he is also wearing in the sculpture at the top of the post). The actual crown Shapur II wore is lost in the mists of history, but it was atypical in that he was literally crowned before his birth. His predecessor Hormizd II, was unpopular with the Persian nobility. When Hormizd died, scheming nobles killed his eldest son, blinded the second oldest, and imprisoned/exiled the youngest. They chose to crown his unborn son as emperor, in order that the child could be brought up as an ideal pawn, and the Zoroastrian priests placed the crown on him while he was yet unborn (resting it on his mother’s gravid belly).
Silver plate with Shapur II hunting boars )ca. 4th century, silver with gold leaf)
As often happens in such circumstances, Shapur II stymied his puppetmasters by growing wise in the ways of the court as a child and ruling as a powerful sovereign. He defeated the greatest Roman attack against Persia in classical history (the all-out assault by Emperor Julian the apostate. He left the Sasanian dynasty much stronger than it was under his father.
Gold Coin with Shapur II
It is interesting to see how similar the idea of a Persian crown—a crenellated circlet topped with a scepter–was to the crowns which later became the norm in Christendom. The Byzantine emperors wore a diadem instead. I wonder how the Persian ideal became the standard for Western Europe in the centuries that followed.
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August 24, 2015 at 8:34 AM
Beatrix
Khorasan was the easternmost province of the Persian empire. My husband’s native Kashmir bordered Khorasan & Hind (or Sind, what is now India). Until the Mongol invasion of the 13th century, Khorasan remained the cultural capital of Persia. Many of the greatest Islamic scholars came from Khorasan, namely Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abu Hanifa, Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim, Abu Dawood, Al-Tirmidhi, Al-Nasa’i, Al-Ghazali, Al-Juwayni, Abu Mansur Maturidi, Fakhruddin al-Razi, and others. Poets such as Ferdowsi and Rumi were also from Khorasan.
Anyway Kashmir is one of those places where east truly meets west & Islam, Hinduism & Buddhism come together. Sufism had it’s beginning in Kashmir.
You can still see the influences of ancient Persia in Kashmir. The ancient Persian (or Khorasani) loved flowers- be it in floral motifs, gardens, or even floral scents. Persian inspired floral motifs can be seen in Kashmiri textiles- from woven shawls, to embroidered garments, & carpets. Persian inspired floral motifs can also be seen in Kashmiri housewares- silver chased bowls, copper samovars, even carved into wooden decorative beams of traditional houses. The famous gardens of Shalimar in Kashmir are based on the Persian ideal of Heaven -‘paradise’ is an old Persian word for ‘walled garden’. Even the carved black marble pergola of Shalimar is decorated in parchin kari, (literally ‘inlay’ or ‘driven-in’ work) of inlaid semi precious stone in floral motifs.
I’ve noticed that those ancient Persians must have had skills in plant breeding (as did the ancient Chinese). You can tell a Persian breed of flower or fruit from a Chinese breed of flower or fruit quite easily by it’s fragrance. The ancient Persians loved rich, heady, almost heavy rose like flavors & fragrances in their flowers & fruit- notably apples, apricots, plums, peaches, cherries, pears, and of course their most prized of all flowers roses.
The Chinese seem more interested in bright color & huge numbers of petals rather than fragrance in their flowers, and prefer bland but crisp fleshed fruits.
August 26, 2015 at 10:03 PM
Wayne
Wow! This is a great comment and there is a lot to unpack! I have been meaning to write a great deal more about Persian history, ideals, and aesthetics–but it is not an easy subject to approach as a non-scholar. Writing about Chinese culture and history is hard enough…and they are the Earth’s most populous nation right now. Good English sources about ancient Persia are incredibly difficult to find (although perhaps you know some). Maybe paisleys would be a good rudimentary starting point on this cultural journey.
Thanks for the garden information! I guess I am a flower gardener and ultimately incline toward the Chinese way..but you make Persian horticultural aesthetics sound so beguiling!
August 30, 2015 at 10:49 AM
Beatrix
Despite it’s rich history & culture there really isn’t much written about the ancient Persian empire. What little there is isn’t written in English. I do wonder if western scholars just chose to ignore the Persian empire or if there simply isn’t much left after the rise of Islam along with the devastation of Arab & Mongol conquerors?