Taq-e Bostan

Taq-e Bostan, “the arch of the garden”, is a group of Sasanian rock reliefs and carved grottoes at the foot of a mountain on the edge of Kermanshah. A spring emerges here into a wide pool, and the kings of the Sasanian dynasty, who ruled Iran from the third to the seventh century, chose the place to carve images of their power.

The oldest relief shows the investiture of a king, usually identified as Ardashir II, receiving a ring of kingship from a divine figure while trampling a fallen enemy. Beside it, a small grotto holds figures of two later kings. The largest grotto, a deep arch cut into the rock, is traditionally associated with Khosrow II, who reigned in the early seventh century.

Inside that great arch the carving is at its most ambitious. On the upper back wall a king receives a ring of power from two divine figures; below, a mounted warrior in full armour and chain mail, with lance and shield, faces outwards from the rock. On the side walls are long hunting scenes: a royal boar hunt in a marsh, with elephants, boats and women playing harps, and opposite it a deer hunt. Today the reliefs face a landscaped garden and the reflecting pool, and the curved arch above the water still reads clearly from across the park.