Alfalfa & Nisean Horse

 Salvete Omnes,

Persepolis - king's horses

long time ago, when I first started this blog,  I wrote about the legume known as the alfalfa (Medicago Sativa) and the horse of Nisean/Nisayan Plain [ancient Media, since time immemorial in Iran], and recalled the article by Ms Louise Firouz and her Caspian Horse. 

Persepolis - king's chariot stallions  

My little gallery of the Achaemenid Empire horses from their own artists' studios, so to speak.
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enjoy

Darius' seal - chariot-riding, archer king with Ahura Mazda and rampant lion

Valete

Happy Nowruz 2023

 Salvete Omnes,

 

today is Nowruz, the ancient Zoroastrian holiday of the new year, also celebrated by the pagan Slavic peoples as Jare Gody.

Persepolis Bull (Moon, Winter) vs Lion (Spring, Sun)

ps
and a little beauty of a horse from our Polish maestro Tadeusz Ajdukiewicz for this New Year
This painting is supposedly titled A Turkish Courtyard - showing a groom with a saddled beautiful chestnut horse (Polish name:  cisek, cisawy, & kasztan)  - from Artnet or Mutual art,

Valete

Shapur I king of kings

 Salvete Omnes,

 

Lord Shapur, king of kings of Eran - well, let us gallop a bit across the III century AD ancient Iranian realm, with the famous king at the vanguard.. a collection of period images - triumphal and bellicose, but also very religious, and always equestrian astride his Nisaya/Nisean chargers

the most famous cameo from Louvre

there is plenty of research around Shapur I and his III century Persian realm - vide academia.edu articles eg THE SOURCES FOR ROME’S WARS WITH SHAPUR I: EUROCENTRIC AND EASTERN PERSPECTIVES,  Relief of Salmas, or on Shapur I coins, or on the rock relieves of his triumphs , and the entire corpus of works (including the finds of horse armor)  dealing with Dura Europos siege and capture etc...  so enjoy your research .By the way a different than military history  eg Prof. Katazyna Maksymiuk - The Position of Women in the Court of the First Sassanias.

you can find Shapur I in the novels of British historian and novelist Harry Sidebottom - Ballista aka Warrior of Rome series 

Valate

Cilician coins - Achaemenid Empire horsemen

Nisaya horse

Salvete Omnes,
I have not been to ancient Persia lately, hence there is this opportunity revisit, via Coin Archives .
In particular, there is this set of coins from Tarsos related to the period of 450-400 BC when a number(?) of  Syennesis of Cilicia (Cukurova, modern Turkey)  or the rulers of the Achaemenid satrapy, were important, perhaps semi-independent lords of that important satrapy during the tumultuous V century BC.
The coins contain plenty of detailed information - horse type, horse tack, tied forelocks and tails, arms and armor of the horsemen and king-divine figures etc.
1.fabulously detailed coin with a horseman typically armed with a bow and wearing kyrbasia
2. a horseman wearing a Median coat or kantus
3. another horseman wearing a kantus
4. horseman wearing kyrbasia
and more Cilcian satrapy coins - more or less damaged - but still amazing

Valete!
ps
details from drawings by Flandin of the Apadana (Persepolis) staircase procession

Sassanian Rock Relief Khan Takhti

Salve,
it has been a while since the last Persian posting, so when I saw a short article about this relief on Dr. Kaveh Farrokh's  site I decided to share it with you.
The relief in question is located in the Iranian province of Western Azerbaijan (ancient Urartu and Armenian Kingdom ), near Khantakhti in the Salmas county, and shows famous father and son team, namely Shahanshah Ardashir/Ardašir I and Shapur I/Šapur I, the rulers of the newly established Sassanian Persia.

This is not the first time they are shown together, famous rock relief of Firuzabad may be one example.
I am of the opinion that it is not a stretch of imagination  to say that the rulers are riding their trusted warhorses of the Nisaya/Nisean breed - famous horse breed of the Ancient Persia.

Enjoy
ps
all images in Public Domain

Sassanian horses in rock reliefs 2

Salve,
continuing with the Sassanian rock carvings and their portrayal in various media,   I will turn to the drawings of  Jean-Baptiste Eugène Napoléon Flandin, who together with architect Pascal Coste trekked across Persia during 1839-41  drawing and sketching and painting along the perilous journey.
These are some  of the fantastic archaeological drawings published in multi-volume edition (one volume of the text and 5 volumes of plates) titled ''Voyage en Perse'' in France in 1851.

The drawings and engraving that were made after the drawings to have been reproduced in the books are precise, archival quality, a swan song of such drawings, soon to be replaced by the photography
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