Showing posts with label rock relief. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rock relief. Show all posts

Sunday, June 18, 2023

Tamgaly Petroglyphs - dawn of domesticated horse

 Salvete Omnes,



we will lope to the Central Asian heartlands - the Kazakhstan's heartlands where many rock art sites have been discovered and some studied and preserved in a kind of open air museums.



In Zhetysu or Semirechye ( the Seven Rivers) region of Kazakhstan there is this area known as Tamgaly/Tanbaly Reserve Museum and UNESCO site (Tamgaly River valley)- here, in this article from academia - authored by S. Sapatayev & B. Zheleznyakov cum J. Biver - you can view the geography (maps) of the region and  one fine rendering  of the Bronze Age petroglyphs from Tamgaly. First studied and described by a Soviet archaeologist A.G. Maksimova in 1958, these petroglyphs and associated archaeological sites have been studied by scientists. 



The Sun-beams & Sun-heads from the mentioned article - associated wit the Andronovo culture, and burial grounds belonging to the Andronovo culture (Atasu and Semirechye variants of  the Andronovo culture within Kazakhstan)the  have been found in this area.


Poznan Adam Mickiewicz University researcher prof. Andrzej Rozwadowski's article on the shamanic characteristics of these petroglyphs - more interesting aspects & examples  of this rock art in the Eurasian context can be found on the professor's  academia page (linked in his last name) 


you have many more available for viewing and downloading from wiki commons eg



a horse with ibex? horns like in the later Scythian/Saka kurgan burials eg Berel kurgans reconstructed by prof. Krym Altynbekov





Apart from horses and humans there are deer, cattle, argali (mountain sheep), camels and sacred motives etc.

Valete


Tuesday, June 28, 2022

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 PERSPECTIVESRelief 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

Sunday, May 1, 2016

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