КАСТЕЛЛУЧЧА МАНУЭЛЬ (Университет Востока, Неаполь, Италия). Скальные рельефы и родственные связи в древнем Иране сквозь призму современности — наука, политика и национальный вопрос
MANUEL CASTELLUCCIA (University of Naples “L’Orientale”, Italy). Iranian Rock-Reliefs and Iranian Kingship through the Eyes of Modern Scholarship, Politics and Nationalism
From the early 14th century, European travellers became accustomed to ancient Iranian monuments, especially those referring to the pre-Islamic Iranian kingdoms, such as the Achaemenid and Sasanian empires. Starting from the 19th century, the development of artistic and archaeological methodologies and theories established new approaches for analyzing the visual representation of ancient Iranian kingship. The majority of the earliest studies of ancient Iranian monuments were mainly carried out by Western scholars, who also were partially influenced by a colonialist approach, considering the framework of international political struggle, with Persia battling to retain its independence from the expansion of the French, British and Russian empires. In the following decades, especially from the second half of the 20th century, new methodological approaches allowed a better understanding and analysis of ancient Iranian monuments. Particularly important was the development of a consciousness of its past among Iranian politics, intellectuals, and people. A further and partially dramatic approach was undertaken because of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Artistic representations dating to the Achaemenid and Sasanian period were mainly expressed by reliefs carved on natural rocks or disposed to adorn royal buildings. These reliefs, widespread throughout the Iranian Plateau, are the main visual expression of the conception of kingship and power by ancient Iranian ideology.
This mountainous area bordering Mesopotamia has a long story of reliefs carved on free-standing rocks or cliffs. Starting from the Early Bronze Age relief of Annubanini, the tradition of depicting royal images on rocks placed upon or nearby strategic places became one of the most distinguished features of ancient Persian art. It was especially during the local Iranian rules (Achaemenid, Parthian, Sassanian) that rock-reliefs greatly expanded. Many of them are intentionally placed on cliffs overlooking important communication and trade routes, intended to be seen by all travelers (nomads, merchants, future kings, or invaders). Others, on the contrary, are erected within or around religious spaces, thus establishing a direct link between the ruler and the deities.
These rock reliefs are an essential part of imperial art, used for displaying regality and supremacy. They were intended for celebrating the kingship and legitimizing power. Therefore, they were part of well-planned imperial propaganda intended to establish a hierarchical order at the top of which the king is the beneficent creators of an orderly system which stressed images of power, victory, piety, control, and harmonious order.
Therefore, the present presentation aims at exploring the different approaches carried out in the past decades for the analysis and interpretation of ancient Iranian kingship as expressed by rock-reliefs.
царская власть, пропаганда, Иран, Персия, Ахемениды, парфяне, Сасаниды
kingship, power, propaganda, Iran, Persia, Achaemenid, Parthian, Sasanian