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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GinoLR, post: 24854945, member: 128351&quot;]Yes, there is such a big difference between Arsacid and Sassanid rock reliefs that it is obvious a new art school emerged in Persia as soon as Ardashir and Shapur had seized power. And this new art school was influenced by Roman East.</p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t understand why the Oriental Institute interpreted the Naqsh-i Rustam relief thinking the kneeling Roman emperor was Valerian, and the standing one Philip the Arab. It&#039;s clearly the opposite. If we read the trilingual inscription known as &quot;Res Gestae Divi Saporis&quot; telling the story, just a few meters from the rock relief (translation of the Parthian version):</p><p>&quot; <i>Gordian Caesar was killed, and the army of the Romans was destroyed, and the Romans made Philip Caesar. And Philip Caesar came to me for supplication, and for their souls gave 500,000 dinars in blood money to me, and he was established as a tributary.</i> &quot;</p><p>and later :</p><p>&quot; <i>And on this side of Harran and Urha there was a great battle with Valerian Caesar, and Valerian Caesar was captured by [my] own hand, and the rest, the praetorian prefects and the senators and the officers who were the leaders of this army, were all captured and led into Persia.</i>&quot;</p><p>The Greek and the Persian versions tell the same thing.</p><p><br /></p><p>On the relief there are two emperors, identified as emperors because both are laureate : one in the attitude of supplication and another one standing, his raised arms seized by Shapur&#039;s own hand. The inscription explains it all: the standing one is Valerian, captured by Shapur&#039;s own hand, and the kneeling one is Philip, &quot;coming to Shapur in supplication (...) and established as a tributary&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>There is a 3rd emperor missing from the picture, Gordian III who had been killed. On three other triumphal reliefs of Shapur, not at Naqsh-i Rustam but at Bishapur, the dead body of Gordian III is represented, trampled by Shapur&#039;s horse.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1593153[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">(rock relief of the triumph of Shapur over 3 Roman emperors, Valerian standing and held as a captive by the king, the dead body of Gordian III under Shapur&#039;s horse, Philip the Arab kneeling in supplication)</font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[ATTACH=full]1593154[/ATTACH]</font></p><p><font size="3">Another very much damaged relief from Bishapur. It&#039;s an investiture scene. On the left is the god Ahura Mazda, his horse trampling Ahriman&#039;s dead body. On the right, Shapur whose horse is trampling Gordian III&#039;s dead body. In the middle Philip the Arab in supplication towards Shapur. No Valerian here : this relief was carved between 244 and 260. </font></p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t understand why Gordian III is missing from Naqsh-i Rustam, a relief sculpted after 260. It was probably because the official narrative had evolved, and Shapur changed his mind : it was not honest to take credit for Gordian&#039;s death, for Gordian was not killed in battle but in other circumstances while retreating with his troops. His real achievements were enough. Let us not forget that for Persian nobility, the greatest of virtues is telling the truth.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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