The silver plate in an ancient Iranian photograph depicts a royal jockey engaged in the hunting of lions.
It was discovered by chance near a brick ki on the outskirts of Sari, the capital of Mazandaran in northern Sari, and is one of the most unique artifacts of the Sassanian era.
The central scene depicts a lion hunting the king on a horse with a bow and arrow. The king pulls his bow towards the leap lion, but another killed lion falls to the ground. Such a motif is common in the Royal Hunt scene of Sasania’s art, and this plate represents one of the oldest surviving examples of such metalwork.
A notable innovation in this configuration is the inclusion of small hills decorated with leafy plants arranged in two rows and rendered with relative naturalism. The featured weapon, Sword and Bow, is portrayed together in a single scene for the first time. The crescent-shaped bridle of horses is similar to what is found in early Sasanian rock salvation. A vertically positioned lion (probably the main target) is injured (arrows embedded in the forelimb). Meanwhile, the lion, which is rendered horizontally at the bottom, follows a long-standing practice for drawing dead animals.
The crown worn by the king is most similar to the crowns of Hormizd I and Shapur II. The comparison with Taq-e Bostan’s rock relief even reveals similarities with the Ardashir II crown. However, the closest parallel to the Sari Hunter headband is the crown worn by Shapur (Son of Papak, 207-210 AD 207-210) in the engraved image at Persepolis. Such royal hunting scenes were widespread in the Middle East and served as diplomatic gifts for political propaganda.
It was a royal tradition rooted in previous artistic practice to portray the king as a heroic hunter, particularly the mastery of predators like the lion. The Sasanian Empire intentionally summoned the Achemenid predecessor to justify its rules. The name “Ardashir” in the Sasanian Pahlavi form (and its reconstructed form Artakhshir) consciously reflects the name of Achaemenid Artaxerxes (Artakhshassa), which we provide as concrete evidence of this ideological continuity.
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