A large bronze seal, c. 224-651 CE
Bronze
JL.19
Apparently Sassanian (224–651 CE) This large circular seal is split across two registers and appears to show a garden scene. The upper register depicts two men meeting in a Garden....
Apparently Sassanian (224–651 CE)
This large circular seal is split across two registers and appears to show a garden scene.
The upper register depicts two men meeting in a Garden. One, more elaborately modeled, figure appears to be holding a staff or similar and appears to be handing it to the other man. Ominously behind this more elaborately modelled man, who may, judging by his slightly more elaborate headdress be a king, is a smaller figure who clutches a dagger concealed behind his back. It may well be the case that this scene simultaneously anticipates the regicide of a ruler as well as the succession to another ruler.
The lower register shows a hunt scene - a figure with a spear appears to be hunting a mythological winged animal. The winged creature in the seal may be an early depiction of a Simurgh. This mythological lion eagle hybrid - this is a common imperial totem of the Sasanian Empire. As in the top register we may have an image of the imperial ascendancy of the empire being threatened from an enemy within the symbolic garden space that the seal demarcates.
One cannot underestimate the ideological and rhetorical importance that the metaphor of the empire, Ērānšāhr, as garden played for the Sasanian and Iranian culture more generally. For Sasanian culture the walls at the corners of the empire symbolically provided a protected garden or orchard which kept the empire safe from outsiders. The best evidence for the idea that Ērānšāhr was conceived of as an enclosure and an orchard which must be defended from others, is provided in the epic poem - Šāhnāme by Ferdowsī (c. 977 - 1010 CE) in the section dealing with the seventh century Sasanian Empire. The idea of being defended is given as such:
Iran is like a lush Spring garden
Where Roses ever bloom
The army and weapons are the garden’s walls
And lances its wall of thorns
If the garden’s walls (راو) are pulled down
Then there would be no difference between it and the wilderness [beyond]
Take care not to destroy its walls
And not to dishearten or weaken Iranians
If you do, then raiding and pillaging will follow
And also the battle-cries of riders and the din of war
Risk not the safety of the Iranians’ wives, children, and lands
by bad policies and plans
(Omidsalar 2012, pp. 165-166; Ferdowsī 1998-2008, 8, pp. 275-282).
When read within the broader context and narrative of the Sassanian empire this large illustrative seal becomes particularly interesting as a work of early political propaganda and perhaps as a potent memento mori for subsequent rulers. In contrast to much smaller seals which dominate the market size and medium of this piece naturally lends the seal to high usage and legibility. The fact of it's size and material might suggest the seal may be used to illustrate - en mass - and disseminate the political upheaval of the period. Following Saphur II (309-379) - the aristocrats and priests had expanded their influence and authority and were regularly nominating, dethroning, and murdering shahs.
For instance one seductive narrative possibly presented by the seal may be the ascension narrative of Yazdegered I (399 and murdered in 21 January 420 by his own court). Yazdegered I’s ascension only came about due to the regicide of his Brother Bahram IV by his own troops.
This large circular seal is split across two registers and appears to show a garden scene.
The upper register depicts two men meeting in a Garden. One, more elaborately modeled, figure appears to be holding a staff or similar and appears to be handing it to the other man. Ominously behind this more elaborately modelled man, who may, judging by his slightly more elaborate headdress be a king, is a smaller figure who clutches a dagger concealed behind his back. It may well be the case that this scene simultaneously anticipates the regicide of a ruler as well as the succession to another ruler.
The lower register shows a hunt scene - a figure with a spear appears to be hunting a mythological winged animal. The winged creature in the seal may be an early depiction of a Simurgh. This mythological lion eagle hybrid - this is a common imperial totem of the Sasanian Empire. As in the top register we may have an image of the imperial ascendancy of the empire being threatened from an enemy within the symbolic garden space that the seal demarcates.
One cannot underestimate the ideological and rhetorical importance that the metaphor of the empire, Ērānšāhr, as garden played for the Sasanian and Iranian culture more generally. For Sasanian culture the walls at the corners of the empire symbolically provided a protected garden or orchard which kept the empire safe from outsiders. The best evidence for the idea that Ērānšāhr was conceived of as an enclosure and an orchard which must be defended from others, is provided in the epic poem - Šāhnāme by Ferdowsī (c. 977 - 1010 CE) in the section dealing with the seventh century Sasanian Empire. The idea of being defended is given as such:
Iran is like a lush Spring garden
Where Roses ever bloom
The army and weapons are the garden’s walls
And lances its wall of thorns
If the garden’s walls (راو) are pulled down
Then there would be no difference between it and the wilderness [beyond]
Take care not to destroy its walls
And not to dishearten or weaken Iranians
If you do, then raiding and pillaging will follow
And also the battle-cries of riders and the din of war
Risk not the safety of the Iranians’ wives, children, and lands
by bad policies and plans
(Omidsalar 2012, pp. 165-166; Ferdowsī 1998-2008, 8, pp. 275-282).
When read within the broader context and narrative of the Sassanian empire this large illustrative seal becomes particularly interesting as a work of early political propaganda and perhaps as a potent memento mori for subsequent rulers. In contrast to much smaller seals which dominate the market size and medium of this piece naturally lends the seal to high usage and legibility. The fact of it's size and material might suggest the seal may be used to illustrate - en mass - and disseminate the political upheaval of the period. Following Saphur II (309-379) - the aristocrats and priests had expanded their influence and authority and were regularly nominating, dethroning, and murdering shahs.
For instance one seductive narrative possibly presented by the seal may be the ascension narrative of Yazdegered I (399 and murdered in 21 January 420 by his own court). Yazdegered I’s ascension only came about due to the regicide of his Brother Bahram IV by his own troops.