Qualla: Taq-e Bostan

Taq-e Bostan: Introduction

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0. Sacred springs still feed a reflecting pool at the base of the cliff. Above the water, arched alcoves open into the rock face, and inside them Sasanian kings stand frozen in stone, receiving crowns from gods. Taq-e Bostan sits five kilometers from the center of Kermanshah in western Iran, where the Zagros Mountains form a natural corridor between Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau. For nearly 1,700 years, wind and rain have scoured these carvings, yet the figures remain sharp enough to read the inscriptions, identify the crowns, and count the arrows in a royal quiver. Sassanid kings chose this spot deliberately. The springs were sacred, the setting was beautiful, and the location straddled a Silk Road caravan route, guaranteeing that every traveler heading east or west would see their faces carved into the mountain.

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Image: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada | CC BY-SA 2.0

Taq-e Bostan: Crowns Bestowed by Gods

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Philippe Chavin, CC BY 2.5. The most dramatic relief at Taq-e Bostan depicts the investiture of Ardashir II, who reigned from 379 to 383 CE. The panel, roughly four meters wide and nearly four meters high, shows the king in the center receiving a royal diadem from Shapur II on his right, while the god Mithr...

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Image: Philippe Chavin | CC BY 2.5

Taq-e Bostan: Father and Son in the Smaller Arch

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ali.rad, CC BY-SA 4.0. The smaller of the two rock-cut arches, sometimes called Taq-e Bustan II, holds a different kind of monument. Two royal figures face each other on the back wall, identified by Pahlavi inscriptions as Shapur II, known as Shapur the Great, and his son Shapur III. The vestibule meas...

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Image: Ali.rad | CC BY-SA 4.0

Taq-e Bostan: The Great Iwan of Khosrow II

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Zereshk, Public domain. The larger arch shelters the most elaborate carvings at Taq-e Bostan. Three figures dominate the back wall: Khosrow II, the last great Sasanian king, flanked by the supreme god Ahura Mazda and the goddess Anahita. Below and around them, the walls come alive with hunting scenes. O...

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Image: Zereshk | Public domain

Taq-e Bostan: Centuries Added to the Cliff

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Alborz Fallah (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0. The carvings did not end with the Sasanians. In the nineteenth century, the Qajar-era governor of Kermanshah, Mohammad-Ali Mirza Dowlatshah, added his own relief to the complex, depicting himself before Fath-Ali Shah Qajar. It is a striking act of continuity: twelve hundred years...

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Image: Alborz Fallah (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0