Bishapour

Bishapur is the ancient city of Iran, dating back to the Sassanid period, where two great civilizations, Old Persia and the Roman Empire, surprisingly intersected artistically. At that time, it was located somewhere between the two states of Persis and Eelam, which was the pathway connecting the two capitals of the Sassanid kingdom, Ctesiphon and Estakhr. Bishapour is currently located in one of Fars’s southern provinces, named Kazeroun. As was usual for the civilizations, Bishapour was also built by a river and its nearby valley, having six rock-cuts. The point that is of paramount importance regarding Bishapour city is the bygone civilization it reveals. Before the city was built, there had not been any bipolarity in emerging cultures. For the first time, Bishapour represented two stylistic patterns of Roman and Persian simultaneously.  What was considered the norm in old city construction was a cyclical city form, as seen in Firouzabad, for instance. Wonderfully, for the first time, vertical and horizontal street lines appeared in Bishapour. What the Persians learnt from the Roman civilization was the application of artistic tile works in their cities, like Bishapour.

 

 

Etymologically speaking, the word Bishapour means ‘King Shapour’ (the second Sassanid King), as he was the one who established the city Bishapour in 266 AD and defeated the Romans three times. Following his victories, he founded his new capital to develop his hubris and named it after himself. Still more creative, King Shapour designed the cliffs of the valley side with engravings and majestic cuts to celebrate his memorable victories over his Roman enemies. Tang-e-Chogan is the exact location of those reliefs. The most pompous cliff-cut among them is the half-cyclical one that resembles its counterpart in Rome. This highly ingenious artistic piece depicts rows of soldiers with their horses, in such detailed features that sound more wonderful than their inspiring source, the pillars of Trojan with their narrative sites. There existed engraved figures related to his inauguration as well. The image illustrates King Shapour facing God Ahura Mazda, bestowing him a royal gift. Archaeologically, Bishapour was built on the remnants of the ancient civilization of the Elamite and the Parthian region. The grandeur of the city lasted till the invasion of Iran by the Arab conquerors.

 

However, it still had living inhabitants at that time during the tenth century AD. Structurally, Bishapour is rectangular with highly ordered patterns of municipal street lines. It was a form quite inspired by Roman architectural style that was unfortunately left unnoticed, never to be copied elsewhere in Iran’s urban systems. About the importance of Bishapour, it is enough to mention that great archeologists like Eugène Flandin, Georgina Hermann, and Roman Chrishman have written precious books and had valuable paintings. The eastern part of Bishapour city was the royal side where the initial attempts at digging took place. Close to the royal castle, there existed a water house well-known as Anahita Temple. In the cross-shaped area in the temple, there are eight porticos in square shapes, designed with sixty-four niches. Some of the archaeologists, including the French scholars, believe that this lobby had a dome-like ceiling. The idea was then rejected. On the west side of the palace, there existed a courtyard with alluring embellishments of mosaic artworks.

 

 

On the other side of the castle, in the west, there was a porch again in square form, specifically for welcoming the guests. From what is revealed by the excavations, it appears that the walls of the reception hall had been decorated with plaster artworks and stuccos in figures like flower belts, medallion rows with the ramparts on their top part left from the Achaemenid architectural style. Amazingly, these types of embellishments continued to be used even after the Arab invasion and the emergence of Islam in Iran. Very similar to the Roman style of interior design, the floor was covered with black marble blocks in mosaic arrangements. A fine tape was inserted in the wall, reflecting figures of masks and heads in the contrasting white background. The nooks were decorated with the images of naked female figures covered by lace curtains. Other attractive images, like courtiers, musicians, royal noble ladies with flowers in their hands, together with singers and dancers in elegant costumes, are also manifest in the recesses.

 

Overlooking the main entrance of the city and the nearby valley (Gorge), a fortress was built named “The Maiden’s Fortress” or “Qale Dokhtar” in Persian, which intelligently functioned as an observatory site protecting the court and the king at the time of danger when the enemy attacked. It was strongly made of mortar and rubble stone with some huge patios surrounded by heavy, fortified walls.  The function of those patios was to disseminate the coming enemy. There was also a deep chasm on the east side of the fortress for extra protection. This part is the most well-preserved area of Bishapour city and the typical architectural style of the Sassanid era, as the arch works remain almost flawless. The fortress has only one entrance gate with two augmented towers in the south and the north watching the surrounding regions. Moreover, there were two half-cyclical defensive walls that were smaller than the main watchtowers. Surprisingly, there existed water tanks in the towers where the water brought from the nearby river was kept. This fortress and the towers were connected to the embankments around the royal area by some passageways. From what the excavators stated, the towers were following one after the other, but in order to have a better view, some of them were destroyed.

 

The most noticeable places of Bishapour city, which visibly reflected the stylistic pattern of the Hellenistic era in a free, inspirational way rather than the imposed method, were the Mosaic porches, the castle of King Shapour, and the palace of Valerian. Unlike the usual Sassanid architectural principle, Bishapour balconies functioned as specific reception areas rather than access areas linking the interior to the exterior environment. There existed many passageways or halls guiding the inhabitants or the guests to the cross-like main lobby. The “Ivans” or the porches had three arches with mosaic artworks demonstrating various figures like flowers, animals, and human shapes. On the north side of the temple, there also existed a building that acted as a religious place, according to the archeologists. In line with the east-west direction, the city had a bridge known as “Gabri” or “the Zoroastrian Believer”.  The main street, which crossed the city from east to west, hosted a bathhouse as the archeologists discovered. The heating system was seen in the baths following the Sassanid era as well.

 

Last but not least, there were two obelisks in the main square that functioned as the memorial site for King Shapour’s coronation. To every visitor, the amazing inscription on the pillars that was the combination of two languages, Sassanid and Pahlavi, in sixteen lines, appears as reliable evidence of the consistent monitoring of a mighty supportive king who was continuously present throughout the city project.