Journal, vol. ix. p. 30), while in following the Páï-Kúlí route from Sulimanieh to Khannikín, I now found a series of ancient remains which convinced me that the old road conducting from Ctesiphon to the Atropatenian Ecbatana must have followed this line. The road in question is mentioned by many of the early Arab geographers (by Ibn Khurdadbeh, for instance, and by Mosáer, as quoted by Yacút in the Mo'ejem-el-Baldán); it left the great Persian road at Kaṣr-iShirín, and proceeded north to Dér Kán, now called Housh Kerek, where there are some extensive and very remarkable Sassanian ruins; it crossed the Diyáleh at Binkudra, a corruption of the old Syriac title of Ba-Nihudra, and led from thence to Shirwaneh, a place which has given its name to the river and where there is a magnificent artificial mound, that would be well worth excavating. Further on there are the remains of an extensive city near the river, now called Shar-iVerán ("the ruined city"), but which I cannot identify in ancient geography. An easy stage conducts from Shar-iVerán to Páï-Kúlí, and from that point the old road crossed the Goura Kileh ("Gueber's fort ") range, which is a S.E. prolongation of the Karadagh hills, direct to Yassín Teppeh, the ancient Shahrizúr, leaving the modern town of Sulimanieh at least fifteen miles to the left hand. This route was of great importance under the Sassanians. An ancient custom, dating probably from the time of Ardeshir, required that each king should on his accession proceed from Ctesiphon along this road to be crowned in the Fire-Temple of Azerakhsh at Shíz; and in connection with such a line of pilgrimage Shahrizúr itself acquired such celebrity that it was popularly named Nim-ráh, or "the half-way house," the distances respectively from Ctesiphon to Shahrizúr by the Páï-Kúlí route, and from Shahrizúr to Shíz (or Takht-i-Sulimán), being about 185 miles, as explained by me in my examination of the march of Heraclius on Ganzaca in the tenth volume of the Geographical Journal, p. 101. I think it very probable, then, that the Fire-Temple at Páï-Kúlí was instituted in connection with this route from Ctesiphon to Ganzaca, and that the legend, the fragments of which are

here published, may contain some allusion to the royal progresses. H. C. RAWLINSON.

INSCRIPTION No. 4.

The bas-relief at Naksh-i-Rajab,' which the subjoined inscription is intended to illustrate, consists of a group representing Sapor heading a procession on horseback, while around and behind him are ranged the nobles of his court with his guards on foot. The face and head-dress of the monarch have been intentionally damaged, but the slope of the coronet of the latter can be traced in outline, and seems to accord with the low mural crown depicted in other sculptures and ordinarily in use upon his coins; this is surmounted by the customary globe of fire or ether; side masses of bushy curls, with the national fillets fluttering lightly at the back, complete the details the iconoclast has suffered to remain.

One of the peculiarities of Sapor's costume as contrasted with the more simple garments of his father, which hang heavily and formally over his limbs, is that his vestments seem to be composed of silk or linen of the finest texture, and fall wavily and lightly in their folds, with their loose ends floating freely in the air. The inscription, as in an earlier example (No. 1), is engraved as far as space permitted on the shoulder of the charger. The immediate attendants wear various forms of the Parthian helmet,3 with distinguishing devices on the right side of the casque, the subordinate guards who fill in the rear of the design wear uniform but unadorned helmets of the Parthian pattern, and stand with their hands crossed over the hilts of the long straight sword in use at the period.

1 Niebuhr, ii. pl. xxxii. p. 125; Ker Porter, pl. xxviii; Flandin, bas-relief A, pl. 189, and enlarged engraving, pl. 191; De Sacy, p. 31; Ouseley, Travels, pl. lv.; Rich. Babylon, pl. xii.; Ker Porter, vol. i. pl. 28; Flandin, vol. iv. p. 573, pl. 190. 2 See Ardeshir in pl. xxiii. and xxvii. fig. 2, Ker Porter; and 182 and 192 Flandin.

"Their helmets of Margian steel polished to the greatest perfection." Plutarch in Crassus. Am. Marc. xxiv. c. 4, § 5.-There is a specimen of one of these caps in the British Museum; it is a head-piece of considerable merit, light, well-balanced, with a good slope from the sides towards the crested ridge at the apex, and anything but after the design of the apparently top-heavy Parthian caps, the profile system of representation reduced those helmets to in rock sculpture and coin devices.

INSCRIPTION NO. 4.-SHAHPUR I. A.D. 240-273, at Naksh-i-Rajab.

. פתכר זניי מזדיזן אלהא שהיפוהר מלכין מלכא אריאן ו پتكري زني مزدیسن بگي شهپوهري ملکان ملکا ایران و

II.

III. ΤΟ ΠΡΟΣΩΠΟΝ ΤΟΥΤΟ ΜΑΣδαΣΝΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΣΑΠΟΡΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ

אנאריאן מנושהר מן יאזתן ברי מזדיזן אלהא ארתהשתר מלכין ارتهشتر ملکان انيران منوچتري من يزتان بري مزدیسن بگي

ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΑΡΙΑΝΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΑΝΑΡΙΑΝΩΝ ΕΚ ΓενΟΥΣ Θεων υίου ΜΑΣδαΣΝΟΥ

מלכא אריאן מנושהר מן יאזתן בריי אלהא פאפך מלכא ملکا ایران منوچتري من يزتان نبي بگي پاپکي ملكا

ΘΕΟΥ ΑΡΤΑΣΑΡΟΥ βασιλεως ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΑΡΙΑΝΩΝ ΕΚ γενούς θεων ΕΚΓΟΝΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΠΑΠΑΚΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ.

Image of the person of [Or]mazd-worshipper, divine SHAHPÚHR, King of Kings of Iran and Anirán, of celestial origin from God, the son of [Or]mazd-worshipper, divine ARTAHSHATR, King of Kings of Irán, of celestial origin from God, the son of divine PAPAK, King!

INSCRIPTION No. 5.

The text of Inscription No. 5, in its full development, originally formed the illustrative commentary on one1 of the best executed of the many rock sculptures to be found in various

1 Ker Porter, pl. xxi.; Flandin, pl. 185.

2

2 This calamitous incident in the annals of the Roman Empire is treated under various modified details in the different sculptures devoted to its representation. At Dárábgird (plates 31 and 33, Flandin), Sapor places his left hand on the head of Cyriades, as if in commendation, or confirmation of the position he was about to bestow upon him, in supersession of the kneeling Valerian. Sapor's helmet is, in this instance, similar to the skull-cap ordinarily appropriated to his father, but the tied point of the beard continues to mark his special identity.

In plate 48 of Flandin (bas-relief B, at Shahpúr), we have a single kneeling figure before the horse of the conqueror without the usual incidental accompaniments. In plate 49, bas-relief A, also sculptured at Shahpúr, the positions of the parties are greatly changed; and if we may judge by the seemingly elaborate drawings, the younger man is now kneeling, possibly awaiting investiture, while Sapor places his right hand on the arm of Valerian, who is clearly in fetters, as if in the act of exhibiting him to the assembled troops. Sapor's crown in this basrelief follows the usual mural pattern. A novelty is to be noticed in this composition in the introduction of a winged figure descending from the sky and presenting to Sapor a second diadem, which floats in unbound and open folds. See also Morier's plate xiii. p. 91, Persia, Armenia, etc. London, 1812.

Plate 53 is indistinct in the definition of the persons forming the general group, but Valerian is seen kneeling with hands outstretched in the ordinary attitude, while a standing figure behind him, in the garb of a Roman, presents a circlet to Sapor. The outline of the figure standing by the side of Sapor's charger

parts of Persia, devoted to the commemoration of Sapor's successful capture of the Emperor Valerian in 260 a.d. The general arrangement of Sapor's dress in this instance is similar

is imperfect, but from the size it would seem to be designed to represent a youth. The angel with the Sassanian bandeau appears above, and in the side compartments are figured a Roman biga, an elephant, a horse, etc.

I am unable to recognise in plate 51, bas-relief D (Morier, pl. xi.) at Sháhpúr, any association with Sapor's triumph over Valerian, but understand the general design to refer to some other boasted success of the Persian monarch, perchance over the Syrian king Siṭarún (Masa'udi, cap. lxxviii.) or possibly over Odenathus himself, who, under western testimony, is affirmed, on the other hand, to have gained advantages over Sapor in the war undertaken to avenge the humiliation of the Romans. Sapor's portrait in this sculpture is more artistic in its treatment than usual; and if Flandin's copy, here reproduced, be a true rendering of the original we may fairly admit the traditional perfection of that monarch's form and features.

HEAD OF SAPOR I.

From a Bas-relief at Sháhpúr.

The head dress is changed from the ordinary mural crown into a close-fitting cap, from the sides of which rise eagles' wings, and the whole is surmounted by the conventional globe. This style of head-gear is used by Sapor in the bas-relief Ker Porter, xxiv.; Flandin, plates 187, 188; but it does not appear on the coins of the dynasty till the reign of Varahran II. (279-296), who employs it throughout. Among the other head-dresses of Sapor may be noticed a sort of Parthian cap or helmet coming to the front in the head and beak of an eagle. (Numismatic Chronicle, xv. p. 180, fig. 3).

to that already adverted to under the notice of No. 4 bas-relief, but the face and head-dress are here admirably preserved; the former exhibits much of the manly beauty for which Sapor was so famed, with a delicate though well-formed moustache, closely-curled or partially-grown whiskers, passing into a well-trained beard, which is retained in a quaint tie below the chin, so as to create a small prolonged imperial below the ring or binding which checked its natural flow, a fashion which, even in Sapor's own time and afterwards, merged into a jewelled drop, constituting a terminal completion of the beard itself, and whose exaggerated dimensions formed so marked a peculiarity in the medallic portraiture of later sovereigns! Sapor has the usual bushy side-curls, and still adheres to the mural crown surmounted by the conventional globe,-the Sassanian fillets float freely at the back, and similar small fillets or barred ribbons are attached to his sword hilt, his ankles, and even to his horse's head and tail. Valerian is fitly represented in the Roman costume, with the laurel chaplet on his brow, kneeling in front of Sapor's charger, with both hands outstretched, in the obvious attitude of supplication; a young man, also in Roman garb, wearing an identical chaplet, and who is supposed to be intended for Cyriades, stands by his side and receives from the hand of Sapor the circlet and wavy bands, which other sculptures indicate to be the accepted insignia of royalty.

The inscription itself, which fills in the space behind Sapor's horse, was partially copied by Niebuhr, and a few lines were sketched but not published by Ker Porter,3 M. Flandin's1 transcript is a most marked advance upon the early tracings of Niebuhr in the amplitude of the text, though only questionably improving upon the legibility of the selected sections contributed by his predecessor. We have most indubitable evidence in the portions now intelligible that the inscription emanated

1 Masa'udi-French edition, ii. p. 160, iv. p. 83; Mirkhond, in De Sacy, pp. 285-7.

2 Voyage en Arabie. C. Niebuhr. Amsterdam, 1780. Vol. ii. pl. xxxiv. p.

129.

Ker Porter, i. 541.

Flandin, vol. i. pl. 181, p. 541.