Royal bodyguards, relief at Darius palace, solar disc, sun disc symbols on their garments, located at the Pergamon Museum.

Palaces at Susa and Persepolis, the residential cities of the Achaemenid kings, are note- worthy for their elaborate wall decoration which can be considered exemplary of art at the royal court. The walls of Darius's palace at Susa were embellished with colorful reliefs made of glazed bricks on the Babylonian model. It is not certain which room (or rooms) of the palace with its audience hall (apadana) was decorated with representations of a procession of royal bodyguards, dressed in their splendid costumes. (A reconstruction on reduced scale beside the doorway to the next gallery gives visitors an impression of how these figures were arranged in a long frieze.) 

Three limestone reliefs from Persepolis are part of a figural manifestation of Achaemenid imperial aspirations. The decorative program refers to the festival of the New Year (Noruz) in which representatives of all peoples of the realm participated. Two of these fragments which come from the facings of stairways in the palace show men bearing gifts. The clothing of the man carrying the lamb identifies him as a Mede while the other gift-bearer wears garments typical of the Persians. The third relief depicts two men with shields and spears. Their distinctive costume identifies them as members of an entourage from the land of Skudra (Thrace).

Susa; from the palace of Darius I (521-486 BC)

Coarse-grained vitreous material, with colored glaze

Taken on  Wednesday 07th of August 2019

Device: Google

Model: Pixel 3 XL

Tags:  circle dot | eight-point | eight-pointed star | germany | museum | museum island | pergamon museum | relief | solar disc | sun | sun rays

Genre:  521 - 486 BC