Mydan Mishan: A Newly Found Parthian Bas-Relief in the Alvand Range, Hamadan, Western Iran

Abstract

Hamadan province in western Iran has always been of particular archaeological significance mainly because of its administrative centre Ecbatana, modern Hamadan. In 2005 a bas-relief dating to the Parthian period was found in the southern highlands of Alvand, in the Yakhchal valley. Recently, a second relief, very similar to the Yakhchal one, has been found at Mydan Mishan. This relief depicts a person lying on a klinè with his legs stretched out and resting his left elbow on a cushion. The figure holds a flowerlike object in his right hand and what looks like a goblet or a drinking bowl in his left hand. A comparison with other similar examples such as the relief of Heracles at Behistun and the Elymaean rock carvings of Tang-e Sarvak seems to suggest that the figure represented could be a Parthian high-ranking officer, a noble or a dignitary in a banqueting scene.