Behistun I & II

The 2 side by side Parthian era rock relieves known as Behistun I aka Mithridate II’s audience (Left), and Behistun II aka Gotarzes II’s victory over Meherdate were carved down the rocky cliff already hosting Darius’s the Great's stone record .

Behistun I (123-88/87 BCE) has been about completely erased in 1684 by a the carving of an inscription written in Persian, paying tribute to a Safavid local governor. From the initial panel, we can just distinguish a character and 2 caped silhouettes on the left, and a Greek inscription above. Fortunately a Drawing by French traveller Guillaume-Joseph Grelot in 1673 let us know how this relief looked like. On the right, King Mithridate II standing, overlooks 4 noblemen, may be some of his satraps. The king hails his hand up with 2 sticky fingers, some of the other characters hold some objects, one being probably a cup, another being a Nikë, Greek divinity testifying as the above inscription, of the Greek influences the Parthian art included from the Seleucids.

Behistun II has been carved later, during the reign of king Gotarzes II, and was intended to remind and celebrate his victory against his rival Meherdate. The relief was badly damaged by erosion. It shows an equestrian assault: Gotarzes, riding a horse is followed by 2 other knights, and kills an enemy with his lance, blowing the unfortunate off his horse. Again, the Greek divinity Nikê is represented above the scene. Such relief, clearly inspired the Sasanian later iconography, as many sasanian rock relief show a similar scene: such as Bahram II at naqsh-e Rostam VII.