Bandiyan - Ceremonial Chamber with Reliefs
Provinces and Frontiers
| The other north-eastern site is a relatively new discovery, at Bandiyan. This is an enormous mound with Turkmenistan, beyond the high ridges of Koppe Dagh (Kuh-e Šah Jahan) which form the effective boundary between Iran and Turkmenistan. 1 |
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| No buildings can be identified on the mound, which has not been dug, but about 500 m east of it there is an enigmatic Sassanian building, containing what the excavators believe to be a fire altar, a funerary chamber with terracotta coffins, and a ceremonial chamber, roof supported by four pillars, decorated with stucco reliefs. |
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| Unfortunately these have been cut off around waist height, so that the only head which is preserved is of one of the trampled enemies of the Sassanians, recognizable as a Hepthalite Hun. |
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| The Hepthalites were the central Asian nomadic peoples who threatened and infiltrated the Sassanian north-east border, as their counterparts, the western Huns encroached on the northern frontier of the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries. Another Hepthalite features in similar pose to the Bandiyan example as the victim of Bahram II on a relief at Bishapur. The Bandiyan stucco reliefs also seem to show religious scenes, including apparently a goddess, Anaitis, on horseback. |
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Bandiyan - Ceremonial Chamber with Reliefs |
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