Iranian Mount Behistun is home to a Statue of Hercules (Heracles). The only remaining rock sculpture from the Seleucid era, which ruled the Iranian Plateau from from 312 BC to 140/139 BC, was found in 1958. A Seleucid governor commissioned the creation of the statue in 148 BC, dedicating it in honour of --Herakles Kallinikos (Hercules Glorious in Victory). It was sculpted in honour of a Satrap by the Seleucid governor. A bowl is in left hand of Hercules as he lies on a 2 m long platform. On his leg, his right hand is at rest. The figure is affixed to the mountain and is 1.47 metres long. The shape of the relief-design is reminiscent of other Seleucid stone carvings in the region that contained official inscriptions, most notably the stele from Laodicia-in-Media (Nahavand), where a local Seleucid official copied the royal cult inscription of Antiochus III the Great (reign 222-187 BC), which he had made for his wife Queen Laodice III, onto the stele. A carver who was not professionally trained in the Greek sculptural tradition sculpted the Bisotun Hercules. The architecture was more Iranian than Greek, according to contemporary historian Rolf Strootman. Heracles is rarely seen with a bow in Hellenistic art. However, he is holding a bow that resembles those depicted in the Behistun inscription in the stone carving. Even while the Greek religion made frequent use of the divine epithet (Kallinikos), it was equally fitting for the Iranian god Wahrām, to whom Hercules was fused. The club of Heracles is depicted in sculpture. [Info and Image Credit : Statue_of_Hercules_in_Behistun, Wikipedia] [Image: Herakles at Behistun, created in 148 BCE for a Seleucid Governor] [Image Availed Under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (Please Relate to Individual Image URLs for More Usage Property)][Original Source Image URL :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bistoon_Kermanshah.jpg ]
Old World
_vector.svg.png)
.jpg)
