The Sassanian Inscription of Paikuli (Iraq): Squeeze F'.12 (duplicate copy), Parthian Version

Object Details

Local Numbers: M-036a FSA A.6 06.M036a
General: - Title is provided by Xavier Courouble, FSg Archives cataloger, based on Ernst Herzfeld's publication, "Paikuli: Monument and Inscription of the Early History of the Sasanian Empire; Berlin: D. Reimer, 1924," and Helmut Humbach and Prods O. Skjærvø's publication, "The Sassanian Inscription of Paikuli; Supplement to Herzfeld's Paikuli. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1980."
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note: Paper squeezes related primarly to two expeditions to Paikuli (Iraq), in 1911 and 1913, as well an excavation campaign carried out on site by Ernst Herzfeld in 1923.

Topic: Architecture; Excavations (Archaeology); Inscriptions; Inscriptions, Pahlavi; Inscriptions, Parthian; Middle Persian language; Sassanids

See more items in: Ernst Herzfeld Papers; Ernst Herzfeld Papers / Series 6: Paper Squeezes of Inscriptions / 6.2: Middle Persian Inscriptions / M-36: Pahlavik, publ. Paikuli. p.189

Archival Repository: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

Collection Citation: Ernst Herzfeld Papers. FSA.A.06. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Ernst Herzfeld, 1946.

Arrangement: Papers squeezes are organized in sequential number following language scripts, which are housed in folders, and stored in metal flat files.

Collection Rights: Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.

Scope and Contents: - Original handwritten annotation reads, "."; - Additional information from staff reads, "FSA A.6 06.M036a is a copy of FSA A.6 06.M036."; - Information from Helmut Humbach and Prods O. Skjærvø's publication reads, "The ruin of the Sassanian monument of Paikuli is situated close to the southern ascent to the [Paikuli] pass. Originally, the monument consisted of a solid square tower. Four identical colossal busts of one and the same king of kings were built into the four walls. The western wall bore a large Middle-Persian inscription (eight rows of blocks, with a total of 46 lines), whereas the eastern wall bore the Parthian version of this (seven rows, with a total of 42 lines, all of them surviving in a fragmentary state. The subject of the inscription, carefully carved and written in perspective, is the quarrel over the succession, between Narseh (293-303) and Varahrān (293). In the course of his first two expeditions, in 1911 and 1913, E. Herzfeld had discovered a total of 97 inscribed blocks (54 Middle Persian, 43 Parthian). On his last visit to Paikuli in 1923, Herzfeld excavated the site and found 30 additional blocks (20 Middle Persian, 10 Parthian), which raise the total number of surviving blocks to 133." [Helmut Humbach and Prods O. Skjærvø's publication, 1980: "The Sassanian Inscription of Paikuli; Supplement to Herzfeld's Paikuli. Wiesbaden: Reichert; pp.13-16."]