Rag-i-Bibi (''Veins of the Lady'') refers to a

Sassanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

rock relief A rock relief or rock-cut relief is a relief sculpture carved on solid or "living rock" such as a cliff, rather than a detached piece of stone. They are a category of rock art, and sometimes found as part of, or in conjunction with, ...

on a cliff in modern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

. It first became known to western scholarship in 2002. It is located about a kilometre south of Shamarq and 10 km south of

Puli Khumri Puli Khumrī (Dari: ), also spelled Pul-i-Khumri or Pol-e Khomri, is a city in northern Afghanistan. Puli Khumri is the capital and largest city of Baghlan Province, whose name comes from the other major town in the province, Baghlan. The city h ...

. Rag-i-Bibi is the local name of the relief, which refers to

Fatimah Fāṭima bint Muḥammad ( ar, فَاطِمَة ٱبْنَت مُحَمَّد}, 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, ...

the daughter of

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...

, who is venerated by the Shiites. The relief is 4.9 m high and 6.5 m wide. It has been largely destroyed, partially by weathering and partially by

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

iconoclasm. At the end of Taliban rule, local villagers reported the relief to local authorities, since they feared it would be damaged. Thus, individual Taliban were conscious of the relief and damaged it on the grounds that local residents "worshipped" it. The relief shows a Sassanian king hunting an

Indian rhinoceros } The Indian rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros unicornis''), also called the Indian rhino, greater one-horned rhinoceros or great Indian rhinoceros, is a rhinoceros species native to the Indian subcontinent. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red Li ...

. The king reins in a galloping horse. His figure would be about 2.4 m high if it were standing upright. Three figures stand around the king. Behind the ruler's horse, another two can be made out, which are poorly preserved. The upper portion of the relief shows a band of poorly preserved architectural features. The king's head is particularly severely damaged. The crown might enable an identification with a historical king; some stylistic details suggest that

Shapur I Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, Šābuhr ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardas ...

is depicted. Stylistically, the relief contains Sassanian features, but also local

Gandhara Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Val ...

ones.

Bibliography

* Frantz Grenet, Jonathan Lee, Philippe Martinez, François Ory: ''The Sasanian relief at Rag-i Bibi (Northern Afghanistan).'' In: Joe Cribb, Georgina Herrmann (Ed.): ''After Alexander. Central Asia before Islam'' (= ''Proceedings of the British Academy'' 133). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007, , p. 243–267.

External links

Jona Lendering Jona Lendering (born 29 October 1964) is a Dutch historian and the author of books on antiquity, Dutch history and modern management. He has an MA in history from Leiden University and an MA in Mediterranean culture from the Amsterdam Free Unive ...

br>Sasanian rock reliefs
Livius.org (accessed 04/08/2007). * * Georgina Hermann & Vesta S. Curti
Sasanian rock reliefs

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

(accessed 19/07/2008)
Rag-i bibi : un relief sassanide en Afghanistan
Archaeological sites in Afghanistan Sasanian art Baghlan Province Horses in art Hunting in art Rock reliefs {{Central Asian history