Narseh and the Pāikūlī Inscription

Narseh, son of Šābuhr I, reigned from 293 to 302 once he had won the dynastic war that saw him opposing his grand-nephew, Wahrām III he narrated the events in the great Pāikūlī inscription, which also presents the names of a long list of nobles who payed obeisance to the new king. In Šābuhr’s inscription at Naqš-ē Rostam Narseh bore the title of « Kingof Hindestān, Sagestān and Tūrān up to the seashore », while later, perhaps already under Wahrām I, he became King of Armenia where he stayed in office until 293, when he moved south to challenge his nephew’s right to the crown. Crossing from the lower ranges of the Zagros on his way to Mesopotamia, Narseh met the nobles loyal to his cause nearthe pass of Pāikūlī, about 100 Km south of the modern city of Sulaimaniya. Recent archaeological excavations on the site have brought to light a number of new inscribed blocks that allow for a better understanding of the structure of the monument, of the position of the two inscriptions as well as of Narseh’s royal ideology and of the ideological continuitybetween Šābuhr I and Narseh, underlined in many a passage of the inscription. Furthermore, Narseh’s itinerary from Armenia to Mesopotamia will be briefly presented together with the geographical context of the monument. And when We arrived in Asōrestān at this place where this monument has been made…the Princes and Grandees and Nobles and Householders and Satraps and Accountants and the remaining Persian and Parthian who were in Asōrestān, Nōdšīragān, Garamea and Syārazūr, all together they cameto Xāyān ī Nikatrā to meet Us. And here they came into Our presence where this monument has been made ». (Narseh’s Inscription at Paikuli § 32).These are the concise and effective words that Narseh (293-302 CE) himself used in his bilingual inscription to explain the reasons that led him to build in a far away mountain valley the monument that glorified his ascent to the throne and his role as protector of dynastic legitimacy. In Paikuli Narseh, the last of Šābuhr’s sons to wear the Sasaniancrown, met the dignitaries of the kingdom who had come to recognize his royal rights and dignity. This event marked a decisive turning point in the dynastic war that saw him opposing his own nephew Wahrām III, initially supported by an influential court faction. Since 2006 a team of Italian archaeologists and epigraphists from Sapienza University ofRome surveyed and studied the commemorative monument erected by the Sasanian king Narseh (293-302 CE) next to a strategic pass in the Qaradagh Range (Sulaimaniyah Province) that led from the Zagros to the Mesopotamian planes. Work on site has been interrupted from 2009 to 2017 on various grounds and started again with a campaign in the late Spring of 2017

کلیدواژه ها:

Paikuli ، Middle Persian. Parthian ، Anahita ، Narseh ، Sasanian Empire ، Iraqi Kurdistan