Institute of History and International Relations, Faculty of Humanities, Siedlce University

Department of Archaeology and History, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran Azad University

Crowns, hats, turbans and helmets

The headgear in Iranian history
volume I: Pre-Islamic Period

Edited by
Katarzyna Maksymiuk & Gholamreza Karamian

Siedlce-Tehran 2017
Reviewers: Parviz Hossein TALAEE (Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran)
Leonardo GREGORATTI (University of Durham, United Kingdom)

Institute of History and International Relations

Faculty of Humanities
Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities
39 Żytnia St.
POB: 08-110 Siedlce, Poland

Department of Archaeology and History

Central Tehran Branch
Tehran Azad University
No.4492, Damavand St. Imam Hossein Sq.
POB: 17117-34353 Tehran, Iran

The results of the research carried out under the research theme No. 452/16/S (Army of ancient Iran
in comparative background) were financed from the science grant granted by the Ministry of Science
and Higher Education

The Book is dedicated to ‘EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES’

All the illustrations and figures included in this volume are particular authors’ responsibility

© Copyright by Katarzyna Maksymiuk, Siedlce 2017

Publishing House of Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities

17/19 Żytnia Street 08-110 Siedlce tel: +48 25 643 15 20 www.wydawnictwo.uph.edu.pl

ISBN 978-83-62447-19-0

Typesetting and text makeup: Anna Madej, Ed. I Size B-5

The relief of Salmās, (Katarzyna Maksymiuk), cover design: Adam Lech Kubik

Print: EXDRUK Wojciech Żuchowski Włocławek

TABLE OF CONTENS

Joanna SZKLARZ (Siedlce University, Poland)

Significance of the Helmet in fight between Sohrāb and Gordāfarid ........................... 9- 19

Dan-Tudor IONESCU (Metropolitan Library of Bucharest, Romania)

The Use of the Tiara as symbol of Persian Achaemenid Kingship:
why Alexander the Great didn’t adopt it? .................................................................... 21-33

Svyatoslav V. SMIRNOV (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia)

Revising Seleukid Iconography: A Person Wearing
Helmet and Conflict of Imageries .............................................................................. 35-42

Ulf JÄGER (Gronau-Epe, Germany)

Morion-type Helmets of Gandhāra. A rare Kušān-period helmet-type
of the 1st to the 3rd / 4th century CE – A very first preliminary attempt ....................... 43-51

Mariusz MIELCZAREK (Polish Academy of Sciences, Łódź, Poland)

Arms and Armour on Kušān coins. Royal images ..................................................... 53- 68

Patryk SKUPNIEWICZ (Siedlce University, Poland),

Marcin LICHOTA (Siedlce University, Poland)
Diadem on the head from Khalchayan battle scene and possible reconstruction
of the composition .......................................................................................................69-95

Katarzyna MAKSYMIUK (Siedlce University, Poland)

The Sasanian Relief at Salmās – New proposal ........................................................97-112

Vladimir DMITRIEV (Pskov State University, Russia)

Ram’s Horns as a Religious Element of Sasanian Kings’ Military Equipment
(notes to Amm. Marc. XIX.1.3) ..............................................................................113-120

Kaveh FARROKH (University of British Columbia, Canada),

Gholamreza KARAMIAN (Tehran Azad University, Iran),
Adam KUBIK (Siedlce University, Poland)
Mandana TAHERI OSHTERINANI (Tehran Azad University,
Iran) An Examination of Parthian and Sasanian Military Helmets
(2nd century BC-7th century CE) ..............................................................................121-163

Ilkka SYVÄNNE (University of Haifa, Israel)

A Note on the Methodology regarding the Reconstruction
of the Late Roman Helmets in Art, Archaeology and Analysis ..............................165-182

Marta CZERWIENIEC-IVASYK (Siedlce University, Poland)

Helmet or a crown? – A few comments on the margin of the Sasanian coins
discovered in the Baltic Sea area ............................................................................ 183-194

Adam KUBIK (Siedlce University, Poland)

Sasanian lamellar helmets .......................................................................................195-210
Patryk SKUPNIEWICZ (Siedlce University, Poland)
On the Helmet on the Capital at Ṭāq-e Bostān again ..............................................211-222

David NICOLLE (Nottingham University, United Kingdom)

One-piece Sasanian and Early Islamic Helmets ..................................................... 223-253

Sergei Yu. KAINOV (State Historical Museum, Moscow, Russia)

The Helmet from Krasnodar Territory ....................................................................255-261
 Acknowledgements

First of all, we would like to thank all contributors to this book whose insightful
work we had the honour to edit. We would also like to express our gratitude to everyone
whose work helped to bring this volume to press, above all our sincere thank you goes to the
reviewers of the manuscript, Leonardo GREGORATTI (University of Durham, United
Kingdom) and Parviz Hossein TALAEE (Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran).

Last but not least, this undertaking would not have been possible without the abiding
support of Vesta SARKHOSH CURTIS (the British Museum, London, United Kingdom),
Michael Richard JACKSON BONNER (Toronto, Canada), Touraj DARYAEE (University
of California, Irvine, USA), Erich KETTENHOFEN (University Trier, Germany), Eduard
KHURSHUDIAN (National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia),
Aliy KOLESNIKOV (Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia),
Jerzy LINDERSKI (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA), Ciro LO MUZIO
(Sapienza University of Rome, Italy), Christian MIKS (the Romano-Germanic Central
Museum, Mainz, Germany), Valery NIKONOROV (Russian Academy of Sciences,
St. Petersburg, Russia), Nicholas SEKUNDA (University of Gdańsk, Poland).

Katarzyna Maksymiuk & Gholamreza Karamian

 Crowns, hats, turbans and helmets.The headgear in Iranian history
volume I: Pre-Islamic Period
eds. K. Maksymiuk & G. Karamian
Siedlce-Tehran 2017


Vladimir DMITRIEV (Pskov State University, Russia)

Ram’s Horns as a Religious Element of Sasanian Kings’

Military Equipment (notes to Amm. Marc. XIX.1.3)1

Abstract

According to Ammianus Marcellinus, the battle headgear of Šāpūr II was decorated

with ram’s horns. This information corresponds to original Persian iconographic sources. Ram’s horns
as sacral royal regalia first appeared in Iran after the campaign of Alexander the Great who brought
syncretic Greek-Egyptian cult of the ram-headed Zeus-Ammon to the Orient. The Alexander’s practice
to use ram horns as an attribute of royal power was reborn in Sasanian times, but with a new religious
and ideological (viz. Zoroastrian) sense. Obviously, Sasanians ingenuously believed that by this way
they restored ancient Iranian tradition, while in reality they just filled with new content
the phenomenon of the Hellenistic epoch.

Keywords: Ammianus Marcellinus, Siwan Oasis, Alexander the Great, Sasanian Iran, Šāpūr II,
headgear, ram’s horns, farr, Zoroastrianism, symbol

As we know, totemism was the earliest form of religious beliefs in human history.
Later, together with the rise of the ancient civilizations and the formation of developed
religious systems, totemism didn’t disappear completely, but in the form of remnants
penetrated into the new religions and became an integral part of all world religions.

In this regard, Sasanian Iran and Persian religion were not exceptions. Being the heir
and continuer of the culture of the Ancient Iran, Sasanian cultural tradition contained
the elements of ancient Iranian religious beliefs, including their totemic elements. It affected
various aspects of the Sasanian society including the Sasanian kings’ suit, in particular,
the headgear of the Sasanids. From various sources, we have known that Sasanian kings’
headgears were decorated with the imitations of some animal parts.

The unique information, in this regard, can be found in Ammianus Marcellinus’

Res gestae. Ammianus was the participant of the Roman-Persian wars and he personally
watched the Persian king Šāpūr II (r. 309-379) during the siege of Amida in 359 CE.
According to Ammianus’ narration, the headgear of Šāpūr was adorned with an imitation
of ram’s horns. That is what the historian wrote: “Insidens autem equo ante alios celsior ipse


Faculty of History; dva_psk@mail.ru
1
This article is based on author’s the report at the scientific conference “The Religious Aspects
of War” held May 16-18, 2014 in Pruszcz Gdański (Poland).
Page | 113
praeibat agminibus cunctis, aureum capitis arietini figmentum interstinctum lapillis pro
diademate gestans.”2

The description of Šāpūr’s headgear by Ammianus Marcellinus coincides with some

kings’ images in Persian art of the Sasanian period. For example, it is the famous silver dish
from the Hermitage, depicting the scene of boar hunting of the Sasanian prince
and simultaneously Kušānšāh (i.e. ruler of Kušānšār) Bahrām II (Fig. 1). The prince’s
headgear (obviously, helmet) is decorated with ram horns in the manner described by
Ammianus.

Fig. 1. Silver dish “Boar Hunt of Kušānšāh Bahrām II” (late 4th-early 5th centuries), The State
Hermitage Museum inv. no. S-24, (drawing by K. Maksymiuk).

As an element of the royal crown, ram’s horns are presented in so-called Kušāno-
Sasanian coins,3 minted in the above mentioned Kušānšār (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Copper drachms of Pērōz III Kušānšāh (c. 350-375), (drawing by K. Maksymiuk).

2
Amm. Marc. XIX.1.3: “And he himself, mounted on his charger, and being taller than the rest, led his
whole army, wearing instead of a crown a golden figure of a ram’s head inlaid with jewels”.
3
About Kušāno-Sasanian coins see: GÖBL, 1968; GÖBL, 1983: 322-339; ALBUM, BATES, FLOOR,
1993; 14-41; ЛУКОНИН, 1967: 16-33; ЗЕЙМАЛЬ, 1968: 101-104.
Page | 114
 Obviously, the “diadem” of Šāpūr II described by Ammianus Marcellinus was no
more than the king’s helmet decorated with golden and jeweled ram horns.

What were the origins of the phenomenon which is reflected in Ammianus’ work?
I suppose that in order to answer this question, we should leave Sasanian Iran and go
to Ancient Egypt. Horns were one of the most common attributes of Egyptian deities. In this
regard, a special attention should be paid to Amun – the supreme god of the Egyptian
pantheon since the epoch of the New Kingdom (Fig. 3, Fig. 4).4

Fig. 3. Head of Amenhotep III (14th century BC) with “horn of Amun”, from the left (after: Bell, 1985:
266), ram-headed aegis on the poop of the sacred barque of Amon-Ra from a relief of Ramesses III
(12th century BC) from the right (after: Wainwright, Litt, 1951).

One of the main centers of Amun’s cult in Ancient Egypt was the Oasis of Siwa,
located in the Libyan Desert at the distance about 500 km to the west of the Nile Valley.

Here, in Siwa, the temple of the Oracle of Amun was situated,5 and, according
to Strabo, it was widely known not only in Egypt but also in the other countries
of Mediterranean,6 including Hellas. Moreover, as early as in the Classical period of Greek
history the cults of Zeus and Amun gradually merged into a syncretic cult of Zeus-Ammon,7
and images of Zeus-Ammon were often decorated with the so-called “Amun’s horn”8
(Fig. 5).

Thus, by the beginning of the era of the Macedonian conquests, a developed syncretic
Greco-Egyptian cult of Zeus-Ammon had been formed in the Greek world, and one of its
main centers was the temple of Amun at Siwa. It is not accidental that during his Egyptian
campaign Alexander the Great strove to visit the Siwa temple. Alexander’s desire becomes
clear if we take into consideration that he deliberately inculcated in the minds
of contemporaries the idea of his divine origin and that his father was Zeus himself.9 It is

4
PIETSCHMANN, 1894a: 1855; WERNESS, 2006: 342; КОРОСТОВЦЕВ, 1976: 21-22.
5
About the temple of the oracle of Amun in Siwa see: DONNE, 1857: 457-458; PIETSCHMANN,
1894b.
6
Strabo. I.3.4.
7
COOK, 1903; WAINWRIGHT, 1930; CLASSEN, 1959; ОСТРОУМОВ, 1896, 14-16; ПАВЛОВА
1997.
8
WERNESS, 2006: 342.
9
Strabo. XVII.1.43; Just. Epit. XI.11.3; Plut. Alex. III.1; Arr. Anab. III.3.2; 4.9.9; Oros. III.16.12-13.
Page | 115
perfectly clear that Alexander hoped that Amun’s priests would “officially” declare him to be
the son of Zeus-Ammon. And it is a well-known fact that Alexander’s expectations were
justified.10

According to Athenaeus11 (2th-3th centuries CE), who cited Ephippus of Olynthus

th th
(4 -3 centuries BC), Alexander the Great used the horns of a ram as a sacred element of his
headdress: “And Ephippus tells us that Alexander used to wear even the sacred vestments
at his banquets; and sometimes he would wear the purple robe, and slit sandals, and horns
of Ammon, as if he had been the god”.12 Besides, on the coins of at least one of the Diadochi,
namely Lysimachus (r. 324-281) the image of Alexander the Great was decorated with ram’s
horns, an attribute of Zeus-Ammon (Fig. 6). Thus, as early as in Early Hellenistic period
the image of Alexander the Great in ideology and culture was closely intertwined with
the image of his “heavenly father” – Zeus (Ammon).13

Fig. 4. Granite statue of Amon in the form of a ram (7th century BC), British Museum inv. no.
EA1779, © The Trustees of the British Museum.

10
Diod. XVII.51.1-4; Just. Epit. XI.11.7-11, etc.
11
Athen. XII.53.
12
Thus, Alexander distorted the original (Egyptian) sense of the ram’s horns as the symbol of the ka
and made them simply the sign of his divine lineage (BELL, 1985: 270).
13
See also: ANDERSON, 1927. Interesting treatment of the problem of the Alexander’s “two-horned”
image belongs to FULINSKA, 2014.
Page | 116
Fig. 5. Obverses of Greek silver coins with the image of horned Zeus-Ammon (5th-4th centuries BC),
British Museum inv. no. 1914,1003.3, © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Fig. 6. Images of Alexander the Great on tetradrachm, British Museum inv. no. 1919,0820.1, © The
Trustees of the British Museum (from the left) and stater of Lysimachus, British Museum inv. no.
1911,0706.27, © The Trustees of the British Museum (from the right).

It seems that during the reign of Seleucids and Arsacids the ram’s horns as a sacral
attribute of king’s power was displaced by bull horns.14 But the situation changed when
in 3th century CE the power over Iran passed on to the Sasanians who were of Persian origin.

The main vectors of the Sasanid domestic policy were, firstly, the eradication
of everything that was related to their predecessors – Parthian Arsacids, and secondly,
the revival of “Iranity”, i.e. native Iranian spirit and traditions, which were “perverted”
by the “insidious” Parthians. The Sasanids supposed that pure “Iranity” existed before
the Arsacids, and therefore, they looked for true Iranian traditions in the pre-Arsacid epoch.
And in this point we confront with an interesting paradox: trying to revive native Iranian
traditions, the Sasanids in fact revived... the traditions of Hellenism!15 Why did it happen?

The plain truth is that the Sasanids and their Iranian contemporaries didn’t know
that before the Arsacids Iran was under the power of the Seleucids. The Persians supposed

14
OLBRYCHT, 1997; ДМИТРИЕВ, 2013: 69-73.
15
DARYAEE, 2008; DARYAEE, 2009: 119; DARYAEE, 2010: 241; ФРАЙ, 2002: 296, 316;
Page | 117
that the Arsacids became the sovereigns of Iran immediately after the death of Alexander
the Great. This representation of the chronology of Iranian history by the Persians
of Sasanian era is distinctly represented in various Persian literary sources (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7. A general diagram reflecting the correlation of the Sasanians’ views on the chronology of the
reign of the Iranian royal dynasties (according to Biruni’s The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries 16)
(above) and the modern scientific chronology of the ruling dynasties in Ancient Iran (below).

Besides, the Sasanids thought that Alexander himself was the member of the Iranian
royal dynasty of Kayāniāns (according to Šāh-nāma, Alexander was the brother of Iranian
king Dārā who was killed by Alexander himself). Moreover, it is obvious that by the time
of the Sasanids the legend about “Alexander the Two-Horned” (he was called by Muslim
authors Iskandar Dhul-Qarnayn) who, in addition, came to Iran from Egypt17 (!), had already
existed, and it was widespread in the world, including Iran.

At the same time, we should also keep in mind that according to Zoroastrian religious
tradition a ram symbolized the xwarrah of the Kayāniāns (also known under the names: farr,
farrah, xᵛarənah), the deity of royal power, victory, success, and fame.18 According
to the official Sasanian historical tradition reflected in the Middle Persian The Book of the
Deeds of Ardashir, Son of Papak, a ram accompanied the first Sasanid Ardašīr I (r. 224-242)
in his victory over the last Parthian king Ardavān IV (r. 216-224). It is noteworthy that
the image of ram and ram’s horns (symbolizing king’s xwarrah) began to spread in Persia as
a symbol of royal xwarrah just during the reign of Šāpur II,19 and Ammianus brought to us
the first manifestations of this new tradition.

Now we can explain the appearance of ram’s horns on the helmet of Šāpur II,
mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus. Obviously, by using the attribute of the last
pre-Arsacid king (namely Alexander the Great) the Sasanids declared that, firstly,
they returned to the pre-Arsacid traditions, secondly, they were the genuine successors
of the ancient Kayāniāns as well as Kayāniāns’ xwarra, and, therefore, thirdly, their main
purpose was to revive the “Iranity” in Iran. And neither Šāpur II nor his contemporaries
or successors suspected that this “Kayāniān regalia” indeed was of Greco-Egyptian origin and
in this sense, of course, was completely unrelated to “pure Iranity”. Anyway, the ram’s horns
perceived just as the symbol of xwarrah and combined harmoniously with both the religious
beliefs and political ideology of Sasanian Iran.

16
About Biruni’s view on Sasanians see: ДМИТРИЕВ, 2014.
17
Ardā Virāz Nāmag. I.3-11.
18
Yasht. 14.23.
19
ЛУКОНИН (1969) 97. Thus, Sasanians second time (after Alexander the Great) distorted initial
meaning of ram’s horns as a sacral object.
Page | 118
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