An Overview of the Sassanid Hunting-Parks of Western Iran

Historical Iranian texts have referred to Sassanid landscape architecture and hunting-parks in the Kermānshāhān and Bisotun territories of Western Iran. Some of the oldest of these texts include Al- A’lāq Al- Nafsyya by Ibn-i- Rasta (290 AH) and Al- Masālik va Al- Mamālik by Estakhrī (c. 320 AH). These historical accounts are backed by archaeological evidence. The three royal hunting grounds, Tarāš-e Farhād of Bisotun, Tāq-e Bostān in Kermānshāh and the Anaitis temple of Kangāvar are the only and most outstanding examples of ancient Iranian landscape architecture discovered yet. Tarāš-e Farhād, a chiseled rock face on the Bisotun cliff, was part of a royal hunting-ground discovered among other Sassanid remains in the village of Bisotun. This hunting-park was designed on the basis of Iranian gardens. In Kermānshāh, the harmonic natural elements including water, mountain and forest as well as the remaining bas-reliefs introduce Tāq-e Bostān as a daskira or royal hunting-field. The stone remains known as the Parthian temple of Anaitis in the city of Kangāvar is actually a country pavilion and a royal hunting-ground of a Sassanid court.