Bahram II

Main deeds:

• Name: Bahram II
• Beginning of reign: 276
• Successor of: Bahram I
• Married to Ardašir-Anahid
• The reign of Bahram I had been the beginning of an era of Sasanian weakness and during the reign of Bahram II, things went even worse. He had some difficulty in suppressing a revolt by his brother Hormizd, who ruled in the far east.
• In 283, Bahram II lost a war against the Roman emperor Carus, was forst to accept the loss of Armenia and northern Mesopotamia; and in the end, he lost power to the Zoroastrian high priest Kartir.
• End of reign: 293
• Succeeded by: his son Bahram III, who was inmediately replaced by Narseh.

Rock Reliefs

Bahrām II introduced new new kind of scenes: images of intimacy (Sarab-e Qandil), frontal representations (Sarab-e Bahram), fights against lions (Sar Mashhad). He also used new sites, which had never been used before. Bahrām left no less than ten rock reliefs.(Numbers according to the Vanden Berghe list.)

63. Audience relief Naqš-e Rustam
64. Audience relief at Sarab-e Bahram
65. Family scene at Sarab-e Qandil
66. Family scene at Barm-e Dilak
67. King and dignitary at Barm-e Dilak
68. King at Guyum
69. Arab envoys relief Bishapur
70. Fight against lions at Sar Mashhad
71. Equestrian victory relief Naqš-e Rustam (defeat of unknown Roman enemy)
72. Double equestrian victory relief Naqš-e Rustam (defeat of unknown enemy)
73. Kartir relief Naqš-e Rajab
74. Kartir relief Naqš-e Rustam

Bishapur, Relief 4, Bahram II

Naqš-e Rustam, First Relief of Bahram II

Naqš-e Rustam, 2d Relief of Bahram II

Naqš-e Rustam, 3d Relief of Bahram II, General view

General Literature on Sasanian Persia

• Touraj Daryaee, Sasanian Persia. The Rise and Fall of an Empire (2009)
• Josef Wiesehöfer, Das antike Persien. Von 550 v. Chr. bis 650 n. Chr. (1994)