Bisotun Statue of Hercules: A Seleucid Rock Relief in Iran
Visitor Information
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Country: Iran
Civilization: Greek
Site type: Civic
Remains: Monument
History
The Statue of Hercules stands at Bisotun, Iran, and was created under the rule of the Seleucid administration on the Iranian Plateau.
Its carving dates to 148 BC, placed there by a Seleucid governor named Hyakinthos, son of Pantauchos, as a formal dedication in the Greek language. The inscription records that the offering honored Kleomenes, identified as the Commander of the Upper Satrapies, and it gives the date as year 164 of the Seleucid era, in the month corresponding to June. The work thus belongs to the late Seleucid period, when Greek-speaking officials and local traditions coexisted on the plateau.
The image combines Greek and Iranian visual signals. The figure is titled Herakles Kallinikos, meaning Hercules glorious in victory, and scholars note affinities with the Iranian god Wahrām (from Avestan Vərəθraγna). The relief itself does not by itself settle how far ritual or religious assimilation went, but the dedication, the Greek titulature, and certain visual choices point to cultural blending between Hellenistic and local beliefs.
The relief was documented by archaeologists in 1958. It suffered thefts of its head on two occasions, and the original was finally recovered in 1996; today a replica occupies the visible position while the authentic head is kept by Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization. Around the carved figure a nearby column fragment and the inscriptional context have led specialists to propose that the relief once formed part of a small shrine structure.
Remains
The monument is a rock relief cut directly into the Mount Behistun face, a compact composition of figure and platform. The carved figure lies on a low ledge roughly two meters long and measures about 1.47 meters in body length. The sculptor worked the living rock to fashion both the reclining pose and a backing area that bears a Greek inscription, so the piece should be read as an integrated relief attached to the cliff.
The figure is shown reclining, with the right hand placed on the leg and the left hand holding a bowl, while a club is carved behind as if propped up. Unusually for Hellenistic images of Herakles, the figure is depicted with a bow similar to those visible in the nearby Behistun inscription, a detail that reflects local artistic conventions and suggests the maker was not trained in classical Greek workshop practice. The carving technique and iconography therefore reflect a fusion of Greek subjects and Iranian stylistic influence.
Behind the figure a Greek dedicatory inscription records the donor, Hyakinthos son of Pantauchos, and names Kleomenes, Commander of the Upper Satrapies. Below the relief a faint Aramaic inscription survives; only the word šnt, meaning “in the year,” can be read with confidence. These inscriptions anchor the monument in its political and chronological context.
Close to the relief sits a short column fragment measuring about 52 centimeters in height. This remnant is of the Ionic type, a Greek column form identified by its scroll-like capital, and its scale has been compared to small shrine architecture elsewhere, suggesting the carved sculpture may once have been framed within a naiskos, a small shrine. The relief remains in situ on the rock face; after its mid-20th-century discovery the statue’s head was twice removed and subsequently recovered, and the original head is now conserved by the national heritage authority while a replica occupies the visible position.
