Iconography of the scenes of hunting in the Sassanid Era

Hunting scenes are some of the most ancient archetypes which were depicted in artistic works, especially golden and silver containers in the Sassanid era. Iconography is description and interpretation of symbolic and cryptic hunting scenes which contains messages and information that their decoding can clarify different political, social and religious aspects of life in this era. The purpose of this research is studying and analyzing symbolic concepts of hunting scenes based on iconography of the elements applied in these scenes. For this purpose, 27 Sassanid artistic works, painted with hunting scenes were identified and all their information were studied using statistical method and by registering all their information in charts. the results of the research indicate that in contrary to the previous era that gods and affluent classes were present in hunting scenes; in this era only the Sassanid king was depicted at the center of the scene, mounted and larger than other elements, which is in accordance with the Sassanid era ideology of king as god’s representative on earth. The hunted animals are also of a great significance in Zoroastrian religion. In this era, evil creatures are not to be hunted and eliminated by the king, but there are sacred creatures whose hunting will bring welfare and prosperity to the king, and in fact the concept of hunting in this era was more than just an entertainment and gained a religious-political value.