Naqsh-e Rustam, Elamite relief

Naqsh-e Rustam, meaning “Pictures of Rustam”, lies near the ancient Achaemenid Persian capital of Persepolis in an area where the westernmost part of the Kuh-e Husain foothill meets the wide-open plain of Marvdasht and the Pulvar River enters the plain. The site lies along a main branch of the Achaemenid royal road system and is best-known as the burial location of four Achaemenid Persian kings and the monumental Ka’ba-e Zardusht tower. Less widely known is that it was home to an Elamite open-air sanctuary with a monumental rock relief. A natural spring had probably endowed the site with a special religious significance, which continued even after the Achaemenid Empire. The Sassanian King Bahram II (276–93 AD) had a relief cut over the top of the Elamite one, destroying much of the panel.