Relief of a Persian guard

This figure, wearing a quiver and bowcase over his shoulder and a high fluted hat, is a member of the elite guard of the Persian king, the so-called "Ten Thousand Immortals." Presented in profile, with frontal eye and distinctly aquiline nose, the figure gives the impression of calm nobility. Traces of pigment on similar reliefs indicated that this figure must once have been painted with brilliant hues of yellow, blue, and purple. This particular fragment was part of a long frieze at Xerxes' palace that portrayed a single file of the "immortals."