Ein elamischer Page in der Entourage des persischen Großkönigs im Westfries des Heroons von Zẽmuri/Limyra

Abstract

The study attempts to identify the antiquarian detail of a balloon-shaped cap in the west frieze of the Heroon at Limyra from the early 4th century B. C. as Achaemenid dress of persons of rank associated with the satraps’ courts. This style of cap originates in the apparel of Elamite princes and kings, as is attested in Assyrian art. Iconographic analyses of the page corps at the royal courts in Lycia and Macedonia and in Graeco-Persian art verify the hermeneutic proposition that the institution was introduced by the Achaemenids as an elite school for upper echelons of the army within the framework of imitatio regis, as evidence from Egypt, Syria, Lycia, Caria and the Daskylitic satrapy demonstrates. An attempt is made here for the first time to localize the page corps also in the relief cycles of the Assyrian palaces – contrarily to Ancient Oriental studies, which see the relevant persons of the monarch’s entourage as eunuchs. The mounted wearer of the balloon-shaped cap at Limyra can therefore be interpreted as a page of the Persian king (also on horseback) – as opposed to the pages of the Lycian king, who accompanied their sovereign on foot.