Farhād Tarāsh

[1] In the early 19th century, H. C. Rawlinson believed that the Tarāsh-e Farhād was originally meant to become the rear wall of a palace of Khosrow II (r. 590–628) and was supposed to be decorated with a relief of Semiramis.

[1] According to local tradition, "as reported in the 1960s" and noted earlier by A. V. Williams Jackson, the Tarāsh-e Farhād is attributed to the legendary architect of Khosrow II named Farhad.

[1] According to Nizami (died 1209), Farhad completed three monumental works: the creation of the milk channel, a passage cut through the mountain at Bisotun, and the portrait of princess Shirin.

The notion of the “portrait of Šīrīn” may well have been evoked by the capitals showing Anāhīd and Ḵosrow Parvēz, which were certainly visible in the time of Neẓāmī and his informants, as they have never been buried under earth.

References to the Sasanian remains in the literature of the early Islamic period apparently stirred people's imaginations and inspired poetic compositions in later times.

Although Neẓāmī never left his hometown, Ganja, and thus never saw Bīsotūn, he had access to information recorded by geographers in the 4th/10th century and passed on as part of the literary tradition.Another perspective of the context and creation of the Farhād Tarāsh was offered in the 1970s by architect W.