The Elamite relief of Korangun

This relief was introduced to the world by the German historian and archaeologist Baron Max von Oppenheim. It is registered in the National Register of Monuments of Iran under the name "Elamite Stone (Gorangun)." It is a relief from the Elamite period. The main feature of this relief and the tomb of Da and Dowar is that it faces the river at sunset, is located at an elevated position. Date ca. 1700 BCE–ca. 1600 BCE The relief of Kurangun is one of only two Elamite rock reliefs in the Iranian province of Fars. The Kurangun relief has been preserved in an excellent condition.Depicting a scene of religious worship, the theme is typical of Elamite rock relief art. Located in the vicinity of Fahlian (north-west of Nurabad), the relief was carved at the top of a rocky cliff named Kuh-e Paraweh, dominating the Fahlian river (Rud-e Fahlian) flowing in the valley of Dasht-e Rustam-e do. Its isolation from frequented roads, inaccessible for vandals, may explain its excellent state of conservation. The central panel dates to the seventeenth century BCE and is carved in a rectangular frame. It shows a divine couple, sometimes identified as the god Inšušinak and goddess Napiriša. Both divinities have a human form. The male figure is seated on a throne made of a bended snake, the animal that symbolizes the earth in the Elamite pantheon. The god wears a horned crown and holds a bowl or a cup from which some smoke or vapor escapes, spreading above at the top of the scene. Behind him sits a female deity. The divine couple is honored and surrounded by nobles or dignitaries. The panel is separated from the floor by a set of three parallel lines, which separate the upper panel from many silhouettes of fish, which, although eroded, can still be distinguished and probably symbolize the Fahlian river down the cliff. The panels to the left and right were added in the eighth or seventh centuries and show processions of worshiping characters, all similar to each other, all facing the central scene. These characters are dressed in a fashion different from the gods, wearing typically Elamite clothes (hats with a tail falling down on the back, long coats, and wide trousers), all being represented in a humble praying attitude. This kind of composition is typically Elamite and evokes the reliefs carved in the same period at Kul-e Farah, near Izeh in the Khuzestan province. Another similarity is that all the available rocky surfaces were exploited. ------- Not official version confirms- The relief of the Elamite Korangun is completely native and some of its details show the late Sumerian and Akkadian (or Babylonian) motifs ). For example, the crown carved on the head of the god and the goddess with horns separated from each other was seen a lot in the Sumerian period before the Akkadian period (a tribe of Benisam who lived in the Lower Chaldea about 3000 BC). The deity is holding a vessel full of water of life in her hand and has flowed it towards the ranks of his worshippers. There are more than 40 worshipers of this bas-relief, some of whom fell to the bottom of the valley due to natural factors in the past and probably fell into the Fahlian river overlooking the bas-relief, or were buried under the sand of the river. or the water of the river took them with it and destroyed them. Almost a second example or a second version of the Korangun relief can be seen in Rostam Naqsh near Persepolis, the burial place of Achaemenid kings, which stood until the second half of the 3rd century AD, but later it was erased and Bahram II’s face was engraved on it. A part of this faded work, which can be seen in the right corner of the image of the Rostam relief, is still showing the torso of snakes and two goddesses in Sumerian clothes on the bed, and also a female figure similar to the women found in the Korangon relief of Rostam city can be seen, which is completely intact. Therefore, this role must have been installed at a time close to the Korangon Elamite sculptures of Rostam city, i.e. around 2400 BC. However, the prominent role of Korangun was an important Elamite place of worship in this place, and this role proves that the influence and civilization of Elam at that time had expanded to the limits of the cities of Mamsani, Rostam, Marvdasht and Persepolis One of the largest and oldest bas-reliefs in the world, called the Korangon relief, is located 10 kilometers southwest of Noorabad Mamsani city, on top of a cliff overlooking the Fahlian river. In 1924, the Korengon relief was scientifically explored by the German Professor Ernst Herzfeld and its historical date was estimated to be 2400 BC, a millennium before the arrival of the Aryans to the Iranian plateau. A pair of gods and goddesses surrounded by rows of worshipers. The god and goddess with their horned hats are sitting on a throne made of snake trunk – apparently snake worship was common in the region such as in the ancient India before the appearance of Aryans.