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A rock relief or rock-cut relief is a relief carved on solid or "living rock" such as a cliff, rather than a detached piece of stone. They are a category of rock art, and sometimes found as part of, or in conjunction with, rock-cut architecture.Harmanşah (2014), 5–6 However, they tend to be omitted in most works on rock art, which concentrate on engravings and paintings by prehistoric peoples. A few such works exploit the natural contours of the rock and use them to define an image, but they do not amount to man-made reliefs. Rock reliefs have been made in many cultures throughout human history, and were especially important in the art of the ancient Near East.Harmanşah (2014), 5–6; Canepa, 53 Rock reliefs are generally fairly large, as they need to be in order to have an impact in the open air. Most of those discussed here have figures that are over life-size, and in many the figures are multiples of life-size.
Stylistically they normally relate to other types of sculpture from the culture and period concerned, and except for Hittites and Persian examples they are generally discussed as part of that wider subject.for example by Rawson and Sickman & Soper Reliefs on near-vertical surfaces are most common, but reliefs on essentially horizontal surfaces are also found. The term typically excludes relief carvings inside caves, whether natural or themselves man-made, which are especially found in Indian rock-cut architecture. Natural rock formations made into statues or other sculpture in the round, most famously at the Great Sphinx of Giza, are also usually excluded. Reliefs on large boulders left in their natural location, like the Hittite İmamkullu relief, are likely to be included, but smaller boulders may be called or carved . Many or most ancient reliefs were probably originally painted, over a layer of plaster; in some traces of this remain.
The first requirement for a rock relief is a suitable face of stone; a near-vertical cliff minimizes the work required, otherwise a sloping rock face is often cut back to give a vertical area to carve. Most of the ancient Near East was well supplied with hills and mountains offering many cliff faces. An exception was the land of Sumer, where all stone had to be imported over considerable distances, and so the art of Mesopotamia only features rock relief around the edges of the region. The Hittites and ancient Persians were the most prolific makers of rock reliefs in the Near East.Canepa, 53
The form is adopted by some cultures and ignored by others. In the many commemorative stelae of Nahr el-Kalb, 12 kilometres north of Beirut, successive imperial rulers have carved memorials and inscriptions. The Ancient Egyptian, Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian rulers include relief imagery in their monuments, while the Roman and Islamic rulers do not, nor more modern ones (who erect slabs of stone carved elsewhere and fitted to the rock).Harmanşah (2014a), 95–96; Kreppner, 372–373; St. Chad Boscawen, Sir William, full map "The Monuments and Inscriptions on the Rocks at Nahr", Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, vol 7, 1882, Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer, pages 331–352
Before they were cut away and moved, the colossal figures outside the Abu Simbel temples were very high reliefs. Other sculpture outside temples cut into the rock qualifies as rock reliefs. The reliefs at Nahr el-Kalb commemorate Rameses II,Harmanşah (2014a), 95 and are at the furthest reach of his empire (indeed beyond the area he reliably controlled) in modern Lebanon.
At Yazılıkaya, just outside the capital of Hattusa, a series of reliefs of Hittite gods in procession decorate open-air "chambers" made by adding barriers among the natural rock formations. The site was apparently a sanctuary, and possibly a burial site, for the commemoration of the ruling dynasty's ancestors. It was perhaps a private space for the dynasty and a small group of the elite, unlike the more public wayside reliefs. The usual form of these is to show royal males carrying weapons, usually holding a spear, carrying a bow over their shoulder, with a sword at their belt. They have attributes associated with divinity, and so are shown as "god-warriors".Bonatz
The Assyrians probably took the form from the Hittites; the sites chosen for their 49 recorded reliefs often also make little sense if "signalling" to the general population was the intent, being high and remote, but often near water. The Neo-Assyrians recorded in other places, including metal reliefs on the Balawat Gates showing them being made, the carving of rock reliefs, and it has been suggested that the main intended audience was the gods, the reliefs and the inscriptions that often accompany them being almost of the nature of a "business report" submitted by the ruler.Kreppner, throughout; 368 for 49 reliefs A canal system built by the Neo-Assyrian king Sennacherib (reigned 704–681 BC) to supply water to Nineveh was marked by a number of reliefs showing the king with gods.Kreppner, 371; Malko, Helen, "Neo-Assyrian Rock Reliefs: Ideology and Landscapes of an Empire", Metropolitan Museum, accessed 28 November 2015 Other reliefs at the Tigris tunnel, a cave in modern Turkey believed to be the source of the river Tigris, are "almost inaccessible and invisible for humans".Kreppner, 374–375 Probably built by Sennacherib's son Esarhaddon, Shikaft-e Gulgul is a late example in modern Iran, apparently related to a military campaign.Kreppner, 369–370; Van der Spek, R.J., "The Assyrian Royal Rock Inscription from Shikaft-i Gulgul", Iranica Antiqua, vol XII, 1977
Behistun is unusual in having a large and important inscription, which like the Egyptian Rosetta Stone repeats its text in three different languages, here all using cuneiform script: Old Persian, Elamite language, and Babylonian (a later form of Akkadian).Luschey This was important in the modern understanding of these languages. Other Persian reliefs generally lack inscriptions, and the kings involved often can only be tentatively identified. The problem is helped in the case of the Sassanids by their custom of showing a different style of crown for each king, which can be identified from their coins.Herrmann and Curtis
Naqsh-e Rustam is the necropolis of the Achaemenid dynasty (500–330 BC), with four large tombs cut high into the cliff face. These have mainly architectural decoration, but the facades include large panels over the doorways, each very similar in content, with figures of the king being invested by a god, above a zone with rows of smaller figures bearing tribute, with soldiers and officials. The three classes of figures are sharply differentiated in size. The entrance to each tomb is at the centre of each cross, which opens onto a small chamber, where the king lay in a sarcophagus.Cotterell, 162; Canepa, 57–59, 65–68 The horizontal beam of each of the tomb's facades is believed to be a replica of the entrance of the palace at Persepolis.
Only one has inscriptions and the matching of the other kings to tombs is somewhat speculative; the relief figures are not intended as individualized portraits. The third from the left, identified by an inscription, is the tomb of Darius I ( c. 522–486 BC). The other three are believed to be those of Xerxes I ( c. 486–465 BC), Artaxerxes I ( c. 465–424 BC), and Darius II ( c. 423–404 BC) respectively. A fifth unfinished one might be that of Artaxerxes III, who reigned at the longest two years, but is more likely that of Darius III ( c. 336–330 BC), last of the Achaemenid dynasts. The tombs were looted following the conquest of the Achaemenid Empire by Alexander the Great. Cotterell, 162; Canepa, 57–59, 65–68
Well below the Achaemenid tombs, near ground level, are rock reliefs with large figures of Sassanian kings, some meeting gods, others in combat. The most famous shows the Sassanian king Shapur I on horseback, with the Roman Emperor Valerian bowing to him in submission, and Philip the Arab (an earlier emperor who paid Shapur tribute) holding Shapur's horse, while the dead Emperor Gordian III, killed in battle, lies beneath it (other identifications have been suggested). This commemorates the Battle of Edessa in 260 AD, when Valerian became the only Roman Emperor who was captured as a prisoner of war, a lasting humiliation for the Romans. The placing of these reliefs clearly suggests the Sassanid intention to link themselves with the glories of the earlier Achaemenid Empire.Herrmann and Curtis; Canepa, 62, 65–68 There are three further Achaemenid royal tombs with similar reliefs at Persepolis, one unfinished. Vanden Berghe #27–29
The seven Sassanian reliefs, whose approximate dates range from 225 to 310 AD, show subjects including investiture scenes and battles. The earliest relief at the site is , from about 1000 BC. About a kilometre away is Naqsh-e Rajab, with a further four Sassanid rock reliefs, three celebrating kings and one a high priest. Another important Sassanid site is Taq Bostan with several reliefs including two royal investitures and a famous figure of a cataphract or Persian heavy cavalryman, about twice life size, probably representing the king Khosrow Parviz mounted on his favourite horse Shabdiz; the pair continued to be celebrated in later Persian literature.Herrmann and Curtis; Canepa, 74–76 Firuzabad, Fars and Bishapur have groups of Sassanian reliefs, the former including the oldest, a large battle scene, now badly worn.Herrmann and Curtis At Barm-e Delak a king offers a flower to his queen.
Sassanian reliefs are concentrated in the first 80 years of the dynasty, though one important set are 6th-century, and at relatively few sites, mostly in the Sassanid heartland. The later ones in particular suggest that they draw on a now-lost tradition of similar reliefs in palaces in stucco. The rock reliefs were probably coated in plaster and painted.Herrmann and Curtis
The rock reliefs of the preceding Persian Seleucids and Parthian Empire are generally smaller and more crude, and not all direct royal commissions as the Sassanid ones clearly were.Canepa, 59–61, 68–73 At Behistun an earlier relief including a lion was adapted into a reclining Herakles in a fully Hellenistic art style; he reclines on a lion skin. This was only uncovered below rubble relatively recently; an inscription dates it to 148 BC.Downey; Canepa, 59–60 Other reliefs in Iran include the Assyrian Empire king in shallow relief at Shikaft-e Gulgul; not all sites with Persian reliefs are in modern Iran.Herrmann and Curtis Qajar reliefs include a large and lively panel showing hunting at the royal hunting-ground of Tangeh Savashi, and a panel, still largely with its colouring intact, at Taq Bostan showing the shah seated with attendants.
The standard catalogue of pre-Islamic Persian reliefs lists the known examples (as at 1984) as follows: Lullubi #1–4; Elam #5–19; Assyrian #20–21; Achaemenid #22–30; Late/Post-Achaemenid and Seleucid #31–35; Parthian #36–49; Sasanian #50–84; others #85–88.Vanden Berghe, Louis, Reliefs rupestres de l' Iran ancien, 1983, Brussels, per online summary of his list here
However, there are a number of significant rock reliefs in India, with the Descent of the Ganges at Mahabalipuram the best known and perhaps the most impressive. This is a large 7th-century Hindu scene with many figures that uses the form of the rock to shape the image.Harle, 278-83 The Anantashayi Vishnu is an early 9th-century horizontal relief of the reclining Hindu god Vishnu in Orissa, measuring in length, cut into a flat bed of rock. while the largest standing image is the Gommateshwara statue in Southern India. At Unakoti, Tripura there is an 11th-century group of reliefs related to Shiva, and at Hampi scenes from the Ramayana. Several sites, such as Kalugumalai and the Samanar Hills in Tamil Nadu, have Jain art reliefs, mostly of meditating .
In Sri Lanka colossal Buddha figures include the Avukana Buddha statue, 5th century and almost free-standing, with only a narrow strip at the back still connecting it to the cliff, and the four 12-century Buddha figures at Gal Vihara; the brick foundations for image houses can be seen here. The seven 10th-century figures at Buduruvagala are in much lower relief. There are very lively elephants carved around a temple pool at Isurumuniya.Harle, 450–456 Of the colossal lion gateway to the hill-palace at Sigiriya, only the paws remain, the head having fallen off at some point.
The three famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites in China are the Mogao Caves,Rawson, 319. The rock at Dunhuang is a weak "gravel conglomerate", and the sculptures are finished in clay, with smaller ones being entirely clay. Longmen Grottoes (672–673 for the main group) and Yungang Grottoes (460–535), all of which have colossal Buddha statues in very high relief, cut back into huge niches in the cliff,Rawson, 320–322 though the largest figure at Mogao is still enclosed by a wooden image house superstructure in front of it; this is also thought to be a portrait of the reigning empress Wu Zetian. One of the Longmen figures is effectively in a man-made cave, but can be seen from outside through a large window opened in the outer face (see gallery). Smaller rock-cut sculptures and paintings decorate the cave temples at these sites.
The Tang dynasty Leshan Giant Buddha, the largest of all, was built with a superstructure covering it, which was destroyed by the Mongols. Such large figures were a novelty in Chinese art, and adapted conventions from further west.Rawson, 151–154; Sickman & Soper, 87–95, 144–147 The Dazu Rock Carvings include scenes with unusually large numbers of figures, such as a famous and large scene of the Buddhist Judgement of Souls. These are set back into the cliff and the shelter has enabled them to retain their bright colours.Rawson, 322; UNESCO, World Heritage List "Dazu Rock Carvings", accessed 27 November 2015 Other Chinese Buddhist cave sites with external rock reliefs include Lingyin Temple with many small reliefs, and the Maijishan Grottoes with a main colossal group;Rawson, 319 unusually for figures of such a size, they are in bas-relief.
The Bamiyan Buddha figures were two standing Buddha figures of the 6th century in Afghanistan which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001; they probably were one of the immediate influences on the Chinese sites further east on the Silk Road.Sickman & Soper, 87; this conventional view may not be correct, see Rawson, 318 In Japan the Nihon-ji temple includes a colossal seated Buddha completed in 1783, 31 metres tall. Japanese "Great Buddha" statues are called "daibutsu", but most are in bronze.
Sites elsewhere include Kbal Spean near Angkor in Cambodia, which has both Hindu and Buddhist reliefs. These are placed in rocky shallows of the river, with water flowing over them. Large numbers of short and deities were intended to purify the water that flowed over them on its way to the city.Jessup, 122–123
The (probably) 12th-century Externsteine relief in southern Germany measures 4.8 m high by 3.7 m wide. It shows the Descent from the Cross of Jesus, a standard scene from Christian art, with a total of ten figures. (2026). 9783941726185, Lippischer Heimatbund. ISBN 9783941726185 The circumstances of its making remain unclear, and despite the extensive tradition of medieval reliefs on buildings, making them on natural rock formations at a large size remained very rare.
The Inca tradition is very distinctive; they carved rock with mainly horizontal representations of landscapes as one form of huaca; the most famous are the Sayhuite Stone and the Quinku rock. These show a landscape, but also many animals; it is not clear if the landscapes represent a real place or are imaginary. These permanent works formed part of a wider Inca tradition of visualizing and modelling landscapes, often accompanied by rituals.Gartner, William Gustav, "Mapmaking in the Central Andes" PDF, pp. 285–289
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