TEHRAN - Archaeologists in northwestern Turkey have recently discovered a bas-relief, which depicts a battle scene between the Persians and the Greeks in the fifth century BC.

Figures on the relief show fighting Greek soldiers beneath the hoofs of the Persian war horses, said archeologist Kaan Iren, who leads the dig site in the ancient city of Dascylium in the modern-day Bandirma district of Balikesir province, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

“Here is a scene of propaganda under the pretext of war. We can say these reliefs are a scene from the Persian-Greek wars,” Iren told the state-run Anadolu Agency.

“We think these reliefs were probably made for propaganda purposes during the wars,” he added.

Iren, who has been working at the excavation site with a team of 30 people since June 22, said they had unearthed parts of a stone and mudbrick wall dating back to the eighth century BC this year.

“Of the eighth-century-BC wall left from the Phrygian age, this year we unearthed an area of 4 meters high and 40 meters long. We think that this wall had a height of 7 to 8 meters. We prepared a protection roof project for this place. We will present it to the Balikesir Cultural Heritage Preservation Regional Board. If approved, we will take this place until protection,” said Iren, who is also a faculty member of the Mugla Sitki Kocman University.

The 5-meter-wide wall is believed to have been built by the ancient Phrygian civilization to protect its territory, Iren said.

Iren said that the discovery of reliefs during the wall excavation this year was a surprise. Stating that the reliefs carved into the stone were cleaned by the restorers in the excavation house, he explained: “The relief, dating from the Persian era in the fifth century BC, depicts the war between the Persians and the Greeks. This was one of the most important findings of the season for us. In the figures on it, there are Greek soldiers fighting and Persians on horseback fighting them. Greek soldiers are depicted under the hoofs of Persian horses.”

There is a propaganda scene here under the pretext of war. We can say that these reliefs are a scene from the Persian-Greek wars. We think that these reliefs were probably made for propaganda purposes during the wars.”

Greco-Persian Wars also called Persian Wars, (492–449 BC), was a series of wars fought by Greek states and Persia over almost half a century. 

AFM