抄録
There are represented two so-called “tassels” hanging on the horseflanks of this rock-cut relief, one of which has its lower half lost, but the lower half of the other remains almost completely.
Therefore, we can reconstruct the original shape of the tassel represented here which is slender in shape than those represented in the Sassanian rock-cut reliefs of the 3-4th centuries and in most of the “Sassanian” silver-plates.
As for the origin of this motif, the present author concludes that this kind of tassel made of horse-tails or other hairy materials was invented by Sassanians in Iran and spread both to the West (Dura-Europos) and to the East (Gandhara, Anyang _??__??_ of Northern Ch'i).
As for a probable meaning of this Sassanian tassel, the author regards it as one of the Sassanian royal symbols and rejects any practical uses proposed by Ker Porter and W. Hinz.
The peculiarity of the tassel at Taq-i Bustan consists in the fact that it has a tricephalic image represented at its top. As for the meaning of this unprecedented motif, the author concludes that the tricephalic image (head) is probably the anthropomorphic representation of the three heads of the dragon Azi Dahâka slain by Thraêtaona, Frêdôn, Verethragna and other Iranian epic heroes and kings. And, this anthropomorphic representation reflects the ancient tradition of the Eurasian equestrian peoples to decorate their horse-trappings with ennemy's cut-head. Finally the author proposes that the armour-clad equestrian image means one of the deified ancestors or founders of the Sassanian Dynasty such as Ardashir I or Shapur I, represented as one of the patron deities of the king in the upper “Investiture Scene”.
