The Sacred Mountain in the Arsacid-Sasanian landscape of Western Zagros. Spaces, narrative patterns, and numinous manifestations

In Iran and neighbouring regions, the sanctity of the mountains is illustrated by sources of different typologies and origins. This paper aims to contextualize the long-term presence of mythical/ritual schemes within a socio-cultural milieu and its specific territory. The perspective entails the semiotics of landscape, focusing on the interaction between symbolic elements and socio-cultural interpretations of the physical space. In this framework, the macro-region of western Zagros in the Arsacid-Sasanian period is a promising case study.