The Sasanian nimbus occupies a contested position in the history of the halo. Situated at the intersection of two major Late Antique iconographic traditions — the Byzantine nimbus and the Buddhist prābhā of Gandhāran art — it has long been assumed to have exerted a generative influence on both. This paper argues, against the grain of the dominant interpretation, that the relationship between the Sasanian disk-nimbus and the Zoroastrian concept of xvarnah (luminous royal fortune) cannot be established at any stage of the iconographic chain without a significant residue of unaccounted elements. Drawing on the foundational contributions of Gnoli, Tanabe, Kellens, and Gyselen, and updated throughout by the revisionary work of Soudavar (2003, 2009), Grenet (2009/2012), and Overlaet (2011, 2013), the paper proposes a systematic re-examination of the three formally differentiated nimbus types attested in Sasanian art — the rayed exocyclic nimbus (Mithra), the flame-nimbus (Adur), and the royal disk-nimbus — and argues that their distinct attributions reveal a coherent iconographic code rather than a diffuse luminous symbolism. The paper further addresses the investiture role of Anāhitā, long neglected in discussions of the Sasanian nimbus, and concludes with a reading of the hunting relief at Tāq-e Bostān in light of Tanabe's fravashi hypothesis — the pre-existent soul as the luminous double of the sovereign. The relationship between the Sasanian and Gandhāran traditions is reframed throughout as parallel development from shared Hellenistic sources, not unilateral influence.
Philippe Madogan (Mon,) studied this question.