 A Kushan warrior holding a suit of armour. |
 Detail of the head showing the artificial skull deformation. |
 Tetradrachm of Kujula Kadphises/'Heraios' showing him as a middle-aged man with a similar skull deformation. |
The main reception chamber in the Khaltchayan hall was decorated with splendid wall reliefs in clay and stucco on a wooden frame picked out in vivid colours. In the centre of the main wall sat a royal couple flanked by attendants; on the north side were further nobles including this man holding a suit of armour, and a goddess on a chariot, while on the south were central Asian horse-archers.
Khaltchayan in Surxondaryo prov., southern Uzbekistan, site of a settlement and palace of the nomad Yuezhi, with paintings and sculptures of the mid-1st century BCE. The Yuezhi, and perhaps other nomad groups, overthrew the Hellenistic Greek dynasty which had ruled there since the mid-3rd century as successor to the post-Achaemenid governments of Alexander and the Seleucids.
Reference: Iranica online - Khalchayan
