Sarpol-e Zahab

Sarpol-e Zahab is a city in the Central District of Sarpol-e Zahab County, Kermanshah province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. The town is close to Qasr-e Shirin and the Iraqi border.

Language and ethnicity
The town is populated by Kurds.

Population
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 34,632 in 8,210 households. The following census in 2011 counted 35,809 people in 9,447 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 45,481 people in 12,850 households.

Reliefs
The area of Sar-e Pol-e Zahab has several more or less well preserved reliefs of the Lullubi kingdom, as well as a Parthian relief.

Lullubian reliefs
The most famous of these reliefs is the Anubanini rock relief. Another relief named Sar-e Pol-e Zohab I is about 200 meters away, in a style similar to the Anubanini relief, but this time with a beardless ruler. The attribution to a specific ruler remains uncertain. There are also other Lullubian relief in the same area of Sar-e Pol-e Zahab.

Parthian relief
Another relief is located below the Anubanini relief, lower on the cliff. This relief was created during the Parthian Empire in the name of Gotarzes, possibly Gotarzes I, but more probably the Parthian king Gotarzes II, who ruled from 39 to 51 CE and is known to have made other reliefs, such as the equestrian relief at Behistun.