Showing posts with the label Iran

The Trilingual Inscriptions of Darius and Xerxes at Ganj Nameh

Jun 22, 2022

About 12 kilometers southwest of the ancient city of Ecbatana (modern Hamadan) in western Iran, and 2,000 meters above sea level on Mount Al...

The Mysterious Pillar at The Center of The Circular City of Gor

May 20, 2022

In the year 330 BC, Alexander the Great advanced through the Persian territory, conquering its cities and regions, culminating in the captur...

Did an Ancient Persian Queen Suffer From Breast Cancer?

Mar 23, 2022

In Histories , written in the 5th century BC, the Greek historian Herodotus tells the story of Atossa, the queen of Persia, who was struck b...

The Colors of Hormuz Island

Jul 21, 2021

Off the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf, about 8 km from the mainland, lies Hormuz Island, a small, teardrop shaped mound of rock salt, gy...

The Citadel of Bam: The World’s Largest Mud Building

Jun 10, 2021

Sometime between 579 and 323 BC during the Achaemenid Persian period, the Citadel of Bam (in Persian Arg-é Bam) was built in southeastern pr...

The Masked Women of Iran

Jul 4, 2020

Head covering, veils and burqas are common sight among many Muslim communities around the world. There are a lot of different styles and ea...

Tomb of Cyrus: The World’s Oldest Earthquake Resistant Structure

Aug 13, 2019

Natural calamites like floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes have always been considered “acts of god”, yet for centuries our ancestors have r...

Salt Domes And Salt Glaciers of Iran

Mar 12, 2019

Million of years ago, the Persian Gulf was a much larger body of water than it is today, inundating large sections of the Arabian peninsula...

A Modern Mosque That’s Angering Iranian Muslims

Nov 15, 2018

The fate of a beautiful, avant-garde mosque in the Iranian capital Tehran hangs in balance as the city decides what to do with the partially...

The Ziggurat of Choga Zanbil

Oct 30, 2018

The Egyptians had pyramids, the Mesopotamians had ziggurats, which are massive brick structures with raised platforms with successively rece...

The Ancient Iranian Salt Mummies

Jun 8, 2018

In northwestern Iran, near the villages of Hamzehli, Mehrabad and Chehrabad, in Zanjan province, is a large salt dome protruding into the su...

Makhunik: The Village of Dwarves

May 15, 2018

In a remote corner in Iran’s South Khorasan Province, near its border with Afghanistan, is a village that, until about a century ago, was in...

Towers of Silence

Dec 20, 2016

The Zoroastrians have an unusual way of disposing off their dead. They neither bury them nor cremate them. Instead, corpses are left atop hi...

Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse

Aug 9, 2016

The Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse in Kashan, Iran, is a 16th century public bathhouse built during the time of the Safavid empire, which ruled...

Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System

Feb 29, 2016

The Shushtar Hydraulic System in the island city of Shushtar is a complex irrigation system that dates back to the time of the Achaemenid ki...

Dasht-e Kavir, The Great Salt Desert

Sep 3, 2015

Dasht-e Kavir, also known the Great Salt Desert, is a large desert lying in the middle of the Iranian plateau, about 300 kilometers east-sou...

The Great Wall of Gorgan

May 14, 2015

The Great Wall of Gorgan is a series of ancient defensive fortifications located near Gorgan in the Golestān Province of northeastern Iran, ...

The Disappearing Lake Urmia of Iran

Apr 30, 2015

Lake Urmia, in north-western Iran, was once one of the largest permanent saline lake in the world and the second largest in the Middle East,...

The Wind Catchers of Iran

Feb 20, 2015

The middle eastern countries are characterised by a hot and dry climate, and so buildings and homes are traditionally constructed from thick...

The Pigeon Towers of Iran

Nov 21, 2014

During the 16th and 17th century, particularly around the time of the Safavid reign, the Iranian folks built a large number of towers to hou...