Meymand
Meymand (
Persian: ميمند, also
Romanized as
Maymand,
Meimandand
Maimand)
[1] is a village in
Meymand Rural District, in the
Central District of
Shahr-e Babak County,
Kerman Province,
Iran.
Meymand is a very ancient village which is located near Shahr-e Babak city in Kerman Province, Iran. Meymand is believed to be a primary human residence in the Iranian Plateau, dating back to
12,000 years ago. Many of the residents live in the 350 hand-dug houses amid the rocks, some of which have been inhabited for as long as 3,000 years. Stone engravings nearly 10,000 years old are found around the village, and deposits of pottery nearly 6,000 years old attest to the long history of settlement at the village site.
Regarding the origin of these structures two theories have been suggested:
[3] According to the first theory, this village was built by a group of the Aryan tribe about 800 to 700 years B.C. and at the same time with the Median era. It is possible that the cliff structures of Meymand were built for religious purposes. Worshippers of Mithras believe that the sun is invincible and this guided them to consider mountains as sacred. Hence the stone cutters and architects of Meymand have set their beliefs out in the construction of their dwellings. Based on the second theory the village dates back to the second or third century A.D. During the Arsacid era different tribes of southern Kerman migrated in different directions. These tribes found suitable places for living and settled in those areas by building their shelters which developed in time into the existing homes. The existence of a place known as the fortress of Meymand, near the village, in which more than 150 ossuaries (bone-receptacle) of the Sassanid period were found, strengthens this theory.
Living conditions in Meymand are harsh due to the aridity of the land and to high temperatures in summers and very cold winters.[
citation needed] The local language contains many words from the ancient
Sassanid and
Pahlavi languages.
[4]
Tehran
Settlement of Tehran dates back to 8,000 years.[8] An important historical city in the area of modern-day Tehran, now absorbed by it, is known as "Rey", which is etymologically connected to the Old Persian and Avestan "Rhages".[9] The city was a major area of the Iranian speaking Medes and Achaemenids.
In the Zoroastrian Avesta's Videvdad (i, 15), Rhaga is mentioned as the twelfth sacred place created by Ahura-Mazda.[10] In the Old Persian inscriptions (Behistun 2, 10–18), Rhaga appears as a province. From Rhaga, Darius the Great sent reinforcements to his father Hystaspes, who was putting down the rebellion in Parthia (Behistun 3, 1–10).[10]
Rey is richer than many other ancient cities in the number of its historical monuments, among which one might refer to the 3000-year-old Gebri castle, the 5000-year-old
Cheshmeh Ali hill, the 1000-year-old Bibi Shahr Banoo tomb and Shah Abbasi caravanserai. It has been home to pillars of science like
Rhazes.
The Damavand mountain located near the city also appears in the Shahnameh as the place where Freydun bounds the dragon-fiend Zahak. Damavand is important in Persian mythological and legendary events.[11]Kyumars, the Zoroastrian prototype of human beings and the first king in the Shahnameh, was said to have resided in Damavand.[11] In these legends, the foundation of the city of Damavand was attributed to him.[11] Arash the Archer, who sacrificed his body by giving all his strength to the arrow that demarcated Iran and Turan, shot his arrow from Mount Damavand.[11]This Persian legend was celebrated every year in theTiregan festival. A popular feast is reported to have been held in the city of Damavand on 7 Shawwal 1230, or in Gregorian calendar, 31 August 1815. During the alleged feast the people celebrated the anniversary of Zahak's death.[11] In the Zoroastrian legends, the tyrant Zahak is to finally be killed by the Iranian hero Garshaspbefore the final days.[11]
In some Middle Persian texts, Rey is given as the birthplace of Zoroaster,[12] although modern historians generally place the birth of Zoroaster in Khorasan. In one Persian tradition, the legendary king Manuchehr was also born in Damavand.[11]
There is also a shrine there, dedicated to commemorate Princess
Shahr Banu, eldest daughter of the last ruler of the
Sassanid Empire. She gave birth to
Ali Zayn al Abidin (PBUH), the fourth holy Imam of the
Shia Islam. This was through her marriage to
Hussain ibn Ali (PBUH), the grandson of prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Tehran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rey, Iran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zagros (Kermanshah)
Signs of early agriculture date back as far as 9000 BC to the foothills of the Zagros Mountains,[13] in cities later named Anshan and Susa. Jarmo is one archaeological site in this area. Shanidar, where the ancient skeletal remains of Neanderthals have been found, is another.
Some of the earliest evidence of wine production has been discovered in the Zagros Mountains; both the settlements of Hajji Firuz Tepe and Godin Tepe have given evidence of wine storage dating between 3500 and 5400 BC.[14]
During early ancient times, the Zagros was the home of peoples such as the Kassites, Guti, Assyrians, Elamites andMitanni, who periodically invaded the Sumerian and/orAkkadian cities of Mesopotamia. The mountains create a geographic barrier between the flatlands of Mesopotamia, which is in Iraq, and the Iranian plateau. A small archive ofclay tablets detailing the complex interactions of these groups in the early second millennium BC has been found at Tell Shemshara along the Little Zab.[15] Tell Bazmusian, near Shemshara, was occupied between the sixth millennium BCE and the ninth century CE, although not continuously.[16]
Zagros Mountains - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kashan
Archeological discoveries in the Sialk Hillocks which lie 4 km west of Kashan reveal that this region was one of the primary centers of civilization in pre-historic ages. Hence Kashan dates back to the Elamite period of Iran. The Sialk ziggurat still stands today in the suburbs of Kashan after 7,000 years.
The artifacts uncovered at Sialk reside in the Louvre in Paris and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Iran's National Museum.
Sialk, and the entire area around it, is thought to have first originated as a result of the pristine large water sources nearby that still run today. The Cheshmeh ye Soleiman (or "Solomon's Spring") has been bringing water to this area from nearby mountains for thousands of years.
By some accounts although not all Kashan was the origin of the three wise men who followed the star that guided them to Bethlehem to witness the nativity of Jesus, as recounted in the Bible.[3] Whatever the historical validity of this story, the attribution of Kashan as their original home testifies to the city's prestige at the time the story was set down.
Sultan Malik Shah I of the Seljuk dynasty ordered the building of a fortress in the middle of Kashan in the 11th century. The fortress walls, called Ghal'eh Jalali still stand today in central Kashan.
Kashan was also a leisure vacation spot for SafaviKings. Bagh-e Fin (Fin Garden), specifically, is one of the most famous gardens of Iran. This beautiful garden with its pool and orchards was designed for Shah Abbas I as a classical Persian vision of paradise. The original Safavid buildings have been substantially replaced and rebuilt by the Qajar dynasty although the layout of trees and marble basins is close to the original. The garden itself however, was first founded 7000 years ago alongside the Cheshmeh-ye-Soleiman. The garden is also notorious as the site of the murder of Mirza Taghi Khan known as Amir Kabir, chancellor of Nasser-al-Din Shah, Iran's King in 1852.
Kashan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tepe Sialk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chogha Mish
Tappeh-ye Choghā Mīsh (Persian language; ČOḠĀ MĪŠ) dating back to 6800 BC, is the site of a Chalcolithicsettlement in Western Iran, located in the Khuzistan Province on the Susiana Plain. It was occupied at the beginning of 6800 BC and continuously from the Neolithicup to the Proto-Literate period.
Musicians portrayed on pottery found at Chogha Mish
Chogha Mish was a regional center during the late Uruk period of Mesopotamia and is important today for information about the development of writing. At Chogha Mish, evidence begins with an accounting system using clay tokens, over time changing to clay tablets with marks, finally to the cuneiform writing system.
Chogha Mish - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chogha Bonut - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marhasi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Haft Tepe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chogha Zanbil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Signs of 9000-year-old settlement found in Iran's Behbahan
Zayandeh River (Ispahan)
Zayandeh River Culture (تمدن زاینده رود, literally "Zāyandé-Rūd Civilization") is a hypothetical pre-historic culture that is theorized to have flourished around the Zayandeh River in Ispahan province of Iran in 6,000 BC.
Archaeologists speculate that a possible early civilizationexisted along the banks of the Zayandeh River, developing at the same time as other ancient civilizations appeared alongside rivers in the region.
Link with Sialk and Marvdasht civilizations
During the 2006 excavations, the Iranian archaeologistsuncovered some artifacts that they linked to those from Sialk and Marvdasht.[2]
Zayandeh River Culture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shahdad (Kerman)
Shahdad (Persian: شهداد) is a city in and the capital of Shahdad District, in Kerman County, Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 4,097, in 1,010 families.
Shahdad is the centre of Shahdad district which includes smaller cities and villages such as Sirch, Anduhjerd, Chehar Farsakh, Go-diz, Keshit, Ibrahim Abad, Joshan and Dehseif.
The driving distance from Kermancity to Shahdad is 95 km. Shahdad is located at the edge of the Lut desert. The local climate is hot and dry. The main agricultural produce is date fruits.
Ancient bronze flag, Shahdad Kerman, Iran
There are many castles and caravanserais at Shahdad and around. Examples are the Shafee Abaad castle and the Godeez castle. North of town the Aratta civilization villageand dwarf humans are said to have existed since 6,000 BC. Sharain of emam Zadeh Zeyd, south of town, is the most respected religious site of Shahdad.
The oldest metal flag in human history was found in this city.
Shahdad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tepe Yahya
Tepe Yahya is an archaeological site in Kermān Province,Iran, some 220 km south of Kerman city, 90 km south of Baft city and 90 km south-west of Jiroft.
Habitation spans the 6th to 2nd millennia BCE and the 10th to 4th centuries BCE. In the 3rd millennium BCE, the city was a production center of chlorite pottery which were exported to Mesopotamia. In this period, the area was under Elamite influence, and tablets with Proto-Elamite inscriptions were found. [1]
The site is a circular mound, around 20 meters in height and around 187 meters in diameter. [2] It was excavated in six seasons from 1967 to 1975 by the American School of Prehistoric Research of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Harvard University in a joint operation with what is now the Shiraz University. The expedition was under the direction of C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky.
Periodization is as follows:
Period I Sasanian pre: 200 BC-400 A.D.
Period II Achaemenian(?): 275-500 B.C.
Period III Iron Age: 500-1000 B.C.
Period IV A Elamite?: 2200-2500 B.C.
IV B Proto-Elamite: 2500-3000 B.C.
IV C Proto-Elamite: 3000-3400 B.C.
Period V Yahya Culture: 3400-3800 B.C.
Period VI Coarse Ware-Neolithic: 3800-4500 B.C.
Period VII: 4500-5500 B.C.
Tepe Yahya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Susa
Susa (ˈsuːsə/; Persian: شوشShush; [ʃuʃ]; Hebrew שׁוּשָׁן Shushān;Greek: Σοῦσα [ˈsuːsa]; Syriac: ܫܘܫShush; Old Persian Çūšā) was an ancient city of the Elamite, First Persian Empire and Parthianempires of Iran. It is located in the lower Zagros Mountains about 250 km (160 mi) east of the Tigris River, between the Karkheh andDez Rivers.
The modern Iranian town of Shush is located at the site of ancient Susa. Shush is the administrative capital of the Shush County of Iran's Khuzestan province. It had a population of 64,960 in 2005.[1]
Map showing the area of the Elamite kingdom (in red) and the neighboring areas. The approximate Bronze Age extension of the Persian Gulf is shown.
In historic literature, Susa appears in the very earliest Sumerian records: for example, it is described as one of the places obedient to Inanna, patron deity of Uruk, in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta.
Susa is also mentioned in the Ketuvim of the Hebrew Bibleby the name Shushan, mainly in Esther, but also once each in Nehemiah and Daniel. Both Daniel and Nehemiah lived in Susa during the Babylonian captivity of the 6th century BCE. Esther became queen there, and saved the Jews from genocide. A tomb presumed to be that of Daniel is located in the area, known as Shush-Daniel. The tomb is marked by an unusual white stone cone, which is neither regular nor symmetric. Many scholars believe it was at one point aStar of David. Susa is further mentioned in the Book of Jubilees (8:21 & 9:2) as one of the places within the inheritance of Shem and his eldest son Elam; and in 8:1, "Susan" is also named as the son (or daughter, in some translations) of Elam.
Greek mythology attributed the founding of Susa to kingMemnon of Aethiopia, a character from Homer's Trojan War epic, the Iliad.
Proto-Elamite
In urban history, Susa is one of the oldest-known settlements of the region. Based on C14 dating, the foundation of a settlement there occurred as early as 4395 BCE (a calibrated radio-carbon date).[2] Archeologists have dated the first traces of an inhabited Neolithic village to c 7000 BCE. Evidence of a painted-pottery civilization has been dated to c 5000 BCE.[3] Its name in Elamite was written variously Ŝuŝan, Ŝuŝun, etc. The origin of the wordSusa is from the local city deity Inshushinak. Like itsChalcolithic neighbor Uruk, Susa began as a discrete settlement in the Susa I period (c 4000 BCE). Two settlements called Acropolis (7 ha) and Apadana (6.3 ha) by archeologists, would later merge to form Susa proper (18 ha).[4] The Apadana was enclosed by 6m thick walls oframmed earth. The founding of Susa corresponded with the abandonment of nearby villages. Potts suggests that the city may have been founded to try to reestablish the previously destroyed settlement at Chogha Mish.[4] Susa was firmly within the Uruk cultural sphere during the Uruk period. An imitation of the entire state apparatus of Uruk,proto-writing, cylinder seals with Sumerian motifs, and monumental architecture, is found at Susa. Susa may have been a colony of Uruk. As such, the periodization of Susa corresponds to Uruk; Early, Middle and Late Susa II periods (3800–3100 BCE) correspond to Early, Middle, and Late Uruk periods.
By the middle Susa II period, the city had grown to 25 ha.[4]Susa III (3100–2900 BCE) corresponds with Uruk III period. Ambiguous reference to Elam (Cuneiform; NIM) appear also in this period in Sumerian records. Susa enters history during the Early Dynastic period of Sumer. A battle between Kish and Susa is recorded in 2700 BCE.
Susa Cemetery
Shortly after Susa was first settled 6000 years ago, its inhabitants erected a temple on a monumental platform that rose over the flat surrounding landscape. The exceptional nature of the site is still recognizable today in the artistry of the ceramic vessels that were placed as offerings in a thousand or more graves near the base of the temple platform. Nearly two thousand pots were recovered from the cemetery most of them now in theLouvre. The vessels found are eloquent testimony to the artistic and technical achievements of their makers, and they hold clues about the organization of the society that commissioned them.[5] Painted ceramic vessels from Susa in the earliest first style are a late, regional version of the Mesopotamian Ubaid ceramic tradition that spread across the Near East during the fifth millennium B.C.[5]
Susa I style was very much a product of the past and of influences from contemporary ceramic industries in the mountains of western Iran. The recurrence in close association of vessels of three types—a drinking goblet or beaker, a serving dish, and a small jar—implies the consumption of three types of food, apparently thought to be as necessary for life in the afterworld as it is in this one. Ceramics of these shapes, which were painted, constitute a large proportion of the vessels from the cemetery. Others are course cooking-type jars and bowls with simple bands painted on them and were probably the grave goods of the sites of humbler citizens as well as adolescents and, perhaps, children.[6] The pottery is carefully made by hand. Although a slow wheel may have been employed, the asymmetry of the vessels and the irregularity of the drawing of encircling lines and bands indicate that most of the work was done freehand.
Susa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia