Tombs of the Achaemenid kings

The unpleasant encounter with an Iranian conman didn’t dampen our stay in Shiraz. The next day saw us hiring a cab to Naqsh-e Rustam, an archaeological site located about 12 km northwest of Persepolis, in Fars province, Iran. The place was so called because of a relief of a man with an unusual cap Iranians believed to be a depiction of the mythical hero Rostam, the same Rustum, whom had been killed by his own son I think, whom I had read about during my childhood. One of the highlights there was of course the tombs of the Achaemenid kings which are carved out of the rock face. They are all at a considerable height above the ground and are known locally as the 'Persian crosses', after the shape of the facades of the tombs. The tombs had been identified by an accompanying inscription to be the tomb of Darius I (r. 522-486 BCE). The other three tombs are believed to be those of Xerxes I (r. 486-465 BCE), Artaxerxes I (r. 465-424 BCE), and Darius II (r. 423-404 BCE) respectively while a fifth unfinished one might be that of Artaxerxes III, who reigned at the longest two years or that of the last Achaemenid king, Darius III (r. 336-330 BCE).





Tombs of the Achaemenid Kings...



Ka'ba-ye Zartosht.....


The Sassanid reliefs...



Comments

Great blog!!! I love the photos and commentary.

JJ:D
footiam said…
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Maxx said…
Nice blog!I will come again ;)
footiam said…
Yes, come again and again please!
Lady Of Persia said…
Dear Sir
I hope U enjoyed ur visit in Iran. I read your entry and I realized that U have a mistake about Rustam.
Rustam is a hero mentioned in Shahnameh a masterpiece wrote by Ferdowsi. Rustam was a warrior so he hadn't enought time to spend with his wife as he left his wife the day after their marriage and gave his wife a BRACHIAL in case of having a son , to give it to their son. he left his wife without knowing that she's PERGNANT . she named their son Soharab. sohrab grew without knowing his father and be came a warrior as his father was and in a battle he had a fight with Rustam and get killed by his father (so Sohrab was killed by his father (rustam)) and after that (many years) Rustam got killed by his brother Shoghaad. I hope u excuse me for my gramatical mistakes. and hope u fing my entry usefull. Thanks for ur interest in Iran and hope u have more visits.
footiam said…
Thanks for the clarification. It's the other way round I see, the father killed the son, not the son killed the father. Thanks! By the way, your English is not bad and yes, I enjoyed visiting Iran. Do come again!