Shushtar’s waterworks in Iran

Lately, pictures of the Shushtar waterworks in Central Iran keep circulating, underscoring that they are registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. More importantly, they have been dated back to the 5^th century BC and were probably initiated by King Darius the Great. 

[Picture from Wikipedia]

Localizing Shushtar on a map is one thing, but linking it to a known city or river is another matter. Then I read that the water was diverted from the Karun River using manmade canals dug through the natural rock. 

The Karun River rings a bell as I spent a night in the city of Ahwaz, not far from Susa, and could see this river from my hotel room (see: The Zagros Mountains and the Persian Gates in Alexander’s footsteps). The memorable city of Susa (see: Susa with its unique glazed brick walls), where Alexander organized his lavish wedding ceremony in 324 BC, lies no more than three kilometers away from the Karun River (Pasitigris in antiquity), and joins the Tigris River further south. In those days, these waterways were navigable and a priceless connection to the Persian Gulf. 

The above makes me believe that Alexander must have seen this intricate water complex. Thanks to a systems of qanats (see: The qanats, one of the greatest inventions of mankind), the river provided water for domestic use and irrigation of the surrounding agricultural fields. Surprisingly, the main crop was sugar cane. 

Over the centuries, the infrastructure was improved with more canals, tunnels, dams, and watermills. In the early years of the Sassanid Empire, starting in 224 AD, Shushtar occupied an island in the middle of the Karun River and became the summer capital of the kings. The city was reachable from the east, west, and south through entrance gates and bridge crossings. 

Three large dams were built by the Sassanids between 224 and 651 AD. They regulated the river and the manmade channel’s flow to supply water to the city and cultural land around it. 

The largest dam, constructed by Roman soldiers and engineers, was about 500 meters long. It dates from 260 AD, shortly after the glorious victory of King Shapur I over the Roman Emperor Valerian (see: Sassanid reliefs tell a story of their own). The dam was the core structure of the Shushtar Water System. It is said to be the most eastern Roman construction of its kind. The bridge with Roman arches supported the road that led from Pasargadae to Ctesiphon, the capital of the Sassanid Empire (now in Iraq). 

To prevent erosion, the riverbed above the dam was paved with large slabs tied together with iron clamps. 

[Picture from Tehran Times]

The pictures of Shushtar reveal how impressive these waterworks were. Later Arab conquerors defined Shushtar as one of the wonders of the world.

Who were the Parthians?

The name of the Parthians often raises questions, and their territory is hard to define. Scholars have established that the tribe of the Parthians may be closely linked to the Scythians who lived southeast of the Caspian Sea. 

The Parthians appeared in history after the death of Alexander the Great, when Seleucos inherited the largest portion of the lands he had conquered in the east, from the eastern Mediterranean to Bactria and India. Seleucos kept the existing Persian governing system of satraps in place, and at an early stage, Parthia became one of its satrapies. 

Seleucos founded the Seleucid Empire and soon discovered that ruling such a vast territory was a nearly impossible task. As the empire weakened, the Parthians revolted and established their independence. 

The first king of Parthia was Arsaces, who came to power in 247 BC. Not for long, as the Seleucid King Antiochus III managed to reconquer Parthia in 209 BC from Arsaces’ son, the new king Arsaces II. For some unknown reason, Antiochus did not want to kill his enemy and established him instead as satrap. This did not sit well with the Parthian nobility, and as soon as Antiochus left for Syria, they deposed Arsaces II and proclaimed Phriapatius as their new king in 191 BC. 

Meanwhile, the Romans subdued Antiochus III according to the Treaty of Apamea, signed in 188 BC. Now that the Seleucid King was no longer a threat, Phriapatius’ son, Phraates, took heart and conquered the territories between Hyrcania in the east and Media in the southwest. He created a solid base for his brother Mithridates, who succeeded him on the throne in 171 BC. 

At this point, Parthia started a new era. Mithridates conquered the Bactrian kingdom in 168 BC and then turned west. He took Media from Phraates in 151 BC and then focused on Mesopotamia. He captured the capital city of Seleucia, followed by Babylon in 141 BC, and Susa three years later. 

Phraates II, Mithridates’ son, continued the fight for power. A worthy successor to his father, but his power was short-lived as he soon died in an attempt to stop a Scythian mutiny. From then onward, Parthia would be torn by successive uprisings and battles. After the death of Phraates II, Parthia was ruled by his uncle, Artabanus I, who crushed several revolts in his short life. 

His son, Mithridates II, in turn, would become Parthia’s greatest ruler (124-91 BC). He strengthened his position in Bactria, Mesopotamia, Characene (on the Iran-Iraq border where Alexander had founded Alexandria-on-the-Tigris, modern Charax Spasinou), and the realm of Babylon. He also annexed the lands of Albania and Armenia, together with the vital Syrian city of Dura-Europos on the Euphrates. Roughly, the Parthian Empire now stretched from the Mediterranean all the way to China! 

No wonder Parthia was very much coveted by the rising Roman Empire and lost several territories, including Armenia. The tables were turned in 53 BC when Crassus invaded Parthia near Carrhae (see: Harran, better known under its Roman name Carrhae) and lost. Rome suffered a severe psychological blow. The situation worsened when Marc Antony was defeated in 32 BC in an effort to keep hold of Armenia. After decades of constant fighting, Emperor Augustus secured a peace agreement with King Phraates IV in 20 BC. Instead of fighting each other, both rulers agreed to unite their efforts against enemies outside their borders. 

No treaty lasted forever, and after several skirmishes back and forth, Emperor Trajan invaded Mesopotamia in 115 AD, looting the capital cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon. At about the same time, Parthia was invaded on its eastern border by the Kushans, who established their empire in Bactria. 

However, two years later, Parthia, now ruled by Vologases IV, was invaded by Hadrian, Trajan’s successor. Lucius Verus, the adopted son of Marcus Aurelius, followed suit and sacked Seleucia and Ctesiphon once again. The Parthians managed somehow to expel the Romans, but like a Jack-in-the-Box, they returned in 198 AD. 

This time, Emperor Septimius Severus invaded Mesopotamia and marched down to take the Parthian-held cities of Seleucia, Babylon, and Ctesiphon. It makes one wonder how often cities are destroyed and rebuilt over the centuries. 

I now better understand the significance of the Severan bridge I crossed many years ago on my way to Mount Nemrud. At that time, I wondered what could have been so important in this god-forsaken, steaming hot land to need a bridge! It crossed the Cedere River, a tributary of the Euphrates. It is possibly the second-largest still-existing Roman bridge, with a length of 120 meters and a span of 34 meters. Two Corinthian columns of 9-10 meters guard either side of the bridge. One set is erected in honor of Septimius Severus and his wife Julia Domna, and the other for their two sons, Caracalla and Geta.

 

The weakened Parthian Empire finally collapsed when it was overthrown by King Ardashir, the founder of the Sassanid Empire, in 224 AD. That is another story altogether (see: Sassanid reliefs tell a story of their own in Persia).

Sassanid art in pictures

The Sassanids ruled over Iran from 224 AD until the Arabs took over in the 7^th century AD. This is a far cry from the empire of Darius III that Alexander conquered. Yet, it is an interesting time frame altogether since the Sassanids drew their inspiration from the earlier Achaemenid rule (see: Sassanid reliefs tell a story of their own in Persia).

This era left its imprints all over Persia, as can be seen in the rock-carved reliefs of Naqs-i Rajab and Naqsh-i Rustam close to Persepolis, Tang-i Tchogan at Bishapur and Taq-iBostan near Kermanshah. Also, the temples of goddess Anahita, both in Bishapur and in Kangavar show a mixture of Sassanid and Hellenistic influences (see: The powerful goddess Anahita in Persia).

[Picture from Tehran Times]

Presently, the Italian University of Sapienza in Rome has worked together with the Anahita Temple National Center in Kangavar to exhibit photographs on arts and monuments, together with architectural works from across the province of Kermanshah in western Iran. The pictures include views of the ruins of the Anahita Temple in Kangavar as well as of the Palace of Khosrow Parviz in Qasr-e Shirin.

The Iranian collaboration with the Italian experts has centered on Anahita’s sanctuary in Kangavar as discussed earlier in my blog The powerful goddess Anahita in Persia.

Also highlighted is the Palace of the Sassanid King Ardashir in Firuzabad that displays the unique dome construction known as the squinch. This architectural feature consists of building a dome on top of a square base. It may well be the earliest surviving example and could indicate that the squinch was actually invented in Persia.

The imposing palace of Ctesiphon or Hatra (now in modern Iraq) is much better known because of a sizable vaulted arch. This city was built by the Parthians in the 2^nd century BC as the capital of their empire. Ctesiphon/Hatra was conquered by the Sassanids in 226 AD, who turned it into a true metropolis worthy to serve as their capital. I seem to remember that the arch or at least the human heads in the surrounding walls were attacked by IS fanatics, but I couldn’t find a confirmation to that end.

Little information about the Sassanid empire transpires beyond the borders of modern Iraq and Iran, despite the grand cities these kings built using their precious craftsmanship as metal workers and gem engravers. They also took care of translating much of the existing western and eastern literature into Pahlavi, the Sassanid language.

The most important temple of Anahita at Istakhr

In an earlier blog (see: The powerful goddess Anahita in Persia), I took a closer look at the goddess Anahita originating in Central Asia and later worshiped throughout Persia to the end of the Sassanid rule. A few centuries later, the Islam annihilated whatever was left of the goddess’ rich legacy. Yet her spirit lived on thanks to the Zoroastrian believers.

The city of Istakhr (also spelled as Estakr) is to be found five kilometers north of Persepolis but is rarely visited. It may well have been a suburb of the Achaemenid royal residences of Persepolis. Not much remains of this settlement and even less of the once so grand temple. As early as the 4^th century BC, Artaxerxes II, erected a statue in honor of Anahita or Anaitis as the Greeks called her, and placed it inside the temple among other goddesses.

Anahita’s best-known temples are those located of Kangavar, near ancient Ecbatana, and at Bishapur. But the most important sanctuary, however, stood here at Istakhr near Persepolis. Sadly, all that remains of this Temple of Anahita in Istakhr is one uninspiring column with part of its double-headed bull capital. Many of the Achaemenid columns were re-used in the construction of an early mosque that probably replaced the Fire Temple. 

[Picture kindly shared with me by Robbert Bosschart]

In its heyday, the Achaemenid city of Istakhr was an important starting point on the ancient caravan route to the Indus Valley, which ran through the Southeastern Provinces of Sistan and Kandahar. According to the Arab sources mentioned hereafter, the temple had been ravaged by the Macedonians. It is possible that this happened when Alexander’s soldiers rampaged through the city of Persepolis (see: Fire over Persepolis), but that still remains unclear.

During the Parthian Empire (247 BC–224 AD), the sacred fire of the temple of Anahita was kept burning.

The Sassanids, who came to power in 224 AD, rebuilt Istakhr, apparently using much of Persepolis’ rubble. King Ardashir (224-242 AD), promoted the city as his first capital till it was replaced by Ctesiphon. The empire’s treasury, however, remained in Istakhr.

The temple survived for centuries as “the house of Anahid’s fire” and it seems that most, if not all the Sassanid kings were crowned at this temple.

In 640 AD, Istakhr was attacked by the Arabs. Shiraz was founded in 684, and eventually replaced Istakhr, whose power was broken. 

The Arab traveler, historian and geographer Al-Mas’udi, also known as the Herodotus of the Arabs, visited the temple of Istakhr in the 10th century AD. He described it with the following words: ”It stood, …, at the foot of a mountain, where the imprisoned wind made a noise like thunder, night and day’” … “ still standing, “pillars, made from blocks of astonishing size, surmounted by curious figures in stone representing horses and other animals, of gigantic shapes and proportions" (text copied from the Encyclopaedia Iranica). 

The city of Istakhr was last documented in numismatics with a dinar issued in 1063 AD. Over the course of time, the temple sank into oblivion.

An Alexandria in Kurdistan - Iraq?

Two and a half thousand years after his death, the name of Alexander is still making good PR. As soon as some ruins or artifacts are being found somewhere near the presumed route the conqueror took during his campaign through Asia, there is a rush to connect them to Alexander. Maybe wrongly, maybe rightfully so – time will tell.

The lakeside site was discovered by a team of Iraqi and 

British archaeologists led by experts from the British Museum - From Phys.org.

The spot this time is situated in northern Iraq, actually in the Kurdish region near the city of Qalatga Darband which according to some daring researchers could be a city founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC. Qalatga Darband is located a good one hundred kilometers east of the battlefield of Gaugamela, meaning that the assumption is not entirely improbable. Other theories link the site to the late Hellenistic era or even to the transition period from Hellenism to Parthian rule. The very name translates into Kurdish as “Castle of the Mountain Pass”, a strategic location where the Little  Zab River cuts through the mountain range to empty eventually into the Tigris River.

Qalatga Darband was discovered in 1973, but excavations in this troubled region started  first by the French in 2013 followed by the British in 2016 who used the terrain to train Iraqi archaeologists. Unfortunately the latest unrest after the Kurdish referendum for independence has forced the last foreign experts to leave.

The once so proud archaeological tradition in Iraq is in a very poor state after the Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf War and more recently the invasion of IS. Many sites have been looted or simply bulldozed, meaning that history has been obliterated altogether. Others remain inaccessible and based on aerial and satellite surveys there are still many more to be explored. But the days of excavations by foreign nations are no longer acceptable and the Iraqis will have to do it themselves – hence the training mission of the British Museum that is set to run until 2020.

In the meantime, the discovery of two statues at Qalatga Darband seem to indicate that the site was once a thriving hub on the route from Greece to Mesopotamia and Persia – possibly linking it to Alexander because one of the unearthed statues could be his portrait (a second statue looks like Aphrodite). Of course, it will take far more research and excavations in order to confirm the link with Alexander as there are many gaps in the facts and figures that came to us.

The grass-grown walls of Qalatga Darband, running down to Lake Dokan. 

The fortifications defended the western border of the young Parthian Empire. In the foreground is one of the square towers under excavation. 

Photograph: Mary Shepperson/by permission of The British Museum - From The Guardian

The Kurdish region seems to be rich in archaeological sites as satellite images have found some 354 sites! One of the images taken near Qalatga Darband  and shared in the article from The Guardian shows an overgrown fortification wall interrupted every twenty meters or so by a square projecting tower – a very tempting project!

In the end, I’m afraid that Qalatga Darband is not high on the list of researchers and archaeologists as bigger names from history will claim priority once the staff is properly trained. After all, Iraq is home to rich historical sites like Nimrud, Ctesiphon, Nineveh, Ur, Uruk, Babylon, Borsippa, Hatra, and Seleucia-on-the-Tigris to name just a handful.

The glorious days of Palmyra

My first view of Palmyra was at nightfall when the entire city was bathed in floodlights. My eyes could not take in this fascinating scenery; it was a mere flash, a snapshot of columns and arches, of waving and fluted lines, of temples and streets whose warm tones strongly contrasted with the black velvet night sky. The mirage disappeared in the blink of an eye, but tomorrow looked most promising!

This city, which the Arabs called Tadmor, is not mentioned in Alexander’s history and was strangely enough ignored by the succeeding Seleucids who ruled over Greater Syria from 305 BC till it was annexed by Rome in 63 BC. Even at that time, it already had a long history going back to the second millennium BC as mentioned in the clay tablets found at Mari as well as in the Bible as part of Solomon’s realm. The oasis of Palmyra was generally an independent city, ideally located at the heart of the Syrian Desert, an important crossroad of several trade routes on the Silk Road. In other words, a strategic place that was most envied by the Roman Emperors.

For the next one hundred years, business boomed thanks to Palmyra’s intensive trading with Persia, India, and China and even with the Parthians who for many years were the enemies of Rome. The well-traveled Emperor Hadrian inevitably visited Palmyra in 129 AD and he was so much taken by this city that he renamed it Palmyra Hadriana and declared it independent. Unfortunately, the good days did not last and in 212 it became a Roman colony. From then onward it played a mere military role and its trading regressed, especially when the Sassanids occupied the lands between Tigris and Euphrates in the third century AD.

However, in 256/257 Palmyra’s King Odenathus (Septimus Edeinat) was held in high esteem by the Roman Emperor Valerian who appointed him Consul and Governor of the province Syria-Phoenicia that belonged to Palmyra since 194 AD. A few years later, Valerian was killed by the Sassanids (see: Sassanid reliefs tell a story of their own in Persia) and apparently, Odenathus felt morally obligated to revenge the emperor’s death. He pursued the Sassanids to their capital Ctesiphon, situated on the Tigris River, on the opposite bank of Seleucia, but failed to take the city.

At this period of time, Palmyra had reached its glory, much to the chagrin of Rome, and Odenathus was murdered under obscure circumstances. His wife, Queen Zenobia took over and ruled in the name of her minor son Vaballath. Zenobia was a tough lady who caused quite a stir in history. Classical as well as Arabic sources describe her as handsome and intelligent, with dark skin, pearly-white teeth, and sharp black eyes. She is said to be more beautiful than Cleopatra, yet very chaste. Zenobia could ride a horse like a man, and on hunting or drinking parties she stood her man. She also was very learned, fluent in Arabic, Greek, Aramean, and Egyptian, and had a good knowledge of Latin. She was a sophisticated hostess and entertained philosophers and poets, among whom the famous Cassius Longinus. This Longinus wrote especially for her one of his masterpieces in which he integrated now lost parts of love poems by Sappho of Lesbos, who composed them in the 6^th century BC.

Zenobia also was very ambitious and extended her territory to the west, occupying Bosra, and in 269-270 she even marched all the way to Egypt; on the way back she took the harbor of Antioch-on-the-Orontes. She even managed to annex a big part of Anatolia including Ancyra (Ankara) in her empire. As can be expected, the Romans were not grateful for her interference and in 272 Emperor Aurelian took Antioch-on-the-Orontes back, followed by Emesa (Homs) and finally also Palmyra. Zenobia tried to escape by fleeing across the Euphrates but she was captured and taken to Rome, together with her son, Vaballath.

Vaballath probably died on the way to Rome. In 274 Zenobia appears in golden chains during Aurelian’s triumphal march through Rome. Out of pity but also taken by her beauty and pride, he granted Zenobia her freedom and installed her in an elegant villa at Tibur (today’s Tivoli, Italy), where she lived under her Roman name of Iulia (or Julia) Aurelia Zenobia. She spent her days in wealth and became a prominent philosopher, hostess, and Roman matron. She married a Roman governor and senator whose name is not known, giving him several daughters who all married into prominent Roman families. Some sources mention that Zenobia committed suicide after Aurelian’s defeat, but that is not very credible. A great number of her descendants have been traced to far into the 4^th and 5^th centuries.

In the meantime, Palmyra had not been entirely forgotten. Emperor Diocletian enlarged the city to install his Roman legions in all comfort and built a city wall to protect them against a possible invasion by the Sassanids from Persia. Later the Byzantines constructed several churches, but after the conquest by the Arabs Palmyra played only a marginal role.

It is still early and bone-chilling when I arrive at the site of Palmyra on this November day in 2009. The blistering wind chases freely through the colonnades and ruins but strangely enough, the surrounding hills remain shrouded in a low foggy veil – an eerie scenery. For a moment I pause to get my bearings and it all seems too much to take in, so many columns, stones, arches, walls, streets, remains, etc. I am totally overwhelmed and have to kick myself to move on.

My visit starts at the eastern city gate, very appropriately called the Monumental Arch, consisting of three Roman arches of which the middle one is the largest and leads immediately to the unpaved main street. We owe this arch to Septimius Severus (193-211 AD) who ingeniously built it with a twist to cover up the 30-degrees-angle between the Decumanus on one side of the arch and the Temple of Nebo on the other side. Nebo or Nabo was the Mesopotamian god of oracles, later assimilated with Apollo – hence the importance of this Temple. The remains are still imposing with its columns along the temenos in reserved Doric style, while the columns of the Temple itself are enhanced with Corinthian capitals.

With wide open eyes, I set foot on the Great Colonnade Street or Decumanus with its wonderful 10-meter-high monolithic columns crowned with Corinthian capitals. Each column has an empty pedestal where rich or prominent gentiles could place their likeness against payment that is. Public Relations even in those days were an important tool!

Then I come across the Baths of Zenobia, a rather large bathing complex where the Frigidarium as well as the Tepidarium, and the Caldarium are clearly recognizable. At the entrance, there are four remarkable pink granite monolithic columns, which with their Corinthian capitals stand in pleasant contrast with the white-pinkish stones used for the construction of the Baths.

On the opposite side of the street, I find the remains of the theater which looks too small for a city like Palmyra. Appearances are deceptive for originally this theater from the 2^nd century AD must have counted at least 30 tiers of seats but only nine have survived. The stage with the entire skena however is still in excellent condition. The theater has obviously been restored to be used for local festivals. The high stone wall around the orchestra indicates that it was also used for wild animal fights, a favorite sport of the Romans.

At an angle lies the Agora, also from the 2^nd century, complete with its annexes. The market area is well preserved as are a number of the surrounding shops and buildings. It is always exciting to discover that besides the original columns, the 2,000 years-old walls of the building have survived, including their windows and doorframes.

Elegant typical Roman arches are still marking the crossroads along this Great Colonnade Street, and that’s how I reach the Tetrapylon, a group of four times four columns. Only one of the sixteen pink granite columns is original, imported all the way from Aswan in Egypt. The other columns are modern copies but clearly illustrate the key position of this Tetrapylon at the bend in the Great Colonnade Street. This 1200-meter-long street or Decumanus although very impressive, is however shorter than the main street at Apamea (see: Apamea, heritage of Alexander), which I found more impressive. It may seem strange that this street was never paved but the reason therefore is that the camels needed a comfortable passage through the city – an animal-friendly consideration! With its porticoes and sidewalks, this Decumanus was exceptionally wide and measured nothing less than 23 meters! This avenue alone would be worth the visit.

On the sidewalk, I discover a long row of connecting pipes belonging to an aqueduct. An awkward place, but not so when you realize that this aqueduct ran on top of the colonnade along the Decumanus. The image brings back memories of the grand aqueduct of Aspendos (see: Aspendos the unfaithful) in Turkey where I saw these elements for the first time.

And that is how I reach the columns carrying the inscriptions of Zenobia, a bilingual text in Greek and Palmyrean. On one of the columns, one can read that it was dedicated by the rulers of Tadmor to their king and master Odenathus. The other column was dedicated to Septimia Bath-Zabbai (in Greek, Zenobia), their religious and saintly queen.

From afar the Citadel with the Arabian fortress probably built in the 13^th century by the Mameluks controls the landscape. However, what we see here dates mainly from the early 17^th century when Emir Fakhr-ud-Ding-ibn-Ma’ani occupied what is now Syria and Lebanon, and constructed several strongholds as a defense against the Ottomans. It is a constant backdrop in between the columns and streets of Palmyra and a photogenic one for that matter.

Walking northwards, I stop at the Temple of Baal-Shamin, the god of rain and fertility. It was built around 150 AD and is very well preserved because the Byzantines converted it into a church. It is a cozy temple that somehow reminds me of the Temple of Nike high on the Acropolis in Athens, except that it has Corinthian columns and a window in the sidewall. The inside is very inviting with the antique naos in the back, now a semi-circular apse with slender columns. It is a lovely spot, in the shade of a young tree that grows within its sheltering walls.

Keeping the best for last is a visit to the magnificent Temple of Bel that I treated in a separate blog (see: The Temple of Bel at Palmyra – In Memoriam).

A visit is not complete without a stop at one of the many tower tombs with their underground Hypogea. I have never seen anything like it, but there always is a first time for everything. After the Valley of the Queens in Egypt, this is the largest and most impressive collection of tombs. Surprisingly the entire landscape between the city walls of Palmyra and the surrounding hills is dotted with square towers or remains thereof, containing burial sites underground as well as above ground. They generally can be dated to between the 9^th century BC and the 2^nd century AD. I am told there are as many as 150 tombs, a significant number. Yet I have no idea what to expect.

The tower tomb of the Elahbel Family from 103 AD seems to be the most popular, and that is no wonder. I step inside a rather large rectangular room, deeper than it is wide and pretty high as well. The ceiling is still intact and is made of colorful starry caissons with at its center four portraits of the founders set against a bright blue background. What a beauty! The long side walls are meant to receive the remains of the dead in one of the four stories high slots. In this way, there was enough space for future generations, at least 300 family members. The vertical pillars separating the rows are fluted and crowned with a Corinthian capital. To the left of the entrance door is a staircase that leads to the upper floor, meaning that access to the superposed niches was easy enough.

Unfortunately, I am running out of time and I have to skip the less impressive remains on the north-western side of Palmyra with the Temple of Allat, the Temple with the Emblems, the Grave Temple, the Camp of Diocletian and especially the Oval Forum – although I was curious whether it was as big as the one at Gerasa (Jerash) in Jordan; probably not since I haven’t seen any pictures so far.

Yes, I am one of the lucky few to have seen this great and glorious city with my own eyes. The famous Temple of Bel (see: The Temple of Bel at Palmyra – In Memoriam) survived wars and conflicts for nearly two thousand years to shine in all its glory. This glory is gone now in 2015 as this great sanctuary and many other precious buildings have been blasted to dust. A part of the world’s history has been annihilated and obliterated. Our ancestors deserved a better fate.

My story and my pictures are a praise to Palmyra’s rich memory and to all those brave forefathers and fellow citizens who have lived there and led the city to its greatness.

[Click here to see all the pictures of Palmyra]
[The picture of Odenathus comes from Wikipedia. The concept of Zenobia from Zenobia, empress of the East]

The powerful goddess Anahita in Persia

Anahita is a water goddess whose origins go back to Central Asia, from where her worship spread through Persia all the way to the Middle East. Anahita literally means "the moist, strong and pure one" and embodies the qualities of water, especially the fertilizing flow of water. Over the centuries, her role increased, including that of "patron goddess of royalty."

Her very name is not familiar to most of us, which is not surprising since, over the centuries, she has been assimilated into the Babylonian Anaitis, the Greek Aphrodite and Athena, the Roman Diana, and even the Egyptian Isis. The Armenians, who once were part of the great Persian empire, still call her the "Great Lady Anahita, Life-Giver of our Nation, Mother of Sobriety, and Benefactress of Humanity." In 1997, the Central Bank of Armenia –an orthodox Christian nation- saw fit to issue a gold coin with her image.

Anahita, however, lived a long and complex godly life. The earliest known records go back to Artaxerxes II, who ruled over Persia from 404 to 358 BC and was the first to make a statue of Anahita to be placed in temples at Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana, Persepolis, Damascus, and even Sardes. This same king put the name of Anahita directly after that of Ahuramazda and before that of Mithra – a clear sign of her importance. The inscription left by Artaxerxes II at Susa confirms this: "By the will of Ahuramazda, Anahita and Mithra, I built this palace." We should remember that Artaxerxes II was the father of the later Queen Sisygambis, the mother of Darius III, who was defeated by Alexander. Through his close contact with the Queen Mother, Alexander must have been well aware of Anahita's role in the Persian gods' realm. Like so many other Greeks of his days, he may have assimilated her with Aphrodite.

After a period of relative obscurity, the Sassanid kings revived the cult. One example is visible on the relief at Naqsh-e Rustam, where King Narseh (ruled 293-302 AD) is receiving his crown from Anahita in person and not from Ahuramazda as was customary till then. She is on the right of this relief, holding the crown in her right hand, while the king at the center receives the diadem with his right hand.

Anahita also appears in the largest cliff wall of Taq-e-Bostan, next to King Khosrow II (early 7^th century), who receives his crown from the high priest under the protection of Anahita as the guardian angel of the waters (on his right side, left looking at it). The founder of the Sassanid empire, King Ardashir (mid-3^rd century), venerated Anahita also as his Goddess of War and would, for instance, send the heads of the petty kings he defeated to be displayed in her temple. Unfortunately, the Romans destroyed Anahita's temples, and a few centuries later, Islam erased what was left of her rich legacy – yet her spirit lived on. 

It was a pleasant surprise to discover that at least two of her temples had survived, and this led me to start my own investigation of Anahita. Until then, my knowledge of her was minimal. Even my local guide in Iran had little to tell about her except that he linked her to the Sassanid rulers more than a thousand years after her origins in Central Asia.

My first encounter happened at Kangavar, situated on the antique highway between Ecbatana and Ctesiphon, close to modern Hamadan. It is quite an amazing site I knew only from pictures, mainly columns belonging to a temple set in Hellenistic style. On the billboard at the entrance, I read that this site is 220 meters long and 210 meters wide and that the columns were 3.45 meters high, but nothing about its time frame or construction. Information from the internet is scant and often unreliable and even contradictory.

Some say (Dr. Kaveh Farrokh) that this temple of Anahita was built during the early Parthian occupation, some time between 248 BC and 224 AD. Yet others (The Zoroastrian Education Institute) mention that it was built by Artaxerxes II between 404 and 359 BC based on the shape and carving of the columns, which is similar to those of Persepolis and Susa, but adds that the temple was plundered by Alexander in 335 BC which is utterly impossible since the new Macedonian king was still crushing the rebellion in the lands around Macedonia that arose after his father's death one year before. Robbert Bosschart, on the other hand, devotes an entire chapter of his book "All Alexander's Women" to Anahita and the role this goddess played in Persian religion. Still, he only refers to her "main temple" in Istakhr near Persepolis and says nothing about the temples I visited in Kangavar and Bishapur. Digging in further, I find that both Polybius and Plutarch mention a temple of Anahita at Ecbatana, once a most glorious sanctuary. Just remember that Ecbatana is the old name for Hamadan and could thus be linked to nearby Kangavar. 

On the other hand, Arrian tells about a temple at Ecbatana that, according to local lore, had been razed on orders of Alexander because it was considered a sanctuary of Asclepius, and Alexander was furious at this God of Health for not having saved the life of his dear friend Hephaistion in Ecbatana. However, Arrian explains why this local lore is not at all believable. Anyway, it is clear that in the Successor Wars after Alexander's death, Macedonian troops plundered the Anahita temple more than once. This is confirmed by Polybius, who tells us that when Antiochus III arrived in Ecbatana in 209 BC, he found much of the temple's wealth scattered around: columns covered in gold, silver tiles, and many gold and silver bricks. Yet, all of this doesn't reveal much, if anything, about the appearance of the temple or its origins. It is, however, clear that I am confronted with an edifice of Hellenistic character with Achaemenid architectural elements and that it is not impossible that Alexander visited the place.

Excavations from 1968 match the comment made by the geographer Isidore of Charax that this temple is set on a high platform (32 meters high actually) and has Ionian columns (which, of course, must have been much taller than the 3.45 m mentioned on the entrance billboard). He attributes this temple to Artemis, who was associated with Anahita in his days (1^st century BC/1^st century AD). It sounds very plausible that the temple underwent later adjustments and/or modifications by the Parthians and the Sassanids. However, archaeologists from the University of Tehran tend to attribute the ruins to those of a Sassanid Palace. Not much to go by except my own instinct!

Upon arrival here at Kangavar, I am immediately drawn to a stone wall with a staircase on either end that reminds me of the Apadana at Persepolis. The theory that this is the location of an Achaemenid Palace is not unfounded because of this typical stairway and the superposed platforms, one of which is supported by a smooth wall in Achaemenid style and the one above it being older and rougher but very strongly built of large rocks alternating with horizontal rows of smaller rocks. Many broken columns and capitals are lying around. The only recognizable structure I could associate with the Temple of Anahita is at the far left end, where I see a relatively well-preserved row of columns overlooking the landscape below – now a modern street with houses. A small mosque is apparently set on a corner of the temple floor; otherwise, I cannot make out much from these ruins resting on this straight stone wall. To the site's far right, I find the remains of earthen walls or some kind of fortification dotted with more bits and pieces of columns. The place definitely is in dire need of some archaeological cleanup.

The second Anahita Temple is located at Bishapur, some 100 km west of Shiraz. This temple is said to be built by Roman prisoners captured by the Sassanid King Shapur I in 260 AD. The city of Bishapur was founded by Shapur I after his impressive confrontation with the Romans when he killed Gordian III, captured Valerian, and forced Philip the Arab to surrender. These glorious facts are commemorated in the reliefs he etched in the walls on the other side of the nearby Bishapur River. 

The city walls of Bishapur are still solid and look rather Roman because of their rectangular shape. Originally they were ten meters high and punctuated with round towers, suggesting they were designed as a battery for catapults. Interestingly, on the northeastern side, the remains of a city gate are still standing. Bishapur was clearly intended to hold a population of 50,000 to 80,000 people.

The so-called Palace of Bishapur is still a puzzle to the archaeologists with its four half vaults that are closely related to later mosques with four iwans and its walls with 64 niches that supposedly were decorated with freestanding statues – a relatively rare occurrence in Sassanid art. Close to the center there is a fire altar that is however often interpreted as a shrine to Anahita. This association may be the consequence of an iconoclastic movement launched by Bahram I (272-273 AD), who had the statues of divinities removed from the sanctuaries that were consequently either abandoned or converted into fire altars. According to a recent report published in a Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences, it seems that water and fire were being worshiped together in early Sassanid times.

To the north of this complex are the remains of the Temple of Anahita, which draws attention because of its plain white wall built with regular ashlar blocks. It looks like another puzzle for this building has no parallel so far. The temple is deeper than any other part of the palace and can only be accessed by descending a vaulted straight stairway that ends in a small square area measuring 14x14m surrounded by 14-meter-high walls that each has a doorway in the middle. 

These doorways with lintels not unlike those of Persepolis lead to a corridor that runs around the patio and connect to an aqueduct. It is said that the central square must have been a pool. If so, the water must have run through the hole in the threshold into the surrounding corridors with a gutter on either side of the floor. It is assumed that the water flowed only on certain days of the year, which could be related to ceremonies venerating Anahita as the goddess of waters. The abovementioned report shows that the northwest and the northeast corridors were used to bring in the water.

In contrast, the southwest corridor was exclusively used to expel the water. To add to the many questions this temple creates, we can wonder about the two outer walls that top in a triangle. Since the sanctuary had no roof, scholars believe these triangles were crowned with a large bull impost. Yet others speculate that there was a roof and that its wooden beams were supported by those bull-heads.

The goddess Anahita certainly deserves more attention as she excelled in her godly realm for centuries. According to the Avesta, the water goddess Anahita was the mother of the god of Victory, Mithra. Zoroaster, a Bactrian reformer, turned Mithra into the Savior, and Anahita consequently was venerated as an immaculate virgin, the Mother of God. Nothing new under the sun, I would say.

[Click here for Pictures of the different Anahita sites]