Sept 00 - View from a shrine to Hercules at Ghar-e Karaftu (Seleucid, 3rd-4th cent. B.C.), Kordestan prov.

In a Seleucid and Parthian-era shrine to Hercules or Heracles in a chamber carved into a limestone cliff at Karaftu (Kah-raff-too), remote today, with 4 levels of rooms, steps and passages carved out of a grotto. The complex dates from the 3rd or 4th century B.C. or earlier. A famous Greek inscription carved above the entrance to this room reads "Here is the home of Heracles. Whosoever enters will be safe." It's "one of the very few examples [of anything Seleucid, ie. Hellenistic or Greek] preserved in situ" in Iran, and was discovered by European explorers in the early 19th cent. It's thought that the complex might've served as a garrison under the Seleucids.

- These are the rock formations atop that hill in the distance seen through the window, in a satellite image on google maps. (I should've hiked over to get a closer look and take some photos. They're larger and stranger than they appear in my photo.): www.google.com/maps/place/Karaftu,+Iran/@36.3255222,46.87...

- "The Seleucid Empire was a Hellenistic state in Western Asia that existed from 312 to 63 BC, founded by Seleucus I Nicator, a general in Alexander the Great’s army. He founded Antioch [Antakya today] and then expanded his dominions to include much of the Near and Middle Eastern territories which had formed part of the Macedonian (and Persian) Empire. Although the Seleucids were generally quite tolerant of the various cultures and religions of their subjects, Greek language and customs were widespread and preferred." (Wikipedia, etc.)

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoYGm1pGlTg

- The cave complex is extensive and I spent hours exploring it late in the afternoon and in the evening the day I arrived (some of it with my flashlight), and for a few hours or so the next morning, sleeping in the caves over-night in between (in my sleeping bag on my groundsheet. I vaguely recall finding a spot to bed down further in and harder to find to reduce the chance of being found in the night should anyone come looking for me.) I had the whole labyrinth to myself. Many of the chambers were large and impressive, and great pains had clearly been taken to hollow them out and smooth down the walls and ceilings, and to carve walkways /b/ them at a height, and steps and so many niches and windows like this. A mihrab or the top of one had been carved in one chamber (relatively recently of course). The entrance is impressive too, with long, steep metal stairs and walkways installed to provide access.

- "The most outstanding section of this troglodytic complex is the 3rd floor, where there has been made special accuracy [sic] in carving rooms, the special form of ceilings (Roman-Arc arch), windows, entrances and stairs. There are ornaments above windows [seen here], reliefs in the form of circles, comparable to architectural ornaments in Nush-i Jan Tepe, Hamadan prov., from the Median Era." (Unesco [Karaftu is on Iran's Tentative list for designation as 'World heritage'.])

- As I was leaving I saw large birds of prey (or carrion birds?) with a great wingspan wheeling slowly in circles high above me near the cliff-face. They were likely eagles or kites.

www.google.com/maps/place/Karaftu+Cave/@36.3326866,46.874...

 

 

Continued from the last photo of the man wearing a hat in Tabriz.:

 

More re MARAGHEH

- the RASAD-KHANEH CAVES, Cont.:

- More re Varjavi from a plaque at the site: "Mehr shrine - ... From its architectural and decorative elements, it can be inferred that it [dates from the] Parthian [era] ... [Adherents to Mithraism] believed in the 4 elements of water, earth, fire and air. [4 of the 7 round, domed chambers are in an unusual square, with a domed room at each corner]. Their shrines are inspired by the sky and have a dome. They had an altar, washing room, waiting room and a main hall. In the Il-khanate period, the shrine was converted for use as a [Sufi] monastery .. [etc.]"

- That cave complex in the village of Varjavi, 6 km.s south of Maragheh, much larger than Rasad-khaneh with 7 round, domed chambers, was a very big miss. See it from the 6 to the 7:07 min. pt. in this clip.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7becD8x5yJs

 

- Much has been written re the introduction and spread of Buddhism in the Il-khanate in the first 40 yr.s of Mongol rule until Abaqa's conversion in 1295. (You wouldn't think so with all the virgins sacrificed at his funeral to accompany him to the after-life, but "recent translations of various Tibetan monks' letters and epistles to Hulagu confirm that he was a lifelong Buddhist, following the Kagyu school." [Wikipedia]). Omrali and Kamali write in 'Buddhism Architecture in NW Iran' (2019) that "a pivotal period of cultural exchange /b/ Tibet and the Islamic world occurred during the Il-khanate. ... Arabic, Persian, Tibetan, Syriac and Armenian sources trace the extensive Tibetan presence in the Il-khanid court in Tabriz [!] where most of the rulers were Buddhist and their spiritual advisers were lamas (Bakhshi)." As to the Rasad-khaneh caves, following a (very) detailed description of the complex, they write that the 'altars' might be similar to "blocks in Buddhist monasteries in Kizil grottoes and Dun Huan specimens in N. China."

- Zakariya Ibne Qazvini wrote in the late 13th cent. that: "… [o]n the outskirts of Maraghe, there is a cave in which chambers have been carved in the shape of rectangular rooms. Here there are stone benches which probably were used to carry the sculptures. At the moment, there is a tagged sculpture similar to a kind of a curse which would damage someone who tries to get closer." It's likely he was describing Rasad-khaneh and, if so, confirmed the active use of the site at that time for religious purposes. This supports the theory of its use by buddhists in light of the time and place (which isn't to say that it might not have been repurposed from a much older Mithraic complex, but that possibility recedes somewhat). journal.richt.ir/browse.php?a_id=79&slc_lang=en&s...

- The debate continues. Persian Mithraism is a Rabbit-hole with a capital R. Could the post-modernists be right? Did Roman Mithras not derive from Persian Mithra? (I assume he did. Roman Mithras stabs and sacrifices a bull in his rituals, and the snake, the scorpion and the dog then fight over its testicles, etc., while at Now Ruz [Persian New Year] the lion attacks and slays the bull, a scene depicted in friezes at Persepolis [Leo is ascendant then, astrologically, and Taurus is in decline], fertilizing the earth with its blood. [I write that based on what I recall reading or being told before confirming it online.]) But I've come across an interesting entry in the blog of a Christian researcher and theologian. (Christians are quite interested in Mithra/Mithras and in countering claims of New Testament syncretism made in light of so many similarities with Jesus.) He writes that "No Mithraea are known from Iran" and disputes "the Cumontian idea that Persian Mithra was the same as Roman Mithras. [That] view is contradicted by the archaeology, and can no longer simply be presumed." But the author of this (downloadable) article makes a good case that there are more mithraeums in Iran, incl. temples at Abāzar, Bādāmiyar, Qadamgāh (Incredible!, a big miss en route to Maragheh, and handy to a hill-top cemetery with amazing headstones too: www.youtube.com/shorts/UWrNiJvG7HM ) and Qarashirān, and bases his arguments on the tenets of Mithraism and on several similarities with Roman mithraeums. soij.qazvin.iau.ir/article_671413.html

 

- I missed the spacious Hovhannes (St. John) church (Armenian, 5th cent. [!], rebuilt in 1840), the only one in town, a bit plain with a domed entrance and a high, flat ceiling resting on logs supported by beams, renovated from 2017 to '21 and clean as a whistle. See the first 2 min.s of this.: youtu.be/R6RyKGASyYg Another miss, but I don't know if it was open in 2000.

- @ 15 kms. SE of Maragheh, the popular Hampoeil cave is of interest, with some impressive formations and 8 'halls' on 5 levels, in a scenic, mountainous locale.

 

- Leaving Maragheh, I caught a series of buses on a 2 hr. journey, 131 km.s, W., S., and West again to Hasanlu (Hassan-loo), south of Lake Ourumiyeh. I first returned to Bonab via the 24, and turned south down the 21 soon passing and missing the well-preserved, brick, Safavid 'Panj Chechme Bonab bridge' with its 5 pointed arches, less than a km. east of the hwy., and travelled 50-60 clicks to Miandoab. Somewhere in the vicinity of the town of Leylan, @ 6 clicks east of Shibeyli on the 21, is thought to be the site of the ancient town of Ganzak, built by the Achaemenids and the seat of the satrap of Media (!). Another clearly ancient brick bridge with 3 pointed arches is @ 15 clicks west of Miandoab.

- At Miandoab, a transport hub, I would've changed buses, and then headed west and south on the 26 to the Kurdish city of Mahabad. Leaving Miandoab, I passed within 150 m.s and might've seen (if I was on the north side of the bus and wasn't reading a book) the historic, brick 'Mirza Rasul' bridge with its 5 pointed arches.

- 42 km.s SE of Mahabad as the crow flies is the Saholan cave, a limestone 'water cave' similar to Ali Sadr, which tourists explore in small boats.

 

 

- MAHABAD: Although the city existed as early as the 16th cent. (known as Savojbolagh [a Persian corruption of the Turkic for 'cold spring'] or Sablah [Kurdish] until the 1920s or 30s), its claim to historic fame is its declaration as the capital of the Kurdish 'Republic of Mahabad' on Jan. 1, 1946 under the leadership of Kurdish nationalist Qazi Muhammad, and the tragic events that followed that year and in 1947. The Republic, which included the majority Kurdish towns of Bukan, Piranshahr, Sardasht and Oshnavieh, received support from the Soviet Union, which was in occupation of Iran at that time. Upon signing an agreement brokered by the U.S., the Soviets agreed to leave Iran and sovereignty was restored to the Shah in 1947. The Shah immediately ordered an invasion of the Republic, and its leaders were arrested and executed. Qazi Muhammad was hanged March 31, 1947. At the behest of Archibald Roosevelt Jr., who argued that Qazi had been forced to work with the Soviets out of expediency, U.S. ambassador to Iran George Allen urged the Shah not to execute Qazi or his brother, only to be reassured: "Are you afraid I'm going to have them shot? If so, you can rest your mind. I am not." Roosevelt later recounted that the order to have the Qazis killed was likely issued "as soon as our ambassador had closed the door behind him," adding with regard to the Shah: "I never was one of his admirers.""

- The Kurds of Mahabad are Sunni, apparently. (all Wikipedia)

 

- I changed buses in Mahabad (I think), and headed north up the 11 to my destination, the town of Mohammadyar, 4-5 km.s from the 11. Yet another impressive, ancient brick bridge, the Mamyand, @ 5-6 km.s north of the 11, with one large central pointed arch and 2 smaller side arches, was so well built by the Safavids that it's still in use. (So that's 4 ancient bridges in 130 clicks.) I passed through Mohammadyar and beyond for 10 clicks or less NW to Hasanlu, south of Lake Hasanlu, and the famous Teppe Hasanlu (Hassan-loo).

 

 

TEPPE HASANLU: "Hasanlu was an important Iron Age settlement and later a citadel, settled as early as the 6th mill. B.C., and was inhabited fairly continuously until the 3rd cent. A.D. It developed into a significant commercial and production centre in the early Iron Age owing to its location on important trade and communication routes /b/ Mesopotamia and Anatolia. Carbon-14 test results suggest that the main period of occupation was @ 1350-1150 B.C. The citadel's outer walls and the outline of the ancient town can still be seen, with its paved streets and alleys, adobe houses, store-rooms and various administrative and other bldg.s dating back over 4 distinct periods. The centre of the site gave way in the early 1st mill. B.C. to a hefty citadel some 200 m.s in diameter with walls of great thickness and height, towers and gates, temples, palaces and possibly an arsenal on a 25 m. high central mound. The interiors of multi-level housing were decorated with tiles in the Assyrian style. In times of peace the residents lived in a lower 'outer town' beyond the outer walls and 8 m.s above the surrounding plain. Despite Hasanlu’s impressive fortifications, the citadel burned and the town was destroyed in a fierce Urartian attack in the late 9th cent. B.C. The eastern citadel gate collapsed in the attack, causing the death of @ 40 people, primarily women, and at least another 30 met a violent end on the roof of a porticoed building to the north (a palace or an elite residence). One skeleton of a soldier was (famously) found next to a beautifully worked, solid gold, 10th cent. chalice or bowl, > 2 lb.s in weight, richly ornamented in repoussé and chase reliefs with scenes of ancient gods, etc., almost touching it with his skeletal hands. > 285 victims were found where they were slain. (The remains of > 70 women and children and only a few adult males, all massacred, were found in what's believed to have been a temple, in which they took refuge to pray to their gods to no avail.) The nature of the destruction froze one layer of the city's ruins in time (Level III), providing researchers with extremely well-preserved bldg.s, artifacts, skeletal remains, etc. Some victims were mutilated and the distribution of other bodies and the wounds they received suggest mass executions. (Dr. Page Selinsky, from the Penn. museum, reports [in a video in a link below] that archaeologists who conducted the excavation told her they found the experience to be "very emotional and harrowing, in particular the excavation of what appeared to be family groups with women and children together in their final moments." Michael Danti of Boston U. says that “the horrific level of violence evident in the archaeological record left a mark on everyone who excavated the citadel. Hasanlu’s destruction level makes it a giant 9th-cent. B.C. crime scene.") Thousands of objects were found in situ at that level as well, an Iron-Age Pompeii.

- The famous, priceless bowl was discovered next to the skeletal fingers of one in a party of 3 soldiers or warriors found in the same spot, either defenders or thieving assailants, crushed when the burning adobe bldg. collapsed and they were hurled to a lower floor. The leader of the 3 carried an iron sword and a gold-handled dagger. The 2nd individual, who had been carrying the bowl, wore a gauntlet marked by several rows of bronze buttons. The 3rd bore a star-shaped mace, dagger, and sword Danti argues that they were enemy combatants and looters in light of their military equipment and personal ornaments, which likely hailed from the Urartu region. www.archaeology.org/issues/163-1501/trenches/2823-trenche... The bowl was discovered by a team from the famous University museum at U. Penn in 1958 and is on display today in the Bastam museum in Tehran. Robert Dyson, the archaeologist who headed the dig, told LIFE mag. in 1959 that the team nicknamed it 'Baby' and, before taking it to a vault for safekeeping, "washed it and filled it with wine. Then [they] all drank a toast.: "From Mannaean lips to ours." www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3xsrbAwElQ www.youtube.com/watch?v=OndnUL6b5mA

- Soviet archaeologists argued that an Assyrian attack in 714 B.C., recorded in cuneiform texts, caused the Urartian occupants to flee. However, American archaeologists have suggested (on the basis of further Carbon-14 tests) that the attack and fire occurred earlier (@ 850-800 B.C.), and that the Urartians were the aggressors, who then promptly rebuilt the defensive walls and erected a fortress in their distinctive, cyclopean style of masonry on the charred remains of the citadel. Excavations at that level yielded bronze horse-trappings, helmets and mace-heads together with delicate ivory carvings. The Urartian occupation continued and survived the Assyrian attack of 714 B.C., when the then-famous temple mentioned in the Kul-e Shin stele (! - SW of Ushnuyeh/Oshnaviyeh) was destroyed. The said stele and a 6-line Urartian cuneiform inscription found at Qalatgeh, west of Hasanlu, support this theory of a Urartian campaign in the area @ 800 B.C. (LP, '92, Wikipedia, Bradt, etc.)

- The site was then occupied fairly continuously throughout the Achaemenid and Seleuco-Parthian periods. It's a bit creepy to think that people lived and slept for @ 1,000 yr.s above the well-preserved remains of > 285 victims of a massacre, incl. @ 70 women and children slain in a temple.

- Another famous find at Hasanlu (made in 1972) is a pair of skeletons facing and embracing one another, and which appear to be kissing. They're known as 'the Hasanlu lovers', they're world-famous and their remains are in the University museum at U. Penn. in Philadelphia (but not on display. - ?). It's only recently been determined that they're both male. They were found in a grain bin where they might have hid from the rampaging Urartians. www.youtube.com/shorts/gkbyJH1N2jc youtu.be/vvhy2Z1BR6Y www.youtube.com/shorts/H5t1hJe_6bw

- Much hand-made, chaff-tempered 'Dalma pottery' (named for Dalma Tepe, a mound 5 km.s SW), much of it decorated with red paint, was found at Level IX, 5,000-4,500 B.C.

 

- I arrived in the late afternoon, having walked and possibly hitched a ways from where the bus dropped me off. There was a part-time custodian at the site or who arrived when I did, an affable, moustachioed local Kurd (moustaches are de rigeur in Kurdistan), who stood at a distance to watch and see that I didn't try and dig anything up or damage any semi-intact ruins, I assume. The ubiquitous group of friendly boys met me or followed me there. I didn't have any candy or pens or anything else to give them and there was the language barrier, so I tried to say goodbye graciously as I had my customary plans to walk @ the site and see as much of it as I could. But Iranians are very social and extroverted, rarely (if ever) alone, and asking them to leave you be, however politely, is seen as both weird (when you're alone and exploring adobe ruins they find dull) and rude. The kids watched me for a while from a bit of a distance, and then the odd small stone would go flying by, but only when my back was turned. I don't know if they were trying to hit me or, more likely, just trying to get my attention. One factor would've been how exotic I was to them, and to everyone in that part of the country. I think I saw only 2 foreigners (and one of those at a distance) my first few weeks in the country until Susa. I ignored the stone throwing for a bit, and then objected ("Hey!" and "Don't"), and then called to the custodian to complain. Anyone would. He said something to them a couple times, like "Now, now", but it made no difference and the kids kept laughing. Then at one point I turned to look and caught him laughing with them. ?! This business of groups of otherwise friendly and engaging kids throwing rocks in my direction when my back was turned at archaeological sites would recur at Susa and Tappe Sialk (and after I'd bought some pottery sherds from one of them at Sialk too). What does that say? I've set out my theory above, but it could be off-base. 3 x in Iran and never anywhere else that I can recall. (Robert Byron writes in 'The Road to Oxiana' that at Kangavar "a tribe of children threw bricks at us.") But I took in the site just as well as I liked. I just wish I'd known more of what I've written above at the time.

 

- The site's on a mound and most of it's a maze of knee-to-waist-high remnants of mud-brick walls, which I'd see much more of at Tappe-ye Hekmateneh in Hamadan. The courtyard of what might've been a palace or a temple was intact. The most distinctive feature (I thought) was a row of 3 tall, thick, freestanding adobe constructions that looked like buttresses, but I understand that they (and much of what I saw on-site) were Urartian, dating from the reconstruction following the conquest. (I'll scan a photo).

- There's a museum near the site which I don't recall, a single, long room with exhibits of a mix of artifacts and reproductions, but I doubt it was there in 2000.

 

- I've read that Hasanlu was Mannaean, and in the 50s and 60s it was thought to have been, but "[i]mportant recent research by Iranian scholars has shown that the northernmost reaches of Mannaea’s geographical extent fell well to the south of Hasanlu. However, for the brief period before the fall of Hasanlu to Urartu in @ 800 BC, it may have been politically and culturally associated with Mannaea (Khatib-Shahidi 2004: 72; Mollazadeh 2009: 53). ... Julian Reade ('79) has identified Hasanlu as within the region of Gilzanu mentioned in Assyrian royal inscriptions. That claim is supported in part by Assyrian artifacts discovered at Hasanlu. Salvini (1995: 25) concurs. ... If Hasanlu was, in fact, Gilzanu, it's likely it was an autonomous province. (Cifarelli 2019: 28). (I write about the Mannai or 'Manaai' referred to in the Assyrian texts in the next photo description for Ziwiye.)

- "Dyson, citing Assyrian and Urartian sources, suggests that the people in this region “spoke a dialect of Hurrian”."

 

- I've just learned that a false memory led to a figment as to the Golden bowl of Hasanlu some time ago. I had this idea that it was acquired by a museum in Cincinnati where it's been on display for decades. When I've thought of Cincinnati, I've thought of Hasanlu (and, of course, this, amongst other things.: www.youtube.com/shorts/0Olx6Uh5Mf8 [Those suits looked fine to me when I watched this in syndication in high school. What does that say about me?] youtu.be/XZ1vwelOYtg youtu.be/5dG5euY2vKs I've seen a fair bit of Ohio, but only passed through Cincinnati, which has some fine art deco.) But reading my own 'comment' for the next photo, it seems I read somewhere that part of the famous hoard found at Ziwiye was split /b/ Tehran, the Met and Cincinnati. This is on display there too, or at least (if Mannaean treasures aren't).: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bowl_of_Darius_the_Great,... Again, I'm gettin' old.: youtu.be/UM0m7w7Rb30 (I saw the Hasanlu bowl if it was on display in the Bastam museum in Tehran in 2000 [I think it was], and I should remember seeing it but don't. But I wrote the following on the back of a photo 20 yr.s ago, which indicates I recalled seeing it then.: "The famous chalice shows scenes from Mesopotamian mythology with a Gilgamesh-like character fighting a multi-headed snake, if I remember.")

 

 

- From Hasanlu I hiked some, managed to catch a bus and headed back to Miandoab via Mahabad, and caught another down the 23, 2 1/2 hr.s, 140 clicks, to Takab where I caught a minivan (or did I hitch? I forget) up the 'S' shaped Takab-Takht-e Soleiman road north to Takht-e Soleiman, arriving after dark. I don't remember that it was complicated, but it looks to be on the map.

- This was a lengthy route through an area steeped in ancient history and tradition, but I can't find much online re the sights and the history, prehistory, and people of the area. (At Takht-e-Soleiman and Zindan-e Soleiman I had that somewhat mystical feeling one gets in certain places, and imagined that just beyond the hills and beyond the ones after those, there must be more and more to find and see that's ancient and exotic, and in this case formative.) Aside from a scattering of small ponds in what look like calderas north and east of the 23 (some popular for swimming), colourful wildflowers in fields and on the slopes, and some good hiking, the following is all I've found along or close to that route, none of which I toured or recall. It's all south or west of the hwy. or in a city it passes through, nothing north or east of it to a distance of @ 30 km.s or more. (?):

- At the village of Hoseinabad I passed within 10 clicks NE (as the crow flies) of the mysterious Qal'e Bardina, a high mesa with steep cliffs, an ancient carved staircase and other ancient sculpted aspects. The sculpted cave complex of Bibi Kandi in troglodyte territory stretches along at a height within a cliff @ 10 clicks SW of Kohneh Mahmud Jiq (a tourist attraction with metal stairs and walkways installed).

- The 23 passes through the city of Shahin Dezh (or Dej), formerly Ṣāʾīn Qal‘eh, home to the Turkic Afshar (an Oghuz tribe) "brought to the area by Fath-Ali Shah Qajar in the early 19th cent." and who include some Yarsanists, and to Chadawri (Chardowli) Lars who arrived soon thereafter. "In 1830, Ṣāʾīn Qal‘eh was sacked by Kurds led by Sheikh Ubeydullah." (Wikipedia) It's home to a large, metal statue of an eagle atop the globe (?), with its wings spread upwards on a tall, concrete tower resembling a petroleum rig. The city's fine, 16th cent. Jame mosque "is distinguished by its intricate tile work and extensive minaret decoration." Arm-wrestling championships are held there.: www.youtube.com/shorts/TKax8adkk8s (It helps to lean in like the guy does at the right.)

- @ 4-5 clicks S. of Shahin Dej, 2-3 clicks west of the 23 but on the other side of the Zarrine river and a short walk NE of Aghrablou, is a site with ancient petroglyphs with images of ibexes. (The only indication is a single photo on google maps.)

- A cerebral miss @ 25 clicks as the crow flies west of Qez Korpi and the 23 (and across the Zarrine river) was a mound named Qalaychy, the site of the ancient Mannaean capital of Izirtu in the early to mid 1st mill. B.C. www.tehrantimes.com/news/475610/Archaeologists-finish-sur... Well defended, it was home to 2 to 3-story bldg.s and temples. Sargon II captured and burned the city in 716 B.C., which was rebuilt and then destroyed again by Ashurbanipal in 650 B.C. @ 4 clicks NE is a photogenic 'wet cave' filled with stalactites and 'mites.

 

- In ancient times Takab was known as Shiz. Minority Kurdish tribes in the city include the Shekak, Sharani, Moslanlu and Zafranlu, while most of the Azeri population is of the Afshar tribe. Takab is home to the largest gold mine in Iran and one of the largest in the Middle East (!), the Zar Shuran.

 

 

- TAKHT-e SOLEIMAN (the 'Throne of Solomon') - I spent the night in the village nearby and early the next morning headed over to the site and spent the day exploring it. That night I stayed in Takab (I think, in light of some notes written on the back of a photo a couple of yr.s after this trip) and returned the next morning to climb the incredible Zinden-e Soleiman (see it in this vlog from the 13:45 to the 17:20 min. pt.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAAmO_1G5vU youtu.be/tlHyegnTccs ). I returned to Takht-e Soleiman near the end of my trip in December, having read more and thought more about the significance of the place. The photo I took in September at the rim of the Zinden's crater is out of order in this stream with photos I took in December in the walled compound. I write about the place and its history and prehistory here.: flickr.com/photos/97924400@N00/2993617050/in/dateposted-p...

 

 

- From Takht-e Soleiman, I bussed it back to Takab, and then hitched the 42 km.s down the 'Takab-Irankhah' road to a fork with the Bayazid Abad road at a right angle, and turned and followed that for @ 15 clicks to Ghar-e Karaftu ('Karaftu caves'). There's no public transit on that route. I wrote the following on the back of a photo 20 yr.s ago (which I'd forgotten).: "Hitching in to N. Kordestan from Takab. ... I walked a good long ways before I got one of 2 lifts, and it was a LONG walk to the site from the nearest village. I toured it late that evening and the next morning" which is consistent with the light in my photos. My memory jogged, I now recall sleeping and waking up in the caves, something I'd do in any event. (Like Mom said, "keep a journal. You think you'll remember, but you'll forget.")

- So I toured the Karaftu cave complex well enough (see above), and recall hiking further west away from the cliff and watching those birds gliding @ above the cliff-face, so high up and so slowly. I might've hiked 3 or 4 clicks NW to the village of Mir Said or hiked/hitched back to Yuzbashi Kandi or to the town of Karaftu. Again, I forget. Someone somewhere told me about something ancient and impressive 'that way', further west, that I should see, and much more remote (music to my ears). This was the important, early 1st mill. B.C. Mannaean citadel of Ziwiye (Zeh-vee-yeh). (I probably asked the local Kurds about the area, as Ghar-e Karaftu, while remote, was at something of a dead end and looking west I would've been intrigued. In fact, the Bayazid-Abad road winds up, above and @ the Karaftu caves and continues west from a pt. 3 or 4 clicks NW as the crow files, but a roadless expanse does stretch to the SW for @ 50 km.s.) I found a man who would drive me there for a fee, and while it seemed steep to me at the time and on my ridiculous budget, it was only somewhere /b/ 5 and 10 $. I don't think I considered hitching there to be much of an option, in light of the lack of traffic to Karaftu the day before. Ziwiye is @ 20-25 km.s SW as the crow flies. We followed the Bayazid-Abad rd. past some Kurdish villages to within a few km.s and turned south on the 'Ziviye rd.' (I'm looking at the route we took on Google maps for the first time in over 20 yr.s.) The road was good enough but we were in remote country. In our approach to the site, we drove straight towards a tall, steep hill that rose and stood on its own on the plain. We might've seen the ancient, grand Mannaean staircase that stretched down the side of the hill towards us.

 

- More re Ziwiye in the description of the next photo (taken there).

 

Done