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This was without a doubt the best day of our trip. We went out with Einar and his son from Öræfaferðir / Local Guide Travel Service. They were both amazing, and we would highly recommend their services! Please feel free to check out the link below for more information.
For our third stop, we joined up with Einar's son and another group to head into another ice cave on Vatnajökull Glacier, about 15 minutes away from the first one. This cave had two floors! We had to do a small rappel about 8 feet down to get to the bottom floor.
This shot is from the first floor in the winding entrance way. Here my wife and I accepted the challenge of holding a steady pose through 5 long exposures on a self-timer.
Being in these caves was unlike anything we've ever experienced. They were well insulated so it wasn't extremely cold, but the textures and formations were completely otherworldly. The ice will often take on a rich, deep blue color in these caves. However, we were told that because it was a bright and sunny day, that blue became more of the aqua/teal type color you see here.
Interestingly, due to the constant changing of the glaciers and temperature changes, these ice caves are rarely ever around for more than a couple of weeks at a time. You can go back every year and have a completely different experience every time. We were told that the ice caves we enjoyed, for example, were gone within a week of our visit. This cave in particular, had partially collapsed the day before we entered it, so we only got to see about 2/3 of the cave they had intended on showing us.
Nikon D800
14-24mm f/2.8 Lens
5-Exposure HDR bracketed at 1-stop, on a Gitzo Tripod with a self-timer, blended in Photomatix
This was without a doubt the best day of our trip. We went out with Einar and his son from Öræfaferðir / Local Guide Travel Service. They were both amazing, and we would highly recommend their services! Please feel free to check out the link below for more information.
Our first stop was to throw on some crampons and hike along the Svínafellsjökull Outlet on Vatnajökull Glacier. These were some of the most breathtaking sights we have ever seen, and it was even more amazing to be on them and experiencing them first hand.
Interesting trivia facts from our guide, Einar:
An early fight scene between Christian Bale and Liam Neeson in Batman Begins was filmed on this glacier. Because the glaciers are always melting and evolving, we did not see the glacier exactly as they did, but this is still where it all went down. Interestingly, Liam Neeson was not even aware they were shooting a Batman film at the time of the shoot. Director Christopher Nolan apparently likes to play things "very close to the chest." Here is a shot of my wife and I reenacting their exciting battle.
Additionally, episodes from Season 2 of HBO's "Game of Thrones" were filmed here. Icelandic locals get a real kick out of the scenes on display because chase scenes that were intended to take place over the course of several miles clearly show the distinctive "Pig Mountain" (Svínafells, hence Svínafellsjökull means "Pig Mountain Glacier") in the same spot in the background, clearly indicating that they had only moved maybe 100 feet in between shots.
Nikon D800
24-120mm f/4 Lens
This was without a doubt the best day of our trip. We went out with Einar and his son from Öræfaferðir / Local Guide Travel Service. They were both amazing, and we would highly recommend their services! Please feel free to check out the link below for more information.
Our first stop was to throw on some crampons and hike along the Svínafellsjökull Outlet on Vatnajökull Glacier. These were some of the most breathtaking sights we have ever seen, and it was even more amazing to be on them and experiencing them first hand.
For this shot, Einar found a snowy crevice in the glacier about 10 feet deep. We climbed down inside and got a really nice close up view of some ice walls. As I recall, he told us that when the sun was not contacting the ice, it would be a deep and rich blue color. With a little sunlight the color would change to a light blue, and with a lot it would become more of an aqua/teal color. I believe that is what we were observing here. I could be wrong though, as I was very focused on not dropping my camera in the crevice and didn't catch everything he was saying.
Interesting trivia facts from our guide, Einar:
An early fight scene between Christian Bale and Liam Neeson in Batman Begins was filmed on this glacier. Because the glaciers are always melting and evolving, we did not see the glacier exactly as they did, but this is still where it all went down. Interestingly, Liam Neeson was not even aware they were shooting a Batman film at the time of the shoot. Director Christopher Nolan apparently likes to play things "very close to the chest." Here is a shot of my wife and I reenacting their exciting battle.
Additionally, episodes from Season 2 of HBO's "Game of Thrones" were filmed here. Icelandic locals get a real kick out of the scenes on display because chase scenes that were intended to take place over the course of several miles clearly show the distinctive "Pig Mountain" (Svínafells, hence Svínafellsjökull means "Pig Mountain Glacier") in the same spot in the background, clearly indicating that they had only moved maybe 100 feet in between shots.
Nikon D800
24-120mm f/4 Lens
This little guy had a constant stream of riddles for kids. I'm surprised it has lasted this long through the years.
This was without a doubt the best day of our trip. We went out with Einar and his son from Öræfaferðir / Local Guide Travel Service. They were both amazing, and we would highly recommend their services! Please feel free to check out the link below for more information.
Our first stop was to throw on some crampons and hike along the Svínafellsjökull Outlet on Vatnajökull Glacier. These were some of the most breathtaking sights we have ever seen, and it was even more amazing to be on them and experiencing them first hand.
Interesting trivia facts from our guide, Einar:
An early fight scene between Christian Bale and Liam Neeson in Batman Begins was filmed on this glacier. Because the glaciers are always melting and evolving, we did not see the glacier exactly as they did, but this is still where it all went down. Interestingly, Liam Neeson was not even aware they were shooting a Batman film at the time of the shoot. Director Christopher Nolan apparently likes to play things "very close to the chest." Here is a shot of my wife and I reenacting their exciting battle.
Additionally, episodes from Season 2 of HBO's "Game of Thrones" were filmed here. Icelandic locals get a real kick out of the scenes on display because chase scenes that were intended to take place over the course of several miles clearly show the distinctive "Pig Mountain" (Svínafells, hence Svínafellsjökull means "Pig Mountain Glacier") in the same spot in the background, clearly indicating that they had only moved maybe 100 feet in between shots.
Nikon D800
24-120mm f/4 Lens
Part of the vast expanse of black sand over which we drove was under water.
Ingólfshöfði is a nature reserve that's home to thousands of nesting sea-birds, like puffins and great skuas. This tour was taken with the group Local Guide, which hauls people across a massive black sand beach in a hay cart to reach the headland and cliffs where the birds live.
This little guy had a constant stream of riddles for kids. I'm surprised it has lasted this long through the years.
Ingólfshöfði is a nature reserve that's home to thousands of nesting sea-birds, like puffins and great skuas. This tour was taken with the group Local Guide, which hauls people across a massive black sand beach in a hay cart to reach the headland and cliffs where the birds live.
This sculpture was created using
sweetgrass, wild grape vines,
and reeds harvested from the
Patuxet River and woven into
various shapes. The installation
is visible from a walkway that
leads visitors to the trail and is
30 feet off the ground.
Which was the world's most historic city? Istanbul? Rome? Babylon? One contender in what could be the top 5 (IMHO) is the ruined city of Susa (pron. Shoosh) in southwest Iran's Khuzestan prov. A centre of Elamite civilization for almost 2 1/2 millenia (new evidence might suggest that a proto-Elamite civilization in central Iran was the world's first, older than Sumer), it then became the winter capital of the Achaemenid (Persian) empire (the largest ever before the Mongols) from the 6th - 4th cent.s BC, and then became a major city or co-capital in the Parthian empire. Trajan's conquest of Susa in 116 was Rome's easternmost penetration. (The competition: Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, was capital of 2 great empires for 1500 continuous years and the world's largest and most glorious city for much of that period; Babylon was capital of 2 empires and the world's largest city for a spell in the 2nd millenium BC and again from @ 600 - 300 BC.)
- Susa is one of the world's oldest cities; the first settlement dates prior to 4,000 B.C. Recent finds might (just might) credit a civilization with cities in the Jiroft area, Kerman prov., with the invention of writing, a proto-Elamite script (still undeciphered) which might predate Sumerian cuneiform, but the use of which was abandoned after only a few centuries when the use of proto-cuneiform spread east from Uruk. I've also read that the earliest samples of proto-cuneiform have been discovered at Susa, and (conversely) that the earliest date from 3200 B.C. and hail from Tal-e-Malyan, ancient Anshan (in Fars prov. today). "Desset believes [that proto-Elamite and proto-cuneiform] are, in fact, sister scripts." If proto-Elamite pre-dates proto-cuneiform, Susa might've been the birthplace of writing (!), the ultimate benchmark of civilization and a basis for the Mesopotamian claim to the title of the 'Cradle of Civilzation'. ( www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesMiddEast/EasternIranUbaid0... ) The alleged hieroglyphs found in Jiroft are controversial and, I've read recently, might be based on a creative interpretation of some geometric imprints in clay. I've also read in vol. 1 of Amélie Kuhrt's encyclopedic 'The Ancient Near East,' that a sample or samples of proto-Elamite have been found in SW Iran that predate the earliest of proto-cuneiform in Uruk. But that text dates from 1995, and I haven't found support for this online. It's impressive that proto-Elamite has been found in the far east of Iran at Shahr-e Sokhta, an important ancient trading centre > 1500 km.s east of Susa. Proto-cuneiform's geographic spread wasn't nearly as far in any direction from Uruk. Thriving long-distance trade was a reality in the late 4th mill. B.C. across what is today the territory of Iran, which requires some sophistication and planning, and would benefit from a writing system of some type. But even if proto-Elamite appeared soon after the advent of proto-cuneiform (but quite soon), that's still quite a nice feather in any cap.
- Elam was most often subordinate to Mesopotamian powers but Elamites could sack and pillage too. King Kindattu ruled over lower Mesopotamia from 2004 to @ 1998 BC with the conquest of Ur and Neo-Sumeria. That conquest led to the fall of the Neo-Sumerian civilization, successor to the Sumerian, considered to be the world's first. And per Genesis 4:1-17, King Chedorlaomer (Kudur-Lagamer or Kedorlaomer, @ 1750 BC) had conquered and received tribute from 5 Canaanite kings, incl. those of Sodom and Gomorrah, and together with 3 of his allies (inc. kings of the Hurrians and the Hittites) fought and defeated those 5 rebellious kings in the Vale of Siddim in the first biblical war, capturing Abraham's brother Lot. (According to L. Lockhart, he "ruled over the whole of lower Mesopotamia".) The French dug at Susa from the late 19th to mid 20th cent.s, and found 13 'horizons' or layers of habitation sediment, and the Louvre is full of stuff they found there, incl. the famous diorite stele with the code of Hammurabi (r. 1947-1905 BC), booty from a campaign in @ 1175 BC against the Babylonians. The Kassites conquered Babylonia and destroyed Elam in @ 1600 BC, but the Elamites drove the Kassites out of Babylonia in @ 1160. King Shutruk-Nahhunte I (r. 1190-1160 BC) married the eldest daughter of the Babylonian king Melishipak, and appears to have laid claim to Babylonia. He was able to push the Kassites out, and formed a short-lived empire that encompassed Mesopotamia, with his eldest son on the Babylonian throne.
- Susa was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar I in 1120 (best known for his victory over Elam, and not to be confused with the much later, more famous Nebudchadnezzar II of Old Testament infamy), and again by the Assyrians in @ 645 BC. "The final result of years of intrigues and partial successes at times against Assyrian power was the decision of Assurbani-pal, the 'Sardanapulus' of the Greeks, to crush the country." At Susa "he entered the royal treasury and removed the accumulated wealth of centuries, as well as many statues of the Elamite kings. He then razed to the ground the magnificent temple of Inshushinak, 'the Lord of Susa' (one of the 3 chief deities of Elam), after seizing and carrying off the image of the god "to look upon whom was death" ... Elam was finished as a power," but the period of the city's greatest glory and importance, its golden age, would begin less than 100 years later.
(Continued next photo, the one of the mural).
- Cont. from the last photo (taken at Taq-e Bostan):
- From Kermanshah, I headed by bus or minibus back to Bisotun / Behistun where I loitered @ some more and toured the Tarash-e Farhad that 2nd time (see the write-up for the last photo). I then caught a bus that followed the 48 east to the T-junction with the 52 and then SE down that route to historic Nahavand (and towards Khorramabad), a distance of @ 105 km.s, 1.5 hr.s. En route I passed close to Ganj Dareh, @ 15 clicks south of Bisotun and @ 500 m.s from the 35, the site at which the oldest ceramics found in Iran to date were discovered.: youtu.be/Iemydjg5P9k?si=n5Soz4Wpof4WmSq-
NAHAVAND - I have an amorphous memory of stopping en route for a meal in Nahavand (pop. @ 70,000) or the bus made a rest-stop there, but I didn't stick @ to look for any sights or sites. :( It wasn't mentioned in the LP, but I read about its importance in the Seleucid period in a locally published copy of 'Ancient Persia' by John Cortis of the British museum that I picked up somewhere en route. As Laodicea (Λαοδίκεια) it was an important Greek polis, purpose-built by the Hellenes.
History: Strabo wrote that the city, which lay on the trunk road from Babylonia through Media to Bactria, was founded (or rebuilt) by Seleucus I Nicator in Media together with the polises (poleis?) of Apamea and Heraclea (the locations for both of which are unknown). As a Greek polis, it employed Greek magistrates, teachers, historians, traders and artisans, was administered by a Greek governor, and was a prime example of Hellenization. It was named, or renamed, Laodicea for Queen Laodice (or Laodike) III by (the rather inbred) Antiochus III the Great (r 223-187 B.C.). A stone stele was found in 1943 near the city dating to 193 B.C. which bears a copy of his dynastic cult inscription, 85 x 36 cm.s, 30 lines-long, which reads:
- "We [Antiochus III] want to increase the honours made to our sister Queen Laodice, and we consider this most necessary, not only so that we may live with her caringly and as guardians, but also because we seek to act piously towards sacred things. And we take care to do what we should and what it is right to meet her needs, with family-like love. And we have decided, just as head priests who commemorate us have been appointed during our reign, that head priestesses commemorating her should be appointed in the same places, who will wear golden crowns bearing her image, and who will be enrolled in the covenants, together with the head priests of our ancestors and our current head priests. As Laodice was brought up in the places under your rule, let everything written above be carried out, and let copies of the letters be written on columns and set up in the most conspicuous places, so that now and forever our favour to our sister should be made clear through these. 119th year of the Seleucids, month of Xanthicus."
www.archaeology.wiki/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Laodikeia... . The chance discovery of that stele was a big deal. It's considered to have been "a turning point in the archaeological and historical studies of the Seleucid period in Iran" of which surprisingly little is known. Archaeologists believe the remains of the Laodicea Temple may lie beneath Imamzadeh 'Do Khahara (2 sisters)'. The wives of Seleucid kings in Iran would be given the title 'Queen Sister' when they passed their prime and became nuns. In the Islamic era, the site came to be considered sacred and was renamed the 'Do Khaharan' shrine, for which "no historical and religious genealogy has been found." yaldamedtour.com/en/place/1580 All Seleucid finds made in Nahavand, the stele, a stone altar, bronze figurines of Greek Gods, column bases, a capital and potsherds, were discovered at Do-Khaharan.
- Archaeologists in Nahavand have been subject to some real performance pressure, as the article in 'Iran Front Page' in the next link puts it candidly.: "The discovery of this temple, the only Greek temple in Iran, is one of the longstanding demands of the people of Nahavand. The city’s people are eager to see the digging job continue until the temple of Laodicea is discovered." ifpnews.com/archaeologists-looking-for-lost-greek-temple-... But "there's little space for excavation and most of the historic area is believed to be trapped under residential buildings."
- Antiochus III was "the most distinguished of the Seleucids. Having made vassal states of Parthia and Bactria, he defeated the Egyptian king Ptolemy V and took possession of Palestine and Lebanon in 198 B.C. He was later defeated by the Romans at Thermopylae in 191 B.C. and at Magnesia (Manisa, Turkey) in 190 B.C. As the price of peace, he was forced to surrender his dominions west of the Taurus Mtn.s and pay tribute." www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2012/04/25/archaeologists-resum... In yet another link /b/ Iran and the Old Testament, Antiochus III the Great and Laodice III begat Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the villain in the traditions associated with Hanukkah who oppressed the Jews and whose treatment led to the Maccabean Revolt and the crisis of 167-164 B.C. His reign is thought to be the cryptic context for the 'Apocalypse' in the Book of Daniel, and either he or Antiochus III was the inspiration for the 'King of the North' in that Book.
- According to the 9th cent. polymath Abu Hanifa Dinawari, Nahavand had been the seat of the Parthian prince Artabanus, who would later reign as Artabanus I of Parthia (r 127-124/3 B.C.). During the Sassanian period, the district of Nahavand was bestowed upon the House of Karen (one of the 7 Great Houses of Iran during the reign of the Parthians and the Sassanians; the seat of the dynasty was at Nahavand), and was the site of a fire temple.
- In 642, during the Arab conquest of Iran, a momentous, world-famous battle was fought at Nahavand. With heavy losses on both sides, it led to the Sassanian defeat and gave the invaders full access to the Iranian plateau. Following the defeat of the Byzantines at Yarmouk in 636, the Muslim Arabs turned east to the Euphrates and the Persian heartland. In November 636, a Sassanian army was defeated at the Battle of Qadisiya, resulting in the loss of Iraq. Following another defeat in 639, Yazdegerd III was forced to abandon his capital at Ctesiphon and withdrew to the southern Iranian plateau where he assembled an army to replace that lost at Qadisiya.
- At Nahāvand, an Arab army of @ 30,000 under the command of Nuʿmān attacked a Sassanian army which, according to historian Peter Crawford, has been variously recorded as /b/ 50,000 and 100,000, primarily comprised of farmers and villagers. The Sassanian troops, commanded by Fīrūzan, were entrenched in a strong, fortified position. According to some accounts, the Persian cavalry mounted an ill-prepared pursuit of the Arabs who retreated to a more secure location. The Arabs then rallied, surrounded, trapped and assaulted the Persians from all sides. According to another account, the Persian forces had been deployed in a strong defensive position, but as they were loosely disciplined and led by feudal nobles, Nuʿmān was able to draw them out by skirmishing advances followed by a general but cohesive retreat, and the Persian cavalry were led on to rough, unfavourable ground /b/ 2 mtn. defiles. The Muslims then rallied and counterattacked, inflicting heavy losses on the disorganized Persians. Both Nuʿmān and Fīrūzan were reportedly killed in the final melee but the Sassanian defeat was total. The Persians were never again able to unite their forces in such numbers. Nahāvand marked the near dissolution of the Sassanian Imperial army, with the fall of the last of the grand marshals and the rise of warlordism amongst the Persians. (all Wikipedia)
- Everyone concerned arrives at Nahavand at the 11:22 min. pt. in this video, a full account of the battle.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK5YHnpL8Ek
- Yazdegerd III then sought to raise troops by appealing to neighbouring powers such as the princes of Tukharistan and Sogdia and sent his son Peroz III to the Tang court, but without success. He then fled towards the east where he was ill-received by several Marzban (provincial governors) in the north, and in Merv, where the governor Mahoye showed open hostility towards him. Before he had a chance to seek help from the Hepthalites and Turkish tribes, he was assassinated by a local miller in Merv in 651. (The Sassanians were unpopular in the eastern reaches of their empire.) His son Peroz made further attempts to stem the tide but died in China.
- In the early Islamic period, Nahavand flourished within the province of Jibal. It first served as the administrative center of the Mah al-Basra ('Media of the Basrans') district. Medieval geographers refer to it as an affluent commercial hub with 2 Friday mosques. When the 10th cent. Arab traveller Abu Dulaf travelled through town, he noted the "fine remains of the [ancient] Persians", and that during the reign of Caliph al-Ma'mun (r 813-833), a treasure chamber was found containing 2 gold caskets. (Seleucid?)
- The Persian vizier of the Seljuk Empire, Nizam al-Mulk, was assassinated near Nahavand in 1092. According to historian and geographer Hamdallah Mustawfi writing in the 13th and 14th cent.s, Nahavand had become a town of medium size by then, surrounded by fertile fields where corn, cotton and fruits were grown, and whose inhabitants were primarily Twelver Shi'ite Kurds.
- In 1589, during the Ottoman-Safavid War of 1578-'90, Ottoman General Cığalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha built a fortress at Nahavand for future campaigns against the Safavids. Per the Treaty of Constantinople (1590), the Safavids were forced to cede the city to the Turks. In 1602/3, Nahavand's citizens launched a revolt against the Ottomans which coincided with the Celali revolts in Anatolia. The Safavids then recaptured Nahavand, expelling the Ottomans from the city, and the Safavid governor of Hamadan, Hasan Khan Ustajlu, destroyed the Ottoman fort. Following the collapse of the Safavids in 1722, the Turks captured Nahavand once again. In 1730, they were ousted by Nader Shah (r 1736-'47). Nader's death in 1747 led to instability and over the following few years, Nahavand was exploited by local Bakhtiari chiefs. In @ 1752, Karim Khan Zand defeated the Bakhtiari chieftain Ali Mardan Khan Bakhtiari at Nahavand.
- The local language of the city is the Nahavandi sub-dialect of the northern dialect of Luri. This dialect is one of the closest to Middle Persian (aka Pahlavi), and is considered by some to be a distinct language. Southern Kurdish is also spoken in Nahavand.
- Misses in town: The local 'Museum of History and Culture' with finds from local digs on display, incl. an Ionic stone capital, bits of columns and their bases, etc.;
- the Imamzadeh 'Do Khaharan' ('2 Sisters', see above), if it still stands (I can't find it on-line), or the site where it stood seeing as it's in or near the best place to try to dig down to the remains of the Laodicea temple. (It's unlikely anyone, incl. people at the museum, would've directed me there in 2000. Excavations began in 2005.);
- Some Seleucid column bases and capitals found in local digs on display in the Hajian Bazaar;
- Any battlefields or sites in the NW of the city or on its northwestern outskirts, @ 1 km. SW of the 52, of the calamitous Battle of Nahavand of 642 which had such a great and lasting impact on world history. A big miss. (Again, something to ask about at the museum, and easy to visit by taxi.);
- An opulent, restored hamam, the Haj Aqa Torab, with hot and cold pools, fine columns, domes, and sgraffito art all over the interior walls, now a museum, would've been closed in 2000 I think. (The renovation of similar, old hamams across Iran for conversion to museums was getting under way in 2000. I gained entry to one in Shiraz while it was still under renovation. A hamam museum in Kerman was already famous.);
- The most popular sites with locals seem to be springs and spring-fed mtn. streams.;
- A brick, triple-domed Jame mosque with a Seljuq inscription, and the square, Qajar-era tomb of Dar Sheikh Abol Abbas Nahavandi, a 10th cent. Gnostic.;
- The 'Nahavand Faculty of Paramedicine' (in Persian) has been translated as the 'School of Allied Skinheads' in google maps. ? www.google.com/maps/place/School+of+Allied+Skinheads/@34....
- Again, Nahavand wasn't in the guidebooks and it still isn't (?!), but it was a mistake not to at least visit the museum and learn more about the Battle of Nahavand, the Sassanian Persians' Waterloo. As to its long-term impact, Sir Muhammad Iqbal wrote the following in 2006: "If you ask me what is the most important event in the history of Islam [again, in all of Islam], I shall say without any hesitation the conquest of Persia. The battle of Nehawand gave the Arabs not only a beautiful country, but also an ancient civilization; or, more properly, a people who could make a new civilization with the Semitic and Aryan material. Our Muslim civilization is a product of the cross-fertilization of the Semitic and the Aryan ideas. It is a child who inherits the softness and refinement of his Aryan mother, and the sterling character of his Semitic father. But for the conquest of Persia, the civilization of Islam would have been one-sided. The conquest of Persia gave us what the conquest of Greece gave to the Romans."
- Nahavandians would like to see an increase in tourism and tourist cash-flow in their fair town as they 'demand' the discovery of the temple of Laodicea. (Lol, see above.) That would help, but so would the promotion of battle-field tourism. Here I'll speak directly to the city official who'll never read this. The city of Ypres in Belgium and towns on the Gallipoli peninsula LIVE off the income they make from battlefield tourism. Take your lead from Pennsylvanians, Scots, Mississippians, Walloons, Russians, et al. who also do quite well at Gettysburg, Culloden, Vicksburg, Waterloo, Volgograd (Stalingrad), etc. (Don't be too proud seeing as Persians were defeated at Nahavand. The locals were defeated at 3 of the 5 examples in that 2nd-last sentence. [Wallonia had been annexed to the Republic and fought for Napoleon at Waterloo.] The fact that you won't and can't trumpet a great victory will make your tours on-site more palatable to just about anyone. It's funny how it works that way, but it does. www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/culloden-battlefield-p2... ) Prepare some good quality, permanent historical display boards, @ 10 or 12, with 1 or 2 paragraphs per board, in Farsi and English, and with photos of artifacts, paintings, documents, etc. Trilingual incl. Arabic would be fitting (and classy too, as Arabs were involved) if you can get enough Arab tourists. www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/travel/iran-pushes-to-at... (They'd definitely be interested, and some are well-heeled as you know.) Spend the $ to hire the best military historian in Iran to assist in preparing them and a University-educated British or North American or Australian anglophone to edit the final English translation (not for the initial translation, and not for the content of course). Your local English translators can't be trusted with the final draft on expensive, permanent displays, no matter what they tell you. I suppose it makes sense to contact a University-educated Iraqi or native speaker of Arabic from Khuzestan to prepare the final edit of the Arabic translation. PLAY UP the importance of the battle (once is enough) by simply being honest.: "You're treading on ground on which men fought and died in a battle that changed the world," etc. Include a small but prominent notice in Farsi as to high criminal penalties for any vandalism of the display boards. Install them at points along a walking trail @ the site or sites of the battle, whether or not any or all are in an urban setting today. Expand, modernize and develop the portion of your local museum which focuses on the battle. Devote a whole floor to it (if you haven't already), or build an extension, or a new museum. (It might make sense to have a museum close to the scene of the battle.) Then some publicity. Wouldn't it be lucky if an Iranian film could be made, with a sympathetic character and a villain or 2 on both sides of the battle? Maybe your historian could find a couple of names in the rank and file with some details, which you can review in your displays and tours. You'll make them famous. A memorial or 2 could be set up at important points on the trail. Nothing triumphalist or glamourous or macho (although that can work where local underdogs prevailed against the odds, as at Volgograd); go for poignant, sober and creative, a monument that could become an attraction in itself. (Have a contest and solicit proposals.) Knowledgeable guides should be on call for hire at first before things get busy (but full-time 9 to 5 employment is the goal), and on hand for bus tours, to walk individuals and groups along the trail. This is important, believe it or not.: The guide should wear a period outfit or one that a Sassanian soldier would have worn in 642 (which isn't done at tourist sites in Iran for some reason [not even at Persepolis - ?], but it should catch on at Nahavand). There's plenty of cosplay and dress-up at Ashura in what at least look like soldiers' outfits from the period (but Arabic?), so this should be easy. (From the 9:10 min. pt.: youtu.be/AeTNArkuEJg?si=BzEY6eNJqQMqC4KC ). Did any women fight at Nahavand, like a Paygospanan Banu? www.kavehfarrokh.com/iranian-studies/initiatives/iranian-... (Probably not.) If so or if there was a good possibility, even if there was no more than one, a female guide wearing what she would've worn would be a hit. Apranik (d. @ 651) would make a great tour-guide. www.worldhistory.org/article/1492/women-in-ancient-persia... youtu.be/MYZEtIEOBME?si=VWFOssdR33fIfSzu . But not, of course, if she's mythical. eric-hinkle.livejournal.com/231482.html Any hint of b.s. leads to questions as to your motivation, etc. The garb of a soldier's wife from 642 (for any female tour-guide[s]) will be just fine. I've read that the 'cataphract', a knight and horse both covered in metal armour, some might say the precursor to the European 'Knight in shining armour', had its origins in Sassanian Persia at that time, something for your guides to discuss, and to review in your display boards. (Everything comes from somewhere. At the Spanish missions near San Antonio, Texas, docents explain that the American 'Cowboy' has his origins with the Mexican Vaquero.) Any metal armour to be worn by the guide could be light-weight aluminum but should look like the real thing insofar as possible. Yazdegerd III himself could give the tour, and should ask the tourists at one point to join in the fight and help to restore his empire, promising them great favour in return. (At Louisbourg, N.S., French soldiers in 18th cent. uniforms grill tourists as potential British spies. www.flickr.com/photos/97924400@N00/359173176/ ). Once things begin to go well, with the arrival of tour buses, etc., a cataphract could make an appearance in the course of guided tours. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswaran#/media/File:Ancient_Sasanid... Photos of your 'Sassanian' guides will pop up in news media and online and promote the experience (and could start a trend or 2). Voila! And Ka-ching!! You'll see. (I write this in Aug. 2023.)
- Misses nearby: The tomb of 'Baba Peer (No'man Ben Maqran) in Dehqan Qishlaq, 8 km.s NW, a simple, brick, domed tomb, with an octagonal interior but which "some believe [is] the tomb of one of the commanders of Islam during the times of Hazrat Ali, others that it's the tomb of a commander killed in the battle of Nahavand." (itto.org)
- Tepe Giyan, an archaeological site @ 10 km.s SE, occupied from at least 5,000 to 1,000 B.C., with a necropolis of 123 graves and with pottery similar to that found at Sialk. The oldest ceramics found are similar to those from the region of Susa and from the Ubaid period in Mesopotamia. The late 3rd mill.-early 2nd level "delivers ceramics in abundance," with pairs of birds with their wings spread as a common motif. (Wikipedia)
- From Nahavand, a bus took me further SE and then due east along the 52 to the T-junction with the 37, and then SE on that road to Borujerd, a distance of 63 clicks, just over an hour.
Misses en route or near it.:
- Some wonderful, alpine hiking country 5-10 km.s SW from the curve in the 52 where it turns east.
- The Imamzadeh Badi Zaman, 5-10 km.s north of the curve in the 52 where it turns east, is the visibly ancient, brick tomb of the famous poet and humourist Badi' al-Zamān al-Hamadāni (969–1007), "best known for his 'Maqamat Badi' az-Zaman al-Hamadhani', a collection of 52 episodic accounts of the misadventures of rogue trickster Abu al-Fath al-Iskandari, as recounted by one 'Isa b. Hisham, whose name translates as "The Wonder of the Age". A travelling writer, he achieved great fame in Nishapur, his reputation spread throughout the region, he then married into a noble family in Bushanj near Herat where he died at 40. He invented the genre known as maqama (sing) or maqamat (pl.). 52 of his maqama have survived, each a complete story but often presented in a collection with a theme. Each has 2 main characters, the narrator, (usually Isa ibn Hisham) and a protagonist (usually Abu I-Fath). Other characters are often historical." (Wikipedia)
- A relatively plain, ancient, brick gonbad, 10-15 km.s north of the 52 @ 7 clicks before it meets the 37, the tomb of Joshua Ben Noah, "aka Hosea the Prophet or Dieh Husi". All the info. available online is in comments on Google maps.: 1. "The current tomb belongs to the patriarchal period, but Hosea was 2700 years ago. [?] Unfortunately, in the 1960s, the grave was dug up and the mummified body, the wooden box with Hebrew inscriptions, and the doors and windows were all stolen. Siah Kemer village was a home to Jews who migrated after the revolution." 2. "It is said that this place is the tomb of one of the prophets of Bani Israel, Hazrat Yoshua bin Noah."
- Just NW of town, less than a km. west of the 37, is a pristine, Qajar-era aqueduct, the 'Qale Hatam bridge' and 1/2 a km. further NW are the mud-brick, adobe ruins of Hatem Castle.
BORUJERD: I stopped in Borujerd (pop. @ 260,000), having crossed into Lorestan, to take in some early Islamic heritage written up in the LP.
History: Some scholars argue that the town was first founded by the Parthian king Orodes II (r 57-37 B.C.) and that the city's name derives from the Middle Persian 'Wurūgird/Wulūgird/Orodhkard', 'built by Orodes'; others that it was founded by the Sassanian king Peroz I (r 459-484), and was named 'Piruzgird' which became 'Burugird', later Arabicised as 'Burujird'. In any event, it was home to a fire temple in 642. The name of the town doesn't appear in Islamic chronicles until the 9th cent., and appears in the Kitāb al-buldān of Ibn al-Faqih in 903. Borujerd grew from a town into a city under the Seljuqs, and was made state capital and became an industrial hub under the Qajars. Esteemed religious institutions operated in town then, producing distinguished Shi'ite scholars. Borujerd was "an important military town in the 19th cent. as the Qajars struggled to maintain control over local tribes." (Bradt)
- The city gate as seen in 1851.: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borujerd#/media/File:City_Gate_Boro...
- Borujerd sits in a fertile area and wherever irrigation is possible, cotton, melons, grapes and fruit and nut trees are grown. Almonds are harvested in abundance. The snow-capped Zagros rise to the NW and the SE. The foothills make "a great destination for nomads and many Lurs and Bakhtiari migrate there in summer."
- This town has its own dialect! "The locals speak primarily the Borujerdi dialect, which is distinct and on a continuum /b/ Luri and Persian. ... Other varieties such as Luri, Laki, and the local Judæo-Iranian dialect can be heard as well." (All Wikipedia).
I toured the following.:
- The famous MASJED-e JAME: My LP guide states merely that it has an "original Seljuq dome", a Seljuq-era (kufic) inscription in its central chamber, and has been "substantially rebuilt". It's claimed to be the oldest mosque in Western Iran, having been built over a Sassanian fire-temple on the orders of one Hamuyeh or Hamuleh (governor of the city appointed by the Abi-Dolaf rulers in the 9th cent.), and restored and reconstructed since. "The pillars and brickwork have been compared to that in the mausoleum of Amir Esma’il the Samanid in Bukhara. The plan of the dome chamber and of its secondary aisles at the corners of the perimeter have been compared to those of the Heidaryyah Qazvin and the Jameh Mosque of Golpayegan. The most ancient component is the principle dome construction, now surrounded by additions from later periods." The 9-stepped wooden minbar was carved on the order of Shah Abbas II in 1658-'59. The portico and minarets were added in 1794/5 under Ma’mun and Mo’tassem. The mosque complex also includes (or included?) the Gharib Khaneh (an asylum for the indigent and invalids), a hamam, and an Ab-Anbar (cistern). (Wikipedia, LP, etc.)
- I recall the exterior of the large but simple dome with its blue tiles, the highlight (a photo I took helps), but videos online jog my memory. It's wide and impressive and had some simple calligraphy and a band of colourful lozenges around the base (but this design wasn't original, and is from a less ambitious restoration), behind a tall, wide eivan of a portal flanked by 2 round, simple brick minarets. The double-shelled dome (which the Persians invented) is also impressively large and intact for its great age and in light of the history of earthquakes in the region (incl. a bad one in 2006), and the bombing of the complex by Iraqi planes in the '80s. (The bldg. incorporates wooden beams or poles as earthquake-resistant 'dampers'.) That dome is unlike anything I'd seen in Turkey or in NW Iran that was Seljuq. The main prayer room beneath it is simple but visibly ancient. The dome's interior is bare but for a thin band of calligraphy encircling the base. A semi-subterranean, multi-columned prayer hall, a later addition with a long series of arches (naturally air-conditioned in the summer, like the one I toured later in Na'in), sits across the courtyard. I don't recall the interior of the mosque but I took my time touring it. Watch a little tour from the 4:10 min. pt. in this video, incl. the base of the Sassanian fire temple, or that of an earlier mosque, in a basement room (which I didn't tour, a real miss), from the 10:50 min. pt.: youtu.be/6BaQx6uxIls?si=kNBxqGwxpfCgvgkV
- The dome has been retiled since the earthquake in 2006 and restored to its prior, finer appearance and design (before much of the tile-work had worn away, as seen in a photo in a booklet I bought). The newly-restored but earlier design is seen from the 13:05 min. pt. in the video in the last link. What I saw is seen up to the 10 sec. pt. in this.: youtu.be/mRuu2WnkqA0?si=cqI4Z3tRhlZB1Mwo
- The IMAMZADEH JA'FAR: This has a distinctive, 25 m. tall, tiered, 'sugarloaf' dome (similar to that at the tomb of Daniel in Susa, but not white), above an octagonal bldg. with "superbly engraved wooden doors" (a local booklet). The tombstone dates to 1108 but some scholars believe the bldg. is more recent. It contains the remains of Abulqāsim Ja’far ibn al-Husayn, grandson of Imam Ali ibn Hussayn. 2 halls in the interior are coated in Safavid and Qajar-era tiles, and an infinite number of tiny, sparkling mirrors in the ceiling and upper walls, not uncommon in imamzadehs in Iran. youtu.be/i4NYV_y5mdk?si=2VCTmt8CEbb7IuxZ
- I was off the beaten track and stuck out like a sore thumb in Borujerd. One young guy in a group of people was assertively friendly, with "Hey! Whoa!" and many comments and questions I didn't understand, of course, looking me up and down while I stood outside the Jame mosque trying to take it in. That's not unusual, but I had the impression I was a strange sight to behold, like that time in Wudu, Sichuan 11 yr.s earlier when an old Tibetan woman walked up to me, looked me up and down and pulled the hair on my fore-arms while talking away at me in an awestruck tone, or when those 2 kids saw me walking up the mud-road at night in the rain somewhere north of Goma in '91 in the former Zaire and ran away screaming. (I was wearing one of those translucent rain ponchos at the time, which covered my backpack. I probably looked like a walking blob with a face. Or was it my face? Lol) My presence in Borujerd was an event. While I sat in the Imamzadeh Ja'far, taking in the details, a big, tough guy, dressed in black and wearing black sunglasses, walked in with a friend of his to check out the foreigner and then left. (Someone said to him "Hey, there's some foreigner in there." "What? No. Here in Borujerd?")
- I might've toured the large Masjed-é Soltani (Qajar, 1832-'33), with its wide, central courtyard and 4 eivans, but don't recall it.
- I can't find any reference to a church in town, but there's a synagogue which might've been open as there was an active community in town until 2015. It looks modern in photos on-line, but it might have been ancient and renovated to the point of being rebuilt. www.7dorim.com/en/pictures/borujerd-synagogue/ According to Shiva Piryaee, the dialect spoken by Jews in Borujerd has its origins in the northwestern branch of Iranian languages to which Parthian belongs, "referred to as Median for comparative purposes", unlike the Lori dialects which are in a subgroup of the southwestern branch. The 'Central Plateau dialects' "include dozens of vernaculars, with various degrees of mutual intelligibility, and are spoken in individual villages and small towns. In larger towns, Median was replaced long ago by Persian, with the exception of the Jewish residents who preserved the native vernaculars until the recent past." It seems the Borujerdi Jews had moved to Borujerd from further north or east at some point, or the Lors/Luri had moved in from further SE. www.eva.mpg.de/fileadmin/content_files/linguistics/confer...
- The antiquity and delicacy of much of the architecture in and @ the bazaar (which I didn't tour) comes through in some scenes in this nicely edited vlog.: youtu.be/xw_MMB7ZaPk?si=YGlOPq0TcphpRe8C
- From Borujerd, I took a bus a little further SE and then West along the 37 to Khorramabad OR the driver turned right, down the 'Arak-Khorramabad Fwy' where it crosses the 37, and followed that road SW, a shorter, more direct route (1 hr. and 20 min.s, @ 90 km.s), although the 37, known as it is by a 2-digit number, is likely the bigger, busier road. As to misses en route, @ 25 clicks south of the 37 and the town of Zagheh, the 'Gert waterfall' has some nice, clear blue, waterfall-fed pools for swimming, and the 'Lili Strait', 30-40 clicks SE of where the 37 splits from the 62 is an idyllic river with green water flowing /b/ the sheer walls of a canyon popular with locals. (Most sites of interest south of the 37 along that stretch involve cascades, streams and pools.)
KHORRAMABAD - I don't know where or when I noticed I was entering warmer climes as I continued south, but it might've been in Khorramabad, the capital of Lorestan, a warm, sunny city in a valley in the southern Zagros with a pop. of almost 400,000. The locals speak Luri and are predominantly Lur (or Lor) and Lak, 2 closely related peoples.
- The moserferkhane (sp?) that I found and stayed in was my 3rd or 4th worst in Iran that trip. It wasn't loud or unsafe, but had black walls and ceiling, and was a real fixer-upper. Ouch. I'd walked @ town in search of the cheapest available, and I guess you get what you pay for.
History: A fortress has stood on the hill that dominates the city since the Elamite era in the late 3rd mill./early 2nd when the city or region was known as Simash and was ruled by kings of the 'Simashki dynasty' as their capital (?!). Ellipi kings built a new fort on the site 600 yr.s later.
- In the Sassanian era the city came to be known as Shapurkhast, named I assume for Shapur I the Great (r 240-'70) who is said to have built the famous Falak ol-Aflak castle, aka Dež-e Shāpūr-Khwāst. ('KhorMoah' is the name given to it in Lori and Laki, 'the place where you can see the sunset'.) The city came to be considered "one of the most important and developed cities in the region." But the Arabs conquered and destroyed it in 633, and "the people of Shapurkhast moved to the western part of the castle, which offered safety and plenty of water." Hamdallah Mustawfi wrote (many centuries later, in the Il-khanid period): "Khorramabad was a beautiful city, now it is destroyed."
- Under the Safavids, Khorramabad became the administrative centre of Lorestan Province. It was conquered by the Ottomans on Sept. 6, 1725, one yr. after the Treaty of Constantinople had been signed /b/ the Turks and Imperial Russia in 1724. (Then what? Wikipedia?) The city was limited to the environs of the Falak-ol-Aflak Castle at the outset of the Qajar era, but expanded with immigration from small local villages. The municipality was formed in 1913 and the first city council in 1916. (Wikipedia, etc.)
- The Lurish, Lori or Lors are "proud people comprising @ 2% of Iran’s population, best known in the West for the magnificent bronze artwork of their hazily documented forebears. ... But centuries of medieval wars would wipe out virtually all settled agriculture in Lorestan". The Lors became unsettled and came to embrace semi-independent nomadic life, remaining nomads until well into the 20th cent. "In 1931 the valiant Freya Stark considered Lorestan to be the ‘wastes of civilization’ as she risked brigands, bandits and the ire of police in seeking ancient gravesites from which to procure Lurish bronzes." (LP)
- youtu.be/zdr7DLDK6W4?si=Prmw7nCUtfrBscRB
- My feet were killing me. I think I had some plantar fasciitis. I'd been wearing the same pair of boots since I left Toronto and they'd turned on me. It was time to buy a pair of shoes, but first (unfortunately) I hiked up to tour the Lorestan museum in the huge, famous castle, the most impressive and intact I toured that trip south of Romania.
- FALAK ol-AFLAK ('Sky of the skies') CASTLE: This pile has been built, rebuilt and renovated over the 1,750 yr.s since Shapur I and the Sassanians are said to have built their iteration in the 3rd cent. and has been known by at least 4 other names.: Sabarkhast, Shapurkhast, Dezbaz, and Khorramabad castle. It was "developed and enlarged by the Barzikani rulers and particularly during the reign of the Lor Atabegs" founded by Shoja'ed-Din Khorshid. It served as a treasury or khazaneh (bank) for the 'Badr forefathers' [?], the 'palace of Atabakan and Waliyan', as a military post, as a prison until 1968, and as home to the Lorestan museum since then. (Wikipedia and a plaque seen online)
- The castle was built with fired mud-bricks, stone, wood, and sarooj on an irregular base, covers @ 5,300 m.s2 and stands 40 m.s from the height of its walls to the base of the hill. It's divided into 4 large halls and their associated rooms and corridors, surrounding 2 courtyards, 31 × 22.5 m.s and 29 × 21 m.s. Excavations have revealed a double-layered rampart with 12 towers that once surrounded the site of the current bldg. and stretched westward. Of those 12, 2 remain and stand to the NW and SW of the castle, which now has 8 towers. The entrance is within the NW tower. Most of the shaft of the 40 m.-deep well, behind the first courtyard, was dug into the rock to reach the source of the Golestan spring and remains usable to this day. youtube.com/shorts/tQFdu2C0f2c?si=iK-Oc-w3kmwf53nX
- The castle appears to incorporate a dehumidification system. A system of tunnels or canals, 1 m. in height, which run through the foundations, had been excavated to preserve the castle from the damaging impact of humidity (resulting with the high water table) on its wood and stone materials. The wind penetrates the castle through the tunnels and dries its foundations. Ingenious.
- In 2000, the I.R.G.C. was in occupation of much of the castle, and had been until 2019. Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization seeks Unesco designation for the castle (it's on Iran's tentative list), and the I.R.G.C. demanded, and was paid, $ 16.5 million to vacate. (!) en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-s-revolutionary-guards-to-get-16...
- Kambiz Roshanravan's Falak-ol Aflak symphony, Mov. 1: youtu.be/s-RGGW9GHgs?si=wjHc0Xj4f0GeV_sy
- The castle is impressive and fully restored, all in brick with neatly curved, fully intact crenellations along the tops of its walls, and with great views. The museum inside had a fine collection of Achaemenid, Sassanian, early Islamic and many earlier items on display in some rooms. Either I missed a fair bit (I don't think so) or it's grown a fair bit and now has a large ethnology component with dioramas of mannequins dressed as Lors et al. performing daily chores, etc. I remember the collection of Lorestan bronzes best which you'd expect to be as large and as choice as it is.
- 'LORESTAN BRONZES': I knew nothing about Lorestan the place before this trip, but like most people I knew something about the famous 'Lorestan (or Luristan) bronzes'; small, sculpted cast bronze objects from the Iron Age, @ 1,000 to 650 B.C. (when Lorestan was, at least in theory, part of the Neo-Assyrian Empire), incl. ornaments, tools, weapons, horse-fittings and a smaller number of vessels incl. situlae, found in abundance at burial sites in Lorestān and Kermanshah provinces. They were crafted by a nomadic or transhumant people who might've been Iranian, possibly related to the modern Lors, who required that all possessions be light, portable, and useful, such as weapons, finials (for tent-poles?), harness fittings, pins, cups, all highly decorated over their small surface area, and with openwork, like the related metalwork of Scythian art. Representations of animals are common, goats and sheep with large horns, and in distinctive and inventive forms and styles. The highly stylized 'Master of Animals' motif is common, a man standing /b/ and gripping 2 animals. The 'Mistress of Animals' is seen as well. These and other motifs have been identified as 'Assyrian, Babylonian, and Iranian'. (The stylistic development is now thought to be from naturalistic depictions towards the stylized and abstract.) The 'bronzes' first appeared on the international art market in the late '20s and were excavated in considerable quantities by locals, "wild tribesmen who didn't encourage competition from qualified excavators", and were taken through networks of dealers, latterly illegally, to Europe or America, without information as to the context in which they were found. It's likely the many thousands of pieces sourced from the art trade include some forgeries. Several digs have been conducted since 1938 by American, Danish, British, Belge, and Iranian archaeologists on cemeteries in the northern Pish Kuh valleys and the southern Pusht Kuh of Lorestān (the eastern 'front' and western 'back' slopes of the Kabīrkūh range, part of the larger Zagros, which define the region where the bronzes seem to have been found). Curiously, 2 very characteristic pieces have been excavated on Samos and Crete in Greece, but none in other parts of Iran or the Near East.
- The term 'Lorestan bronze' generally isn't used for items that date /b/ the 4th mill. B.C. and the (Iranian) Bronze Age (@ 2900-1250 B.C.), although they're often quite similar. The earlier bronze objects, incl. those from the Elamite Empire, which included Lorestān, were broadly similar to those found in Mesopotamia and on the Iranian plateau. From slightly before the period of the canonical bronzes, a number of daggers or short swords said to hail from Lorestan are inscribed with the names of Mesopotamian kings, perhaps reflecting patterns of military service. (All Wikipedia)
- My biggest miss in Iran (which is saying something) was probably in Lorestan. I had a brief discussion in that museum in Falak ol-Aflak with a well-dressed, local woman, which she might've initiated, I don't recall, and after the typical questions and answers, she said (to paraphrase) "We've noticed you [walking @ town, limping really, in my quest for the most affordable accommodation] and would like to invite you to show you some of Lorestan." (By 'we' she was referring to herself and her friends or family.) I had plans to leave town soon and, again, my feet were killing me. I hadn't bought those new shoes yet, but would later that day or the next (what a difference they made). Those are at least 2 of the reasons why I said "Very kind, but no thank you." I've kicked myself ever since. Lorestan is known for its colourful nomads, the Lors, et al., and for some beautiful and unusual scenery too. She and her friends were being very generous to a foreigner they didn't know out of a sense of local pride. I had similar experiences in South Africa in '92 where people would go out of their way to be charming and hospitable, as if to say "We're not who they say we are, let us prove it to you." I imagine they would've driven me to a point or points from which we'd hike into scenery they were proud of and to meet with peoples who live an entirely different way of life, and it would've been wonderful. Her response was interesting, a facial expression a bit like a sneer, a response to an insult. I had insulted her, although of course I didn't mean to. She didn't expect that I'd say no, nor that I could be so dumb, because any local would've said yes! and thank you.
What would they have taken me to see?:
- Again, to visit with Lors or Bakhtiari nomads, I would hope.: youtu.be/8mumI-Oveog?si=UI2443uNQikBGO09 youtu.be/R27_0SepkCA?si=mwTQ_35iJC61xITa youtu.be/aGXAS_zcCXU?si=VYnJBQsdRKpUvpHP youtu.be/nkm5F_O9Q5Q?si=qtDJpdfwA1qsZCmU
- The trippy Shirez canyon, 50-60 km.s NW of town, I'd also hope.: youtube.com/shorts/Ar34ySRwI2c?si=BTibpdC3P1EI88JP See more of it in this from the 7 min. pt. to 7:34.: youtu.be/rJcbfmDJqfw?si=EbJRShXJI1xbHgpg www.youtube.com/shorts/QSj-Lv2kRjE (Some tourists stop en route to the canyon to take in the Kashkan bridge, 323 m.s with 9 arches remaining of 12, some 33 m.s wide, built under Badr ibn Hasanwayh [r 979 - 1014].)
- Lorestan's full of ancient cave-dwellings too. 5 near the city date from the paleolithic. The Kogan cave(s), similar to Karaftu, are @ 25 - 30 clicks SW of town as the crow flies. According to this Press TV doc. they were dug by the Arsacids (Pathians) as a necropolis. youtu.be/LEsgD2a-3v4?si=qZasbbAiHf0XF9S_
- Another fascinating Mithraic shrine (which I never failed to miss), the Bawas (Baba-'Abbas) sculpted cave, only 5 km.s SW of town.
- The ancient, double-domed tomb of Shoja-ed-Din Khorshid, aka Shahanshah, founder and ruler of the Lor Atabegs, is @ 10 km.s SW of town, and a cemetery with exotic old tombstones covered in crudely carved reliefs, with images of many goats and ibex and men on horseback with swords, etc., a real miss. One depicts a standing man who appears to be smoking a hookah.
- There's a chain of ruined caravanserais in the area, incl. at Shahanshah.
- More re the culture of Lorestan: The appeal of Lorestan to tourists is much less archaeological and historical (although the Kassites, who conquered and ruled Babylon for 5 centuries, are said to have hailed from Lorestan), and much more ethnological and anthropological (o/s Khorramabad). It's a bit like Romania's Maramures in that way. Some examples from 'Lorestan at a Glace' (Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization), a booklet I bought somewhere en route after I'd left the province.:
- 1. Weddings - After a wedding ceremony is held, at which the 'stick-dance' (choobazi) might be performed (from the 40 sec. pt.: youtu.be/sIfIktbdkQc?si=ZcUm1AwQZIzkjQqY ), and "before leaving for the bridegroom's house, the bride is carried around the oven of her father's house as a wish for her successful married life, following which she is seated on the back of a decorated mare (talmit) amid the joyful clamour of women and various tunes. Then horsemen make a boisterous display of their abilities in riding and fighting on horseback."
- 2. 'Oral literature' amongst Lor tribes is accompanied with music and is ever-present in their daily life and work. Lullabies (lavah lavah) are sung by mothers and grandmothers, and many chores are accompanied with maqoom-ra, specific songs, incl. butter extraction (bit-mashkeh), cow milking (gav-dooshi), shepherding (shuoni), horse-riding, migrating, etc.
- The Lors of Khorramabad are also known for their observance of Ashura, at which they cover themselves with mud in mourning Imam Hossein. See the penitential weight-bearing, for which Ashura is known across Iran, from the 35 min. pt. in this.: youtu.be/g8TzUE_IXaY?si=kwXHjM_KbGzzc8Ph (A discussion /b/ a Lors and a Magdarame Filipino.: "Oh yeah? You just try crucifixion with me next Good Friday. Ouch." Or with Dewey Chafin in Jolo.: "Thet ain't much. I bin bitten over 80 TAHMS!" flickr.com/photos/97924400@N00/3555964490/in/dateposted-p... )
- I'm sure I toured the Jame mosque (Safavid) in town too, but don't recall it.
- That booklet lists only a few small misses in town.: 1.: The Gerdaw Bardina, an open, round, visibly ancient (Sassanid-era), spring-fed cistern, 18 m.s in diameter, encircled by a 10 m. high wall made with field-stones and mortar. It once had 7 outlets of varying sizes to control the outflow of water, for "accurate and optimal distribution", only 1 of which remains (160 x 90 cm.s) and which functions like a drawer.; 2.: a 29.5 m. high, round, plain brick minaret (Seljuq and Buyid), which had been taller in the past, and which was "once used [as a landmark] to guide caravans". It's climbable with 29 steps up a spiral staircase and has 6 windows of different sizes, but the entrance is @ 5' off the ground and, with no steps to gain access (as seen in a photo), it must've been closed; and 3.: the Sang-Neveshteh, the 'Inscribed stone', a rectangular stele, 3.5 m.s tall, dating to 1119 (Seljuq) with a kufic inscription. It expressly bans "some reprehensible traditions" (which?) and bequeaths grazing rights in the region.
- 2 more impressive ancient bridges were misses.: 1. The brick, Safavid Pole Gap (Gap Bridge), 18 m.s in height with 20 arches, and 2. the marvelous, famous Sassanian Shapuri ('broken') stone bridge, 312 m.s in length, once having only 28 (pointed) arches and a surface area of 61 m.s2, with 6 arches intact today (although, according to Encyclopaedia Iranica, "the 6 preserved pointed arches are considered to be medieval reconstructions".) Each pillar is 16 m.s tall, 11 x 6 m.s in section. It was built on the orders of Shapur I as a link on the road to Ctesiphon, doubling as a dam when required, and was my biggest miss in town. Lorestan is the land of ancient bridges and is home to some of the world's most impressive, and could be worth a visit for the bridges alone. (I'll write about 3 more that were en route south of the city below.)
- A Press TV clip re the lake and an ancient cistern in Khorramabad. Again, Iranians with water.: youtu.be/NvmJgEB7GBE?si=q3srn8pu44_yuekL The theme of the Iranian infatuation with water comes through in so many videos online. This one combines water with fine Persian carpets; see from the 1:20 min. pt.: youtu.be/TvP-ybmZFMk?si=GC3ru9PQGoQdJddt youtu.be/MjMs_riHrVc?si=7dJF-vgASqQkg1Gc Of course, being from Southern Ontario, the land of lakes and of Niagara's Horse-shoe falls, the world's wettest waterfall (by volume of water), I take water for granted as a rule. (Southern Ontario is almost surrounded by lakes, in fact the Wendat [the Huron], whose forebears reputedly lived here for @ 7,000 yr.s, considered Southern Ontario to be an island. Wendat or Ouendat means 'Island dwellers'.) So this focus on water and on all things wet and watery stands out to me, but you'd expect it to be instilled in the Iranian mindset, with so many generations of ancestors who made superhuman efforts to carve out impossibly long qanats to irrigate the desert and to repair and rebuild them after so many earthquakes, and who had to start all over too often when fickle springs would dry up.
- Khorramabad was a warm, sunny city, with a pleasant setting in its valley, and which is on Iran's tentative list for Unesco designation (on the basis of its importance in the Paleolithic). But I didn't stay more than a couple nights before I caught a bus south to Khuzestan, the most historic region in Iran by far.
- The bus journey I took from Khorramabad towards Andimeshk, NW, SW, south and SE on the 37, was one of the most magical I've taken anywhere (not that anything compares to the journey north to Skardu in '97) due in large part to 2 ancient, ruined bridges, the tallest ancient bridges I've ever seen, and which the bus drove right up to and alongside at Kalhor www.youtube.com/shorts/KodY6ePNsrg , and THROUGH and beneath further south at Poldokhtar. An enormous, 18 m. high, intact pointed arch adjoins the cliff and bestrides the hwy. there, the first of 8 that once supported the monumental, 270 m. long Pol-e Dokhtar ('Daughter's bridge', after which the town is named). But the much taller, adjoining arches rose 30 m.s above the Kashkan! And of course the piers of the arches extended beneath the surface of the river. To put this in some perspective, the famously massive, almost contemporary arch, the Sassanid Taq-i Kisra at Ctesiphon (and which survives!) is 35 m.s tall. (But there's a Roman bridge, the Alcantara in Spain, which still stands at 45 m.s., although it crosses a much more narrow gorge.) The remaining arch of this bridge could be the tallest ancient arch I've seen yet (and again I was driven through it! See it from the 1:30 min. pt. in this.: youtu.be/CGuxhQLwAfs?si=mRUmoaAXkMel9zBb ). The aqueduct of Valens in Istanbul is 29 m.s tall, but consists in 2 tiers of arches. The Pol-e Dokhtar was built on the ruins of a much earlier Achaemenid bridge, and served as a link on the historic 'Royal road' /b/ Susa and Ecbatana. (I wonder how much of the 37 followed that road.) Per Iran's tentative list of sites for Unesco designation (this and Kalhor and Gavmishan [see below] are in a collective submission, 'Historical Bridges'), it was built by Mehr Nersi, a famous minister under Ardeshir-e Babakan. But according to an entry in Encyclopaedia Iranica, "the famous Pol-e Doḵtar is certainly of the early Islamic period but had an obvious predecessor nearby, for which even a pre-Sasanian date has been discussed." ? It's well over 1,000 yr.s old in any event.
- The bridge at Kalhor was originally built by the Achaemenids and was renovated by the Sassanians, again as a link on the 'Royal road'. Imagine how amazed I was as the bus, driving on a road through a canyon, turned a corner of sorts to pass /b/ and beneath the 2 towering, remaining piers of that bridge, one with 2 pointed arches super-imposed. According to localguides.com, it's > 150 m.s in length, the height of the tallest pier is 30m.s, and the widest arch /b/ the piers is 26.5 m.s.
- The 3rd famous bridge in this neighborhood is the late Sassanian Pol-e Gavmishan on the twisty Karkheh, @ 30 km.s SW of Poldokhtar and @ 20 west of the 37. 175 m.s long, 8 wide, it's claimed to have had the longest arch-span of any ancient bridge in the world, 33.7 m.s, destroyed in part by the Sassanians in the 7th cent. to slow the Arab advance. youtu.be/gSf3zqDbqQI?si=uBeQRMGWzjRcCVQe A miss. (The 'Old Bridge' across the Tigris at Hasankeyf, which I toured in 2012 [only a few piers remain], was built /b/ 1147 and '67 and had an arch-span of @ 40 m.s, said to be the world's longest at that time.)
Misses en route south from Khorramabad.:
- The 37 passes within a km. of the well-preserved Chemesh Caravanserai just NE of Chameshk.
- The famous Kalmakareh cave ('Place of mtn. goats and figs') is @ 12 km.s west of Khersdar-e Kakamorad and the 37, difficult of access with an entrance 50 m.s above ground, which was home for at least 2,300 yrs. to a superlative, 8th cent. B.C., Neo-Elamite hoard of 180 items, primarily silver, many from the treasury of the king of Samatorra or Sumaturra (a Caucasian tribe which migrated south and allied with the Elamites) and 4 skeletons carbon-dated to 3 centuries later, 350-300 BC, the time of Alexander's conquests. These are thought to have been guards who were trapped with the hoard (of antiquities by then) when it was stashed in the cave. Was it hidden from the Greeks following the 'Battle of the Persian Gates'? (See the videos in the next links.) The treasure was found by a shepherd in 1989 who, with local villagers, made off with coins, silver rhytons, statuettes, jewellery, etc., which made their way onto the black market and to museums @ the world. These golden masks with unibrows were found inside. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmakareh_Cave#/media/File:Ancient... I saw some items from the hoard in the museum in the Falak ol-Aflak. youtu.be/WZjYIKNuUIY?si=f9SBR_5JtkZ191d5 youtu.be/VSxxmELMIUI?si=1IvdsnkGJkNtK-B2
- More re the sites missed en route south from Khorramabad to Andimeshk in the write-up for the next photo.
Ingólfshöfði is a nature reserve that's home to thousands of nesting sea-birds, like puffins and great skuas. This birdwatching tour was taken with the group Local Guide, which hauls people across a massive black sand beach in a hay cart to reach the cliffs where the birds live.
This was without a doubt the best day of our trip. We went out with Einar and his son from Öræfaferðir / Local Guide Travel Service. They were both amazing, and we would highly recommend their services! Please feel free to check out the link below for more information.
Our second stop was to head into an amazing ice cave adjacent to the Svínafellsjökull Outlet on Vatnajökull Glacier. Being in these caves was unlike anything we've ever experienced. They were well insulated so it wasn't extremely cold, but the textures and formations were completely otherworldly. The ice will often take on a rich, deep blue color in these caves. However, we were told that because it was a bright and sunny day, that blue became more of the aqua/teal type color you see here.
This shot is looking up from the floor of the cave at the ceiling and into the sky above.
Interestingly, due to the constant changing of the glaciers and temperature changes, these ice caves are rarely ever around for more than a couple of weeks at a time. You can go back every year and have a completely different experience every time. We were told that the ice caves we enjoyed, for example, were gone within a week of our visit.
Nikon D800
14-24mm f/2.8 Lens
7-Exposure HDR bracketed at 1-stop, on a Gitzo Tripod with a remote trigger release, blended in Photomatix