11
October 2005
As
a result of a relentless agricultural and illegal excavations, the
ancient medical and scientific city of Gondi Shapur, the oldest
University City in the world, will be destroyed completely by next
year, according to CHN.
“To
this date no solution has been found to salvage the remains of Gondi
Shapur. Already 25 ancient Tappeh out of 30 were completely
destroyed, and the remaining five Tappeh will be destroyed by the
next year,” Dr Mas’ud Azarnoush, head of Iran’s National
Heritage Archaeological Research Centre told Persian service of CHN.
“Last
year after a visit by Chicago University, it was agreed that the
ancient city to be excavated by a team of Iranian and US
archaeologists, but this never materialized
due to various problems”, Azarnoush asserted.
There
is a general consensus among the experts that even protecting this
historical area would not be enough to save the ancient city from an
absolute destruction, due to the absence of any funding as well as
negligence and lack of support from the province’s officials and
executives.
In
early October 2005, scholars and locals appealed to the new Iranian
President Ahmadinežad, to protect
the ancient city from agriculture and illegal diggings, citing its
archaeological importance as well as its importance to
"national and identity issues:" To this date no support
has been received.
Goni
Shapur also known as Jondi Shapur located in the southern province
of Khuzestan, it was a major academic town at the time of the
Sasanid dynasty and early Islamic period. As Arabs invaded Iran in 7th
century, many of the city's scholarly texts was translated from the
Middle-Persian (Pahlavi) language into Arabic, transmitted the
Iranian knowledge to the Arab and Islamic world.
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