Sasanid Inscription Found Near Estakhr

21 January 2005

Iranian archeologists have found an 8-line Sassanid Pahlavi inscription around the city of Estakhr during their inspections.

The city of Estakhr is near the Naghshe-Rostam, 15 km from the world heritage site of Persepolis. Remains belonging to the Achaemenid, Sassanid, and Islamic period have been found in this city.

"Considering the fact that the city of Estakhr is one of the unknown and little-inspected Sassanid sites, a team of archeologists started excavating and studying this historical area that led to the discovery of a Pahlavi inscription 50cm long and wide", Ali Assadi, head of Estakhr research center, told CHN.

Regarding the rarity of the documents related to Sassanid dynasty (224 – 651 AD) that have been mostly comprised of some words, the inspection and decoding of this 8-line inscription can be of great importance, Assadi said. This number of lines on an inscription that was found in a castle can lead the experts to important information about the Sassanid reign.

The ancient city of Estakhr with an area of about 130 hectares is located in Fars province, near the ancient site of Persepolis.

The excavations and discovery of this inscription around Estakhr city has been proceeded by a group of experts from Parseh and Pasargadae project in collaboration with the archeologists from the department of history in the Iranian Archeological Research Center and 2 students from Azad University.

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