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 LONDON,
(CAIS) -- A team of archaeologists is currently
searching for traces of Byzantine ruler Heraclius
(610-641) at the Sasanid Khosrow Palace near the city of
Qasr-e Shirin in the western Iranian province of
Kermanshah, the Persian service of CHN reported on Monday.
King
of Kings (Shâhanshâh) Khosrow II (reigned 590-628) began a long war
against the Byzantine Empire in 602 and by 619 had
conquered almost all of Asia Minor, Levant and
Egypt.
Further
expansion was prevented by the Byzantine emperor
Heraclius, who between 622 and 627 drove the Iranians back
within the agreed borders. Many experts believe that the
Khosrow Palace had been sacked and pillaged by Heraclius.
Iran
never recovered from this war, and in fact paved the way
for ferocious Arab army to invade Iran.
The
team is conducting the survey to determine if the theory
is true, project director Yusef Moradi said.
The
region was excavated by French archaeologist and
prehistorian Jacques de Morgan in the late nineteenth
century, British anthropologist Gertrude Margaret Lowthian
Bell in  1910 and 1911, and then by Oscar Reuter. Each one
prepared architectural plans of the Khosrow Palace, but
none of the plans is reliable so the archaeological team
also plans to study the architecture of the castle, he
added.
The
archaeological team working at the site recently
discovered a wall surrounding the palace about 40
kilometers in length, which they believe was used as a
defensive device for the palace.
Covering
an area of 75,000 square meters, the palace was built by
the Sasanid King of Kings Khosrow II for his beloved
Armenian wife Shirin.
Some Iranian and Arab geographers and historians of the
early Islamic era called the palace one of the wonders of
the world.
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