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CAIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL NEWS OF IRANIAN WORLD© |
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Naqsh-e Rostam Another Victim of Pre-Islamic Cultural Cleansing
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17 June 2006 |
LONDON,
(Shapour Suren-Pahlav - CAIS) -- The Islamic
regime in recent decades after an unsuccessful attempt to flatten Persepolis in
1981, has taken a subtle and systematic approach to eradicate the physical
pre-Islamic Iranian heritage.
These
methods including vandalizing the ancient sites by Islamic vigilantes,
neglecting the endangered sites (such as Achaemenid Kabeh Zardosht and
Sasanian Arch of Shirin and Farhad in Ilam which recently sections of their
walls collapsed ); - by so-called development projects, such as dam constructions
over or in the vicinity of the ancient sites (such as Sivand, Jarreh,
Mullah Sadra, Shian dams), erection of stone, cement and gypsum factories, using
the ancient ruins as the raw materials (such as Ray, Da va Dokhtar),
construction of chemical and petrochemical factories, so close to the ancient
sites, that their pollutions and smokes are speeding up the process of stone
decays, which will lead to their complete destructions (such as Naqsh-e
Rostam, Bistun).
However, a lecturer at Chamran University in Ahwaz in Khuzestan
province has recently expressed his concern about the lack of maintenance of the
Naqsh-e
Rostam inscriptions which are engraved on a cliff in a mountain called Hami-Abad.
Naqsh-e Rostam is located on the northern parts of Persepolis (Takht-e Jamshid)
and its architecture dates back to the three great periods of Iranian history:
the Elamite as well as the Achaemenid and the Sasanid dynasties.
Yousef Amidzadeh lamented the negligence and poor maintenance of Naqsh-e Rostam
and said that for a long time no one was even aware of the existence of such a
magnificent work of cultural heritage.
He pointed out that Naqsh-e Rostam was named after the Iranian mythical hero,
Rostam.
Engraving the inscriptions on the rocky surface of the cliff was indeed a very
daunting task, he noted and called on Iranian youth to visit the area just to
learn about the great works accomplished by their ancestors.
He criticised and urged Iran's Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization to
work out an elaborate plan on the maintenance of Naqsh-e Rostam.
Many
of the ruling clerics and prominent members of the Islamic regime in Iran are of
non-Iranian origins, and are self-importantly proud of being Arab descents, in a
country of non-Arab stock. Since 1980s, they have hopelessly tried to eradicate
pre-Islamic Iranian heritage, to the point of forbidding Iranians from
celebrating their ancient celebrations, such as 4000-years-old Nowruz and
Chahar-Shanbeh Suri. Ruhollah
Khomeini, the founder of Islamic republic has made no attempt to hide his abhorrence
for Iranian nationality and identity, as in December 1980 publicly announced:
". . . these issues that exist among people that we are Iranian and what we
need to do for Iran are not correct; these issues are not correct. This issue,
which is perhaps being discussed everywhere, regarding paying attention to
nation and nationality is nonsense in Islam and is against Islam. One of the
things that the designers of Imperialism and their agents have promoted is the
idea of nation and nationality."
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"History is the Light on the Path to Future" |
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Encyclopaedia Iranica
The British Institute of Persian Studies "Persepolis Reconstructed"
The British Museum
The Royal Asiatic Society
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