IRI Busy Destroying pre-Islamic Iranian History - Archaeological and Cultural News of the Iranian World

CAIS

The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies

[ Home ]

[ About CAIS ]

[ Articles ]

[ Daily News ]

[ News Archive ]

[ Announcements ]

[ CAIS Seminars ]

[ Image Library ]

[ Copyright ]

[ Disclaimer ]

[ Submission ]

[ Search ]

[ Contact Us ]

[ Links ]

.CAIS NEWS^©

ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL NEWS OF THE IRANIAN WORLD

IRI Busy Destroying pre-Islamic Iranian History

29 November 2007

Edited by Shapour Suren-Pahlav

LONDON, (CAIS) -- Lake Sivand (also Bolaghi) is beginning to flood the Bolaghi Valley, but Naqsh-e Rostam allegedly to be safe from the proposed railway line that could have damaged the structures of the ancient site.

In an interview with the Tehran Times in the Bolaghi Valley earlier this month, Parsa-Pasargadae Research Foundation archaeologist Afshin Yazdani, who is based at Persepolis, said that the government has given preliminary approval to a plan according to which the route of the Shiraz-Esfahan railway line will be located 1200 meters from Naqsh-e Rostam, although the final decision has not been made yet.

The earlier plan was construct railway track only 400 meters away from Naqsh-e Rostam, but the experts protested, confirming vibrations caused by passing trains would almost certainly broaden existing cracks in the tomb of Xerxes I and result in its collapse, and would also cause the total destruction of Ka’aba of Zoroaster within less than ten years if the railway line were to be located so close.

It is believed that the affluent landowners, who wanted to sell their lands which are situated near the site of Naqsh-e Rostam have bribed[1] the authorities at the IR Roads and Transportation Ministry to place the railway route only 400 meters away the historical site.

Naqsh-e Rostam is situated about 12 kilometres northwest of Persepolis and is one of the most important historical sites in Iran-Proper, since it holds number of tombs, belonging to the Achaemenid King of Kings, such as Darius the Great, his son Xerxes I, Artaxerxes I, and Darius II, all have been carved into the solid rock of the mountain. The site also contains bas-reliefs dating back to the Elamites as well as the Sasanian dynastic eras.

Yazdani said that Naqsh-e Rostam was an important ceremonial site for the Elamites, nearly 1000 years before the rise of the Achaemenid dynasty to power.

[1] Since 1979 Islamic Iran ranks 88 out of 158 countries on the "Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index" (CPI) with a CPI score of 2.9 (a scale of 0 – 10 with 0 being the most corrupt). In real terms Islamic regime made bribery another form of income supplement for the Iranian society, in order to disintegrate traditional values and moralities among Iranian people, and pave the way for destruction of Iran. Corruption encouraged at every level, which have nowadays have become an accepted part of every day life - from gifting the postman to make sure one’s mail is delivered to major corruption on the international level in the oil and its related industries - the cliques of clerics and their families in power accumulate unheard of wealth through corruption, bribery and embezzlement and live in opulence and luxury at the expense of the Iranian nation.