Ziggurat of Choghazanbil
Majestic and Beautiful
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| Ziggurat of Choghazanbil |
Built by the Elamites in approximately 1250 BCE, it resembles the architecture employed in the Egyptian pyramids and Mayan edifices, Cais.soas.com reported.
The ziggurat of Choghazanbil is a sacred building of ancient times. The pyramidical edifice was originally five stories high, but at present only three floors remain.
The Elamite Dynasty built many such edifices in ancient Persia, the most important of which is the ziggurat of Choghazanbil in Khuzestan province.
The Choghazanbil edifice is the only surviving ziggurat in Iran and one of the most important remnants of the Elamite civilization, which thrived in Iran. The earliest known presence of Elamites has been recorded at Awan (now called Shoushtar, a town in Khouzestan province).
According to the chronicles of the Old Testament, an ancient king named Kedor Laomer in Elam succeeded in extending his domain as far as Palestine (Genesis, Chapter 14).
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| Ziggurat of Choghazanbil |
Location
Choghazanbil is located in Khouzestan province 30 km southwest of Shoush (Susa), the famous capital of Elam near Dez River which bifurcates from the large Karoun River. The edifice and the town bearing the same name have been built on a natural earth mound, as it overlooks the adjacent plains. When the sky is clear, the two important Elamite cities, namely Shoush and Shoushtar, were visible from that elevation.
The ziggurat was located at Choghazanbil because of the region’s proximity to Shoush, trade routes and Mesopotamia.
The original name of this town and its ziggurat was Dur-Untash which, according to the inscriptions discovered at the foundations of the ruined building in that town, derived its name from Untash-Gal, the Elamite king (1275-1240 BCE) who was the founder of that town. This name has been repeatedly mentioned in Elamite and Assyrian inscriptions.
The word `Dur’ in the Akkadian and Elamite languages means a town or an enclosed and distinct region. Ziggurat in Sumerian language means ascending to heaven and has its root in the Elamite word Zagratu.
The highest story of the ziggurat was called Kukunnu or Kizzum which name was ascribed to all the stories.
Choghazanbil means a hill-like basket (Zanbil), because in the Dezfouli or Lori dialect Chogha means a hill.
Based on surviving records, the money for building that town and edifice was not procured from military victories and plunder or from collection of tributes and taxes but through trade with other regions.
Choghazanbil was the religious capital of that time and the main residence of Untash-Gal.
The architectural method used by the Elamite architects focused on making the best use of sunshine in winter and profit from the local winds and shadow in summer.
The significance of the scientific and cultural achievements of Elamites and their contribution to other civilizations can be better understood when we learn that the first wheeled pitcher (the first wheel) was apparently invented by human beings at Elam.
Also, the first arched roof and its covering, which involve a very important technique in architecture, were invented by the Elamites and used in the mausoleum of Tepti-Ahar around 1360 BCE (unearthed in the excavations made at Haft Tappeh) nearly 1,500 years before such arches were used by the Romans.
Excavations
Based on a contract signed with Nassereddin Shah, the Qajar king, with France, a French archeological team was sent to Khuzestan in 1895. But this team had based its headquarters in Shoush. However, in 1935, Brown, a New Zealand citizen who was seeking oil, while flying over that region was surprised to spot a huge earthen pile.
During the same period, one of the geologists of the oil company discovered an inscribed brick that referred to Choghazanbil and took it to the French archeological team in Shoush. Thus the Iranian government permitted R. de Mecquenem, the representative of Louvre Museum in Paris and head of the French archeological team in Shoush, to excavate the Choghazanbil area for five years. De Mecquenem started his investigation during 1936-39, but the main excavation was commenced by R. Ghirshman in 1951.
Until 1962, Ghirshman succeeded in conducting nine stages of consecutive excavations with 150 workers and removed 200,000 sq. meters of earth from the site by wagons and rail in34 months. He succeeded in unearthing the ziggurat from the depth of the earth.
Recently, an Iranian archeologist said evidence indicates the existence of a ziggurat older than the 3,000-year-old counterpart at Choghazanbil and Haft-Tappeh in Khuzestan province.
The Persian daily Toseh reported geophysical studies are underway in the area.
“The second stage of seismic studies at Choghazanbil and Haft-Tappeh will resume from September 22,“ archeologist Hamid Fadaei said.
He noted that the theory of other ziggurats around Choghazanbil and Haft-Tappeh, put forward by renowned Professor Negahban before 1979, has gained strength in light of the current studies.
“Deh-e No is a hill where ancestors of Ontash Nepirisha, the ruler of Orantash had been living 6,000 years ago or 4,000/5,000 years before Christ,“ he said.
A brick has been unearthed from the hill with inscriptions indicating that there are ziggurats at Deh-e No preceding the one at Choghazanbil.
The ziggurat’s beauty and majesty attract thousands of local and foreign visitors every year.
