Chogha Zanbil

Untash-Napirisha, king of Elam, founded a religious city here around 1250 BC and built at its centre a ziggurat that survives to about twenty-five metres of an original five stages, the best preserved stepped temple anywhere outside Mesopotamia and larger in ground plan than any of them. It was built as a solid mass of mud brick faced with baked brick, with inscriptions in Elamite cuneiform running in bands around the outside naming the king, and unlike Mesopotamian ziggurats its stages were built one inside another rather than stacked. Three enclosure walls surround it with temples, palaces and royal tombs between them, and a water system brought supply from the Karkheh nearly fifty kilometres away. Building went on after the king's death, and the city is believed to have stood until the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal sacked it around 645 BC, though some researchers place the end of its occupation in the late 12th century BC.

History

King Untash-Napirisha built the complex around 1250 BC, the conventional date within the 14th or 13th century BC, mainly to honour the god Inshushinak; its original name, Dur Untash, means town of Untash, though few besides priests and servants probably lived there. Three concentric walls enclose the ziggurat, eleven temples to other gods and royal palaces with five underground tombs, and brick inscriptions name twenty-two temples, only about half of which have been found. Building went on after the king's death, and the city is believed to have stood until the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal sacked it around 645 BC, though some researchers place its end in the late 12th century BC. A geologist prospecting for oil found an inscribed brick and took it to the excavators at Susa; Roland de Mecquenem dug here in 1935-39 and 1946, Roman Ghirshman excavated it in six seasons between 1951 and 1962, and in 1979 it became the first site in Iran on the World Heritage List. The name is usually translated as basket mound (Wikipedia, Chogha Zanbil).

The main sights

• A twenty-five-metre ziggurat - the best preserved stepped temple outside Iraq.
• Elamite cuneiform bands - inscriptions running around the baked brick facing.
• Three enclosure walls - temples and tombs between the rings.
• Original brick paving and drains - the working surfaces still in place.

When to go

November to March; Khuzestan in summer is among the hottest inhabited places on earth. Two to three hours. Early morning or late afternoon for light and temperature. Sunset on the brick is exceptional.

What to expect

There is no shade whatsoever on the site and summer visits are dangerous. Climbing the ziggurat is not permitted beyond the lower stage. Signage is limited. The drive from Shush is on ordinary roads with no public transport.

Nearby

Susa is north-west; Shushtar and its water system lie east.

Key facts