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. The city was never finished and was abandoned within a few generations.

What you actually see

• 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.

Honest expectations

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.