page_title: Istakhr
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Istakhr / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: historyofallnati02wrig (find matches) Title: A history of all nations from the earliest times; being a universal historical library Year: 1905 (1900s) Authors: Wright, John Henry, 1852-1908 Subjects: World history Publisher: (Philadelphia, New York&#160;: Lea Brothers &amp; company Contributing Library: University of California Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: mentsof colunnis are scattered over the ground. A colossal gateway atsome distance toward the east gives evidence of having been erectedin the period of the Sassanians. It consists of a side door, a centralpassageway between one colunni and two antae, and a gate-house. The precipice of Naksh-i-Rustam is situated at a bend in themountains. In the accompanying cut (Fig. 47) can be seen thefagades of three tombs facing the south; a fourth, hewn in a juttingcrag, looks toward the west. The second tomb from the right,as one fiices, is the Tomb of Darius. It alone has an inscription.Like other tombs of similar architecture, it makes a cruciformrecess, the central portion of which is a representation in reliefof the fa^jade of the pahice of Darius, with the door cro^^vned withthe Egyptian concave cornice. Here the position of the beams isvery clearly distinguished, wliile in the ruins of the palace itselfevery trace of them has disapjjeared. The beams of the architrave 202 THE ACItAEMENIDAH. Text Appearing After Image: TOWKliS OF fIRK. -JO.» rest, not directly upon the columns, but on cross-beams, placed be-tween the double half-bulls. Above the architrave lie the cross-beams of the roof, the projecting ends forming a denticulated fiieze.Upon these stands the geison, or cornice, as in Ionic temples; since,for the most part, the prototypes of Persian architecture are to befound in Asia Minor, especially in Lycia. Ab(ive the roof of thefacade stands a double-storied edifice, each part supported by a rowof human figures. On each corner are posts and legs like thosedescribed on the kings throne, with the exception that those on thetomb end iu the head of the monster, showing that through thekings effort it had become so tame as to carry him, in the same wayas Ahriman was once used by Tahmurath as a horse. The upperstory is adorned mth a thoroughly Grecian frieze of leaf and budornament, below an astragal. The king stands on a dais, worshi2&gt;ping before Ahura Mazda and the fire. The inscriptions are b Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: Istakhr was an ancient city in Fars province, five kilometres north of Persepolis in southwestern Iran. It flourished as the capital of the Persian Frataraka governors and Kings of Persis from the third century BC to the early 3rd century AD. It reached its apex under the Sasanian Empire, and was the hometown of the Sasanian dynasty. Istakhr briefly served as the first capital of the Sasanian Empire from 224 to 226 AD and then as principal city, region, and religious centre of the Sasanian province of Pars. During the Arab conquest of Iran, Istakhr was noted for its stiff resistance, which resulted in the death of many of its inhabitants. Istakhr remained a stronghold of Zoroastrianism long after the conquests, and remained relatively important in the early Islamic era. It went into gradual decline after the founding of nearby Shiraz, before being destroyed and abandoned under the Buyids. Cursorily explored by Ernst Herzfeld and a team from the University of Chicago in the first half of the 20th century, much of Sasanian Istakhr remains unexcavated.
caption: A drawing from the ruins of Istakhr in the 19th century
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