Me: "Akah, Persepolis Ras hi-way. We went Chap!?!"
Driver: "Mohandes, no problem, me go Chap very good place."
Me: "Persepolis beautiful, but this is no Persepolis?"
Driver: 'No problem, Ayish Mohandes"
(in short the driver told me to be still and be quite, he's in charge daw, though i doubt if that's the correct translation according to Allan)
(do you know where your going too)?
Quite and still i was until we arrived in this so called very good place. We we're suprised because we we're brought to a mountain wall. Yikes, impatient I am i blurted "what are we gonna see here", but i didn't wait for an answer because I was
struck by what i've seen.
According to wikipedia (and other websites)Naqsh-i-Rustam is about 4.8 kilometers northwest of Persepolis in the mountain range of Husain Kuh. This is where Darius the Great and his successors had their monumental tombs carved into the cliff.
And still according to another website, "Although Naqsh-i-Rustam had long been a sacred area (as the remains of a Pre-Achaemenid relief show), Darius the Great was the first to choose it as a burial place. His successors not only imitated his idea of a cliff tomb but also copied the layout of the tomb itself. The dramatic facade of the tomb is constructed like a cross. An entrance leads into the tomb chamber, cut deep into the rock. In the panel above this facade is a relief depicting the king standing on a three-stepped pedestal in front of an altar. His hand is raised in a gesture of worship. Above him floats the winged disk of Ahuramazda, god of the Zoroastrian religion. This scene is supported by throne bearers representing the twenty-eight nations of the empire. On the side panels are the king's weapon bearers and the Persian guards. The trilingual cuneiform inscriptions on three panels of the rock wall either enumerate the twenty-eight nations upholding the throne or glorify the king and his rule. Some traces of pigment found on the facade of the royal tombs suggest that all or most of the stone reliefs had been painted".
Only the tomb of Darius I can be identified beyond doubt by inscriptions. The three other tombs at Naqsh-i Rustam are attributed to his immediate successors, Xerxes, Artaxerxes I, and Darius II. Other royal tombs of similar form, thought to be those of the later Achaemenids, were built at Persepolis itself, cut into the rock face of the Kuh-i Rahmat, overlooking the Terrace. The two complete tombs are assigned to Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III; an incomplete tomb was perhaps meant for the last Achaemenid king, Darius III. About 2 km south of Naqsh-i Rustam, on the south bank of the river Pulvar, are the remains of an unfinished freestanding structure, perhaps the base of a tomb intended for Cambyses II, modeled on the imposing tomb of his father, Cyrus the Great, at Pasargadae, up the Pulvar 43 km northeast of Pers
Visiting the would be complete if you go inside the tomb but sad to say it's prohibited to go inside the tomb, plus the fact that there is no ladder to go inside the tomb. If you can see in the picture the small opening on the cliff is the entrance to the tomb. So we just content ourselves looking at it from afar.
When we visit the place, it was around 11:00 am and there is no shade near the place. The only shade there is located at the entrance gate, thank God me and jasper bought a Cowboy hat to protect us from the sun. hehehehe.
A school trip of girls we're with us when we're there, and the girls are from our place as well (in Assaluyeh), there nice and sweet, always waving at us foreigners (hehehe) but we didn't talk to them though.
After an hour of photoshoot and history lesson from our driver, finally we're on our way to Persepolis. I'm very glad we've visit this place coz it reminds me on how powerful the kings of Persia we're before. Imagine to carved a cliff for your tomb with your place. Now that's what I called extravagance at it's finest!
(overlooking the place)
