In the far western Iranian province of Khuzestan, just 50 km from the Iraqi border and on the outskirts of the city of Shush (ancient Susa, Shushan in the Bible), runs the river known in ancient times as the River Ulai, but in modern times as the Karkheh. Fed by the melting snows of the Zagr…
As we stood in the shadow of the tomb of Daniel, we were overwhelmed by a great sense of awe as we considered the amazing example of this man of faith, “a man greatly beloved” (Dan 10:11), and paused to meditate on the words “but go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, an…
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At Pasargadae, on the dusty yet fertile plain of Morghab in southern Iran, lie the remnants of the first great Persian garden constructed by Cyrus the Great, once filled with exotic plants and animals.
Gardens hold a hidden story: they reminisce of the fall of man but whisper from every cor…
This earthquake was the reign of Julian the Apostate, a crucial figure in the story of religion, being the last of the pagan Roman emperors. Born in Constantinople (the then capital of the Roman Empire) in AD332, Julian was noted for his power and his genius as a writer, scholar, philosoph…
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Rising out of the sands of time in the western Iranian province of Khuzestan, (not far from Shushan) is a unique ziggurat known as Chogha Zanbil. It dates back to 1250BC and was only discovered in the 1930s and is one of the largest, oldest and best-preserved ziggurats that may be visited in…
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Situated on the celebrated Silk Road, modern Hamadan was once a place of magnificent splendour, an Achaemenid royal capital known in antiquity as Ecbatana.
Little evidence of that former glory remains. Today a visitor finds a town centred around a memorial to the Iran-Iraq war. One of the longest…
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It was a rare privilege on a snowy winter’s morning to gain permission to ascend the cliff face at Bisotun and come face to face with one of the most significant inscriptions of the entire ancient Near East, witnessing another testimony to God’s hand in world history.
Here in the Kermanshah…
Today, behind a plain brick wall on the outskirts of Tehran stands a 20 metre tall 12th Century tower commemorating Togrul Beg, the founder, in 1037, of the Seljuk Empire. This intriguing polygonal structure, with its 48 exterior faces (providing great stability) towers over the city of Ray, once …
Today in the southern Fars province of modern Iran, an extraordinary stone mausoleum rises above the plains surrounding the ruins of the ancient royal Persian city of Pasargadae. Here lies a monument, preserved for over 2500 years, to testify to the life of the Persian king, Cyrus the Great, separat…
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