Iran - Andrew Burke [232]
Getting There & Away
Most private taxi trips to Persepolis also stop at Naqsh-e Rostam and Naqsh-e Rajab. If you don’t have a vehicle and it’s winter, you could walk the 6km from Persepolis to Naqsh-e Rostam, stopping off at Naqsh-e Rajab en route. In summer, this would be idiotic. Alternatively, negotiate with a taxi driver to take you to these places, perhaps en route back to Marvdasht.
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PASARGADAE
elevation 1847m
Begun under Cyrus the Great in about 546 BC, the city of Pasargadae was quickly superseded by Darius I’s magnificent palace at Persepolis. Pasargadae (admission IR3000; 8am-5pm, 7.30am-5.30pm summer) is about 50km north of Persepolis and some travellers have questioned whether it’s worth the effort of getting there. The site is not nearly as well preserved as Persepolis, but is beautiful in a lonely, windswept way.
The austere and awesomely simple Tomb of Cyrus stands proudly on the Morghab Plain. It consists of six stone tiers with a modest rectangular burial chamber above, and its unique architecture combines elements of all the major civilisations Cyrus had conquered. During the Achaemenid period it was surrounded by gardens and protected, but was plundered by the armies of Alexander the Great, an act that greatly distressed the Macedonian conqueror.
About 1km north of the tomb begin the insubstantial remains of the early Achaemenid empire. Cyrus’s Private Palace is first, notable for its unusual H-shaped plan, central hall of 30 columns (the stumps of which remain), and wide verandahs front and back. About 250m southeast is the rectangular Audience Palace, which once had an 18m-high hypostyle hall surrounded by smaller balconies. Incredibly, one of the eight white limestone columns remains standing on its uncommon black limestone plinth. In both the Audience Palace and in Cyrus’ Private Palace there is a cuneiform inscription that reads: ‘I am Cyrus, the Achaemenid King’.
Another 500m north of Cyrus’s Private Palace are the remains of the Prison of Solomon (Zendan-e Soleiman), variously thought to be a fire temple, tomb, sun dial or store. On the hill beyond is the Throne of the Mother of Solomon (Takht-e Madar-e Soleiman), which was actually a monumental 6000-sq-metre citadel used from Cyrus’s time until the late Sassanian period. Local historians believe the references to Solomon date from the Arab conquest, when the inhabitants of Pasargadae renamed the sites with Islamic names to prevent their destruction.
By far the easiest way to get here is to charter a taxi from Shiraz; Click here for options. Some travellers take a driver to/from Yazd, stopping here and at Persepolis.
By public transport, follow the instructions for Persepolis, then walk another 1.5km and ask for the Sadahan Asenjan (taxi station), from where you take another savari to Sa’adatshahr (also known as Sa’adat Abad; IR10,000, 45 minutes), and then another to Pasargadae (IR5000). Alternatively, take a bus (IR11,000) from Carandish terminal in Shiraz to Sa’adatshahr, and a (very rare) taxi or (rare) minibus the remaining 30km. Easier is taking any bus towards Yazd or Esfahan (you may have to pay full fare), getting out at the turn-off to Pasargadae and walking or hitching the last 8km. Leave plenty of time to hitch/bus/whatever back to Shiraz or on to Abarqu/Yazd.
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IRAN’S NOMADS
The 20th century saw the Iranian government try repeatedly to settle Iran’s many nomadic tribes. For all their efforts, however, there are still about a million people living as nomads in Iran. They are mostly Turkic Qashqa’i and Bakhtiyari, but there are also nomadic Kurds, Lors, Baluchis and smaller groups such as the Khamseh of Bavanat.
The Bakhtiyari are concentrated in an area extending southward from Lorestan province to Khuzestan province and westward from Esfahan to near the Iraqi border, moving their herds of sheep and