Dekhmeh Rawansar
Encyclopedia
Rawansar rock-cut tomb
Tagheh Farhad or Dekhmeye Rawansar is a rock-cut tomb located near the town of Rawansar (Kurdish: Rowansar), about 57 km northwest of Kermanshah
, at west of Iran. It is known as Tagh-e Farhad among local Kurdish inhabitants of Rawansar, who believe it was cut in the Qola rock by Farhad, a legendary character who fell in love with Shirin
, the wife of Khosrau II
of Sassanid Iran. This tomb was known to Ernst Herzfeld
but he never visited it. The first archaeologist who visited the tomb was Massoud Golzari, an Iranian archaeologist who attributed it to Median period. It is re-visited and examined by Peter Calmeyer, German archaeologist (birth. 5 September 1930 in Halle, death. 22 November 1995 in Berlin) in 1970s, who according to his observations related the tomb to the Achaemenid period
.
The old part of the town is built at the foot of the isolated rock of Qola, into its northeastern face the tomb is cut, looking out over the plain and the Weshkaro seasonal river. An area was smoothed to form a vertical facade with a narrow ledge at its foot; and at one side of this facade a rectangular doorway was made, probably to be closed by a single slab of stone. This leads directly into the tomb chamber, which is roughly square and quite plain, there is nothing to indicate how the dead were disposed of in it, but it is large enough to have held several coffins or numerous receptacles for bones. Outside there are carvings in the smoothed area, but are badly weathered. These reliefs consist of a weathered human figure that standing close to the door and his face is toward right. Above is a man on a winged disk that faces left. Under this winged figure there is a parallelogram diagonally laid and divided by 12 longitudinal lines which interpreted by Calmeyer as wood fuel. Above the tomb the cliff is almost sheer, but from below it is accessible. No attempt has been made to smooth away the rock; and this may indicate that it was a family tomb, used repeatedly. Based on its architecture it can be dated to the Achaemenid period, probably after the reign of Darius I.
A column base with probable same age have been found close to the Goni Khani spring that emerge at the western slope of Qola rock. Some Sherds dating to first mill. bc. also have been collected around the Qola rock indicating its importance during Late Iron age to early Achaemenid period.
Tagheh Farhad or Dekhmeye Rawansar is a rock-cut tomb located near the town of Rawansar (Kurdish: Rowansar), about 57 km northwest of Kermanshah
Kermanshah
Kermanshah is a city in and the capital of Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 784,602, in 198,117 families.The overwhelming majority of Kermanshahi people are Shi'a Muslims...
, at west of Iran. It is known as Tagh-e Farhad among local Kurdish inhabitants of Rawansar, who believe it was cut in the Qola rock by Farhad, a legendary character who fell in love with Shirin
Shirin
Shirin was a wife of the Sassanid Persian Shahanshah , Khosrau II. In the revolution after the death of Khosrau's father Hormizd IV, the General Bahram Chobin took power over the Persian empire. Shirin fled with Khosrau to Syria where they lived under the protection of Byzantine emperor Maurice...
, the wife of Khosrau II
Khosrau II
250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II (Khosrow II, Chosroes II, or Xosrov II in classical sources, sometimes called Parvez, "the Ever Victorious" – (in Persian: خسرو پرویز), was the twenty-second Sassanid King of Persia, reigning from 590 to 628...
of Sassanid Iran. This tomb was known to Ernst Herzfeld
Ernst Herzfeld
Ernst Emil Herzfeld was a German archaeologist and Iranologist.-Life:Herzfeld was born in Celle, Province of Hanover...
but he never visited it. The first archaeologist who visited the tomb was Massoud Golzari, an Iranian archaeologist who attributed it to Median period. It is re-visited and examined by Peter Calmeyer, German archaeologist (birth. 5 September 1930 in Halle, death. 22 November 1995 in Berlin) in 1970s, who according to his observations related the tomb to the Achaemenid period
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
.
The old part of the town is built at the foot of the isolated rock of Qola, into its northeastern face the tomb is cut, looking out over the plain and the Weshkaro seasonal river. An area was smoothed to form a vertical facade with a narrow ledge at its foot; and at one side of this facade a rectangular doorway was made, probably to be closed by a single slab of stone. This leads directly into the tomb chamber, which is roughly square and quite plain, there is nothing to indicate how the dead were disposed of in it, but it is large enough to have held several coffins or numerous receptacles for bones. Outside there are carvings in the smoothed area, but are badly weathered. These reliefs consist of a weathered human figure that standing close to the door and his face is toward right. Above is a man on a winged disk that faces left. Under this winged figure there is a parallelogram diagonally laid and divided by 12 longitudinal lines which interpreted by Calmeyer as wood fuel. Above the tomb the cliff is almost sheer, but from below it is accessible. No attempt has been made to smooth away the rock; and this may indicate that it was a family tomb, used repeatedly. Based on its architecture it can be dated to the Achaemenid period, probably after the reign of Darius I.
A column base with probable same age have been found close to the Goni Khani spring that emerge at the western slope of Qola rock. Some Sherds dating to first mill. bc. also have been collected around the Qola rock indicating its importance during Late Iron age to early Achaemenid period.