Chogha Zanbil

Chogha Zanbil is an ancient Elamite sacred city in the Khuzestan province of Iran, roughly 30 km southeast of Susa and 80 km north of Ahvaz. It was founded about 1250 BC by the Elamite king Untash-Napirisha, who named it Dur Untash, the town of Untash, and raised it mainly to honour the god Inshushinak. Its name in modern Persian means basket mound. Three concentric walls enclosed the complex, and at its centre stood a great five level ziggurat that originally measured about 105 metres on each side, built of mud brick with a facing of inscribed baked bricks. Temples to many gods, royal palaces and five subterranean royal tombs lay in the surrounding areas, though few people probably lived there beyond priests and servants. The city is believed to have been destroyed by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal around 645 BC. The French excavations of Roman Ghirshman between 1951 and 1962 exposed most of what is visible today, and in 1979 it became the first Iranian site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.