Hecatompylos
| Shahr-e Qumis | |||
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| Basic data | |||
| Country: |
 Iran
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| Province : | Semnān | ||
| Coordinates : | 35 ° 58 ′ N , 54 ° 2 ′ E | ||
| Time zone : | UTC +3: 30 | ||
Shahr-e Qumis ( Persian شهرقومس), also known under the Greek name Hekatompylos (lit .: City of the Hundred Gates ) is the name of a former capital of the Parthian Arsakid dynasty . In addition to the Rhagae and Ctesiphon , it probably served the Parthian kings as a seasonal residence.
The city developed from a caravanserai , it is halfway between the present-day cities of Semnān and Dāmghān on the Silk Road .
According to the historian Appian of Alexandria, the city was founded by the Seleucid king Seleukos I Nicator , but it is more of a re-establishment, since Alexander the great the city already in the summer of 330 BC. Had visited. Countless pottery shards can also be dated back to the early Iron Age .
Today the former 28 km² city, which housed tens of thousands of inhabitants, is a desert-like plain from which some hill-shaped ruins rise.
Finds
The previous archaeological investigations indicate a palace-like building made of adobe bricks , a fortress with several towers and a fortified courtyard garden, a drummers house ( Naqqāreh Khāneh ) and Zoroastrian tombs ( Towers of Silence ). Other finds so far include ceramics, seals, jewelry (including a lapis lazuli ) and two lists of personal names that can be dated to 170 of the Arsakid calendar (78 BC).
literature
- Frye, Richard N. The Heritage of Persia . Mentor Books. Toronto 1966
- Hansman, J. "The Problem of Qumis". In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society . 1968, pp. 110-139
- Hansman, J. "Excavations at Shahr-i Qumis". In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society . 1970, pp. 36-62
- Hansman, J. "Excavations at Shahr-i Qumis". In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society . 1974, pp. 36-62
- Tarn, William Woodthrope. The Greeks in Bactria and India . 3rd edition Ares Publishers, Inc. Chicago 1984
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Article on Livius (Weblink)