As you know, in the Mesopotamian plain, human civilisation rose from the mud that the rivers Euphrates and Tigris yielded for this purpose. Now the present time is not very suitable for visiting the ruins of Babylon or Ur, which are situated in Iraq. However, on the edge of this plain, not far from the border with Iraq, lies Shush, which from the third to the first millennium BC was the capital of the Elemite Empire, which developed in the periphery of the neighbouring great empires. Admittedly, not much has survived from that time and the best finds were dragged to the Louvre by the French. The medieval-looking castle was also built by the French to protect the excavations from attacks by angry local tribes…. The reason to come to this area lies in the surroundings: in sweltering heat, we stroll around the ziggurat of Choga Zanbil, built in the 13th century BC near Shush. The lower terraces of this stepped pyramid built of mud bricks are well preserved, the upper part weathered into mounds.
Shush itself is an unbelievably boring town, where there is not even a nice tea house. Instead, there is the Tomb of Daniel (the one with the lion’s den), which used to attract many Jewish pilgrims who brought a certain wealth to the place. Today, ironically, there is a mosque here.
Fortunately, we met some young people, so we passed the time in a living room with tea and conversation.
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Backpacking trip Middle East and Caucasus 2008
Takht-e Soleiman
Persepolis and Shiraz
Esfahan
Kashan and Qom
Tehran