Naqsh-e Rostam

🕰️When was it built?

The site mattered from about 1200 BC until 625 AD. Its oldest carving dates from the Elamite period. The tombs were cut into the mountain in the Achaemenid era, and later the Sasanian kings, from Ardashir Babakan on, carved their own reliefs beside them.

🏛️What was it built for?

It holds the tombs of four Achaemenid kings: Darius the Great, Xerxes, Artaxerxes I and Darius II. The Sasanian kings also carved scenes of their crowning, their battles and their triumphs here on the mountain. In the Sasanian era the site was also of great religious and national importance.

👀What you will see

• Four tombs of Achaemenid kings, cut like chambers into the face of the mountain.
• The Ka'ba-ye Zartosht, a tower-like stone building with inscriptions of Shapur I and Kartir.
• The relief of Ardashir Babakan receiving the ring of power from Ahura Mazda.
• The relief of Shapur's victory over the Roman emperors.
• The Elamite relief, part of which Bahram II erased to carve himself and his courtiers in its place.

💡Something interesting

What the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht was used for is still unknown; it was most likely built in the Achaemenid era. The name Naqsh-e Rostam probably came about when people linked the carvings of the Sasanian kings to Rostam, the hero of the Shahnameh. Before that it was called Seh Gonbadan or Do Gonbadan.

🎒Good to know before you go