(ORDO NEWS) — In Iran, archaeologists during excavations in the ancient Greek city of Nahavand discovered an ancient tomb. In their opinion, this may be the tomb of a Seleucid satrap.
Tehran Times reports about the opening. The tomb of a supposed Seleucid satrap was discovered in what is now the Iranian region of Hamedan. It was found by a group led by archaeologist Mohsen Khanjan. According to him, the tomb sheds new light on ideas about Hellenistic life in west-central Iran.
The tomb is located in the Tepe-Nakarechi area. It is located next to the site where archaeologists previously unearthed an ancient Seleucid temple. At the moment, the tomb is a round hill about eight meters high, located among orchards in the southeast of Nahavand.
The Seleucids are a dynasty of rulers of the Hellenistic state founded by Seleucus Nicator. The latter was a diadocho of Alexander the Great, that is, one of those approximate commanders who divided the empire among themselves after the death of Alexander the Great.
Nahavand was one of the cities that the Seleucids built during their reign in the territory of modern Iran. It is known that they tried to make their possessions “Greek land”. Therefore, the Seleucids invited the most famous and skillful Greek sculptors, craftsmen, teachers, artists, historians and even merchants to their place.
Surprisingly, very few objects of the Seleucid era have survived, although they ruled for almost three centuries. Therefore, the discovery of a previously unknown tomb can be of great help to archaeologists in studying the Seleucid period on the Iranian plateau. In addition, it may provide a clue to the unknown funerary rituals of that period of time.
Earlier in the same area, archaeologists unearthed other valuable items such as bronze statues of Greek gods, a stone altar, the top of a column, and pottery. By the way, archaeologists do not exclude that before the arrival of the Seleucids, an even more ancient settlement could have existed on this site.
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