Archaeologists excavating Khosrow Parviz palace
Tehran Times Culture Desk

TEHRAN -- A team of Iranian archaeologists has recently begun the sixth season of excavations at the palace of the Sassanid king Khosrow Parviz (reigned 590–628) in the Bisotun region of Kermanshah Province.

The palace is located near Farhad Tarash, also known as Faratash, a cliff at the foot of the Zagros Mountains whose vertical surface was smoothed during the Achaemenid period.

The construction of the palace was never completed but the site was converted into a caravanserai by the Ilkhanids (1256–1353), a Mongol dynasty that ruled in Iran.

Ruins dating back to the Sassanid period and the Ilkhanid era have been unearthed this season, team director Mehdi Rahbar told the Persian service of CHN on Monday.

Some of the stones used in constructing the palace walls still bears an intact mason’s mark, he stated.

“The Ilkhanids converted the unfinished palace into a caravanserai, which most likely was destroyed by an earthquake later on and then another caravanserai was built by the Safavid dynasty (1502–1736) at distance of 200 meters from the Ilkhanid structure,” Rahbar explained.

People built their houses on the ruins of the palace of Khosrow Parviz during the last years of the Qajar period (1794-1925). In 1976, the people were relocated to enable archaeologists to study the palace ruins.

The Persian Empire achieved its greatest expansion during the reign of Khosrow II (Khosrow Parviz). Ultimately defeated in a war with the Byzantines, he was deposed in a palace revolt and executed.

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