TEHRAN -- About 1300 B.C. a great city was built that was later known as "Dur-Untash." Also known as "Choghazanbil," the city, which is a memorial from the Elamite civilization (before 3000 B.C.) was known for its warlike people, traditionally thought to be descended from Noah's son, Shem.

"Choghazanbil Temple" is one of the historical remains from the same period. It has three entangled clay fortifications and a main gate on the great fortification in the east. Between the first and the second temples there are royal palaces and tombs. Between the second and the third fortification there is remains of a water filtration system. The system used to supply water to the city from Karkheh River.

In the center of the third fortification, the main temple tower, also known as "Ziggurat," is located. The angles of the temple are pointed at the main geographical poles. Based on archaeological evidences, the temple was built using millions of bricks. Only two of the five stories still remain to this day.

The height of the structure was 52m. Unlike Mesopotamian (before 5000 B.C.) temples, the stories of the tower temple were not built upon each other. Having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories, each one was built independently on the surface of the ground. Except the first and the fifth, other stories have been filled up with clay. The fifth one -- the highest-- was the designated place of keeping idols of the time. The most important of all was the idol of "Inshoshinak." Juntas Gal, founder of the temple says, "I built the city of "Untash," and the "Holy Limits" in this place, and fenced it between an external and an internal wall. I built a high temple unlike any other by previous kings and offer it to the gods of "Inshoshinak" and "Houmian," the defenders of the "Holy Limits."

On the walls of temple, bricks with cuneiform script in similar texts can be seen. Around the temple and on the main floor there are two round platforms. There have been different implications.

Some think of the platforms as a place of offering a sacrifice, others as a solar clock.

The Assyrian Empire destroyed the city and the Elamite civilization around 9th-7th centuries B.C.

The temple is located at 45km southeast of Shoush (Susa), the ancient capital of the kingdom of Elam, and a capital of the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great, south of Hamedan.