Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple Deir El Bahri

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

By the banks of the Nile, across the river from Thebes, a three-tiered temple was found beneath hundreds of tons of sand tens of centuries after its construction. The temple is a reflection of the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II, and was constructed alongside that eleventh-dynasty structure. However, the temple of Hatshepsut is far larger [...]

From Abraham to David – Yahweh

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010

The word Hebrew has been associated with the word Hiberu and Apiru, described in Wikipedia as ” the name given by various Sumerian, Egyptian, Akkadian, Hittite, Mitanni, and Ugaritic sources (dated, roughly, from before 2000 BC to around 1200 BC) to a group of people living as nomadic invaders in areas of the Fertile Crescent [...]

What and Where is Persepolis?

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Persepolis is the name of an archaeological ruin, part of the Achaemenid Dynasty of the Persian Empire, established by King Darius about 515 BC. The site is one of the best known archaeological ruins in the world, and probably the most important Achaemenid capital. Persepolis is located about 50 kilometers northeast of Shiraz and is [...]

Nowruz Persian New Year

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

Persepolis all nations staircase. People from across Persia bring Nowruz gifts for the king. Nowruz is the traditional Iranian festival of spring which starts at the exact moment of the vernal equinox, commencing the start of the spring. It is considered as the start of the New Year among Iranians. The name comes from Avestan [...]

Archaeology Achaemenid Dynasty

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

The Achaemenids were the ruling dynasty of Cyrus the Great and his family over the Persian empire, from 550-330 BC, when it was conquered by Alexander the Great. Cyrus’s empire included Libya, Ethiopia, Thrace, Macedonia, Afghanistan, and the Punjab and everything in between.

Persian Empire: Timeline and Definition Archaeology

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

Tomb of Cyrus, Pasargadae (Iran) Shirley Schermer (c) 2002 Definition: The Persian Empire included all of what is now Iran, and in fact Persia was the official name of Iran until 1935. At its height about 500 BC, the founding dynasty of the empire, the Achaemenids, had conquered Asia as far as the Indus River, [...]