INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
discovery of the ruins of an ancient tumulus in west-central Iran.The discovery of a tumulus was made in Tepe Naqarechi where archaeologists
were in search of the Seleucid Laodicea Temple under the modern town of Nahavand in Hamedan province, ILNA quoted archaeologist Mohsen
Khanjan as saying on Tuesday.Naqarechi is a circular hill with a height of about eight meters situated among orchards in the southeast of
Hellenistic life in west-central Iran.The discovery of this tumulus may shed new light on dark corners of the Seleucid period on the Iranian
plateau, Khanjan said.Nahavand was an important town during the reign of Greek Hellenistic king Antiochus III, who ruled over the region of
finally came true after several centuries, he stated.Future research should consider the possibility of finding two or more other (Seleucid)
tombs in the area, the archaeologist said
gods, a stone altar, column head, column shaft, column base, and pottery pieces had been discovered in the Dokhaharan
inscription of 30 lines written in Greek calling on the people of Nahavand to obey the laws of the government
The inscription indicated the existence of the Laodicea Temple, which had been built by the Seleucid king who ruled Asia Minor, Antiochus
III the Great (223-187 BC), for his wife Queen Laodicea.Two of the inscriptions as well as four bronze statuettes, unearthed at the site,
are on display in the National Museum of Iran in downtown Tehran
city.Antiochus was the most distinguished of the Seleucids
Having made vassal states out of Parthia in present-day northeastern Iran and Bactria (an ancient country in Central Asia), he warred
successfully against the Egyptian king Ptolemy V and in 198 BC obtained possession of all of Palestine and Lebanon.Later, the Seleucid
monarch became involved in a conflict with the Romans, who defeated him at Thermopylae in 191 BC and Magnesia (now Manisa, Turkey) in 190 BC
As the price of peace, he was forced to surrender all his dominions west of the Taurus Mountains and to pay costly tribute
Antiochus, who early in his reign had restored the Seleucid Empire, finally forfeited its influence in the eastern Mediterranean by his
failure to recognize the rising power of Rome.The Seleucid Empire reigned from 312 BC to 63 BC; Seleucus I Nicator founded it following the
division of the Macedonian Empire vastly expanded by Alexander the Great
Seleucus received Babylonia (321 BC) and from there expanded his dominions to include much of Alexander's near-eastern territories
At the height of its power, the Empire included central Anatolia, Persia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and what is now Kuwait, Afghanistan, and
parts of Pakistan and Turkmenistan.AFM
