INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
king Shapur I whose armies defeated the Romans three times.Narratives say much of Bishapur was built by Roman soldiers taken captive after
their Emperor Valerian was defeated in c
260 CE.Situated south of modern Faliyan, just off the ancient road between Persis and Elam, the city was connecting the Sasanian capitals
Istakhr (close to Persepolis) and Firuzabad to Susa and Ctesiphon.Surrounded by walls that may have stood some ten meters high, Bishapur was
home to some 50,000 to 80,000 people.The city remained an important city until the Arab invasion of Persia and the rise of Islam in the
second quarter of the seventh century
It became a center of Islamic learning (a madrassah has been excavated) and there were still people living over here in the tenth century,
but the decline started in the seventh century.Bishapur has undergone several rounds of excavation so far
The Palace of Shapur, and a temple dedicated to the goddess of Anahita, were highlights of the digs.The main monuments have been excavated
Nevertheless, most of the city is still buried, and incidentally, teams of archaeologists returned to the site afterward.In 2018, UNESCO
The ensemble is comprised of eight archaeological sites situated in three geographical parts of Firuzabad, Bishapur, and Sarvestan
It reflects the optimized utilization of natural topography and bears witness to the influence of Achaemenid and Parthian cultural
traditions and of Roman art, which later had a significant impact on the architecture and artistic styles of the Islamic era.The Sassanid
archaeological landscape represents a highly efficient system of land use and strategic utilization of natural topography in the creation of
the earliest cultural centers of the Sassanid civilization.AFM
