Zagros

Zagros: mountain range in eastern Iran.

The Zagros mountains can be found in western Iran and separate the alluvial plains of Assyria and Babylonia from the Iranian highland. These snowy mountains are between Qazvin (west of Tehran) and Hamadan (ancient Ecbatana, the capital of Media). The picture was taken in February; there's not always snow.

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The Zagros between Hamadan and Behistun. Photo Jona Lendering.

The northeastern Zagros mountains are intersected by large, fertile plains, which made Media one of the richest parts of the region. Rainfall is about 800 mm/year. This is somewhere between Hamadan and Konkobar (Kangavar), along the road to Kermanshah. This route was always very important, because it is the main corridor from Central-Iraq (Opis, Baghdad) to Central Iran (Rhagae, near Tehran) and beyond (Maracanda, Samarkand).

The road through the Zagros, from Babylonia to Media, was to become part of the famous Silk road, which connected China with Sogdia, Media, Mesopotamia, and the Mediterranean. This picture shows the Nisaean plain, which was once well-known for its horses and clover (medicago sativa, "purple medic"; alternatively, alvalva).

The rock of Behistun. Photo Marco Prins.

The rock of Behistun, dominating the road from Hamadan to Kermanshah. On the southern slope (left), the Achaemenid king Darius I the Great created his famous victory monument, a long inscription and a relief (more...).

The country of the Cossaeans in the Zagros, NW of modern Khorramabad. Photo Jona Lendering.

In the western Zagros, this is the country of the Cossaeans, a nomadic tribe near modern Khorammabad, which is still the capital of a nomadic tribe, the Luri's. Another historical tribe that has been connected to the Zagros is that of the Sagartians, whose name may or may not be related to the word "Zagros". As said, the country is fertile. It has been maintained that the neolithic revolution, i.e., the invention of agriculture, started in the Zagros.

A Nisaean horse is brought to the king of Persia. Relief from Persepolis.

The Nisaean horses were so famous in the ancient world, that c.130 BCE, the Chinese emperor Han Wu-ti (141-87) sent an important courtier named Chang Ch'ien to buy them. Although he failed in his mission, the result of his voyage was the opening of the Silk road.

Centuries later, the Persian king Shapur I (241-272 CE) offered the Jews in the Sasanian empire a white Nisaean stallion, just in case that the Messiah, who was thought to ride a donkey or a mule, would come.

Mighty geological stratums in the souther Zagros. Photo Marco Prins.

This picture was taken in the southern Zagros, east of Ahvaz. In the central Zagros, there is sufficient rain to create rivers (more then 220 mm/year), but not enough to create forests. As a result, the rivers, full of mud, can cut deep into the landscape and create deep canyons. Here, the layers of the earth are clearly visible.

The Zagros is a geologist's paradise, as this picture of these impressive incisions clearly shows. The valley of the Karkheh river, the ancient Choaspes, is famous for its rough scenery. Other rivers that have their sources in the Zagros are the Dez (Eulaeus), Karun (Pasitigris), and Marun. The sediments they take away from the Zagros are deposited in the plain of Khuzestan (ancient Elam).