Dragon 青竜

Ganjnameh (Persian: گنجنامه‎, romanized: Ganjnāme, lit. 'Treasure Book') is located 12 km southwest of Hamadan (ancient Ecbatana) in western Iran, at an altitude of c. 2000 meters across Mount Alvand. The site is home to two trilingual Achaemenid cuneiform inscriptions. The inscription on the upper left was created on the order of Achaemenid King Darius the Great (r. 522–486 BC) and the one on the right by King Xerxes the Great (r. 486–465 BC). The two inscription panels of Ganjnameh, carved in stone in 20 lines on a granite rock above a creek, measure 2×3 m each. Written in Old Persian, Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Elamite, except for the different royal name, the contents of the two inscriptions are identical; Ahura Mazda receives praise, and lineages and conquests are listed. According to Stuart C. Brown, in the pre-Hellenistic period, this mountain was apparently the main "east-west pass" through Mount Alvand. During the Achaemenid period, Ecbatana functioned as summe...

The stone lion of Hamadan (Persian: شیر سنگی همدان‎ šir-e sangi-ye hamedân ) is a historical monument in Hamadan, Iran. The stone lion – one part of the 'Lions' Gate' – sits on a hill where a Parthian-era cemetery is said to have been located. When first built, this statue had a twin counterpart for which they both constituted the old gate of the city. During the Islamic conquest of Persia, the victorious Arabs referred to the gate as bâb ul-asad (Persian: باب‌الاسد‎, "the lions' gate"). The gates were demolished in 931AD as the Deylamids took over the city. Mardāvij unsuccessfully tried transporting one of the lions to Ray. Angered by the failure to move them, he ordered them to be demolished. One lion was completely destroyed, while the other had its arm broken and pulled to the ground. The half-demolished lion lay on its side on the ground until 1949, when it was raised again, using a supplemental arm that was built into it. In 1968 Heinz Luschey demo...

The Mausoleum of Avicenna is a complex located at Avicenna Square, Hamadan, Iran. Dedicated to the Iranian polymath Avicenna, the complex includes a library, a small museum, and a spindle-shaped tower inspired by the Ziyarid-era Kavus Tower. Designed by Hooshang Seyhoun, it was built in 1952, replacing an older building dedicated to Avicenna which was destroyed in 1950. The Pahlavi government had plans to build the mausoleum since at least 1939. The mausoleum was eventually dedicated in a grand ceremony in May 1954, and the avenue running in front of it was also renamed in honor of Avicenna. As the monument was a central element of the propagation of Iranian nationalism by the Pahlavi government, it was consequently in danger of being defaced, but as Khomeini himself was an admirer of Avicenna, the square was not renamed after the 1979 Revolution. Source:  Avicenna Mausoleum - Wikipedia

The Tomb of Esther and Mordechai (Persian: بقعه استر و مردخای‎, Hebrew: קבר אסתר ומרדכי) is located in Hamadan, Iran. Believed by some to house the remains of the biblical Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai, it is the most important pilgrimage site for Jews in the country. The tomb of Esther and Mordechai at Hamadan is first attested in the 11th century. Benjamin of Tudela visited the city, in which he reckoned there were 50,000 Jewish inhabitants, and described the tomb as in front of the synagogue. Shahin Shirazi, in his 14th century Ardashirnama, was the first known Persian Jew to give an account of the dreams of Esther and Mordechai and their journey to Hamadan, where they died in the synagogue and within an hour of each other. The narrative of Shirazi may derive from earlier Judaeo-Persian sources, now vanished. In 1850 J. J. Benjamin visited the place, writing that some 500 Jewish families lived there, with three synagogues. The tombs he described as situated in a magnific...

The Dome of Soltaniyeh in Soltaniyeh city, Zanjan Province, Iran, traditionally so called, is a complex of ruins centering on the Mausoleum of the Mongol ruler Il-khan Öljeitü, also known as Muhammad Khodabandeh. The main building, erected between 1302 and 1312 AD, may have the oldest double-shell dome in Iran, a view of the construction made by Dieulafoy, but this has been disputed by André Godard. In Godard's view, it is a normal, if spectacularly large dome, with a thin skin on top for the faience, and is not a double dome. However, its importance in the Muslim world is undoubted and it may be compared to that of Brunelleschi's cupola for Christian architecture. It is one of the largest brick domes in the world, just at the theoretical engineering limit for a brick dome and the third largest dome in the world after the domes of Florence Cathedral and Hagia Sophia. The Dome of Soltaniyeh paved the way for more daring Iranian-style cupola constructions in the Muslim world,...