Chogha Zanbil ziggurat

Chogha Zanbil City

The rule boundary of Elamite was Khuzestan, Lorestan, Posht e-Kouh, and Bakhtiari Mountains which was limited to Tigris from the West, Pars from the East, Babol and Hamadan from the North, and the Persian Gulf from the south and its capital was the ancient city of Susa.
By ruling Untash Napirisha in the 13th century, BC (1340-1300 BC), Chogha Zanbil was established as the religious and political capital of the Elamite near Dez River and it was named Dur Untash. Dur Untash means the castle of Untash. In some cuneiform texts, this city is called Ul Untash which means the city of Untash.
This city is composed of three nested brick fences and the main is located on the great fence at the eastern side. Royal palaces and Elamite kings’ tombs are located between the first and second fence. The remnants Water Treatment Plant is seen between the second and third fence which is one of the oldest water supply systems. Its water was supplied from Karkheh River within forty-five kilometers through a channel. The main temple (Ziggurat) is located in the center of the third fence.

Chogha Zanbil

It is an ancient temple which was built during the Elamite period. Chogha Zanbil is the left part of Dur Untash city. This structure was placed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979. This temple was built by Ontash Gal (around 1250 BC), the great king of Elam, and to praise God Inšušinak, the guard of the Susa city.
The geographical location of the ziggurat (the multi-floor and pyramid-shaped temple) is 45 kilometers away from the south of the city of Susa near to the ancient Seven Hills area. (In the main way of Susa to Ahwaz) its initial height is 52 meters and it has 5 floors. But, today its height is 25 meters and only 2 and a half floors are remained. "Chogha Zanbil" which is the ancient name of this building is a local word and composed of two words of Chogha (meaning hill in Lori language) and Zanbil which refers to the place of temple that was on a hill and it was look liked an upside down basket. This place for archaeologists is known as Dur Untash era which means Untash stronghold. Ontash Gal, the Elamite king was the man who ordered to construct this religious city. Chogha Zanbil is located in the middle of the city and it is the highest part of it.
The accessible road to Chogha Zanbil is through Ahwaz-Susa road, but its exact location is between Shushtar and Susa and the south of the city of Dezful at the edge of Dez River and this suggests that the cities of Dezful (Ronash), Susa, and Shushtar have existed at the time of constructing ziggurat. This temple was built by Ontash Napirisha (around 1250 BC), the great king of Elam, and to praise God Inšušinak, the guard goddess of the Susa city. It was destroyed in the bloody army attack of Aššurbanipal along with Elamite civilization.
This building was buried under the soil in the form of an inverted basket for many centuries until when it was excavated by the French Roman Ghirshman at the second Pahlavi era. Also, the excavation of this symmetrical convex monument located in the heart of flat plains completed the knowledge of the world towards the ancient Iranian history, but after passing 50 years of this discovery, it was damaged by natural corrosive elements and leaving it defenseless against them and especially, the remaining upper floors also has suffered severe erosion by those harmful factors.