The Essaqwand Rock Tombs () are three rock-hewn tombs located 25 km southwest of Harsin in

Kermanshah province Kermanshah province () is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, bordering Iraq. Its capital is the city of Kermanshah. According to a 2014 segmentation by the Ministry of Interior (Iran), Ministry of Interior, it is the center of Regions of Iran ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. On top of the middle tomb there is a

rock relief A rock relief or rock-cut relief is a relief, relief sculpture carved on solid or "living rock" such as a cliff, rather than a detached piece of stone. They are a category of rock art, and sometimes found as part of, or in conjunction ...

of a man with his profile toward the viewers. He is holding his hands in prayers in front of him. There is also a torch and a fire altar in front of him. Behind the fire altar there is another man, holding up something in his hands. The tombs have been attributed to different historical eras including

Medes The Medes were an Iron Age Iranian peoples, Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media (region), Media between western Iran, western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the m ...

Achaemenids The Achaemenid dynasty ( ; ; ; ) was a royal house that ruled the Achaemenid Empire, which eventually stretched from Egypt and Thrace in the west to Central Asia and the Indus Valley in the east. Origins The history of the Achaemenid dy ...

, Seleucids and Parthians.

References

Kermanshah CHHTO website
Archaeological sites in Iran Buildings and structures in Kermanshah province Sculpture of the ancient Near East Medes Rock-cut tombs Burial sites of the Achaemenid dynasty Archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire Rock reliefs in Iran {{Iran-struct-stub

See also

References