Takht-e Rostam (

Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...

: تخت رستم) or Stupa of Takht-e Rostam is a

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

Buddhist

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

complex 2 km south of the town of Haibak, Afghanistan. Built in the 3rd-4th century AD while the area was part of the

Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom The Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom (or Indo-Sasanians) was a polity established by the Sasanian Empire in Bactria during the 3rd and 4th centuries. The Sasanian Empire captured the provinces of Sogdia, Bactria and Gandhara from the declining Kushan Emp ...

the complex is carved entirely from the bedrock and "consists of five chambers, two of them sanctuaries. One of them has a domed ceiling with an elaborate lotus leaf decoration. On an adjacent hill is the stupa, surmounted by a harmika, with several more rough caves around the base. A hoard of Ghaznavid coins was found by chance in one of the caves."

Cultural significance

Following the

Muslim conquests of Afghanistan The Muslim conquests of Afghanistan began during the Muslim conquest of Persia as the Arab Muslims expanded eastwards to Khorasan, Sistan and Transoxiana. Fifteen years after the battle of Nahāvand in 642 AD, they controlled all Sasanian do ...

the original purpose of the monastery was lost. Instead the site was incorporated into

Persian mythology Iranian mythology, or Persian mythology in western term (), is the body of the myths originally told by ancient Persians and other Iranian peoples and a genre of ancient Persian folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the worl ...

in the story of

Rostam and Sohrab The tragedy of "Rostam and Sohrab" forms part of the 10th-century Persian epic ''Shahnameh'' by the Persian poet Ferdowsi. It tells the tragic story of the heroes Rostam and his son, Sohrab.Ebrahimi, Mokhtar & Taheri, Abdollah. (2017). The Trage ...

which forms part of the 10th-century Persian epic

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

by the Persian poet

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

. In the story it is said that

Rostam use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kabulistan , death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a we ...

supposedly traveled to the Kingdom of Samangan and stayed with the king at Takht-e Rostam. In 2021, the Afghan government renovated the site and built a hall for tourists.

Gallery

File:CH-NB - Afghanistan, Haibak (Samangan, Aybak or Aibak)- Landschaft - Annemarie Schwarzenbach - SLA-Schwarzenbach-A-5-21-049b (cropped).jpg, Harmika in 1939 File:Buddhist stupa, stupa and monastery at Samangan.jpg, A new bridge added to the site. File:Cave system, stupa and monastery at Samangan.jpg, The cave system inside Takht-e Rostam

References

5th-century Buddhist temples Arts in Afghanistan Central Asian Buddhist sites Archaeological sites in Afghanistan Buddhism in Afghanistan Buildings and structures in Afghanistan Aniconism Rock art in Asia Buddhist art World Heritage Sites in Danger Monuments and memorials in Afghanistan {{afghanistan-hist-stub