Ancient Cave of Keraftu
The ancient cave of Keraftu is located near the city of Divāndarreh and the ancient city of Saqqez (Kurdistān region). Following archaeological research in the external and internal area of this cave, remains have been found dating back to different periods that can testify to its human use in prehistoric times.
Even the specimens of terracottas and the objects found confirm the continuation of the human presence during the historical eras of the Parthians, the Sasanians and the Islamic period or the centuries from the sixth to the seventh of the Hegira of the moon.
The cave of Keraftu (in Kurdish: Eȿkewti Kereftȗ), one of the largest and most important primitive and natural-hand-carved caves of Iran, is located at a height of over 100 meters above ground level and to reach it you need to climb more of 180 steps.
Its natural corridor measures more than 600 meters and the ceiling height varies from one to twelve meters. In the front, four floors have been made by digging in the rock. One of the most beautiful parts of the rock architecture is the third floor where the rooms have been dug and polished very carefully.
The particular shape of the ceilings and their decorations in the windows and in the skylights of the rooms are remarkable. On the portal of a room on the third floor there is a Greek inscription in which this cave is called the Temple of Hercules.
The phrase "this is the house of Hercules, whoever enters is safe" is engraved on this inscription. Its presence has led some to think that probably this cave for a certain period and temporarily had been the place of residence of the Seleucids.
In the architecture of this cave, in addition to the creation of rooms and passageways, an attempt was made to ensure that the rooms were connected to each other. Skylights were placed towards the outside and on the walls of the cave, in some rooms images of animals, humans and plants were carved separately. Due to the crumbling due to the passage of time generated in the external rocks around the entrance to the rocky architectural complex, some rooms and corridors are not fully identifiable on all floors.
