City of Dahan-e Gholaman

The city of Dahan-e Gholaman

The city of Dahan-e Gholaman is located near the village Ghal'e Nou, city of Zābol (region Sistān and Baluchestān) and dates back to that time Achaemenid, to the fifth and sixth centuries BC

This archaeological site which includes the remains and traces of buildings of this city, is located in a very large area on an area extended from 4 to 5 km. The archaeological site of Dahan-e Gholaman was discovered in the 60 years by the Italian archaeologist Umberto Scerrato.

It is the only historical city discovered in the Achaemenid epoch that clearly demonstrates the complete sovereignty of Iran in its eastern part and is the only ancient city of this period; of it the engineers of that time first traced the plan and then built the city.

In this, which was once the administrative-political center of satrapia (vālineshin) of Zarnag (Zarnaj) in the kingdom of the Achaemenids, the traditional Achaemenid architecture is merged with the local Sistān architecture.

The excavations show that this city with an entrance, was equipped with a place of prayer at four corners with four guard towers, the king's palace, large public buildings, a temple, residential neighborhoods, a street, a canal, and military and industrial districts.

One of the peculiarities of Dahan-e Gholaman is the absence of traces of towers, bastions and defensive walls and this demonstrates a sort of economic stability and political prosperity of the Achaemenids in the country.

Archaeologists consider the sudden draining of the Hirmand river bed as one of the main factors in the abandonment of this city.

Its original name, Zarang (Zaranj), Dranghiana or Dranjay- has the same root as the word zarreh e darya- as the Achaemenid capital it corresponds to today's Sistān and "Dahan-e Gholaman" (lit: opening, passage of slaves) is the new name that has been attributed to this place according to local accounts based on the entry of slaves into the Sistān precisely from this direction. 

 

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Sistan and Baluchistan -26

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