TEHRAN – Iranian police have recently confiscated 12 historical relics from an antique dealer in the western province of Kermanshah, a senior police official in charge of protecting cultural heritage has said. 

The issue was taken up in the course of monitoring the Internet, tracing trades of historical objects, and registering online advertisements for the sale of coins and historical objects, CHTN quoted Hassan Mehri as saying on Friday. 

“When a person involved in an illegal trade of antiques was arrested, 12 items of historical value including coins and stone beads were seized,” the official added. 

The relics are estimated to date back to the first millennium BC, Elymais era (147 BC - 224 CE), Seleucid era (312 BC-63 BC), and the [early] Islamic period, he explained. 

He also noted that the culprit was detained and handed over to judiciary officials for further investigation.

Kermanshah embraces a variety of awe-inspiring historical sites, of which Bisotun and Taq-e Bostan are both on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Inscribed into the base of a towering cliff, Taq-e Bostan comprises extraordinary Sassanian bas-reliefs of ancient victorious kings divide opinions. Late afternoon is the best time to visit, as the cliff turns a brilliant orange in the setting sun, which then dies poetically on the far side of the duck pond.

Bisotun is a patchwork of immense yet impressive life-size carvings depicting king Darius I and several other figures. UNESCO has it that Bisotun bears outstanding testimony to the important interchange of human values on the development of monumental art and writing, reflecting ancient traditions in monumental bas-reliefs.

Kermanshah was founded in the 4th century CE by Bahram IV of the Sassanid dynasty. Conquered by the Arabs in 640, it was called Qirmasin (Qirmashin). Under the Seljuk rule in the 11th century, it was the chief town of Kordestan. The Safavids (ruled 1501–1736) fortified the town, and the Qajars repulsed an attack by the Turks during Fath Ali Shah’s rule (1797–1834). Occupied by the Turkish army in 1915 during World War I, it was evacuated in 1917. The construction of a road in the 1950s over the age-old Khorasan track added considerably to the importance of the city.

ABU/AFM