TEHRAN - A new phase of archaeological excavations has commenced on the ruins of Valerian’s Palace in the ancient city of Bishapur, located in Kazerun county of Fars province. The palace is believed to have once served as a residence for the captured Roman Emperor Valerian during the Sassanid era.

Afshin Ebrahimi, the deputy director of the Fars province’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Department, announced the launch of the excavation project on Monday. He stated that with the approval of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, the latest excavation season in Bishapur has begun through efforts by the provincial department and the Sassanid Landscape World Heritage base.

Ebrahimi noted that the excavation project would focus on uncovering the structural layout and primary function of the palace. The last recorded excavation on this site dates back to the 1990s when archaeologist Ali Akbar Sarfaraz conducted a phase of excavation that partially unearthed sections of the palace.

He further explained that the façade of the palace features precisely cut stones, and over the centuries, various modifications have been made to the original structure. In later periods, stones from the palace were repurposed to create additional architectural spaces within the site.

Due to the extensive amount of debris covering the ruins and the complexity of the excavation, Ebrahimi emphasized that a long-term research and restoration plan has been developed in collaboration with specialists in relevant fields. The project aims to preserve and better understand this significant historical site, shedding new light on its architectural and historical importance.

The Palace of Valerian, situated approximately 150 meters east of Shapur’s Palace, is now little more than a mass of crumbling ruins. Originally constructed to house the Roman Emperor Valerian after his capture by Shapur I, the structure played a crucial role in the Sassanid Empire’s history. Following a decisive Persian victory over the Roman legions, Valerian and 70,000 of his soldiers were taken prisoner, and the palace was built to keep the emperor under close watch.

Those of the captives who had some I knowledge of architecture and construction were brought to the western part of Iran to participate in the Persians' building projects, and many palaces, dams, and bridges were built using the experience of Roman soldiers.

Valerian himself is said to have been familiar with construction techniques and may have contributed to the design of his palace in Bishapur. The palace is known to have occupied an area of more than 3,000 sq. m. It was the only structure in pre-Islamic Iran made entirely of stone. The stones, all of equal size and shape, were of the same quality as the stones used in the Temple of Anahita, and many were bonded together with clamps. Shallow depressions, which can be seen in the stone bonding, and which impart an interesting look to the palace, were originally filled with molten lead to give more solidity to the structure.

Bishapur (literally, “The city of Shapur”) was the grand capital of the Sassanid king, Shapur I whose armies defeated the Romans three times. Like an arch bridge at Shushtar, much of Bishapur was allegedly built by Roman soldiers taken captive after their Emperor Valerian was defeated in c. 260 CE.

Bishapur is situated south of modern Faliyan, just off the ancient road between Persis and Elam, which connected the Sasanian capitals Istakhr (close to Persepolis) and Firuzabad to Susa and Ctesiphon. The city was built near a river crossing.

Many architectural aspects of Bishapur look Roman and do not belong to Iranian building traditions. An example is what specialists call the "Hippodamian Plan", which means that the city looks like a gridiron, while Iranian cities usually were circular in design, according to Livius.org; a website on ancient history written and maintained since 1996 by the Dutch historian Jona Lendering.

Bishapur remained an important city until the Arab invasion of Persia and the rise of Islam in the second quarter of the seventh century. It became a center of Islamic learning (a madrassah has been excavated) and there were still people living over here in the tenth century, but the decline had started in the seventh century.

In 2018, UNESCO added an ensemble of Sassanian historical cities in southern Iran -- titled “Sassanid Archaeological Landscape of Fars Region”-- to its World Heritage list. The ensemble is comprised of eight archaeological sites situated in three geographical parts of Firuzabad, Bishapur, and Sarvestan. It reflects the optimized utilization of natural topography and bears witness to the influence of Achaemenid and Parthian cultural traditions and of Roman art, which later had a significant impact on the architecture and artistic styles of the Islamic era.

The Sassanid archaeological landscape represents a highly efficient system of land use and strategic utilization of natural topography in the creation of the earliest cultural centers of the Sassanid civilization.

AM