Ancient site · Temple
Chogha Zanbil
Also known as Dur Untash
A religious city of the Elamite king Untash-Napirisha in Khuzestan, southwestern Iran, southeast of Susa. Its centre is one of the few ziggurats outside Mesopotamia and the best preserved anywhere; thousands of its bricks carry inscriptions.
The city is usually thought to have been destroyed by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal around 645 BCE, though some researchers think it was abandoned much earlier. It was Iran's first UNESCO site, in 1979.
- Dates
- c. 1250–645 BCE
- Still standing
- Yes
- UNESCO World Heritage
- Yes
- Location
- 32.01° N, 48.52° E
How we know
Inscribed bricks name its gods, and Elamite records link it to King Untash-Napirisha.
Nearby sites
- Susa c. 4200 BCE – 1218 CE
- Ur (ziggurat and Royal Cemetery) c. 3800–500 BCE; Royal Cemetery c. 2600 BCE; ziggurat 21st century BCE
- Eridu c. 5400–600 BCE
- Uruk (Eanna and the White Temple) c. 5000 BCE – c. 700 CE; Eanna and White Temple c. 3500–3100 BCE
- Behistun inscription carved c. 520 BCE
- Etemenanki, the ziggurat of Babylon origins perhaps 18th century BCE; rebuilt 7th–6th century BCE; demolished 323 BCE