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An ancient network of secret tunnels and dwellings has been discovered in Hamedan Province.The Iranian province lies in an elevated region, with the 'Alvand' mountains, running from the north west to the south west. The discovered complex is located near the village of Arzanfud, 25 kilometres southeast of the provincial capital-city of Hamedan... The complex is comprised of 25 rooms connected to each other by several tunnels, had been excavated beneath a stone mound extending deep into the earth at a depth of 4 to 6 meters. The complex is believed to have been used by habitants as a shelter...

TEHRAN -- Archaeologists at a dig on a farm in western Iran have uncovered a skeleton with a solid gold mask in a bronze coffin in what could be the first of a fresh wave of Parthian-era discoveries. "This finding is without precedence in our province," said the head of the Lorestan cultural heritage organization, Sirous Ebrahimi. "We were told by locals that some people were searching the area with metal detectors, so we rushed to the area, and sealed it off," he explained. He said that the coffin dates back between 1,700 and 2,200 years. The Parthian Empire occupied...

Cyrus the Great Cylinder, The First Charter of Human Rights By 546 BCE, Cyrus had defeated Croesus, the Lydian king of fabled wealth, and had secured control of the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, Armenia, and the Greek colonies along the Levant. Moving east, he took Parthia (land of the Arsacids, not to be confused with Parsa, which was to the southwest), Chorasmis, and Bactria. He besieged and captured Babylon in 539 and released the Jews who had been held captive there, thus earning his immortalization in the Book of Isaiah. When he died in 529, Cyrus's kingdom extended as...

The History Channel is going to air a new historical series entitled DECISIVE BATTLES including some classic wars between ancient Persian armies and Roman and Greek ones. The History Channel goes on location to the actual battlefields and integrates cutting-edge videogame technology to bring history and imagination together in the new series DECISIVE BATTLES. The half-hour series DECISIVE BATTLES premieres Friday, July 23 at 9-9:30pm ET/PT. The series is hosted by Matthew Settle (Band of Brothers) on location at the ancient battlefields and features expert commentary from the world©s foremost historians. DECISIVE BATTLES is unlike any series The History Channel...