Khuzestan
خوزستانThe lowland of ancient Elam: Susa, the ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil and the waterworks of Shushtar, beside the Karun.
Khuzestan is the Mesopotamian edge of Iran, a hot plain watered by the Karun. It was the heart of ancient Elam, and Susa was a royal capital for the Elamites and later for Darius the Great.
The Elamite ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil, built around 1250 BCE, is one of the best preserved in the world. At Shushtar, an ancient system of dams, canals and mills still channels the river. In the twentieth century the province became the centre of Iran's oil industry.
Cities and towns
Ahvazاهواز
The provincial capital on the Karun
Shushشوش
Ancient Susa
Shushtarشوشتر
The city of the waterworks
Dezfulدزفول
An old city of brick on the Dez River
Landmarksبناها و نشانهها
Chogha Zanbil
چغازنبیلAn Elamite ziggurat of around 1250 BCE
Shushtar Hydraulic System
سازههای آبی شوشترDams, canals and mills of the Sasanian era
Khuzestan through time
Iranian historyElam and the first citiesعیلام
Long before the Persians, the lowlands of Khuzestan and the highlands of Fars were home to Elam, a civilisation with its own language, gods and kings, centred on the city of Susa.
- Untash-Napirisha builds the ziggurat
- Shapur I captures the Roman emperor Valerian
- Inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage site
- Shushtar hydraulic system inscribed by UNESCO
Poets of Khuzestanشاعران
Qeysar Aminpour
قیصر امینپورThe leading poet of the generation that came of age with the revolution and the war, and a master of short, clear lines.
Stories from hereداستانها
The Asiatic lion and the Lion and Sun
Iran's lions disappeared in the 1940s, but for centuries a lion holding a sword beneath a rising sun stood for the Iranian state.
Elam and the first cities
Long before the Persians, the lowlands of Khuzestan and the highlands of Fars were home to Elam, a civilisation with its own language, gods and kings, centred on the city of Susa.
The Achaemenids
From Cyrus to Darius III, the first Persian empire stretched from the Aegean to the Indus and left behind Persepolis, the Cyrus Cylinder and a model of kingship the region would long remember.
The Pahlavi century and after
Two Pahlavi shahs built railways, universities and a centralised state, while poets, novelists and film-makers created a new Persian culture. The era ended with the revolution of 1979.