The photos are absolutely beautiful, breath taking!

I'm afraid I spent longer than I should putting that together, but I couldn't resist – so many amazing sites!

I'd hoped to visit Iran, but given recent developments, that probably won't be possible in my lifetime.

are spectacular

Iranians are very beautiful physically,
and they are great creators of beauty
as well.

Their poetry, for example, is just wonderful.

but I believe the Persians also played a huge role in the development of mathematics (didn't they invent the zero, or something like that?) It certainly shows in their brilliant engineering.

While searching for images of sites in Iran, I also came across this ancient Persian facility for making ice in the desert:

but it was brought to us by Arabic and Persian traders.

I should have looked it up.

Make no mistake....these are certainly targets

he gets a special kick out of destroying things and causing pain.

Brings back to mind in 2001 when the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan, two monumental 6th-century statues carved into cliffs in central Afghanistan.

Their excuse: it was "spiritual adultery," i.e., idolatry. In other words, the audacity of creating beauty that might compete with their idea of the imagined perfection of their "god."

Last edited Thu Mar 5, 2026, 09:05 AM - Edit history (1)

There were other regions of the world which developed civilizations independently in their regions. Some were as old or older than Fertile Crescent civilizations .

But it is true that human history goes back a very long time there.

I've become very interested in those histories and have starting reading about some of them (although I'm bad at remembering dates and am not sure which cultures arose in what order). Fascinating also for purposes of comparing the successes/failures of different socio-political systems.

and including bush, cheney, and the oil conglomerates are not going to be happy until they are able to use OUR soldiers to completely obliterate the Middle East and surrounding countries.

We may not agree with how they perceive their religion; we already acknowledge they have been ruled by autocrats, monarchs, and warlords for centuries. This makes it so much harder to achieve social change... it's inbred so deeply. But what we in the West have been trying to do is to completely eliminate all the knowledge and beauty of the area. Bomb it back to smithereens so all we see is a Mars-scape of destruction. We all will be so much poorer for this... and that's not to even touch on the tragic evil visited upon the people.

I've all but shut down with this latest blow from trump. He's got us already in Ecuador... we're still "doing" Venezuela... and now he's uttering Cuba next... and he has the audacity to want the Peace Prize! The evil has overwhelmed me. All I want to say to the world is "I'm so sorry... honestly, we didn't do this. The election was stolen from us and no one could (or would) help get us out of the mess."

Fwiw, re- various online screeds in which one generation blames another for this or that, I'd like to suggest that the blame mainly belongs to the 1% in EVERY generation.

Each generation has its strengths and weaknesses; and I suspect that the generational blame game is just more wedging fostered by TPTB to try to keep us at each other's throats instead of focussing on our common ground and uniting against the real culprits.

Hogs Breath will have to destroy them "just because". There will be no clear reason for anything he's done. We need to have a record of all his crimes, along with all of TSF's other cronies. Eventually we will be able to prosecute those assholes

"death cult."

If they did, they would order them bombed deliberately to destroy such beauty out of vengeance. Both are evil people.

Thanks!

As he is with protecting human life.

to put this together. I just shared the photographs with my grandkids.

I would love to visit there, but I know it will never happen..

I’m sure the Donald will treat these precious treasures with the same respect and dignity he showed to the Bonwit Teller building.

That is all

Thank you!

Thank you for posting this. I fear some or many of these beautiful sites will be destroyed and they can never be replaced. It just makes me sick.

Built by the common man (likely unpaid slaves) and claimed by the wealthy of the era. Speaking of patterns (shout out to Hillary), this is repeated throughout the history of humanity.

The ancient site of Babylon – home to the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – has been significantly damaged due to its use as a military base by coalition forces in Iraq from 2003-2004, according to a report released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today.

Digging, cutting scraping and leveling resulted in considerable damage to the archaeological city, with the Ishtar Gate, the Processional Way and other key structures also being harmed, the Final Report by UNESCO’s International Coordination Committee for the Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage of Iraq (ICC Iraq) said.

“Without pointing fingers, we now have a clear picture of the situation,” said Mohamed Djelid, director of UNESCO’s Office for Iraq.

The report, launched at a press conference in Paris, “provides the starting-point for the major challenge of restoration and conservation,” he added.

Babylon was the capital city for two famous kings of antiquity: Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC), who introduced one of the world’s first law codes, and Nebuchadnezzar (604-562 BC).

Partially excavated over the last century, much of ancient Babylon, which lies 90 kilometres south of Baghdad, remains undiscovered.

According to a 2005 British Museum report, the use of Babylon as a camp by the Multi-National Force between April 2003 and December 2004 by coalition forces is “tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain.”

More at:

https://news.un.org/en/story/2009/07/306172

Destroying history seems to be a feature, not a bug

I’ve been to a few of them, but way back in the early seventies when I was growing up in Dhahran.

My favorite place of all time was in northern Arabia, the place where they shot The Martian. There’s an ancient city tucked into the mountains near there, just an incredible place.

I spoke Arabic as a child, got to know the local Bedouin kids. We would roam the hills and wadis together.

I'm very sad that so many places have become so difficult to visit before I got to see them for myself.

Once the gov't is friendly to the West.

😑
sigh.

Even if none of these are damaged etc he's such a wanton, destructive bastard ! Arggg!

and the dissolution of the monasteries. It breaks my heart whenever I visit the ruins. Why destroyed? Henry VIII was upset with the Pope, who wouldn't grant a divorce from Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn.

Losing all that culture/ beautiful architecture was about fulfilling Henry's sexual desires. The Pope should have granted the damn divorce. What a loss.

I do believe this Iran attack is to draw attention away from Trump's sexual mayhem. He's willing to destroy a beautiful culture to save his own ass.

I also think that's why there's bipartisan support for Bondi's subpoena; Congress understands that the world is in deep shit until Trump is frog-marched out of office, which will absolutely have bipartisan support from voters. I hope thumb screws are being applied to Andrew and Mandelson as I type.

Wish I felt as optimistic as you abut Congressional action, but one can hope.

went up in smoke, I’m much less optimistic. Henry VIII didn’t do much damage to the planet like his 21st c counterpart can and had done today.

for visibility

I was happy and privileged to have visited Istanbul years ago.

If more people had the opportunity to travel we might be in a more understanding world, hard to do when the divide between the haves and have- nots continues to grow.

What a treasure; thanks for sharing that.

I spent some time researching additional sites today; I won't have time to post about them, but let's just say there are plenty.