The hunt for Laodicea: a Greek temple in Nahavand, Iran

The Greek inscription and other Seleucid finds in Nahavand

The chance discovery of an inscription in Nahavand in 1943 suggested the existence of a Greek temple (Figure 1). Based on the translation of the Greek inscription, the temple was built during the reign of Antiochus III (223-187 BC) (Robert 1949), in the place then referred to as Laodicea (Hakemi 1959).

 

In 1949, five small bronze figures (Figure 2) were discovered by accident in the same area (Rahbar 1976). A little later, whilst visiting the area, Ghirshman happened to identify a Seleucid stone alter (Ghirshman 1963: 19) and in 1978, during a survey and sounding, Gh. Masumi discovered a stone column base in the same location (Masoumi 1978).

 

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