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I have been reading about the northern stretches of Iran around the slopes of the Elburz mountains and the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. It seems the wild life is very diverse and in some places it has a jungle-like environment. I'm sure you all know that Alexander traveled through these areas after finding Darius dead and those responsible concealed within the forests. It was said that there were caves and water courses that ran over the precipices down to the coastal plain. Alexander and troops spent some time there at Gurgan's capital, Zadracarta. I cannot find info. that tells me if there was a Persian palace there. And if so, was it made from the same materials as the other palaces? I think they had cedar, marble, and alabaster in them. Would it have been made mostly out of oak since there was extensive amounts of it in the area?lightofdawn

I'm not sure that we know for sure where Zadracarta was - it's one of those ancient cities that hasn't been definitely placed. Therefore we wouldn't be able to say for sure whether there was a palace there, or the design and building materials.However, as it was the satrapal capital, I presume that there was a palace of some sort - I imagine a lesser one than at, say Ecbatana; on the other hand Hyrcania was a prosperous province, so it's satrap might have had a more impressive home.All the bestMarcus

Unfortunately nothing has remained of the ancient Palaces in Golestan, the oldest palace in Gorgan is the Shasaman palace which was built about 650 years ago by Timur Lenk (Tamerlane)."It was said that there were caves and water courses that ran over the precipices down to the coastal plain."That is Shirabad.Shirabad Waterfall: http://medlem.spray.se/davidgorgan/Fore ... erfall.jpg
Shirabad Cave: http://medlem.spray.se/davidgorgan/Fore ... s.htmlSome more photos: http://www.utdallas.edu/~mht021000/photos/