excavations in Iran: diadochi to ATG

[stavros]

TEHRAN, June 25 (MNA) -- A team of Iranian archaeologists recently
began searching for the location of the ancient Greek Laodicea Temple
in Nahavand, Hamedan Province, the director of the team announced on
Thursday.
"On June 15, the team began excavations, which will probably last
until late July," Mehdi Rahbar added.In 1943, archaeologists discovered an ancient inscription written in
Greek in Nahavand, indicating the existence of a temple named
Laodicea in the area, which dated back to the reign of Antiochus III
the Great (223-187 BC), the Seleucid king who ruled Asia Minor. He was the most distinguished of the Seleucids. Having made vassal
states out of Parthia in present-day northeastern Iran and Bactria
(an ancient country in Central Asia), he warred successfully against
the Egyptian king Ptolemy V and in 198 BC obtained possession of all
of Palestine and Lebanon. He later became involved in a conflict with the Romans, who defeated
him at Thermopylae in 191 BC and at Magnesia (now Manisa, Turkey) in
190 BC. As the price of peace, he was forced to surrender all his
dominions west of the Taurus Mountains and to pay costly tribute.
Antiochus, who early in his reign had restored the Seleucid Empire,
finally forfeited its influence in the eastern Mediterranean by his
failure to recognize the rising power of Rome.http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=199514