By Faryar Nikbakht
Following years of destruction, vandalism, encroachment and neglect of the ancient Gilliard cemetery, and after tireless efforts by cultural activists – in particular, the small remaining Iranian Jewish community – the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization has finally agreed to register this site in the national cultural heritage list, designated as entry number 31691.
Jewish captives had been taken to different regions of Babylon and parts of the future Persia by Nebuchadnezzar, before King Cyrus the Great of Persia freed all the Babylonian captives, including the Jews who were then allowed to return to their motherland in Jerusalem, to remain within the Iranian territories or go to any place they preferred. Many Jews decided to stay in Iran and to start new lives in Persian cities as free and proud citizens.
In addition to Biblical texts, the existence of ancient Jewish grave sites and shrines such as those of Prophet Daniel in Shush, Esther and Mordechai in Hamedan, Sarah Beth Asher in Isfahan and Habakkuk in Tooiserkan and many other sites, attest to the Jewish presence in Iran for several millennia.
According to historical evidence and research, the presence of Jews in Gilliard near Damavand – as the original inhabitants of area – dates to the year 3,368 of the Hebrew calendar, during their diaspora, corresponding to 409 BCE.
The Jewish people named this area “Gil’ad” after one of their old cities in ancient Israel, which literally means “eternal pillar” or “memorial pillar”.
The Gilliard (AKA Gillard or Jilliard) cemetery is located next to the Gillavand Highway, on the way to the Damavand village in the foothills of the majestic Damavand dormant volcano. The large numbers of graves both in the old section and in the more modern one, demonstrate that the Jewish population in the area was quite large.
Unfortunately, due to the circumstances, Jewish Iranians moved to larger cities and eventually sought refuge in free and safe countries abroad, to the tune of 90% of their pre-1979 population.
It is said that a wall is going to be constructed around this historical site to protect it from vandalism.
4 thoughts on “Addition of Ancient Jewish Cemetery on Iran’s heritage list”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Sear Faryar Nikbakht,
Thank you for this interesting text. My great grandfather, Rabbi Benjamin Giliardi-Saadi and his wife Sanambar (Morovati?) came from Damavand.
Michal Zamir
amazing, i believe that all the inhabitants of Damavand are related, my grandparents are of Jewish origin and are from Gillard province in Damavand.
amazing article, my grand parents originally came from Gillard in damavand.i hope one day before I will get to see their village and historical graves of my ancestors
Nice text. Thank you. One small correction: it is true that the town of Damavand is relatively near Mount Damavand and shares a name with it. But I would not describe it as being on the foothills — maybe in a geological sense but not geographically. You cannot see Mount Damavand from the town (which is located in small gorge/valley) or any of the immediate surrounding hills.
There were many indications of Jewish life in Damavand not just Gillard which was 10 km away. Up until 1960s Damavand had four neighborhoods one of which was the Jewish quarter (the others were called Ghazi (Judge), Darvish (poor) and Chalka). There was at least one religious shrine (Emamzadeh) near Damavand with a Jewish sounding name (Emamzadeh Shalambeh). We owned a garden there that the locals called Bagh-e Kalimi (Jewish Garden; Kalimi being an honorific word for Jewish). We were not Jewish — so it must have been named after one of the former owners. And yes, many people in Damavand, Jews or Moslems, were related; many Moslems had Jewish ancestry.