According to Rokna’s social affairs reporter, the Hyrcanian forest, millions of years old, is one of Iran’s natural and biological assets. This ecosystem not only hosts rare trees and diverse species but is also recognized as a World Heritage site. However, in recent days, the forest fires have not subsided. Reports indicate that flames have intensified in areas such as “Alit,” near Marzanabad in Mazandaran province.

Wind, warm air, and dry vegetation have created a highly flammable combination, making extinguishing extremely difficult. Local authorities have stated that without helicopters, ground forces cannot fully control the fire.

Meanwhile, officials from the Natural Resources Organization claim that “a large number” of personnel from the Protection Unit, local residents, the Basij, and mountaineers have been deployed to the area. However, for many, this is insufficient, as the extent of the fire and the difficult terrain have made containment highly complex.

By : Dr. Kaveh Farrokh

—–Original Message—–

From: Bradley Sylvester <xxxx>

To: manuvera@xxxx

Sent: Wed, Aug 25, 2021 11:54 am

Subject: Media Request

Hi Professor,

I’m a fact check reporter with checkyourfact.com. I recently encountered a viral Facebook post that claims to show women wearing skirts and jeans in Kabul, Afghanistan in the 1970s. My research, however, indicates you took this picture and that it actually shows women in Tehran, Iran in the 1970s. Could you confirm? We are interested in potentially fact-checking. s

See here:

Please let me know if you can help!

Thanks,
Brad

——————–

Below is the response of Kavehfarrokh.com to Bradley (Brad) Sylvester (kindly note that due to formatting the original e-mail is slightly edited for this posting below) …

This picture is from Iran; The photo is from young Iranian university students in 1971 – This has nothing to do with Kabul or Afghanistan. The photo is from a book as cited below:

Title: The Land of Kings

Editors: R. Tarverdi (Editor) & Ali Massoudi (Art Editor)

Printed in Tehran by Ettelaat Publications and offset by the Information Ministry Press.

Year of Publication: 1971

Below is the cover page followed by the publication details of this book:

I have also provided scans of pages 131-134 (see pages in sequence below this paragraph) to provide the proof and context for the photo (which is on page 133). I am not the photographer of the photo as I would have been just 9 years old when the book was published in 1971.

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Screenshot

The book was published as part of the larger initiative of the celebration of the founding of the Achaemenid Medo-Persian Empire of 2500 years in 1971. Technically this should be further back in time than 2500 years as the Mede Empire preceded that of the Achaemenids.

Interestingly the photos of this book appear to result in complex reactions, usually from Eurocentrists and other ideologues and racialists. As per the photo in question, credit must also be given where its due: these are Iranian women studying at the University of Tehran in 1971.

A 1971 Photo of Iranian Women at the University of Tehran Campus

POMPEII, ITALY—According to a statement released by Archaeological Park of Pompeii, an Egyptian vase thought to have been repurposed as a food container was unearthed in the center of a snack bar, or thermopolium, discovered in northeastern Pompeii’s Regio V in 2020. The vessel, made of glass paste and decorated with hunting scenes in Egyptian style, was produced in Alexandria. Researchers are planning to analyze its contents. Such vases are usually found as decorative elements in Pompeian gardens. Recent work at this thermopolium also revealed a first-floor apartment where the snack bar manager lived, a service area next door, and a small bathroom to the side of the food shop’s doorway to the Alley of the Balconies.

The Cyrus Cylinder, an ancient clay cylinder from 539 BC, contains decrees from Persian king Cyrus the Great that promoted religious freedom, equality, and the return of exiles. Its provisions are often seen as parallel to the first four articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

What it is: The Cyrus Cylinder is a baked-clay cylinder inscribed with a decree by Cyrus the Great, the first king of ancient Persia, after he conquered Babylon.

Content: It details Cyrus’s benevolent acts, including freeing slaves, declaring the right for all people to choose their own religion, and establishing racial equality.

Recognition: UNESCO officially recognized the Cyrus Cylinder as the world’s first written human rights charter in 2025.

Significance: Its provisions are considered to be a precursor to modern human rights concepts and have inspired later documents like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Last week, Mohsen Janjan, head of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of Nahavand County in Iran’s Hamedan Province, announced that a fragment of an ancient stone pillar had been discovered during construction work in the Two Sisters area of ​​Nahavand. “This discovery once again reveals the high potential of this historical area for archaeological research,” he said. “This new find could shed new light on the history of ancient civilizations in western Iran.”

Janjan also emphasized that initial investigations indicate that the discovered fragment has been moved from its original location and likely belongs to one of the region’s most significant ancient monuments. Accordingly, the discovery area has been completely secured and further construction work has been halted until expert studies are completed.

The head of the Cultural Heritage Department of Nahavand County concluded by saying, “Nahavand, as the only city in Iran that contains significant monuments from the Seljuk period, has a distinguished place in the country’s archaeology. The discovery of such works could open a new chapter in understanding the history of architecture and ancient civilizations of western Iran and add to the strategic importance of this region in the cultural map of ancient Iran.”

The question that remains unanswered, four or five decades, is: How could you, the heads of cultural heritage, who knew that “the ancient sites of Nahavand contain outstanding works of the past,” have so far left it alone and waited for “unauthorized excavators” to explore the area and possibly take some of the works, and only when a fragment of what they found or took remained, did you take the initiative to “secure the discovery site”?

www.savepasargad.com

Click the image to watch on our YouTube Channel.

Greetings Dear Esteemed Compatriots,

We are on the eve of Cyrus the Great Day, October 29th. Twenty years ago, in 2005 (1384), the Pasargad Heritage Foundation proposed this day, and it was subsequently recorded in history.

This proposal, made without the assistance or influence of any government official or religious figure, was quickly accepted by cultural and social figures. It spread by word of mouth among the people, becoming etched in the memory of a great nation and accepted in other countries.

We at the Pasargad Heritage Foundation have always believed that this incredible and significant reception, with its astonishing results, was not due to the power or influence of a small institution. Rather, we recognize that this proposal carried historical legitimacy, rooted in an amazing power based on cultural values and reliance—not on force, but on the love of people of every religion and creed.

We engaged with a nation at a time when an occupying and anti-Iranian government intended to destroy the monuments of the greatest political figure in Iranian history— Cyrus the Great, a figure who, more than 2,500 years ago, had championed human rights.

Iranians have witnessed not only the destruction of its own rights by their government but also the imminent destruction of symbols of a glorious part of its history related to human rights.

As a result, Iranians at home and abroad not only accepted Cyrus the Great Day as a historic and glorious occasion but also traveled to Pasargadae from all over Iran each year to celebrate it in his birthplace and home. The occupying government, terrified of the people, resorted to beating, harassing, and imprisoning participants in 2017 and 2018, and prohibited access to Pasargadae on Cyrus the Great Day.

However, Cyrus Day is no longer celebrated only in Pasargadae; it is now celebrated in every home and city where Iranians who love Iranian culture reside.

This year, on its 20th anniversary, the Pasargadae Heritage Foundation proudly celebrates two decades since the naming of Cyrus the Great Day, with your noble presence, the people of Iran.

Happy Cyrus the Great Day

Shokooh Mirzadegi

The Pasargadae Heritage Foundation

Aban 1404 – October 2025

In 2005, the International Committee for the Preservation of Pasargad designated October 29 as “Cyrus the Great Day.” This date commemorates the issuance of his charter and was chosen to highlight the historical significance of Cyrus the Great. The committee’s aim was to raise awareness and support for preventing the flooding of the Sivand Dam, which threatened the tomb of Cyrus the Great with dampness and destruction. Fortunately, this initiative was well-received by both the media and the public, both within Iran and internationally.

The Preservation Committee, operating as the “Pasargad Heritage Foundation,” was officially established in the United States in 2007. It was founded as the first international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) dedicated to preserving Iranian cultural heritage. Through the support of cultural supporters worldwide and timely intervention from UNESCO, the foundation successfully compelled the Ahmadinejad government (the government of Iran at the time) to lower the height of the Sivand Dam, mitigating the risk of damage from dampness to the Pasargad site’s monuments.

Naming Cyrus the Great Day not only prevented the danger that threatened Pasargadae, but also raised awareness of Cyrus’s significant contributions to the survival of human civilization.

The importance of this designation lies in its approval by a non-governmental cultural organization and dozens of prominent cultural and social figures. This was achieved without any governmental or religious support, and it has been widely recognized by Iran-friendly visual and audio media abroad, as well as thousands of Iranian and non-Iranian individuals both within and outside of Iran.

For years now, coinciding with Cyrus the Great Day on October 29^th, many people in Iran and abroad have honored the name and memory of a man who, 25 centuries before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was written and at a time when the world was consumed by violence and backwardness, stated in his charter: “He entered Babylon in peace, his many soldiers walked in Babylon in friendship, and he did not let anyone be intimidated in all the lands of Sumer and Akkad. He rescued the oppressed people from helplessness, returned the displaced to their homes, freed the slaves from slavery, and commanded that everyone be free to choose their religion and place of residence…”

Pasargad Heritage Foundation

WCHV

World Migratory Bird Day is officially celebrated on the second Saturday of May in Canada and the US, and the second Saturday of October in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. However, every day is Bird Day, and you can celebrate birds and host events any day of the year!

The 2025 poster, illustrated by Annamaria Savarino Drago of Mexico, features birds that depend on safe spaces. Look closely in the image to find the ways that you can create bird-friendly cities and communities. World Migratory Bird Day has its roots in two separate but related events: International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD), which began in 1993 in the Americas, and the inaugural World Migratory Bird Day in 2006 for the African-Eurasian region. The two were formally combined into a single, global event in 2018.

History :

• • 1993: The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology founded the first International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD). The first event was hosted at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., as an educational campaign to raise awareness about migratory birds and their conservation needs.

• • 1995–2006: The IMBD program was directed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The event was held on the second Saturday in May, corresponding with the peak of spring migration in North America.

• • Present: The program is coordinated by Environment for the Americas and has grown to involve hundreds of events and festivals each year. It is celebrated on the second Saturday in May in Canada and the U.S., and on the second Saturday of October in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. 

World Migratory Bird Day (African-Eurasian region)

• • 2005: The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) started the “Migratory Waterbird Days” in Africa, Europe, and parts of Asia.
  • 2006: AEWA and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) expanded the scope of the event to a global scale, launching the first official World Migratory Bird Day. The inaugural event was held in Kenya and coincided with a negative public perception that linked migratory birds to the spread of avian influenza. The campaign’s theme, “Migratory birds need our support now!,” aimed to counter this misinformation.
  • Global expansion: After its successful launch, World Migratory Bird Day gained popularity and expanded to more countries annually.

Unification into a global campaign

• • 2017: On October 26, officials from Environment for the Americas, CMS, and AEWA announced an official partnership to unite the two major migratory bird education campaigns.

• • 2018: The combined, single campaign adopted the name “World Migratory Bird Day.” To accommodate the differing migration seasons in the hemispheres, major celebrations are now organized twice a year: on the second Saturday of May and the second Saturday of October. 

Campaign today

Today, the unified World Migratory Bird Day continues to raise awareness of the ecological importance of migratory birds and advocate for their conservation. The campaign features a new conservation theme each year, focusing on issues such as:

By: Dr. Kaveh Farrokh

The article “Parthian Fortresses of Nysa” was originally posted by UNESCO. The photographs inserted below are from the Meros.org venue, with the descriptive captions and map of the Parthian Empire provided by Kavehfarrokh.com. The version printed below has also been slightly edited.

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Nisa was the capital of the Parthian Empire, which dominated this region of central Asia from the mid 3rd century BCE to the early 3rd century CE. As such it formed a barrier to Roman expansion, whilst at the same time serving as an important communications and trading centre, at the crossroads of north-south and east-west routes. Its political and economic power is well illustrated by the surviving remains, which underline the interaction between central Asian and Mediterranean cultures.

Map of the Parthian Empire in 44 BCE to 138 CE (Picture source: Farrokh, page 155, Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War-Персы: Армия великих царей-سایه‌های صحرا–). See also Military History and Armies of the Parthians …

The Parthian Fortresses of Nisa consist of two tells of Old and New Nisa, indicating the site of one of the earliest and most important cities of the Parthian Empire, a major power from the mid 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. They conserve the unexcavated remains of an ancient civilization which skillfully combined its own traditional cultural elements with those of the Hellenistic and Roman west. Archaeological excavations in two parts of the site have revealed richly decorated architecture, illustrative of domestic, state and religious functions. Situated at the crossroads of important commercial and strategic axes, this powerful empire formed a barrier to Roman expansion while serving as an important communication and trading centre between east and west, north and south.

A close-up of one of the sections of Nysa’s enduring Parthian system of architecture (Meros.org).

UNESCO Criteria

Criterion (ii): Nisa is situated at the crossroads of important commercial and strategic axes. The archaeological remains vividly illustrate the significant interaction of cultural influences from central Asia and from the Mediterranean world.

Criterion (iii): The Parthian Empire was one of the most powerful and influential civilizations of the ancient world, and a brilliant rival of Rome which prevented the expansion of the Roman Empire to the east. Nisa, the capital of the Parthian Empire, is the outstanding symbol of the significance of this imperial power.

A walled structure of one the chambers at Nysa(Meros.org). Later Sassanian architecture would also display especially thick walls and depending on the region, either bricks or stones could be used in their construction. For more on Parthian and Sassanian military architecture, consult Chapter 13 “Military Architecture”  in Armies of Ancient Persia: The Sassanians (2017).

The integrity and authenticity of the property, and also of the surrounding landscape, in terms of the size of the two tells and the siting of the capital at the foot of the Kopet-Dag mountains, are unquestionable. The two tells do not in any sense represent the original appearance of the Parthian capital, but their present appearance is due solely to natural erosion.

A meandering pathway towards a Nysa structure(Meros.org).

The site is gazetted as one of the 1,300 historical and cultural monuments of Turkmenistan. Nisa is also one of the eight State Historical and Cultural Parks (SHCP) that have been created to protect the most significant sites in Turkmenistan. A buffer zone has been established. The property comes within the provisions of the Bagyr town development plan. Serious efforts are still needed to set up an efficient preventive maintenance scheme that will ensure the survival of recently excavated parts of the site. A five-year plan has been formulated for 2006-2010, in order to ensure a better balance between the different activities (e.g. archaeology vis-à-vis conservation) and to combine and harmonize all the existing documents and strategies relating to the site.

Related posts:

1. Parthian Warrior Grave Accidentally Unearthed in 2020 during COVID-19 Burial
2. UNESCO: Takht-e Soleiman
3. UNESCO: Sassanian Archaeological Landscape of the Fars Region
4. Journal Article: A Unique Parthian Sword
5. Professor Shapour Shahbazi: The Parthian Army
6. Parthian site in Andika, Khuzestan discovered by Karamian Archaeological Team
7. Parthian horses and Parthian Horse Archers
8. Preserving the Buddhist Stupa Structure in Topdara, Afghanistan
9. Documentary Film Production: the UNESCO Sassanian Fortress in Darband
10. Structure of the Parthian Army (2016) – (۱۳۹۵) ساختار ارتش اشکانیان