(⊙_⊙)
A daily article on Global Human & Geography
WeChat public account: Earth Knowledge Bureau
NO.2534 - The second Great Wall in the world
Text: Deep eyes
Proofreading: Asakagian / Editor: Chestnut
In the minds of the Chinese people, the Great Wall is obviously the most representative heritage left by the ancient empire. This is a world cultural heritage site built since the Western Zhou Dynasty, artificially dividing the ancient farming civilization and nomadic forces, ensuring the security of successive central empires, and being the front line of exchange and trade between the empire and northern nomads.
Kannai and Kanwai used to be two worlds
(Photo: Figureworm Creative)▼
But dividing empires and barbarians with walls is not exclusive to Chinese, and there are defensive structures in other parts of the world that have been built for the same need. The Korean Goryeo Dynasty built a high wall to resist the Khitans, the Roman Empire also built the Great Wall in Britain to separate foreign races, and the walls around Jerusalem witnessed the competition between different ethnic groups and believers throughout the ages.
Ruins of Hadrian's Wall in England
(Photo: wiki) ▼
These are all familiar Great Wall of the World, but few people know that there is a Great Wall in Iran today that is the second longest in the world, but it has gradually been forgotten in the long history of evolution. As late as 1990, Iranians living a few miles nearby did not know that their ancestors had left such a legacy. What's going on here?
The Great Wall was located near the northeastern frontier of present-day Iran▼
Cleverly designed to defend against strong enemies
The Great Wall is named "Gorgan Wall" because of its location in the Gorgan area, and is also known as the "Red Snake Wall" because of its red color of the renovated walls, which are made of mud bricks, burnt bricks, plaster, mortar and clay.
The ruins of the Great Wall of Gorgon can clearly see the materials used
(Photo: wiki) ▼
In general, the Great Wall of Gorgan stretches for nearly 200 kilometers, 10 meters wide and 3 meters high, stretching from the Caspian Sea in the west to the Pishkama Mountains in the east, more than three times the size of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, and there is a defensive fortress every 10-50 kilometers, and there are more than 30 along the entire Great Wall, which is very well defended.
The approximate route of the Great Wall of Gorgan
South of the border between Iran and Turkmenistan today▼
In terms of length and military role, only the wall system of the Great Wall of China can surpass it in the world.
It was a wall that was formed between the 5th and 6th centuries AD to help the Sassanid Persian dynasty of Iran defend itself against foreign invasions.
Although the empire eventually fell at the hands of the Arabs
But it is the eternal orthodoxy in the historical memory of the Persians
(Photo: wiki) ▼
At that time, the Persian Empire was in full swing, and it repeatedly marched west against the weak Eastern Roman Empire in an attempt to expand its territory. But at the same time, the empire itself had an enemy that could not be defeated, that is, their tough white Huns (also called the Bada people) in the north.
The greatest enemy of Sassanid Persia was the Eastern Roman Empire in the west
However, the southward movement of the White Huns may have caused the Sassanid to suffer the enemy, and it must be prevented
(At that time, the Arab nation was still fighting in various tribes, and it was not a climate)▼
At this time, the strategic position of the Gorgan region, which was close to the Huns and close to the Caspian Sea, became prominent. The mild climate and fertile soil all year round are suitable for agriculture and nomadic pastoralism, and it has always been the focus of fierce competition between the two with a large residential population. In order to resist the White Huns heading south once and for all, the Persian king ordered the construction of walls in the Gorgan region and stationed about 30,000 soldiers to defend it.
Between the arid steppes of Central Asia and the arid interior of Iran
This land is between the Caspian Sea and the Alborz Mountains
It can be said that it is a rare place with a humid climate and abundant water sources
If occupied by the White Huns, it will become a springboard for attacking the entire Iranian plateau▼
From the point of view of the design of the wall, the builder fully considered the speed and practicality of construction: the wall surface is rough but neatly arranged, the size and shape of the bricks are almost fixed, and the deviation is small, so that the barrier can be built according to the standard assembly line, and a large number of spare parts can be prepared to quickly repair the damage somewhere.
Such a big project really can't be done without the idea of standardizing prefabrication
(Photo: wiki) ▼
Archaeologists have found that there are also the remains of kilns near the Great Wall of Gorgon. This shows that the bricks are produced on site to reduce the consumption of transportation.
Of course, from another point of view, this also shows that the Persian Empire did not have enough time to carve like the Central Plains Dynasty, all projects must be completed as quickly as possible, and the Gorgan Wall has high military attributes.
Rough is a little rough, but better than practical
(Photo: wiki) ▼
The presence of Caspian waters facilitates the rapid repair of the wall. To the south of the Great Wall of Gorgand, the Persians dug a number of canals to facilitate logistical transportation, one of which was about 50 kilometers long to divert water from the Goganrud River into the wall.
On the one hand, the introduction of water as an accessory to the defense of the Great Wall became an obstacle that was difficult for cavalry to cross; On the other hand, developed waterways can also transport grain and soldiers from the interior to the fortress of the Great Wall of Gorgan, which not only solves the problem of material security, but also facilitates people's daily water, and even supplies water for brick kilns.
In fact, a long section of the Gorgon Wall was built along the river
(Waterways near the Great Wall of Gorgon Photo: wiki) ▼
The technical level of imperial engineers at that time was also very high. They designed a continuous slope for the Great Wall near the canal to ensure that the wall would not be broken by water flow due to heavy rain.
Although like the Great Wall of China, the Great Wall of Gorgan could not completely deter the brave barbarian cavalry, but the tall and majestic buildings and the rapid canal auxiliary still played a great deterrent role, and behind this was the strong national strength and developed engineering support of Sassanid Persia.
The advanced engineering of the Persians was also not limited to military purposes
This rather water-scarce country has also had many feats in hydraulic engineering
(Photo: wiki) Khuzestan irrigation system
It was not easy for the soldiers guarding the Great Wall
Like most of the ancient world soldiers who guarded the frontiers, the Persian soldiers guarding the Great Wall of Gorgan were not easy.
Although there were canals around the Great Wall that could carry soldiers back and forth between the border and the interior, the White Huns were obviously more maneuverable than canal ships. They often carried out sudden armed harassment in various parts of the Great Wall, attacked one point, and then withdrew, leaving the defenders exhausted and miserable.
White Hun horse keeper in the British Museum
(Photo: wiki) ▼
Sometimes, the White Huns would also carry out band attacks, launching attacks in multiple people, batches, and locations, which greatly increased the mobility of the soldiers defending the city. And if the soldiers were a little negligent and misjudged the number of attackers and the location of the attack, under the strict military law of the Persian Empire, they would be severely reprimanded or even whipped by their superiors.
The White Huns were brave and good at fighting, and they were very fierce
Even Belus I was killed in battle with the White Huns
(Death of Belus I Photo: wiki) ▼
Even if the White Huns did not come, disease often afflicted these soldiers.
The temperature on the edge of the Caspian Sea, where the Great Wall is located, is cool, and the winter nights are even colder. Many soldiers came from the interior of the empire and were not adapted to such a cold climate, and patrols on the Great Wall could not be stopped day and night, and many people contracted typhoid fever.
I have always felt that "The War of Arslan " is about the Sassanid Persian Empire
The sea to the north is the Caspian Sea, and the nomadic invaders to the northeast include the White Huns
(Photo: "The War of Arslan") ▼
At that time, under the medical level, even a mild cold was not easy to recover, and many soldiers took medicine for a month or two to see well, and if it was not handled properly, it would even become a severe respiratory infection, which would be difficult to save.
However, due to the limited manpower in the north, the soldiers had to insist on minor injuries and not get out of the line of fire. When the Huns arrived, many soldiers went to war with illness, and the proportion of non-combat attrition was extremely high.
In 644, there were 23,000 soldiers guarding the Great Wall of Gorgand, and when the northern nomads attacked that winter, a quarter of the soldiers were unable to reach medicine and food in time, and they faced the enemy in a state of hunger and disease. These physically weak defenders were naturally no match for the Huns who came prepared, and eventually died tragically under the enemy's swords.
The Sassanid dynasty was busy fighting wars with Arab Muslims
Years of war and economic decline have led to a significant decline in national strength
(Sculpture of a Persian knight: wiki)▼
Even without war, the soldiers suffered from lovesickness.
The Sassanid Persian dynasty was still a Zoroastrian state, and childbearing and valuing the family were among the main good deeds of the Christians. Only a few non-soldiers with status can bring their families with them, and most soldiers can only return home on a rotational basis when the country has a major holiday. If you encounter the peak of the Hun attack, such a dream can only be a luxury, and life on the frontier is always very hard.
The appearance of the magnificent capital in my memory has gradually blurred
(Takkithra Palace in Ctesiphon, the Sassanid capital Photo: wiki) ▼
But even so, the state did not prepare enough military benefits for these fighters to appease the heart. Since defending the Great Wall is a defensive act, there are not many opportunities to take the initiative, and there are few opportunities to establish merit. Even those soldiers on the Western Front, where there are frequent wars, will look down on these colleagues who have no chance to make meritorious contributions.
The western and northern fronts are equally bordered, the same cold and the same hardship
However, the Empire invested more energy and resources in the west
(Sassanid fortress in present-day Dagestan, Russia Photo: wiki) ▼
Without military merit, there are no additional benefits and income, and the income level of the defenders of the Great Wall is always the lowest in the empire. And when the rulers perceived a diminished threat from the north, they reduced supplies and financial support for the soldiers defending the Great Wall. At the same time, with the expansion of the empire, the income of those who remained in the interior increased day by day, prices increased day by day, and the soldiers on the border gradually became poor.
In order to make a living, many soldiers eventually left their posts without permission, went into the mountains to become robbers, and even some joined the enemy and became treacherous.
Life on the Great Wall is romantic, but also more realistic than anything else.
Great projects are eventually forgotten
According to archaeological excavations, the Great Wall of Gorgan may have been used for only more than 200 years before it was inexplicably abandoned. Later, due to the change of times and dynasties, fewer and fewer people knew the story of the Great Wall of Gorgon, until it was completely forgotten in modern times.
How did the Great Wall, which took a huge amount of manpower and material resources to build, be abandoned overnight?
Now look for it
The Great Wall is hard to find
(Photo: wiki) ▼
This is an inevitable consequence of the disappearance of the enemy in the north.
In 558 AD, the alliance of the Turkic peoples, then a new nomadic regime in Central Asia, defeated the White Huns at the Battle of Bukhara, leaving the empire's most recent enemies in the north in ruins. Although the Huns continued to harass Gorganbian very frequently thereafter, under the squeeze of the Turks, their overall development direction had shifted to the west, the strategic value of the Great Wall directly north of the empire was sharply reduced, the number of soldiers and financial support became less and less, and finally abolished.
Under the squeeze of two major forces
There is no room for the White Huns in the middle ground
(Schematic map of the main spheres of influence in Central Asia in the late sixth century AD)▼
Although the Arab Empire later reunited ancient Iran by force and Islam, the threat was no longer there, and it made no sense to rebuild the walls.
Changes in natural conditions accelerated the oblivion of the Gorgon Wall.
The sea level of the Caspian Sea was gradually higher due to the changing climate cycle, and the sand brought by the current buried the majestic Great Wall of Gorgan in the ground. By the time the Islamic Revolution broke out in 1979, most of the Gorgan Wall was buried under several meters of dirt and sand, leaving only a few raised mounds. Ignorant of history, villagers use the sites of ancient soldiers as farmer's fields or the dividing line between modern villages, and the stories behind them are completely forgotten and drowned in the popular life of the modern world.
The existing appearance is not very obvious to be the ruins of the Great Wall
Farmers can't be blamed for farming here
(Photo: wiki) ▼
It wasn't until 1999 that archaeologists rediscovered the full extent of the Gorgon Wall. Unfortunately, most of the ruins are indistinguishable on the ground, and only clear outlines can be seen from the air.
A bird's eye view of the ruins, whose silhouette can also be seen
(Photo: visitiran.ir)▼
But this is still a major discovery of modern archaeology, and Iranian archaeologists immediately caused a huge sensation around the world after publishing this report. It is generally recognized that this great wall bears witness to the strength of the ancient Persian state and is the best material for modern archaeologists and historians to observe the historical changes and characteristics of ancient Iran.
In order to enhance the cohesion and tourism attractiveness of Iran today, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has also taken a lot of measures to protect this historical heritage, and the name of Golgan, the second largest city in the world, has begun to appear more and more in the media, and more and more scholars and tourists have come to explore the secret.
The Great Wall of Gorgon has been resurrected from history buried in yellow sand.
*The content of this article is provided by the author and does not represent the position of the Earth Knowledge Bureau
Cover: OneImage.com
END