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The Great Wall of Gorgan is a series of ancient defensive fortifications located near Gorgan in the Golestān Province of northeastern Iran, at the southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea. The western, Caspian Sea, end of the wall is near the remains of the fort at: ; the eastern end of the wall, near the town of Pishkamar, is near the remains of the fort at: .〔 Kiani, M. Y. (Gorgan, iv. Archeology ), ''Encyclopedia Iranica'', Online version. 〕 The title coordinate is for the location of the remains of a fort midway along the wall. The wall is located at a geographic narrowing between the Caspian Sea and the mountains of northeastern Iran. It is one of several Caspian Gates at the eastern part of a region known in antiquity as Hyrcania, on the nomadic route from the northern steppes to the Iranian heartland. The wall is believed to have protected the Sassanian Empire to the south from the peoples to the north,〔Omrani Rekavandi, H., Sauer, E., Wilkinson, T. & Nokandeh, J. (2008), (The enigma of the red snake: revealing one of the world’s greatest frontier walls ), ''Current World Archaeology'', No. 27, February/March 2008, pp. 12-22.(PDF 5.3 MB ). 〕 probably the White Huns. However, in his book "Empires and Walls" Chaichian (2014) questions the validity of this interpretation using historical evidence of potential political-military threats in the region as well as the economic geography of Gorgan Wall's environs. It is long and wide,〔 (''The Enigma of the Red Snake'' (Archaeology.co.uk) ) 〕 and features over 30 fortresses spaced at intervals of between . It is surpassed only by the Great Wall of China as the longest defensive wall in existence. Among archaeologists the wall is also known as "The Red Snake" due to the colour of its bricks. In Persian, it is mistakenly named "Alexander Barrier" ( ''Sadd-i-Iskandar''), as Alexander the Great is said to have passed through the Caspian Gates on his hasty march to Hyrcania and the east. It is also known as the "Anushirvân Barrier" () and "Firuz/Piruz Barrier" (), and is officially referred to as "Gorgan Defence Wall" (). It is known as or to local Turkmens.〔http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gorgan-iv〕 ==Description== The barrier consists of a wall, long and wide,〔 with over 30 fortresses at intervals of between .〔〔http://www.iranian.com/main/singlepage/2008/great-wall-gorgan〕 The building materials consist of mud-brick, fired brick, gypsum, and mortar. Clay was also used during the early Parthian period. Mud-bricks was more popular in the early period in the construction of forts and cities, while fired bricks became popular in the later period. Sometimes one brick was set in the vertical position, with two horizontal rows of bricks laid above and below. The sizes of mud or fired bricks differ, but in general the standard size was 40 x 40 x 10 cms.〔http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gorgan-iv〕 The fired bricks were made from the local loess soil, and fired in kilns along the line of the wall.〔 This wall starts from the Caspian coast, circles north of Gonbade Kavous, continues towards the northeast, and vanishes in the Pishkamar Mountains. The wall lies slightly to the north of a local river, and features a ditch that conducted water along most of the wall.〔 In 1999 a logistical archaeological survey was conducted regarding the wall due to problems in development projects, especially during construction of the Golestan Dam, which irrigates all the areas covered by the wall. At the point of the connection of the wall and the drainage canal from the dam, architects discovered the remains of the Great Wall of Gorgan. The 40 identified castles vary in dimension and shape but the majority are square fortresses, made of the same brickwork as the wall itself and at the same period.〔 Due to many difficulties in development and agricultural projects, archaeologists have been assigned to mark the boundary of the historical find by laying cement blocks. Larger than Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall taken together (two separate structures in Britain that marked the northern limits of the Roman Empire), it has been called the greatest monument of its kind between Europe and China. The wall is second only to the combined walls that make up the Great Wall of China as the longest defensive wall in existence, and although now in substantial disrepair, it was perhaps even more solidly built than the early forms of the Great Wall.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Great Wall of Gorgan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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