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Tuesday 2004-06-08 - Pāsārgād, Iran
Ancient history and modern science
Today we have a long travel day from Shirāz to Esfahān but we make a little side trip to Pāsārgād (Pasargadae). When we arrive at the Tomb of Cyrus just after the entrance to the site, a surprise awaits us: the field behind the tomb is crowded with people with cameras, parasols, much electronic equipment, even a satellite antenna and there’s a lot of rather nervous activity… what’s going on here?
A friendly bearded man with a NASA t-shirt explains the situation. The t-shirt isn’t fake: he’s actually an Englishman working for NASA in the US, visiting here with a team for a very special occasion: today (in fact, in 5 minutes!) there will be a Venus transit: the planet Venus passing in front of the sun causing a very small eclipse. Everyone is busy calibrating their equipment to be ready for when it really starts in a few minutes; Venus’ trip across the Sun’s surface will take 5 hours. This is indeed a unique event: in astronomical time it happens more often of course but no one alive today has ever experienced this.
The people here are mostly astronomy amateurs but some real science is taking place (astronomy is one branch of science where it’s not unusual for amateurs to cooperate with the pros and make some real contributions): when Venus will be fully in front of the Sun the light as it passes through Venus’ atmosphere will be measured: since the composition of this atmosphere is known, the resulting data will help with interpreting measurements of other distant solar systems with planets as they are observed.
The NASA man tells us that astronomy is quite popular in Iran; last night they were visiting in a town nearby which has the largest astronomy club with 1000 members - in a town with a population of 10,000! The club is building their own observatory and the NASA team made a donation of some equipment; they had a wonderful evening with 500 people turning up for the event!
We get a few special ‘sun glasses’ so we can see with our own eyes the small black dot made by Venus on the face of the Sun.
Then we leave to actually see the rest of the Pāsārgād site. The city was begun under Cyrus the Great (Kouroush) in about 546 BC but was superseded by Persepolis after Cyrus’ death. It’s located at the very center of what is now Iran but also then the Persian empire, in the middle of the fertile plains of the Fars province. Remains of the city are quite scattered and not as well preserved as those at Persepolis; we make a tour along the various ruins with our bus.
On the way here, the fertility of this area was obvious, with endless grain fields interspersed with occasional smaller fields with other crops (such as rice); through the open roof of the bus entered a summery scent of ripening grain.
Tuesday 2004-06-08 - Esfahān, Iran
A dream come true
At the end of the afternoon we arrive in Esfahān; our hotel is conveniently located both for the city center and for the river which has several old bridges which I must see. Carla and I decide to walk to the Emām Khomeini square - the place I dreamed about before visiting Iran.
The square, with 500 x 160 m one of the largest in the world, is a sublime example of town planning - it dates back to 1612 and was designed and built as a whole. In spite of its huge size it’s a very pleasant space, surrounded by galleries, some mosques and a palace. It’s all at a very human scale: you don’t feel small here, you just experience a large but pleasant space around you.
At this time, in the early evening, the warm sunlight is still on the square, and it’s lively with people strolling, picnicking, flirting, biking, playing in the pond with its many fountains, taking a ride around the square in a horse-drawn buggy. While Carla goes off to have a look at the shops, I just sit on a bench for a while, feeling the space and drinking in the atmosphere, completely happy to finally be here — and just sit.
Later, we chat a bit with a woman (wearing a nice shawl around her head) who asked where we come from - as many Iranians do. She lives in the US now and is visiting, but originally she’s from Esfahān - here to show the city to her two young daughters. When we say goodbye, she touches my Aussie hat and says: “I love your cover-up; better than mine!”
